Large-scale genome-wide association study of coronary artery disease in genetically diverse populations
- PMID: 35915156
- PMCID: PMC9419655
- DOI: 10.1038/s41591-022-01891-3
Large-scale genome-wide association study of coronary artery disease in genetically diverse populations
Abstract
We report a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of coronary artery disease (CAD) incorporating nearly a quarter of a million cases, in which existing studies are integrated with data from cohorts of white, Black and Hispanic individuals from the Million Veteran Program. We document near equivalent heritability of CAD across multiple ancestral groups, identify 95 novel loci, including nine on the X chromosome, detect eight loci of genome-wide significance in Black and Hispanic individuals, and demonstrate that two common haplotypes at the 9p21 locus are responsible for risk stratification in all populations except those of African origin, in which these haplotypes are virtually absent. Moreover, in the largest GWAS for angiographically derived coronary atherosclerosis performed to date, we find 15 loci of genome-wide significance that robustly overlap with established loci for clinical CAD. Phenome-wide association analyses of novel loci and polygenic risk scores (PRSs) augment signals related to insulin resistance, extend pleiotropic associations of these loci to include smoking and family history, and precisely document the markedly reduced transferability of existing PRSs to Black individuals. Downstream integrative analyses reinforce the critical roles of vascular endothelial, fibroblast, and smooth muscle cells in CAD susceptibility, but also point to a shared biology between atherosclerosis and oncogenesis. This study highlights the value of diverse populations in further characterizing the genetic architecture of CAD.
© 2022. This is a U.S. Government work and not under copyright protection in the US; foreign copyright protection may apply.
Conflict of interest statement
Ethics declarations - Competing interests
A.B. and L.A.L. are employees of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. R.D. has received grants from AstraZeneca, grants and nonfinancial support from Goldfinch Bio, being a scientific co-founder, consultant and equity holder for Pensieve Health and being a consultant for Variant Bio. T. M. M. is an employee of the Healthcare Innovation Lab at BJC HealthCare / Washington University School of Medicine, an advisor of Myia Labs, and a compensated director the J.F Maddox Foundation in New Mexico. S.K. is an is an employee of Verve Therapeutics, holds equity in Verve Therapeutics and Maze Therapeutics, and has served as a consultant for Acceleron, Eli Lilly, Novartis, Merck, Novo Nordisk, Novo Ventures, Ionis, Alnylam, Aegerion, Haug Partners, Noble Insights, Leerink Partners, Bayer Healthcare, Illumina, Color Genomics, MedGenome, Quest, and Medscape. D.J.R. is on the Scientific Advisory Board of Alnylam, Novartis, and Verve Therapeutics. M.D.R. is on the scientific advisory board for Goldfinch Bio and Cipherome. C.J.O became an employee of Novartis after initial submission of manuscript. P.N. reports investigator-initiated grants from Amgen, Apple, AstraZeneca, Boston Scientific, and Novartis, personal fees from Apple, AstraZeneca, Blackstone Life Sciences, Invitae, Foresite Labs, Novartis, Roche / Genentech, is a co-founder of TenSixteen Bio, is a shareholder of geneXwell, TenSixteen Bio, and Vertex, scientific advisory board member of geneXwell and TenSixteen Bio, and spousal employment at Vertex, all unrelated to the present work. S.M.D. receives research support from RenalytixAI to his institution and consulting fees from Calico Labs. A.G.B. is a scientific co-founder and equity holder in TenSixteen Bio. The remaining authors declare no competing interests.
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