Journal
JOURNAL OF LIPID RESEARCH
Volume 50, Issue 9, Pages 1917-1926Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1194/jlr.P900033-JLR200
Keywords
twins; heritability; genetics; risk factors
Categories
Funding
- National Institutes of Health [DK046124, DK79003, DK76092, DK78867, MH65322, DA18673, DK73321, 5T32 HL069772]
- US Department of Agriculture
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The relative influence of genetics and the environment on factors associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) and metabolic syndrome (MetS) remains unclear. We performed model-fitting analyses to quantify genetic, common environmental, and unique environmental variance components of factors associated with CVD and MetS [ waist circumference, blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose and insulin, homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), and fasting plasma lipids] in adult male and female monozygotic twins reared apart or together. We also investigated whether MetS components share common influences. Plasma cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations were highly heritable (56-77%, statistically significant). Waist circumference, plasma glucose and insulin, HOMA-IR, and blood pressure were moderately heritable (43-57%, statistically significant). Unique environmental factors contributed to the variance of all variables (20-38%, perforce statistically significant). Common environmental factors contributed 23, 30, and 42% (statistically significant) of the variance of waist circumference, systolic blood pressure, and plasma glucose, respectively. Two shared factors influenced MetS components; one influenced all components except HDL cholesterol, another influenced only lipid (triglyceride and HDL cholesterol) concentrations. These results suggest that genetic variance has a dominant influence on total variance of factors associated with CVD and MetS and support the proposal of one or more underlying pathologies of MetS.-Elder, S. J., A. H. Lichtenstein, A. G. Pittas, S. B. Roberts, P. J. Fuss, A. S. Greenberg, M. A. McCrory, T. J. Bouchard, Jr., E. Saltzman, and M. C. Neale. Genetic and environmental influences on factors associated with cardiovascular disease and the metabolic syndrome. J. Lipid Res. 2009. 50: 1917-1926.
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