Scientists at the Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation and researchers at Vanderbilt University have successfully collaborated on studies of genetic risk factors for dyslipidemia. Study subjects included selected participants from the Personalized Medicine Research Project (PMRP) and the following data were used:

  • Height and weight data measured at PMRP enrollment
  • Diet, physical activity, and demographic data from completed questionnaires
  • Genotype data from assay of stored DNA samples
  • Longitudinal blood lipid concentrations collected during routine clinical care and documented in the electronic medical record
  • Comorbidity data from the electronic medical record

This collaboration has resulted in the identification of haplotypes and gene-gene interactions that influence high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations.

Feng Q, Jiang L, Berg RL, Antonik M, MacKinney E, Gunnell-Santoro J, McCarty CA, Wilke RA. A common CNR1 (Cannabinoid Receptor 1) haplotype attenuates the decrease in HDL cholesterol that typically accompanies weight gain. PLoS ONE 2010;5:e15779.
PubMed ID: 21209828

Abstract
We have previously shown that genetic variability in CNR1 is associated with low HDL dyslipidemia in a multigenerational obesity study cohort of Northern European descent (209 families, median = 10 individuals per pedigree). In order to assess the impact of CNR1 variability on the development of dyslipidemia in the community, we genotyped this locus in all subjects with class III obesity (body mass index >40 kg/m2) participating in a population-based biobank of similar ancestry. Twenty-two haplotype tagging SNPs, capturing the entire CNR1 gene locus plus 15 kb upstream and 5 kb downstream, were genotyped and tested for association with clinical lipid data. This biobank contains data from 645 morbidly obese study subjects. In these subjects, a common CNR1 haplotype (H3, frequency 21.1%) is associated with fasting TG and HDL cholesterol levels (p = 0.031 for logTG; p = 0.038 for HDL-C; p = 0.00376 for log[TG/HDL-C]). The strength of this relationship increases when the data are adjusted for age, gender, body mass index, diet and physical activity. Mean TG levels were 160±70, 155±70, and 120±60 mg/dL for subjects with 0, 1, and 2 copies of the H3 haplotype. Mean HDL-C levels were 45±10, 47±10, and 48±9 mg/dL, respectively. The H3 CNR1 haplotype appears to exert a protective effect against development of obesity-related dyslipidemia.
 


Turner SD, Berg RL, Linneman JG, Peissig PL, Crawford DC, Denny JC, Roden DM, McCarty CA, Ritchie MD, Wilke RA. Knowledge-driven multi-locus analysis reveals gene-gene interactions influencing HDL cholesterol level in two independent EMR-linked biobanks. PLoS ONE 2011;6:e19586.

PubMed ID: 21589926

Abstract
Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) are routinely being used to examine the genetic contribution to complex human traits, such as high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). Although HDL-C levels are highly heritable (h2~0.7), the genetic determinants identified through GWAS contribute to a small fraction of the variance in this trait. Reasons for this discrepancy may include rare variants, structural variants, gene-environment (GxE) interactions, and gene-gene (GxG) interactions. Clinical practice-based biobanks now allow investigators to address these challenges by conducting GWAS in the context of comprehensive electronic medical records (EMRs). Here we apply an EMR-based phenotyping approach, within the context of routine care, to replicate several known associations between HDL-C and previously characterized genetic variants: CETP (rs3764261, p = 1.22e-25), LIPC (rs11855284, p = 3.92e-14), LPL (rs12678919, p = 1.99e-7), and the APOA1/C3/A4/A5 locus (rs964184, p = 1.06e-5), all adjusted for age, gender, body mass index (BMI), and smoking status. By using a novel approach which censors data based on relevant co-morbidities and lipid modifying medications to construct a more rigorous HDL-C phenotype, we identified an association between HDL-C and TRIB1, a gene which previously resisted identification in studies with larger sample sizes. Through the application of additional analytical strategies incorporating biological knowledge, we further identified 11 significant GxG interaction models in our discovery cohort, 8 of which show evidence of replication in a second biobank cohort. The strongest predictive model included a pairwise interaction between LPL (which modulates the incorporation of triglyceride into HDL) and ABCA1 (which modulates the incorporation of free cholesterol into HDL). These results demonstrate that gene-gene interactions modulate complex human traits, including HDL cholesterol.