title: Genetic contribution to circulating levels of hemostatic factors in healthy families with effects of known genetic polymorphisms on heritability.
abstract: Levels of fibrinogen, factor VII (FVII), factor XIII (FXIII), plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI)-1, and tissue plasminogen activator have been associated with coronary artery disease as have genetic polymorphisms. Quantitative genetic analyses allow determination of the genetic contribution to phenotypic variation. We investigated familial influences on these hemostatic factors in 537 adults from 89 randomly ascertained healthy families of white North European origin. We used maximum likelihood analysis to estimate the heritabilities of these factors and effects of covariates on the factors in these families. After adjustment for age and sex, the factors showed considerable heritability, varying from 26% (PAI-1) to 47% (FXIII complex). The influence of known polymorphisms was negligible for fibrinogen and contributed 2% to the variance of the FXIII complex and PAI-1 and 11% to the variance of FVII coagulant activity. Age, sex, body mass index, lifestyle, and metabolic covariates explained between 10% (FXIII) and 44% (PAI-1) of phenotypic variance. Childhood household influences significantly affected FVII (11%) and FXIII (18%). A significant degree of phenotypic variance of several hemostatic factors can be explained by additive genes and known covariates. The impact of certain well-characterized polymorphisms to the heritability is small in this population of healthy families, indicating the need to localize new genes influencing hemostatic factor levels.
authors.affiliation: Academic Unit of Molecular Vascular Medicine, The General Infirmary at Leeds, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK. m.s.freeman@leeds.ac.uk
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Freeman
authors.forename: M W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Mansfield
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Barrett
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Grant
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001779:Blood Coagulation Factors / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics*; D005167:Factor VII / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D005176:Factor XIII / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D005340:Fibrinogen / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008297:Male; D017395:Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 1 / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012307:Risk Factors; D010959:Tissue Plasminogen Activator / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics; D014652:Vascular Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D001779:Blood Coagulation Factors; D017395:Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 1; D005167:Factor VII; D005340:Fibrinogen; D005176:Factor XIII; D010959:Tissue Plasminogen Activator