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. 2017 Jul;5(7):534-543.
doi: 10.1016/S2213-8587(17)30096-7. Epub 2017 May 26.

Relations between lipoprotein(a) concentrations, LPA genetic variants, and the risk of mortality in patients with established coronary heart disease: a molecular and genetic association study

Stephen Zewinger  1 Marcus E Kleber  2 Vinicius Tragante  3 Raymond O McCubrey  4 Amand F Schmidt  5 Kenan Direk  5 Ulrich Laufs  6 Christian Werner  6 Wolfgang Koenig  7 Dietrich Rothenbacher  8 Ute Mons  9 Lutz P Breitling  9 Herrmann Brenner  10 Richard T Jennings  1 Ioannis Petrakis  1 Sarah Triem  1 Mira Klug  1 Alexandra Filips  1 Stefan Blankenberg  11 Christoph Waldeyer  11 Christoph Sinning  11 Renate B Schnabel  11 Karl J Lackner  12 Efthymia Vlachopoulou  13 Ottar Nygård  14 Gard Frodahl Tveitevåg Svingen  15 Eva Ringdal Pedersen  16 Grethe S Tell  17 Juha Sinisalo  18 Markku S Nieminen  18 Reijo Laaksonen  19 Stella Trompet  20 Roelof A J Smit  20 Naveed Sattar  21 J Wouter Jukema  22 Heinrich V Groesdonk  23 Graciela Delgado  24 Tatjana Stojakovic  25 Anna P Pilbrow  26 Vicky A Cameron  26 A Mark Richards  27 Robert N Doughty  28 Yan Gong  29 Rhonda Cooper-DeHoff  29 Julie Johnson  29 Markus Scholz  30 Frank Beutner  31 Joachim Thiery  32 J Gustav Smith  33 Ragnar O Vilmundarson  34 Ruth McPherson  34 Alexandre F R Stewart  34 Sharon Cresci  35 Petra A Lenzini  36 John A Spertus  37 Oliviero Olivieri  38 Domenico Girelli  38 Nicola I Martinelli  38 Andreas Leiherer  39 Christoph H Saely  39 Heinz Drexel  40 Axel Mündlein  41 Peter S Braund  42 Christopher P Nelson  42 Nilesh J Samani  42 Daniel Kofink  3 Imo E Hoefer  43 Gerard Pasterkamp  43 Arshed A Quyyumi  44 Yi-An Ko  44 Jaana A Hartiala  45 Hooman Allayee  45 W H Wilson Tang  46 Stanley L Hazen  46 Niclas Eriksson  47 Claes Held  47 Emil Hagström  47 Lars Wallentin  47 Axel Åkerblom  47 Agneta Siegbahn  48 Igor Karp  49 Christopher Labos  50 Louise Pilote  51 James C Engert  50 James M Brophy  50 George Thanassoulis  50 Peter Bogaty  52 Wojciech Szczeklik  53 Marcin Kaczor  53 Marek Sanak  53 Salim S Virani  54 Christie M Ballantyne  55 Vei-Vei Lee  56 Eric Boerwinkle  57 Michael V Holmes  58 Benjamin D Horne  4 Aroon Hingorani  5 Folkert W Asselbergs  59 Riyaz S Patel  5 GENIUS-CHD consortiumBernhard K Krämer  24 Hubert Scharnagl  25 Danilo Fliser  1 Winfried März  60 Thimoteus Speer  1
Affiliations

Relations between lipoprotein(a) concentrations, LPA genetic variants, and the risk of mortality in patients with established coronary heart disease: a molecular and genetic association study

Stephen Zewinger et al. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2017 Jul.

Abstract

Background: Lipoprotein(a) concentrations in plasma are associated with cardiovascular risk in the general population. Whether lipoprotein(a) concentrations or LPA genetic variants predict long-term mortality in patients with established coronary heart disease remains less clear.

