High plasma HDL cholesterol is associated with reduced risk of myocardial infarction, but whether this association is causal is unclear. Exploiting the fact that genotypes are randomly assigned at meiosis, are independent of non-genetic confounding, and are unmodified by disease processes, mendelian randomisation can be used to test the hypothesis that the association of a plasma biomarker with disease is causal.We performed two mendelian randomisation analyses. First, we used as an instrument a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the endothelial lipase gene (LIPG Asn396Ser) and tested this SNP in 20 studies (20,913 myocardial infarction cases, 95,407 controls). Second, we used as an instrument a genetic score consisting of 14 common SNPs that exclusively associate with HDL cholesterol and tested this score in up to 12,482 cases of myocardial infarction and 41,331 controls. As a positive control, we also tested a genetic score of 13 common SNPs exclusively associated with LDL cholesterol.Carriers of the LIPG 396Ser allele (2·6% frequency) had higher HDL cholesterol (0·14 mmol/L higher, p=8×10(-13)) but similar levels of other lipid and non-lipid risk factors for myocardial infarction compared with non-carriers. This difference in HDL cholesterol is expected to decrease risk of myocardial infarction by 13% (odds ratio [OR] 0·87, 95% CI 0·84-0·91). However, we noted that the 396Ser allele was not associated with risk of myocardial infarction (OR 0·99, 95% CI 0·88-1·11, p=0·85). From observational epidemiology, an increase of 1 SD in HDL cholesterol was associated with reduced risk of myocardial infarction (OR 0·62, 95% CI 0·58-0·66). However, a 1 SD increase in HDL cholesterol due to genetic score was not associated with risk of myocardial infarction (OR 0·93, 95% CI 0·68-1·26, p=0·63). For LDL cholesterol, the estimate from observational epidemiology (a 1 SD increase in LDL cholesterol associated with OR 1·54, 95% CI 1·45-1·63) was concordant with that from genetic score (OR 2·13, 95% CI 1·69-2·69, p=2×10(-10)).Some genetic mechanisms that raise plasma HDL cholesterol do not seem to lower risk of myocardial infarction. These data challenge the concept that raising of plasma HDL cholesterol will uniformly translate into reductions in risk of myocardial infarction.US National Institutes of Health, The Wellcome Trust, European Union, British Heart Foundation, and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
Funding for this study was provided by the Aase and Ejner Danielsens Foundation; Academy of Finland (41071, 77299, 102318, 110413, 117787, 121584, 123885, 124243, 124282, 126925, 129378, 134309, 286284); Accare Center for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry; Action on Hearing Loss (G51); Agence Nationale de la 359 Recherche; Agency for Health Care Policy Research (HS06516); ALF/LUA research grant in Gothenburg; ALFEDIAM; ALK-Abello´ A/S; Althingi; American Heart Association (13POST16500011); Amgen; Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies; Ardix Medical; Arthritis Research UK; Association Diabe`te Risque Vasculaire; Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (241944, 339462, 389875, 389891, 389892, 389927, 389938, 442915, 442981, 496739, 552485, 552498); Avera Institute; Bayer Diagnostics; Becton Dickinson; BHF (RG/14/5/30893); Boston Obesity Nutrition Research Center (DK46200), Bristol-Myers Squibb; British Heart Foundation (RG/10/12/ 28456, RG2008/08, RG2008/014, SP/04/002); Medical Research Council of Canada; Canadian Institutes for Health Research (FRCN-CCT-83028); Cancer Research UK; Cardionics; Cavadis B.V., Center for Medical Systems Biology; Center of Excellence in Genomics; CFI; CIHR; City of Kuopio; CNAMTS; Cohortes Sante´ TGIR; Contrat de Projets E´tat-Re´gion; Croatian Science Foundation (8875); Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation; Danish Council for Independent Research (DFF-1333- 00124, DFF-1331-00730B); County Council of Dalarna; Dalarna University; Danish Council for Strategic Research; Danish Diabetes Academy; Danish Medical Research Council; Department of Health, UK; Development Fund from the University of Tartu (SP1GVARENG); Diabetes Hilfs- und Forschungsfonds Deutschland; Diabetes UK; Diabetes Research and Wellness Foundation Fellowship; Donald W. Reynolds Foundation; Dr Robert Pfleger-Stiftung; Dutch Brain Foundation; Dutch Diabetes Research Foundation; Dutch Inter University Cardiology Institute; Dutch Kidney Foundation (E033); Dutch Ministry of Justice; the DynaHEALTH action No. 633595, Economic Structure