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[Preprint]. 2023 Jun 12:2023.06.07.23291095.
doi: 10.1101/2023.06.07.23291095.

Whole genome analysis of plasma fibrinogen reveals population-differentiated genetic regulators with putative liver roles

Jennifer E Huffman, Jayna Nicolas, Julie Hahn, Adam S Heath, Laura M Raffield, Lisa R Yanek, Jennifer A Brody, Florian Thibord, Laura Almasy, Traci M Bartz, Lawrence F Bielak, Russell P Bowler, Germán D Carrasquilla, Daniel I Chasman, Ming-Huei Chen, David B Emmert, Mohsen Ghanbari, Jeffery Haessle, Jouke-Jan Hottenga, Marcus E Kleber, Ngoc-Quynh Le, Jiwon Lee, Joshua P Lewis, Ruifang Li-Gao, Jian'an Luan, Anni Malmberg, Massimo Mangino, Riccardo E Marioni, Angel Martinez-Perez, Nathan Pankratz, Ozren Polasek, Anne Richmond, Benjamin At Rodriguez, Jerome I Rotter, Maristella Steri, Pierre Suchon, Stella Trompet, Stefan Weiss, Marjan Zare, Paul Auer, Michael H Cho, Paraskevi Christofidou, Gail Davies, Eco de Geus, Jean-François Deleuze, Graciela E Delgado, Lynette Ekunwe, Nauder Faraday, Martin Gögele, Andreas Greinacher, Gao He, Tom Howard, Peter K Joshi, Tuomas O Kilpeläinen, Jari Lahti, Allan Linneberg, Silvia Naitza, Raymond Noordam, Ferran Paüls-Vergés, Stephen S Rich, Frits R Rosendaal, Igor Rudan, Kathleen A Ryan, Juan Carlos Souto, Frank Ja van Rooij, Heming Wang, Wei Zhao, Lewis C Becker, Andrew Beswick, Michael R Brown, Brian E Cade, Harry Campbell, Kelly Cho, James D Crapo, Joanne E Curran, Moniek Pm de Maat, Margaret Doyle, Paul Elliott, James S Floyd, Christian Fuchsberger, Niels Grarup, Xiuqing Guo, Sarah E Harris, Lifang Hou, Ivana Kolcic, Charles Kooperberg, Cristina Menni, Matthias Nauck, Jeffrey R O'Connell, Valeria Orrù, Bruce M Psaty, Katri Räikkönen, Jennifer A Smith, Jose Manuel Soria, David J Stott, Astrid van Hylckama Vlieg, Hugh Watkins, Gonneke Willemsen, Peter Wilson, Yoav Ben-Shlomo, John Blangero, Dorret Boomsma, Simon R Cox, Abbas Dehghan, Johan G Eriksson, Edoardo Fiorillo, Myriam Fornage, Torben Hansen, Caroline Hayward, M Arfan Ikram, J Wouter Jukema, Sharon Lr Kardia, Leslie A Lange, Winfried März, Rasika A Mathias, Braxton D Mitchell, Dennis O Mook-Kanamori, Pierre-Emmanuel Morange, Oluf Pedersen, Peter P Pramstaller, Susan Redline, Alexander Reiner, Paul M Ridker, Edwin K Silverman, Tim D Spector, Uwe Völker, Nick Wareham, James F Wilson, Jie Yao; VA Million Veteran Program; NHLBI Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) Consortium; David-Alexandre Trégouët, Andrew D Johnson, Alisa S Wolberg, Paul S de Vries, Maria Sabater-Lleal, Alanna C Morrison, Nicholas L Smith

Whole genome analysis of plasma fibrinogen reveals population-differentiated genetic regulators with putative liver roles

Jennifer E Huffman et al. medRxiv. .

