%0 Journal Article %J Am J Hum Genet %D 2014 %T Effects of long-term averaging of quantitative blood pressure traits on the detection of genetic associations. %A Ganesh, Santhi K %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Larson, Martin G %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Verwoert, Germain %A Bis, Joshua C %A Gu, Xiangjun %A Smith, Albert V %A Yang, Min-Lee %A Zhang, Yan %A Ehret, Georg %A Rose, Lynda M %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Papanicolau, George J %A Sijbrands, Eric J %A Rice, Kenneth %A Eiriksdottir, Gudny %A Pihur, Vasyl %A Ridker, Paul M %A Vasan, Ramachandran S %A Newton-Cheh, Christopher %A Raffel, Leslie J %A Amin, Najaf %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Liu, Kiang %A Launer, Lenore J %A Xu, Ming %A Caulfield, Mark %A Morrison, Alanna C %A Johnson, Andrew D %A Vaidya, Dhananjay %A Dehghan, Abbas %A Li, Guo %A Bouchard, Claude %A Harris, Tamara B %A Zhang, He %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Siscovick, David S %A Gao, Wei %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Rivadeneira, Fernando %A Hofman, Albert %A Willer, Cristen J %A Franco, Oscar H %A Huo, Yong %A Witteman, Jacqueline C M %A Munroe, Patricia B %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Palmas, Walter %A van Duijn, Cornelia %A Fornage, Myriam %A Levy, Daniel %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Chakravarti, Aravinda %K Blood Pressure %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Humans %K Longitudinal Studies %K Phenotype %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Quantitative Trait Loci %X

Blood pressure (BP) is a heritable, quantitative trait with intraindividual variability and susceptibility to measurement error. Genetic studies of BP generally use single-visit measurements and thus cannot remove variability occurring over months or years. We leveraged the idea that averaging BP measured across time would improve phenotypic accuracy and thereby increase statistical power to detect genetic associations. We studied systolic BP (SBP), diastolic BP (DBP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), and pulse pressure (PP) averaged over multiple years in 46,629 individuals of European ancestry. We identified 39 trait-variant associations across 19 independent loci (p < 5 × 10(-8)); five associations (in four loci) uniquely identified by our LTA analyses included those of SBP and MAP at 2p23 (rs1275988, near KCNK3), DBP at 2q11.2 (rs7599598, in FER1L5), and PP at 6p21 (rs10948071, near CRIP3) and 7p13 (rs2949837, near IGFBP3). Replication analyses conducted in cohorts with single-visit BP data showed positive replication of associations and a nominal association (p < 0.05). We estimated a 20% gain in statistical power with long-term average (LTA) as compared to single-visit BP association studies. Using LTA analysis, we identified genetic loci influencing BP. LTA might be one way of increasing the power of genetic associations for continuous traits in extant samples for other phenotypes that are measured serially over time.

