Background
In addition to lowering low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), statin therapy also raises high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels. Inter-individual variation in HDL-C response to statins may be partially explained by genetic variation.
Methods and results
We performed a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to identify variants with an effect on statin-induced high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) changes. The 123 most promising signals with p<1×10-4 from the 16 769 statin-treated participants in the first analysis stage were followed up in an independent group of 10 951 statin-treated individuals, providing a total sample size of 27 720 individuals. The only associations of genome-wide significance (p<5×10-8) were between minor alleles at the CETP locus and greater HDL-C response to statin treatment.
Conclusions
Based on results from this study that included a relatively large sample size, we suggest that CETP may be the only detectable locus with common genetic variants that influence HDL-C response to statins substantially in individuals of European descent. Although CETP is known to be associated with HDL-C, we provide evidence that this pharmacogenetic effect is independent of its association with baseline HDL-C levels.
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Overview publication
Title | Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of HDL cholesterol response to statins. |
Date | December 1st, 2016 |
Issue name | Journal of medical genetics |
Issue number | v53.12:835-845 |
DOI | 10.1136/jmedgenet-2016-103966 |
PubMed | 27587472 |
Authors | |
Keywords | Genome-wide association study, HDL-cholesterol, Statins, pharmacogenetics |
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