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Meta-Analysis
. 2012 Aug 11;380(9841):572-80.
doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60312-2. Epub 2012 May 17.

Plasma HDL cholesterol and risk of myocardial infarction: a mendelian randomisation study

Benjamin F Voight  1 , Gina M Peloso, Marju Orho-Melander, Ruth Frikke-Schmidt, Maja Barbalic, Majken K Jensen, George Hindy, Hilma Hólm, Eric L Ding, Toby Johnson, Heribert Schunkert, Nilesh J Samani, Robert Clarke, Jemma C Hopewell, John F Thompson, Mingyao Li, Gudmar Thorleifsson, Christopher Newton-Cheh, Kiran Musunuru, James P Pirruccello, Danish Saleheen, Li Chen, Alexandre F R Stewart, Arne Schillert, Unnur Thorsteinsdottir, Gudmundur Thorgeirsson, Sonia Anand, James C Engert, Thomas Morgan, John Spertus, Monika Stoll, Klaus Berger, Nicola Martinelli, Domenico Girelli, Pascal P McKeown, Christopher C Patterson, Stephen E Epstein, Joseph Devaney, Mary-Susan Burnett, Vincent Mooser, Samuli Ripatti, Ida Surakka, Markku S Nieminen, Juha Sinisalo, Marja-Liisa Lokki, Markus Perola, Aki Havulinna, Ulf de Faire, Bruna Gigante, Erik Ingelsson, Tanja Zeller, Philipp Wild, Paul I W de Bakker, Olaf H Klungel, Anke-Hilse Maitland-van der Zee, Bas J M Peters, Anthonius de Boer, Diederick E Grobbee, Pieter W Kamphuisen, Vera H M Deneer, Clara C Elbers, N Charlotte Onland-Moret, Marten H Hofker, Cisca Wijmenga, W M Monique Verschuren, Jolanda M A Boer, Yvonne T van der Schouw, Asif Rasheed, Philippe Frossard, Serkalem Demissie, Cristen Willer, Ron Do, Jose M Ordovas, Gonçalo R Abecasis, Michael Boehnke, Karen L Mohlke, Mark J Daly, Candace Guiducci, Noël P Burtt, Aarti Surti, Elena Gonzalez, Shaun Purcell, Stacey Gabriel, Jaume Marrugat, John Peden, Jeanette Erdmann, Patrick Diemert, Christina Willenborg, Inke R König, Marcus Fischer, Christian Hengstenberg, Andreas Ziegler, Ian Buysschaert, Diether Lambrechts, Frans Van de Werf, Keith A Fox, Nour Eddine El Mokhtari, Diana Rubin, Jürgen Schrezenmeir, Stefan Schreiber, Arne Schäfer, John Danesh, Stefan Blankenberg, Robert Roberts, Ruth McPherson, Hugh Watkins, Alistair S Hall, Kim Overvad, Eric Rimm, Eric Boerwinkle, Anne Tybjaerg-Hansen, L Adrienne Cupples, Muredach P Reilly, Olle Melander, Pier M Mannucci, Diego Ardissino, David Siscovick, Roberto Elosua, Kari Stefansson, Christopher J O'Donnell, Veikko Salomaa, Daniel J Rader, Leena Peltonen, Stephen M Schwartz, David Altshuler, Sekar Kathiresan
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Plasma HDL cholesterol and risk of myocardial infarction: a mendelian randomisation study

Benjamin F Voight et al. Lancet. .

Erratum in

  • Lancet. 2012 Aug 11;380(9841):564

Abstract

Background: High plasma HDL cholesterol is associated with reduced risk of myocardial infarction, but whether this association is causal is unclear. Exploiting the fact that genotypes are randomly assigned at meiosis, are independent of non-genetic confounding, and are unmodified by disease processes, mendelian randomisation can be used to test the hypothesis that the association of a plasma biomarker with disease is causal.

Methods: We performed two mendelian randomisation analyses. First, we used as an instrument a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the endothelial lipase gene (LIPG Asn396Ser) and tested this SNP in 20 studies (20,913 myocardial infarction cases, 95,407 controls). Second, we used as an instrument a genetic score consisting of 14 common SNPs that exclusively associate with HDL cholesterol and tested this score in up to 12,482 cases of myocardial infarction and 41,331 controls. As a positive control, we also tested a genetic score of 13 common SNPs exclusively associated with LDL cholesterol.

Findings: Carriers of the LIPG 396Ser allele (2·6% frequency) had higher HDL cholesterol (0·14 mmol/L higher, p=8×10(-13)) but similar levels of other lipid and non-lipid risk factors for myocardial infarction compared with non-carriers. This difference in HDL cholesterol is expected to decrease risk of myocardial infarction by 13% (odds ratio [OR] 0·87, 95% CI 0·84-0·91). However, we noted that the 396Ser allele was not associated with risk of myocardial infarction (OR 0·99, 95% CI 0·88-1·11, p=0·85). From observational epidemiology, an increase of 1 SD in HDL cholesterol was associated with reduced risk of myocardial infarction (OR 0·62, 95% CI 0·58-0·66). However, a 1 SD increase in HDL cholesterol due to genetic score was not associated with risk of myocardial infarction (OR 0·93, 95% CI 0·68-1·26, p=0·63). For LDL cholesterol, the estimate from observational epidemiology (a 1 SD increase in LDL cholesterol associated with OR 1·54, 95% CI 1·45-1·63) was concordant with that from genetic score (OR 2·13, 95% CI 1·69-2·69, p=2×10(-10)).

Interpretation: Some genetic mechanisms that raise plasma HDL cholesterol do not seem to lower risk of myocardial infarction. These data challenge the concept that raising of plasma HDL cholesterol will uniformly translate into reductions in risk of myocardial infarction.

Funding: US National Institutes of Health, The Wellcome Trust, European Union, British Heart Foundation, and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Plasma HDL cholesterol concentrations in carriers versus non-carriers of the Ser allele at the LIPG Asn396Ser polymorphism Error bars show standard error. FHS=Framingham Heart Study. CCHS=Copenhagen City Heart Study. MDC=Malmo Diet and Cancer Study. ARIC=Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Association of LIPG Asn396Ser with myocardial infarction in 116320 participants from 20 studies In each study, the HDL-cholesterol-raising serine allele was modelled.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

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