rs507666

A genome-wide association study of 83 plasma proteins relevant to cardiovascular disease in 3,394 European subjects identified 79 genome-wide significant loci (p<5e-8), with 55 replicating in independent cohorts (n=2,639). Using eQTL analysis and network methods, the authors proposed plausible causal mechanisms for 25 trans-acting loci including post-translational regulation of KITLG by MMP9 and several receptor-ligand pairs. Multiple loci showed evidence of causal association with coronary artery disease risk.

This doctoral thesis comprises three studies on metabolic syndrome-related traits. Study III is a GWAS identifying seven novel loci associating with circulating inflammatory markers (cytokines and adhesion molecules) in 5,284 Finnish individuals from NFBC1966, with meta-analysis including three additional Finnish populations totaling 13,577 participants. Studies I and II use Mendelian randomization and association analysis to examine metabolic effects of lipid-lowering therapies and NAFLD risk alleles (PNPLA3 rs738409-G, TM6SF2 rs58542926-T, GCKR rs780094-T/rs1260326-T, LYPLAL1 rs12137855-C, and NCAN rs2228603-T).