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Genome-wide association study identifies novel loci associated with circulating phospho- and sphingolipid concentrations

  • Ayşe Demirkan
  • , Cornelia M. van Duijn
  • , Peter Ugocsai
  • , Aaron Isaacs
  • , Peter P. Pramstaller
  • , Gerhard Liebisch
  • , James F. Wilson
  • , Åsa Johansson
  • , Igor Rudan
  • , Yurii S. Aulchenko
  • , Anatoly V. Kirichenko
  • , A. Cecile J.W. Janssens
  • , Ritsert C. Jansen
  • , Carsten Gnewuch
  • , Francisco S. Domingues
  • , Cristian Pattaro
  • , Sarah H. Wild
  • , Inger Jonasson
  • , Ozren Polasek
  • , Irina V. Zorkoltseva
  • Albert Hofman, Lennart C. Karssen, Maksim Struchalin, James Floyd, Wilmar Igl, Zrinka Biloglav, Linda Broer, Arne Pfeufer, Irene Pichler, Susan Campbell, Ghazal Zaboli, Ivana Kolcic, Fernando Rivadeneira, Jennifer Huffman, Nicholas D. Hastie, Andre Uitterlinden, Lude Franke, Christopher S. Franklin, Veronique Vitart, Christopher P. Nelson, Michael Preuss, Joshua C. Bis, Christopher J. O'Donnell, Nora Franceschini, Jacqueline C.M. Witteman, Tatiana Axenovich, Ben A. Oostra, Thomas Meitinger, Andrew A. Hicks, Caroline Hayward, Alan F. Wright, Ulf Gyllensten, Harry Campbell, Gerd Schmitz
  • Erasmus University Medical Center
  • University of Leiden
  • Netherlands Consortium for Healthy Aging Sponsored by Netherlands Genomics Initiative
  • Klinikum der Universität Regensburg und Medizinische Fakultät
  • Institute for Biomedicine (affiliated to the University of Lübeck)
  • General Central Hospital
  • University of Lübeck
  • The University of Edinburgh Medical School
  • Uppsala University
  • University Hospital ‘Sestre Milosrdnice’
  • University of Split Medical School
  • Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
  • University of Groningen
  • Wellcome Trust
  • University of Zagreb Medical School
  • MRC Human Genetics Unit
  • University Medical Center Groningen
  • University of Leicester
  • University of Washington School of Medicine
  • Framingham Heart Study
  • Massachusetts General Hospital
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • Helmholtz Zentrum München German Research Center for Environmental Health
  • Munich Heart Alliance

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

176 Scopus citations

Abstract

Phospho- and sphingolipids are crucial cellular and intracellular compounds. These lipids are required for active transport, a number of enzymatic processes, membrane formation, and cell signalling. Disruption of their metabolism leads to several diseases, with diverse neurological, psychiatric, and metabolic consequences. A large number of phospholipid and sphingolipid species can be detected and measured in human plasma. We conducted a meta-analysis of five European family-based genome-wide association studies (N = 4034) on plasma levels of 24 sphingomyelins (SPM), 9 ceramides (CER), 57 phosphatidylcholines (PC), 20 lysophosphatidylcholines (LPC), 27 phosphatidylethanolamines (PE), and 16 PE-based plasmalogens (PLPE), as well as their proportions in each major class. This effort yielded 25 genome-wide significant loci for phospholipids (smallest P-value = 9.88×10-204) and 10 loci for sphingolipids (smallest P-value = 3.10×10-57). After a correction for multiple comparisons (P-value&2.2×10-9), we observed four novel loci significantly associated with phospholipids (PAQR9, AGPAT1, PKD2L1, PDXDC1) and two with sphingolipids (PLD2 and APOE) explaining up to 3.1% of the variance. Further analysis of the top findings with respect to within class molar proportions uncovered three additional loci for phospholipids (PNLIPRP2, PCDH20, and ABDH3) suggesting their involvement in either fatty acid elongation/saturation processes or fatty acid specific turnover mechanisms. Among those, 14 loci (KCNH7, AGPAT1, PNLIPRP2, SYT9, FADS1-2-3, DLG2, APOA1, ELOVL2, CDK17, LIPC, PDXDC1, PLD2, LASS4, and APOE) mapped into the glycerophospholipid and 12 loci (ILKAP, ITGA9, AGPAT1, FADS1-2-3, APOA1, PCDH20, LIPC, PDXDC1, SGPP1, APOE, LASS4, and PLD2) to the sphingolipid pathways. In large meta-analyses, associations between FADS1-2-3 and carotid intima media thickness, AGPAT1 and type 2 diabetes, and APOA1 and coronary artery disease were observed. In conclusion, our study identified nine novel phospho- and sphingolipid loci, substantially increasing our knowledge of the genetic basis for these traits.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere1002490
JournalPLoS Genetics
Volume8
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Feb 2012

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

  1. SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
    SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

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