Update in

  • Whole-genome analysis of plasma fibrinogen reveals population-differentiated genetic regulators with putative liver roles.
    Huffman JE, Nicholas J, Hahn J, Heath AS, Raffield LM, Yanek LR, Brody JA, Thibord F, Almasy L, Bartz TM, Bielak LF, Bowler RP, Carrasquilla GD, Chasman DI, Chen MH, Emmert DB, Ghanbari M, Haessler J, Hottenga JJ, Kleber ME, Le NQ, Lee J, Lewis JP, Li-Gao R, Luan J, Malmberg A, Mangino M, Marioni RE, Martinez-Perez A, Pankratz N, Polasek O, Richmond A, Rodriguez BAT, Rotter JI, Steri M, Suchon P, Trompet S, Weiss S, Zare M, Auer P, Cho MH, Christofidou P, Davies G, de Geus E, Deleuze JF, Delgado GE, Ekunwe L, Faraday N, Gögele M, Greinacher A, Gao H, Howard T, Joshi PK, Kilpeläinen TO, Lahti J, Linneberg A, Naitza S, Noordam R, Paüls-Vergés F, Rich SS, Rosendaal FR, Rudan I, Ryan KA, Souto JC, van Rooij FJA, Wang H, Zhao W, Becker LC, Beswick A, Brown MR, Cade BE, Campbell H, Cho K, Crapo JD, Curran JE, de Maat MPM, Doyle M, Elliott P, Floyd JS, Fuchsberger C, Grarup N, Guo X, Harris SE, Hou L, Kolcic I, Kooperberg C, Menni C, Nauck M, O'Connell JR, Orrù V, Psaty BM, Räikkönen K, Smith JA, Soria JM, Stott DJ, van Hylckama Vlieg A, Watkins H, Willemsen G, Wilson PWF, Ben-Shlomo Y, Blangero J, Boomsma D, Cox SR, Dehghan A, Eriksson JG, Fiorillo E, Fornage M, Hansen T, Hayward C, Ikr… See abstract for full author list ➔ Huffman JE, et al. Blood. 2024 Nov 21;144(21):2248-2265. doi: 10.1182/blood.2023022596. Blood. 2024. PMID: 39226462 Free PMC article.

Abstract

Genetic studies have identified numerous regions associated with plasma fibrinogen levels in Europeans, yet missing heritability and limited inclusion of non-Europeans necessitates further studies with improved power and sensitivity. Compared with array-based genotyping, whole genome sequencing (WGS) data provides better coverage of the genome and better representation of non-European variants. To better understand the genetic landscape regulating plasma fibrinogen levels, we meta-analyzed WGS data from the NHLBI's Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) program (n=32,572), with array-based genotype data from the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) Consortium (n=131,340) imputed to the TOPMed or Haplotype Reference Consortium panel. We identified 18 loci that have not been identified in prior genetic studies of fibrinogen. Of these, four are driven by common variants of small effect with reported MAF at least 10% higher in African populations. Three ( SERPINA1, ZFP36L2 , and TLR10) signals contain predicted deleterious missense variants. Two loci, SOCS3 and HPN , each harbor two conditionally distinct, non-coding variants. The gene region encoding the protein chain subunits ( FGG;FGB;FGA ), contains 7 distinct signals, including one novel signal driven by rs28577061, a variant common (MAF=0.180) in African reference panels but extremely rare (MAF=0.008) in Europeans. Through phenome-wide association studies in the VA Million Veteran Program, we found associations between fibrinogen polygenic risk scores and thrombotic and inflammatory disease phenotypes, including an association with gout. Our findings demonstrate the utility of WGS to augment genetic discovery in diverse populations and offer new insights for putative mechanisms of fibrinogen regulation.

Key points: Largest and most diverse genetic study of plasma fibrinogen identifies 54 regions (18 novel), housing 69 conditionally distinct variants (20 novel).Sufficient power achieved to identify signal driven by African population variant.Links to (1) liver enzyme, blood cell and lipid genetic signals, (2) liver regulatory elements, and (3) thrombotic and inflammatory disease.

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