Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Title
International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Volume
25
Issue
16
PubMed ID
39201500
Publisher
MDPI
School
Centre for Precision Health / School of Medical and Health Sciences
RAS ID
71688
Funders
National Health and Medical Research Council / The Department of Health Western Australia (G1006599)
Grant Number
NHMRC Numbers : APP1161706, APP1191535, GNT2025837
Abstract
There is evidence to support a link between abnormal lipid metabolism and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) risk. Similarly, observational studies suggest a comorbid relationship between AD and coronary artery disease (CAD). However, the intricate biological mechanisms of AD are poorly understood, and its relationship with lipids and CAD traits remains unresolved. Conflicting evidence further underscores the ongoing investigation into this research area. Here, we systematically assess the cross-trait genetic overlap of AD with 13 representative lipids (from eight classes) and seven CAD traits, leveraging robust analytical methods, well-powered large-scale genetic data, and rigorous replication testing. Our main analysis demonstrates a significant positive global genetic correlation of AD with triglycerides and all seven CAD traits assessed—angina pectoris, cardiac dysrhythmias, coronary arteriosclerosis, ischemic heart disease, myocardial infarction, non-specific chest pain, and coronary artery disease. Gene-level analyses largely reinforce these findings and highlight the genetic overlap between AD and three additional lipids: high-density lipoproteins (HDLs), low-density lipoproteins (LDLs), and total cholesterol. Moreover, we identify genome-wide significant genes (Fisher’s combined p value [FCPgene] < 2.60 × 10−6) shared across AD, several lipids, and CAD traits, including WDR12, BAG6, HLA-DRA, PHB, ZNF652, APOE, APOC4, PVRL2, and TOMM40. Mendelian randomisation analysis found no evidence of a significant causal relationship between AD, lipids, and CAD traits. However, local genetic correlation analysis identifies several local pleiotropic hotspots contributing to the relationship of AD with lipids and CAD traits across chromosomes 6, 8, 17, and 19. Completing a three-way analysis, we confirm a strong genetic correlation between lipids and CAD traits—HDL and sphingomyelin demonstrate negative correlations, while LDL, triglycerides, and total cholesterol show positive correlations. These findings support genetic overlap between AD, specific lipids, and CAD traits, implicating shared but non-causal genetic susceptibility. The identified shared genes and pleiotropic hotspots are valuable targets for further investigation into AD and, potentially, its comorbidity with CAD traits.
DOI
10.3390/ijms25168814
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
Kirby, A., Porter, T., Adewuyi, E. O., & Laws, S. M. (2024). Investigating genetic overlap between Alzheimer’s disease, lipids, and coronary artery disease: A large-scale genome-wide cross trait analysis. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 25(16), 8814. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25168814