Integrated analyses of growth differentiation Factor-15 concentration and cardiometabolic diseases in humans
- University of Helsinki, Finland
- AstraZeneca, United Kingdom
- University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
- Hannover Medical School, Germany
- University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany
- Imperial College London, United Kingdom
- National Institute of Health and Family Welfare, Finland
- AstraZeneca, Sweden
Abstract
Growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) is a stress response cytokine that is elevated in several cardiometabolic diseases and has attracted interest as a potential therapeutic target. To further explore the association of GDF15 with human disease, we conducted a broad study into the phenotypic and genetic correlates of GDF15 concentration in up to 14,099 individuals. Assessment of 772 traits across 6,610 participants in FINRISK identified associations of GDF15 concentration with a range of phenotypes including all-cause mortality, cardiometabolic disease, respiratory diseases and psychiatric disorders as well as inflammatory markers. A meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of GDF15 concentration across 3 different assay platforms (n=14,099) confirmed significant heterogeneity due to a common missense variant rs1058587 in GDF15, potentially due to epitope-binding artefacts. After conditioning on rs1058587, statistical fine-mapping identified 4 independent putative causal signals at the locus. Mendelian randomisation (MR) analysis found evidence of a causal relationship between GDF15 concentration and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) but not body mass index (BMI). Using reverse MR, we identified a potential causal association of BMI on GDF15 (IVW pFDR=0.0040). Taken together, our data do not support a role for elevated GDF15 concentrations as a causal factor in human cardiometabolic disease but support its role as a biomarker of metabolic stress.
Data availability
Participant-level genotype and phenotype data from UK Biobank are available by application: https://www.ukbiobank.ac.uk/enable-your-research/apply-for-access.Participant-level genotype and phenotype data (as part of the FinnGen consortium) are available by application: https://www.finngen.fi/en/access_results.INTERVAL-SomaScan participant-level genotype and protein data, and full summary association results from the genetic analysis are available through the European Genotype Archive (accession number EGA00001002555). Summary association results are also publically available at http://www.phpc.cam.ac.uk/ceu/proteins/, through PhenoScanner (http://www.phenoscanner.medschl.cam.ac.uk) and from the NHGRI-EBI GWAS Catalog (https://www.ebi.ac.uk/gwas/downloads/summary-statistics).INTERVAL-Olink summary association results are publically available at http://www.phpc.cam.ac.uk/ceu/proteins/.
Article and author information
Author details
Eleanor May Wigmore
James Edward Peters
Funding
NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre (BRC-1215-20014)
- Rachel MY Ong
Sydäntutkimussäätiö
- Veikko Salomaa
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Ethics
Human subjects: FINRISK study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District.Informed consent was obtained from all participants and the INTERVAL study was approved by the National Research Ethics Service (11/EE/0538).All study participants provided informed consent and the UK Biobank has approval from the North-West Multi-centre Research Ethics Committee (MREC; 11/NW/0382).
Copyright
© 2022, Lemmelä et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Integrated analyses of growth differentiation Factor-15 concentration and cardiometabolic diseases in humans
eLife 11:e76272.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.76272
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