Methods: We obtained data from 3313 patients with established coronary heart disease in the Ludwigshafen Risk and Cardiovascular Health (LURIC) study. We tested associations of tertiles of lipoprotein(a) concentration in plasma and two LPA single-nucleotide polymorphisms ([SNPs] rs10455872 and rs3798220) with all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality by Cox regression analysis and with severity of disease by generalised linear modelling, with and without adjustment for age, sex, diabetes diagnosis, systolic blood pressure, BMI, smoking status, estimated glomerular filtration rate, LDL-cholesterol concentration, and use of lipid-lowering therapy. Results for plasma lipoprotein(a) concentrations were validated in five independent studies involving 10 195 patients with established coronary heart disease. Results for genetic associations were replicated through large-scale collaborative analysis in the GENIUS-CHD consortium, comprising 106 353 patients with established coronary heart disease and 19 332 deaths in 22 studies or cohorts.

Findings: The median follow-up was 9·9 years. Increased severity of coronary heart disease was associated with lipoprotein(a) concentrations in plasma in the highest tertile (adjusted hazard radio [HR] 1·44, 95% CI 1·14-1·83) and the presence of either LPA SNP (1·88, 1·40-2·53). No associations were found in LURIC with all-cause mortality (highest tertile of lipoprotein(a) concentration in plasma 0·95, 0·81-1·11 and either LPA SNP 1·10, 0·92-1·31) or cardiovascular mortality (0·99, 0·81-1·2 and 1·13, 0·90-1·40, respectively) or in the validation studies.

Interpretation: In patients with prevalent coronary heart disease, lipoprotein(a) concentrations and genetic variants showed no associations with mortality. We conclude that these variables are not useful risk factors to measure to predict progression to death after coronary heart disease is established.

Funding: Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technical Development (AtheroRemo and RiskyCAD), INTERREG IV Oberrhein Programme, Deutsche Nierenstiftung, Else-Kroener Fresenius Foundation, Deutsche Stiftung für Herzforschung, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Saarland University, German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Willy Robert Pitzer Foundation, and Waldburg-Zeil Clinics Isny.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Association between tertiles of lipoprotein(a) concentrations or LPA SNP carrier status and presence and severity of coronary heart disease in the LURIC study
(A) Risk of coronary heart disease, presented as odds ratios and 95% CIs, as determined by logistic regression. (B) Severity of coronary heart disease, presented as marginal means and 95% CIs. 3313 participants were assessed for the Lp(a) tertiles and 3287 for the LPA SNP analysis. All analyses were adjusted for age, sex, diabetes, systolic blood pressure, BMI, smoking status, estimated glomerular filtration rate, LDL-cholesterol concentration, and use of lipid-lowering therapy. Lp(a)=lipoprotein(a). SNP=single-nucleotide polymorphism.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Association between tertiles of lipoprotein(a) concentration LPA SNP carrier status, and mortality or cardiovascular endpoints
(A) All-cause and cardiovascular mortality in participants of the LURIC study. P values are for LPA SNP carrier yes vs no and for Lp(a) tertile 2 or 3 vs tertile 1. (B) Composite cardiovascular endpoints and cardiovascular mortality in validation studies. All values were calculated with Cox regression analysis adjusted for age, sex, diabetes, systolic blood pressure, BMI, smoking status, estimated glomerular filtration rate, LDL-cholesterol concentration, and use of lipid-lowering therapy. HR=hazard ratio. SNP=single-nucleotide polymorphism. Lp(a)=lipoprotein(a).
Figure 3
Figure 3. Forest plots of risk ratios for all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in studies of the GENIUS-CHD consortium
All-cause mortality associated with LPA single-nucleotide polymorphisms rs3798220 (A) and rs10455872 (B). Cardiovascular mortality associated with LPA SNPs rs3798220 (C) and rs10455872 (D). Markers represent point estimates of risk ratios and horizontal bars indicate 95% CIs. Marker size represents study weight in random-effects meta-analysis.

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