Common genetic and environmental effects on lipid phenotypes: the HERITAGE family study.
OBJECTIVE
Despite the well known genetic component influencing plasma lipid-lipoprotein levels and the observed correlations among these traits, little is known about pleiotropic heritable determinants among them. Our aim is to investigate pair-wise polygenic and environmental correlations among lipid-lipoprotein levels at baseline and in response to regular exercise in Whites and Blacks.


METHODS
Common pair-wise genetic and environmental correlations among levels of total cholesterol (TC), LDL-C, ApoB, HDL-C (also HDL2-C and HDL3-C), triglycerides (TG, HDL-TG and LDL-TG) and ApoA-1 were investigated at baseline and again after a 20-week endurance exercise program using a variance-components-decomposition.


RESULTS
With a few exceptions, all lipid phenotypes were heritable at baseline and for training responses in Blacks and Whites. Strong to high genetic and environmental correlations (0.4 < rho(g) < 0.7) were observed for the majority of the baseline pair-wise traits. For training responses, many of the same patterns were noted, although fewer genetic correlations were significant as compared to the baseline results.


CONCLUSIONS
Results suggest that the observed phenotypic correlations among many of these traits may be due to in part to pleiotropic genes, in particular between LDL-C and ApoB and between TG and HDL-C. This shared genetic architecture should be considered in follow-up gene finding studies.
Feitosa
Mary F
MF
Division of Biostatistics, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO 63110-1093, USA. maryf@wubios.wusl.edu
Rice
Treva
T
Rankinen
Tuomo
T
Almasy
Laura
L
Leon
Arthur S
AS
Skinner
James S
JS
Wilmore
Jack H
JH
Bouchard
Claude
C
Rao
D C
DC
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D044383:Black People / Q000235:genetics; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008055:Lipids / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics*; D008074:Lipoproteins / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010641:Phenotype; D044465:White People / Q000235:genetics
D008055:Lipids; D008074:Lipoproteins; D002784:Cholesterol