%B Am J Hum Genet %V 95 %P 49-65 %8 2014 Jul 03 %G eng %N 1 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24975945?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1016/j.ajhg.2014.06.002 %0 Journal Article %J N Engl J Med %D 2014 %T Loss-of-function mutations in APOC3, triglycerides, and coronary disease. %A Crosby, Jacy %A Peloso, Gina M %A Auer, Paul L %A Crosslin, David R %A Stitziel, Nathan O %A Lange, Leslie A %A Lu, Yingchang %A Tang, Zheng-Zheng %A Zhang, He %A Hindy, George %A Masca, Nicholas %A Stirrups, Kathleen %A Kanoni, Stavroula %A Do, Ron %A Jun, Goo %A Hu, Youna %A Kang, Hyun Min %A Xue, Chenyi %A Goel, Anuj %A Farrall, Martin %A Duga, Stefano %A Merlini, Pier Angelica %A Asselta, Rosanna %A Girelli, Domenico %A Olivieri, Oliviero %A Martinelli, Nicola %A Yin, Wu %A Reilly, Dermot %A Speliotes, Elizabeth %A Fox, Caroline S %A Hveem, Kristian %A Holmen, Oddgeir L %A Nikpay, Majid %A Farlow, Deborah N %A Assimes, Themistocles L %A Franceschini, Nora %A Robinson, Jennifer %A North, Kari E %A Martin, Lisa W %A DePristo, Mark %A Gupta, Namrata %A Escher, Stefan A %A Jansson, Jan-Håkan %A Van Zuydam, Natalie %A Palmer, Colin N A %A Wareham, Nicholas %A Koch, Werner %A Meitinger, Thomas %A Peters, Annette %A Lieb, Wolfgang %A Erbel, Raimund %A König, Inke R %A Kruppa, Jochen %A Degenhardt, Franziska %A Gottesman, Omri %A Bottinger, Erwin P %A O'Donnell, Christopher J %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Ballantyne, Christie M %A Abecasis, Goncalo %A Ordovas, Jose M %A Melander, Olle %A Watkins, Hugh %A Orho-Melander, Marju %A Ardissino, Diego %A Loos, Ruth J F %A McPherson, Ruth %A Willer, Cristen J %A Erdmann, Jeanette %A Hall, Alistair S %A Samani, Nilesh J %A Deloukas, Panos %A Schunkert, Heribert %A Wilson, James G %A Kooperberg, Charles %A Rich, Stephen S %A Tracy, Russell P %A Lin, Dan-Yu %A Altshuler, David %A Gabriel, Stacey %A Nickerson, Deborah A %A Jarvik, Gail P %A Cupples, L Adrienne %A Reiner, Alex P %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Kathiresan, Sekar %K African Continental Ancestry Group %K Apolipoprotein C-III %K Coronary Disease %K European Continental Ancestry Group %K Exome %K Genotype %K Heterozygote %K Humans %K Liver %K Mutation %K Risk Factors %K Sequence Analysis, DNA %K Triglycerides %X

BACKGROUND: Plasma triglyceride levels are heritable and are correlated with the risk of coronary heart disease. Sequencing of the protein-coding regions of the human genome (the exome) has the potential to identify rare mutations that have a large effect on phenotype.

METHODS: We sequenced the protein-coding regions of 18,666 genes in each of 3734 participants of European or African ancestry in the Exome Sequencing Project. We conducted tests to determine whether rare mutations in coding sequence, individually or in aggregate within a gene, were associated with plasma triglyceride levels. For mutations associated with triglyceride levels, we subsequently evaluated their association with the risk of coronary heart disease in 110,970 persons.

RESULTS: An aggregate of rare mutations in the gene encoding apolipoprotein C3 (APOC3) was associated with lower plasma triglyceride levels. Among the four mutations that drove this result, three were loss-of-function mutations: a nonsense mutation (R19X) and two splice-site mutations (IVS2+1G→A and IVS3+1G→T). The fourth was a missense mutation (A43T). Approximately 1 in 150 persons in the study was a heterozygous carrier of at least one of these four mutations. Triglyceride levels in the carriers were 39% lower than levels in noncarriers (P<1×10(-20)), and circulating levels of APOC3 in carriers were 46% lower than levels in noncarriers (P=8×10(-10)). The risk of coronary heart disease among 498 carriers of any rare APOC3 mutation was 40% lower than the risk among 110,472 noncarriers (odds ratio, 0.60; 95% confidence interval, 0.47 to 0.75; P=4×10(-6)).

CONCLUSIONS: Rare mutations that disrupt APOC3 function were associated with lower levels of plasma triglycerides and APOC3. Carriers of these mutations were found to have a reduced risk of coronary heart disease. (Funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and others.).

