New Inherited Factors Influencing Blood Lipid Levels

Most previous genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of levels of the lipids cholesterol and triglycerides have used data from individuals who were recruited because they had a particular disease, a method that can introduce bias. Leena Peltonen and colleagues studied individuals who were randomly sampled from more than 16 different European population groups. They identified 22 loci contributing to variation in lipid levels, 6 of which are new.

In a second study, Nelson Freimer and colleagues carried out a GWAS for 9 traits, including blood lipid levels, glucose, insulin, body mass, and blood pressure in a sample that included almost all individuals born in 1966 in the two northernmost Finnish provinces. This is the first GWAS of a 'birth cohort', which has the benefit of avoiding potential age-related and environmental biases. The authors identified 23 loci affecting the traits under study, 9 of which are new.

Finally, Sekar Kathiresan and colleagues carried out their own GWAS of cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and identified 30 contributing loci, 11 of which are new.

Author contacts:

Leena Peltonen (Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, UK)
E-mail: leena@sanger.ac.uk

Nelson Freimer (University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA)
E-mail: nfreimer@mednet.ucla.edu

Sekar Kathiresan (Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA)
E-mail: skathiresan@partners.org

Abstracts available online:
Paper 1 Abstract.
Paper 2 Abstract.
Paper 3 Abstract.

(C) Nature Genetics.

Message posted by: Trevor M. D'Souza