Enhancing Fund of the Dutch Government; Else Kro¨ner-Fresenius-Stiftung (2012_A147, P48/08//A11/08); Emil Aaltonen Foundation; Erasmus University Medical Center Rotterdam; Erasmus MC and Erasmus University Rotterdam; the Municipality of Rotterdam; Estonian Government (IUT20-60, IUT24-6); Estonian Research Roadmap through the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research (3.2.0304.11-0312); European Research Council (ERC Starting Grant and 323195:SZ-245 50371-GLUCOSEGENESFP7-IDEAS-ERC); European Regional Development Fund; European Science Foundation (EU/QLRT-2001-01254); European Commission (018947, 018996, 201668, 223004, 230374, 279143, 284167, 305739, BBMRI-LPC-313010, HEALTH-2011.2.4.2-2-EUMASCARA, HEALTH-2011-278913, HEALTH-2011-294713-EPLORE, HEALTH-F2- 2008-201865-GEFOS, HEALTH-F2-2013-601456, HEALTH-F4-2007-201413, HEALTH-F4-2007-201550-HYPERGENES, HEALTH-F7-305507 HOMAGE, IMI/ 115006, LSHG-CT-2006-018947, LSHG-CT-2006-01947, LSHM-CT-2004-005272, LSHM-CT-2006-037697, LSHM-CT-2007-037273, QLG1-CT-2002-00896, QLG2-CT2002-01254); Faculty of Biology and Medicine of Lausanne; Federal Ministry of Education and Research (01ZZ0103, 01ZZ0403, 01ZZ9603, 03IS2061A, 03ZIK012); Federal State of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania; Fe´de´ration Franc¸aise de Cardiologie; Finnish Cultural Foundation; Finnish Diabetes Association; Finnish Foundation of Cardiovascular Research; Finnish Heart Association; Fondation Leducq; Food Standards Agency; Foundation for Strategic Research; French Ministry of Research; FRSQ; Genetic Association Information Network (GAIN) of the Foundation for the NIH; German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF, 01ER1206, 01ER1507); GlaxoSmithKline; Greek General Secretary of Research and Technology; Go¨teborg Medical Society; Health and Safety Executive; Healthcare NHS Trust; Healthway; Western Australia; Heart Foundation of Northern Sweden; Helmholtz Zentrum Mu¨nchen—German Research Center for Environmental Health; Hjartavernd; Ingrid Thurings Foundation; INSERM; InterOmics (PB05 MIUR-CNR); INTERREG IV Oberrhein Program (A28); Interuniversity Cardiology Institute of the Netherlands (ICIN, 09.001); Italian Ministry of Health (ICS110.1/RF97.71); Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance (FaReBio di Qualita`); Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation; the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports, the Netherlands; J.D.E. and Catherine T, MacArthur Foundation Research Networks on Successful Midlife Development and Socioeconomic Status and Health; Juho Vainio Foundation; Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International; KfH Stiftung Pra¨ventivmedizin e.V.; King's College London; Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation; Kuopio University Hospital; Kuopio, Tampere and Turku University Hospital Medical Funds (X51001); La Fondation de France; Leenaards Foundation; Lilly; LMUinnovativ; Lundberg Foundation; Magnus Bergvall Foundation; MDEIE; Medical Research Council UK (G0000934, G0601966, G0700931, MC_U106179471, MC_UU_12019/1); MEKOS Laboratories; Merck Sante´; Ministry for Health, Welfare and Sports, The Netherlands; Ministry of Cultural Affairs of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania; Ministry of Economic Affairs, The Netherlands; Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland (627;2004-2011); Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, The Netherlands; Ministry of Science, Education and Sport in the Republic of Croatia (108-1080315-0302); MRC centre for Causal Analyses in Translational Epidemiology; MRC Human Genetics Unit; MRC-GlaxoSmithKline pilot programme (G0701863); MSD Stipend Diabetes; National Institute for Health Research; Netherlands Brain Foundation (F2013(1)-28); Netherlands CardioVascular Research Initiative (CVON2011-19); Netherlands Genomics Initiative (050-060-810); Netherlands Heart Foundation (2001 D 032, NHS2010B280); Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) and Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMW) (56-464- 14192, 60-60600-97-118, 100-001-004, 261-98-710, 400-05-717, 480-04-004, 480-05-003, 481-08-013, 904-61-090, 904-61-193, 911-11-025, 985-10-002, Addiction-31160008, BBMRI–NL 184.021.007, GB-MaGW 452-04-314, GB-MaGW 452-06-004, GB-MaGW 480-01-006, GB-MaGW 480-07-001, GB-MW 940-38-011, Middelgroot-911-09-032, NBIC/BioAssist/RK 2008.024, Spinozapremie 175.010.2003.005, 175.010.2007.006); NATURE COMMUNICATIONS | DOI:10.1038/ncomms14977 ARTICLE NATURE COMMUNICATIONS | 8:14977 | DOI:10.1038/ncomms14977 | www.nature.com/naturecommunications 13 Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam; NHS Foundation Trust; National Institutes of Health (1RC2MH089951, 1Z01HG000024, 24152, 263MD9164, 263MD821336, 2R01LM010098, 32100-2, 32122, 32108, 5K99HL130580-02, AA07535, AA10248, AA11998, AA13320, AA13321, AA13326, AA14041, AA17688, AG13196, CA047988, DA12854, DK56350, DK063491, DK078150, DK091718, DK100383, DK078616, ES10126, HG004790, HHSN268200625226C, HHSN268200800007C, HHSN268201200036C, HHSN268201500001I, HHSN268201100046C, HHSN268201100001C, HHSN268201100002C, HHSN268201100003C, HHSN268201100004C, HHSN271201100004C, HL043851, HL45670, HL080467, HL085144, HL087660, HL054457, HL119443, HL118305, HL071981, HL034594, HL126024, HL130114, KL2TR001109, MH66206, MH081802, N01AG12100, N01HC55015, N01HC55016, N01C55018, N01HC55019, N01HC55020, N01HC55021, N01HC55022, N01HC85079, N01HC85080, N01HC85081, N01HC85082, N01HC85083, N01HC85086, N01HC95159, N01HC95160, N01HC95161, N01HC95162, N01HC95163, N01HC95164, N01HC95165, N01HC95166, N01HC95167, N01HC95168, N01HC95169, N01HG65403, N01WH22110, N02HL6-4278, N01-HC-25195, P01CA33619, R01HD057194, R01HD057194, R01AG023629, R01CA63, R01D004215701A, R01DK075787, R01DK062370, R01DK072193, R01DK075787, R01DK089256, R01HL53353, R01HL59367, R01HL086694, R01HL087641, R01HL087652, R01HL103612, R01HL105756, R01HL117078, R01HL120393, R03 AG046389, R37CA54281, RC2AG036495, RC4AG039029, RPPG040710371, RR20649, TW008288, TW05596, U01AG009740, U01CA98758, U01CA136792, U01DK062418, U01HG004402, U01HG004802, U01HG007376, U01HL080295, UL1RR025005, UL1TR000040, UL1TR000124, UL1TR001079, 2T32HL007055-36, T32GM074905, HG002651, HL084729, N01-HC25195, UM1CA182913); NIH, National Institute on Aging (Intramural funding, NO1-AG-1-2109); Northern Netherlands Collaboration of Provinces; Novartis Pharma; Novo Nordisk; Novo Nordisk Foundation; Nutricia Research Foundation (2016-T1); ONIVINS; Parnassia Bavo group; Pierre Fabre; Province of Groningen; Pa¨ivikki and Sakari Sohlberg Foundation; Påhlssons Foundation; Paavo Nurmi Foundation; Radboud Medical Center Nijmegen; Research Centre for Prevention and Health, the Capital Region of Denmark; the Research Institute for Diseases in the Elderly; Research into Ageing; Robert Dawson Evans Endowment of the Department of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center; Roche; Royal Society; Russian Foundation for Basic Research (NWO-RFBR 047.017.043); Rutgers University Cell and DNA Repository (NIMH U24 MH068457-06); Sanofi-Aventis; Scottish Government Health Directorates, Chief Scientist Office (CZD/16/6); Siemens Healthcare; Social Insurance Institution of Finland (4/26/2010); Social Ministry of the Federal State of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania; Socie´te´ Francophone du 358 Diabe`te; State of Bavaria; Stiftelsen fo¨r Gamla Tja¨narinnor; Stockholm County Council (560183, 592229); Strategic Cardiovascular and Diabetes Programmes of Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm County Council; Stroke Association; Swedish Diabetes Association; Swedish Diabetes Foundation (2013-024); Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research; Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation (20120197, 20150711); Swedish Research Council (0593, 8691, 2012-1397, 2012-1727, and 2012-2215); Swedish Society for Medical Research; Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics; Swiss National Science Foundation (3100AO-116323/1, 31003A-143914, 33CSCO-122661, 33CS30-139468, 33CS30-148401, 51RTP0_151019); Tampere Tuberculosis Foundation; Technology Foundation STW (11679); The Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Vlaanderen, Ministry of the Flemish Community (G.0880.13, G.0881.13); The Great Wine Estates of the Margaret River Region of Western Australia; Timber Merchant Vilhelm Bangs Foundation; Topcon; Tore Nilsson Foundation; Torsten and Ragnar So¨derberg's Foundation; United States – Israel Binational Science Foundation (Grant 2011036), Umeå University; University Hospital of Regensburg; University of Groningen; University Medical Center Groningen; University of Michigan; University of Utrecht; Uppsala Multidisciplinary Center for Advanced Computational Science (UPPMAX) (b2011036); Velux Foundation; VU University's Institute for Health and Care Research; Va¨stra Go¨taland Foundation; Wellcome Trust (068545, 076113, 079895, 084723, 088869, WT064890, WT086596, WT098017, WT090532, WT098051, 098381); Wissenschaftsoffensive TMO; Yrjo¨ Jahnsson Foundation; and Åke Wiberg Foundation