%B N Engl J Med %V 371 %P 22-31 %8 2014 Jul 3 %G eng %N 1 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24941081?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1056/NEJMoa1307095 %0 Journal Article %J Am J Hum Genet %D 2014 %T Whole-exome sequencing identifies rare and low-frequency coding variants associated with LDL cholesterol. %A Lange, Leslie A %A Hu, Youna %A Zhang, He %A Xue, Chenyi %A Schmidt, Ellen M %A Tang, Zheng-Zheng %A Bizon, Chris %A Lange, Ethan M %A Smith, Joshua D %A Turner, Emily H %A Jun, Goo %A Kang, Hyun Min %A Peloso, Gina %A Auer, Paul %A Li, Kuo-Ping %A Flannick, Jason %A Zhang, Ji %A Fuchsberger, Christian %A Gaulton, Kyle %A Lindgren, Cecilia %A Locke, Adam %A Manning, Alisa %A Sim, Xueling %A Rivas, Manuel A %A Holmen, Oddgeir L %A Gottesman, Omri %A Lu, Yingchang %A Ruderfer, Douglas %A Stahl, Eli A %A Duan, Qing %A Li, Yun %A Durda, Peter %A Jiao, Shuo %A Isaacs, Aaron %A Hofman, Albert %A Bis, Joshua C %A Correa, Adolfo %A Griswold, Michael E %A Jakobsdottir, Johanna %A Smith, Albert V %A Schreiner, Pamela J %A Feitosa, Mary F %A Zhang, Qunyuan %A Huffman, Jennifer E %A Crosby, Jacy %A Wassel, Christina L %A Do, Ron %A Franceschini, Nora %A Martin, Lisa W %A Robinson, Jennifer G %A Assimes, Themistocles L %A Crosslin, David R %A Rosenthal, Elisabeth A %A Tsai, Michael %A Rieder, Mark J %A Farlow, Deborah N %A Folsom, Aaron R %A Lumley, Thomas %A Fox, Ervin R %A Carlson, Christopher S %A Peters, Ulrike %A Jackson, Rebecca D %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Levy, Daniel %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Taylor, Herman A %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Siscovick, David S %A Fornage, Myriam %A Borecki, Ingrid B %A Hayward, Caroline %A Rudan, Igor %A Chen, Y Eugene %A Bottinger, Erwin P %A Loos, Ruth J F %A Sætrom, Pål %A Hveem, Kristian %A Boehnke, Michael %A Groop, Leif %A McCarthy, Mark %A Meitinger, Thomas %A Ballantyne, Christie M %A Gabriel, Stacey B %A O'Donnell, Christopher J %A Post, Wendy S %A North, Kari E %A Reiner, Alexander P %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Altshuler, David %A Kathiresan, Sekar %A Lin, Dan-Yu %A Jarvik, Gail P %A Cupples, L Adrienne %A Kooperberg, Charles %A Wilson, James G %A Nickerson, Deborah A %A Abecasis, Goncalo R %A Rich, Stephen S %A Tracy, Russell P %A Willer, Cristen J %K Adult %K Aged %K Apolipoproteins E %K Cholesterol, LDL %K Cohort Studies %K Dyslipidemias %K Exome %K Female %K Follow-Up Studies %K Gene Frequency %K Genetic Code %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Genotype %K Humans %K Lipase %K Male %K Middle Aged %K Phenotype %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Proprotein Convertase 9 %K Proprotein Convertases %K Receptors, LDL %K Sequence Analysis, DNA %K Serine Endopeptidases %X

Elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) is a treatable, heritable risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified 157 variants associated with lipid levels but are not well suited to assess the impact of rare and low-frequency variants. To determine whether rare or low-frequency coding variants are associated with LDL-C, we exome sequenced 2,005 individuals, including 554 individuals selected for extreme LDL-C (>98(th) or <2(nd) percentile). Follow-up analyses included sequencing of 1,302 additional individuals and genotype-based analysis of 52,221 individuals. We observed significant evidence of association between LDL-C and the burden of rare or low-frequency variants in PNPLA5, encoding a phospholipase-domain-containing protein, and both known and previously unidentified variants in PCSK9, LDLR and APOB, three known lipid-related genes. The effect sizes for the burden of rare variants for each associated gene were substantially higher than those observed for individual SNPs identified from GWASs. We replicated the PNPLA5 signal in an independent large-scale sequencing study of 2,084 individuals. In conclusion, this large whole-exome-sequencing study for LDL-C identified a gene not known to be implicated in LDL-C and provides unique insight into the design and analysis of similar experiments.

