Instrumental variable and colocalization analyses identify endotrophin and HTRA1 as potential therapeutic targets for coronary artery disease

Paul C. Lee, In-Hyuk Jung, Shreeya Thussu, Ved Patel, Ryan Wagoner, Kendall H. Burks, Junedh Amrute, Jared S. Elenbaas, Chul Joo Kang, Erica Young, Philipp E. Scherer, Nathan O. Stitziel

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Coronary artery disease (CAD) remains a leading cause of disease burden globally, and there is a persistent need for new therapeutic targets. Instrumental variable (IV) and genetic colocalization analyses can help identify novel therapeutic targets for human disease by nominating causal genes in genome-wide association study (GWAS) loci. We conducted cis-IV analyses for 20,125 genes and 1,746 plasma proteins with CAD using molecular trait quantitative trait loci variant (QTLs) data from three different studies. 19 proteins and 119 genes were significantly associated with CAD risk by IV analyses and demonstrated evidence of genetic colocalization. Notably, our analyses validated well-established targets such as PCSK9 and ANGPTL4 while also identifying HTRA1 and endotrophin (a cleavage product of COL6A3) as proteins whose levels are causally associated with CAD risk. Further experimental studies are needed to confirm the causal role of the genes and proteins identified through our multiomic cis-IV analyses on human disease.

Original languageEnglish
Article number110104
JournaliScience
Volume27
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 19 2024

Keywords

  • Association analysis
  • Biocomputational method
  • Cardiovascular medicine
  • Quantitative genetics
  • Techniques in genetics

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