Whole Genome Sequence Analysis of the Plasma Proteome in Black Adults Provides Novel Insights Into Cardiovascular Disease
Daniel H. Katz, Usman A. Tahir, Alexander G. Bick, Akhil Pampana, Debby Ngo, Mark D. Benson, Zhi Yu, Jeremy M. Robbins, Zsu-Zsu Chen, Daniel E. Cruz, Shuliang Deng, Laurie Farrell, Sumita Sinha, Alec A. Schmaier, Dongxiao Shen, Yan Gao, Michael E. Hall, Adolfo Correa, Russell P. Tracy, Peter Durda, Kent D. Taylor, Yongmei Liu, W. Craig Johnson, Xiuqing Guo, Jie Yao, Yii-Der Ida Chen, Ani W. Manichaikul, Deepti Jain, Claude Bouchard, Mark A. Sarzynski, Stephen S. Rich, Jerome I. Rotter, Thomas J. Wang, James G. Wilson, Pradeep Natarajan, Robert E. Gerszten, Namiko Abe, Gonçalo Abecasis, Francois Aguet, Christine Albert, Laura Almasy, Alvaro Alonso, Seth Ament, Peter Anderson, Pramod Anugu, Deborah Applebaum-Bowden, Kristin Ardlie, Dan Arking, Donna K. Arnett, Allison Ashley-Koch, Stella Aslibekyan, Tim Assimes, Paul Auer, Dimitrios Avramopoulos, Najib Ayas, Adithya Balasubramanian, John Barnard, Kathleen Barnes, R. Graham Barr, Emily Barron-Casella, Lucas Barwick, Terri Beaty, Gerald Beck, Diane Becker, Lewis Becker, Rebecca Beer, Amber Beitelshees, Emelia Benjamin, Takis Benos, Marcos Bezerra, Larry Bielak, Joshua Bis, Thomas Blackwell, John Blangero, Eric Boerwinkle, Donald W. Bowden, Russell Bowler, Jennifer Brody, Ulrich Broeckel, Jai Broome, Deborah Brown, Karen Bunting, Esteban Burchard, Carlos Bustamante, Erin Buth, Brian Cade, Jonathan Cardwell, Vincent Carey, Julie Carrier, April Carson, Cara Carty, Richard Casaburi, Juan P. Casas Romero, James Casella, Peter Castaldi, Mark Chaffin, Christy Chang, Yi-Cheng Chang, Daniel Chasman, Sameer Chavan
Abstract
Background: Plasma proteins are critical mediators of cardiovascular processes and are the targets of many drugs. Previous efforts to characterize the genetic architecture of the plasma proteome have been limited by a focus on individuals of European descent and leveraged genotyping arrays and imputation. Here we describe whole genome sequence analysis of the plasma proteome in individuals with greater African ancestry, increasing our power to identify novel genetic determinants. Methods: Proteomic profiling of 1301 proteins was performed in 1852 Black adults from the Jackson Heart Study using aptamer-based proteomics (SomaScan). Whole genome sequencing association analysis was ascertained for all variants with minor allele count ≥5. Results were validated using an alternative, antibody-based, proteomic platform (Olink) as well as replicated in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis and the HERITAGE Family Study (Health, Risk Factors, Exercise Training and Genetics). Results: We identify 569 genetic associations between 479 proteins and 438 unique genetic regions at a Bonferroni-adjusted significance level of 3.8×10 -11 . These associations include 114 novel locus-protein relationships and an additional 217 novel sentinel variant-protein relationships. Novel cardiovascular findings include new protein associations at the APOE gene locus including ZAP70 (sentinel single nucleotide polymorphism [SNP] rs7412-T, β=0.61±0.05, P =3.27×10 -30 ) and MMP-3 (β=-0.60±0.05, P =1.67×10 -32 ), as well as a completely novel pleiotropic locus at the HPX gene, associated with 9 proteins. Further, the associations suggest new mechanisms of genetically mediated cardiovascular disease linked to African ancestry; we identify a novel association between variants linked to APOL1-associated chronic kidney and heart disease and the protein CKAP2 (rs73885319-G, β=0.34±0.04, P =1.34×10 -17 ) as well as an association between ATTR amyloidosis and RBP4 levels in community-dwelling individuals without heart failure. Conclusions: Taken together, these results provide evidence for the functional importance of variants in non-European populations, and suggest new biological mechanisms for ancestry-specific determinants of lipids, coagulation, and myocardial function.