%B Am J Hum Genet %V 94 %P 233-45 %8 2014 Feb 06 %G eng %N 2 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24507775?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1016/j.ajhg.2014.01.010 %0 Journal Article %J Nat Genet %D 2017 %T Exome-wide association study of plasma lipids in >300,000 individuals. %A Liu, Dajiang J %A Peloso, Gina M %A Yu, Haojie %A Butterworth, Adam S %A Wang, Xiao %A Mahajan, Anubha %A Saleheen, Danish %A Emdin, Connor %A Alam, Dewan %A Alves, Alexessander Couto %A Amouyel, Philippe %A Di Angelantonio, Emanuele %A Arveiler, Dominique %A Assimes, Themistocles L %A Auer, Paul L %A Baber, Usman %A Ballantyne, Christie M %A Bang, Lia E %A Benn, Marianne %A Bis, Joshua C %A Boehnke, Michael %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Bork-Jensen, Jette %A Bottinger, Erwin P %A Brandslund, Ivan %A Brown, Morris %A Busonero, Fabio %A Caulfield, Mark J %A Chambers, John C %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Chen, Y Eugene %A Chen, Yii-Der Ida %A Chowdhury, Rajiv %A Christensen, Cramer %A Chu, Audrey Y %A Connell, John M %A Cucca, Francesco %A Cupples, L Adrienne %A Damrauer, Scott M %A Davies, Gail %A Deary, Ian J %A Dedoussis, George %A Denny, Joshua C %A Dominiczak, Anna %A Dubé, Marie-Pierre %A Ebeling, Tapani %A Eiriksdottir, Gudny %A Esko, Tõnu %A Farmaki, Aliki-Eleni %A Feitosa, Mary F %A Ferrario, Marco %A Ferrieres, Jean %A Ford, Ian %A Fornage, Myriam %A Franks, Paul W %A Frayling, Timothy M %A Frikke-Schmidt, Ruth %A Fritsche, Lars G %A Frossard, Philippe %A Fuster, Valentin %A Ganesh, Santhi K %A Gao, Wei %A Garcia, Melissa E %A Gieger, Christian %A Giulianini, Franco %A Goodarzi, Mark O %A Grallert, Harald %A Grarup, Niels %A Groop, Leif %A Grove, Megan L %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Hansen, Torben %A Harris, Tamara B %A Hayward, Caroline %A Hirschhorn, Joel N %A Holmen, Oddgeir L %A Huffman, Jennifer %A Huo, Yong %A Hveem, Kristian %A Jabeen, Sehrish %A Jackson, Anne U %A Jakobsdottir, Johanna %A Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta %A Jensen, Gorm B %A Jørgensen, Marit E %A Jukema, J Wouter %A Justesen, Johanne M %A Kamstrup, Pia R %A Kanoni, Stavroula %A Karpe, Fredrik %A Kee, Frank %A Khera, Amit V %A Klarin, Derek %A Koistinen, Heikki A %A Kooner, Jaspal S %A Kooperberg, Charles %A Kuulasmaa, Kari %A Kuusisto, Johanna %A Laakso, Markku %A Lakka, Timo %A Langenberg, Claudia %A Langsted, Anne %A Launer, Lenore J %A Lauritzen, Torsten %A Liewald, David C M %A Lin, Li An %A Linneberg, Allan %A Loos, Ruth J F %A Lu, Yingchang %A Lu, Xiangfeng %A Mägi, Reedik %A Mälarstig, Anders %A Manichaikul, Ani %A Manning, Alisa K %A Mäntyselkä, Pekka %A Marouli, Eirini %A Masca, Nicholas G D %A Maschio, Andrea %A Meigs, James B %A Melander, Olle %A Metspalu, Andres %A Morris, Andrew P %A Morrison, Alanna C %A Mulas, Antonella %A Müller-Nurasyid, Martina %A Munroe, Patricia B %A Neville, Matt J %A Nielsen, Jonas B %A Nielsen, Sune F %A Nordestgaard, Børge G %A Ordovas, Jose M %A Mehran, Roxana %A O'Donnell, Christoper J %A Orho-Melander, Marju %A Molony, Cliona M %A Muntendam, Pieter %A Padmanabhan, Sandosh %A Palmer, Colin N A %A Pasko, Dorota %A Patel, Aniruddh P %A Pedersen, Oluf %A Perola, Markus %A Peters, Annette %A Pisinger, Charlotta %A Pistis, Giorgio %A Polasek, Ozren %A Poulter, Neil %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Rader, Daniel J %A Rasheed, Asif %A Rauramaa, Rainer %A Reilly, Dermot F %A Reiner, Alex P %A Renstrom, Frida %A Rich, Stephen S %A Ridker, Paul M %A Rioux, John D %A Robertson, Neil R %A Roden, Dan M %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Rudan, Igor %A Salomaa, Veikko %A Samani, Nilesh J %A Sanna, Serena %A Sattar, Naveed %A Schmidt, Ellen M %A Scott, Robert A %A Sever, Peter %A Sevilla, Raquel S %A Shaffer, Christian M %A Sim, Xueling %A Sivapalaratnam, Suthesh %A Small, Kerrin S %A Smith, Albert V %A Smith, Blair H %A Somayajula, Sangeetha %A Southam, Lorraine %A Spector, Timothy D %A Speliotes, Elizabeth K %A Starr, John M %A Stirrups, Kathleen E %A Stitziel, Nathan %A Strauch, Konstantin %A Stringham, Heather M %A Surendran, Praveen %A Tada, Hayato %A Tall, Alan R %A Tang, Hua %A Tardif, Jean-Claude %A Taylor, Kent D %A Trompet, Stella %A Tsao, Philip S %A Tuomilehto, Jaakko %A Tybjaerg-Hansen, Anne %A van Zuydam, Natalie R %A Varbo, Anette %A Varga, Tibor V %A Virtamo, Jarmo %A Waldenberger, Melanie %A Wang, Nan %A Wareham, Nick J %A Warren, Helen R %A Weeke, Peter E %A Weinstock, Joshua %A Wessel, Jennifer %A Wilson, James G %A Wilson, Peter W F %A Xu, Ming %A Yaghootkar, Hanieh %A Young, Robin %A Zeggini, Eleftheria %A Zhang, He %A Zheng, Neil S %A Zhang, Weihua %A Zhang, Yan %A Zhou, Wei %A Zhou, Yanhua %A Zoledziewska, Magdalena %A Howson, Joanna M M %A Danesh, John %A McCarthy, Mark I %A Cowan, Chad A %A Abecasis, Goncalo %A Deloukas, Panos %A Musunuru, Kiran %A Willer, Cristen J %A Kathiresan, Sekar %K Coronary Artery Disease %K Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 %K Exome %K Genetic Association Studies %K Genetic Predisposition to Disease %K Genetic Variation %K Genotype %K Humans %K Lipids %K Macular Degeneration %K Phenotype %K Risk Factors %X

We screened variants on an exome-focused genotyping array in >300,000 participants (replication in >280,000 participants) and identified 444 independent variants in 250 loci significantly associated with total cholesterol (TC), high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and/or triglycerides (TG). At two loci (JAK2 and A1CF), experimental analysis in mice showed lipid changes consistent with the human data. We also found that: (i) beta-thalassemia trait carriers displayed lower TC and were protected from coronary artery disease (CAD); (ii) excluding the CETP locus, there was not a predictable relationship between plasma HDL-C and risk for age-related macular degeneration; (iii) only some mechanisms of lowering LDL-C appeared to increase risk for type 2 diabetes (T2D); and (iv) TG-lowering alleles involved in hepatic production of TG-rich lipoproteins (TM6SF2 and PNPLA3) tracked with higher liver fat, higher risk for T2D, and lower risk for CAD, whereas TG-lowering alleles involved in peripheral lipolysis (LPL and ANGPTL4) had no effect on liver fat but decreased risks for both T2D and CAD.

%B Nat Genet %V 49 %P 1758-1766 %8 2017 Dec %G eng %N 12 %R 10.1038/ng.3977 %0 Journal Article %J Circ Cardiovasc Genet %D 2017 %T New Blood Pressure-Associated Loci Identified in Meta-Analyses of 475 000 Individuals. %A Kraja, Aldi T %A Cook, James P %A Warren, Helen R %A Surendran, Praveen %A Liu, Chunyu %A Evangelou, Evangelos %A Manning, Alisa K %A Grarup, Niels %A Drenos, Fotios %A Sim, Xueling %A Smith, Albert Vernon %A Amin, Najaf %A Blakemore, Alexandra I F %A Bork-Jensen, Jette %A Brandslund, Ivan %A Farmaki, Aliki-Eleni %A Fava, Cristiano %A Ferreira, Teresa %A Herzig, Karl-Heinz %A Giri, Ayush %A Giulianini, Franco %A Grove, Megan L %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Harris, Sarah E %A Have, Christian T %A Havulinna, Aki S %A Zhang, He %A Jørgensen, Marit E %A Käräjämäki, AnneMari %A Kooperberg, Charles %A Linneberg, Allan %A Little, Louis %A Liu, Yongmei %A Bonnycastle, Lori L %A Lu, Yingchang %A Mägi, Reedik %A Mahajan, Anubha %A Malerba, Giovanni %A Marioni, Riccardo E %A Mei, Hao %A Menni, Cristina %A Morrison, Alanna C %A Padmanabhan, Sandosh %A Palmas, Walter %A Poveda, Alaitz %A Rauramaa, Rainer %A Rayner, Nigel William %A Riaz, Muhammad %A Rice, Ken %A Richard, Melissa A %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Southam, Lorraine %A Stančáková, Alena %A Stirrups, Kathleen E %A Tragante, Vinicius %A Tuomi, Tiinamaija %A Tzoulaki, Ioanna %A Varga, Tibor V %A Weiss, Stefan %A Yiorkas, Andrianos M %A Young, Robin %A Zhang, Weihua %A Barnes, Michael R %A Cabrera, Claudia P %A Gao, He %A Boehnke, Michael %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Chambers, John C %A Connell, John M %A Christensen, Cramer K %A de Boer, Rudolf A %A Deary, Ian J %A Dedoussis, George %A Deloukas, Panos %A Dominiczak, Anna F %A Dörr, Marcus %A Joehanes, Roby %A Edwards, Todd L %A Esko, Tõnu %A Fornage, Myriam %A Franceschini, Nora %A Franks, Paul W %A Gambaro, Giovanni %A Groop, Leif %A Hallmans, Göran %A Hansen, Torben %A Hayward, Caroline %A Heikki, Oksa %A Ingelsson, Erik %A Tuomilehto, Jaakko %A Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Karpe, Fredrik %A Kooner, Jaspal S %A Lakka, Timo A %A Langenberg, Claudia %A Lind, Lars %A Loos, Ruth J F %A Laakso, Markku %A McCarthy, Mark I %A Melander, Olle %A Mohlke, Karen L %A Morris, Andrew P %A Palmer, Colin N A %A Pedersen, Oluf %A Polasek, Ozren %A Poulter, Neil R %A Province, Michael A %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Ridker, Paul M %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Rudan, Igor %A Salomaa, Veikko %A Samani, Nilesh J %A Sever, Peter J %A Skaaby, Tea %A Stafford, Jeanette M %A Starr, John M %A van der Harst, Pim %A van der Meer, Peter %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Vergnaud, Anne-Claire %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Wareham, Nicholas J %A Wilson, James G %A Willer, Cristen J %A Witte, Daniel R %A Zeggini, Eleftheria %A Saleheen, Danish %A Butterworth, Adam S %A Danesh, John %A Asselbergs, Folkert W %A Wain, Louise V %A Ehret, Georg B %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Caulfield, Mark J %A Elliott, Paul %A Lindgren, Cecilia M %A Levy, Daniel %A Newton-Cheh, Christopher %A Munroe, Patricia B %A Howson, Joanna M M %X

BACKGROUND: Genome-wide association studies have recently identified >400 loci that harbor DNA sequence variants that influence blood pressure (BP). Our earlier studies identified and validated 56 single nucleotide variants (SNVs) associated with BP from meta-analyses of exome chip genotype data. An additional 100 variants yielded suggestive evidence of association.

METHODS AND RESULTS: Here, we augment the sample with 140 886 European individuals from the UK Biobank, in whom 77 of the 100 suggestive SNVs were available for association analysis with systolic BP or diastolic BP or pulse pressure. We performed 2 meta-analyses, one in individuals of European, South Asian, African, and Hispanic descent (pan-ancestry, ≈475 000), and the other in the subset of individuals of European descent (≈423 000). Twenty-one SNVs were genome-wide significant (P<5×10-8) for BP, of which 4 are new BP loci: rs9678851 (missense, SLC4A1AP), rs7437940 (AFAP1), rs13303 (missense, STAB1), and rs1055144 (7p15.2). In addition, we identified a potentially independent novel BP-associated SNV, rs3416322 (missense, SYNPO2L) at a known locus, uncorrelated with the previously reported SNVs. Two SNVs are associated with expression levels of nearby genes, and SNVs at 3 loci are associated with other traits. One SNV with a minor allele frequency <0.01, (rs3025380 at DBH) was genome-wide significant.

CONCLUSIONS: We report 4 novel loci associated with BP regulation, and 1 independent variant at an established BP locus. This analysis highlights several candidate genes with variation that alter protein function or gene expression for potential follow-up.

%B Circ Cardiovasc Genet %V 10 %8 2017 Oct %G eng %N 5 %R 10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.117.001778