Vascular Biology |
From the Department of Genetics (M.C.M., S.A.C.), Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, San Antonio, Tex; the Laboratory of Clinical Pharmaceutics (T.A.), Gifu Pharmaceutical University, Gifu, Japan; and the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine (D.E.L.W., X.L.W.), University of New South Wales, Prince Henry/Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, Australia.
Correspondence to M.C. Mahaney, PhD, Department of Genetics, Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, PO Box 760549, San Antonio, TX 78245-0549. E-mail mmahaney{at}darwin.sfbr.org
| Abstract |
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G]=-0.45) and between NOx and apoA-I
(
G=0.58) but not between EC-SOD and NOx.
Genes shared by EC-SOD and apoA-I account for 20% of the genetic
variance and, respectively, 7% and 9% of the phenotypic variance in
both traits. Shared genes also account for >33% of the genetic
variance and 5% and 15% of the respective phenotypic variance in
NOx and apoA-I. In healthy individuals, over a third of the
variance in EC-SOD plasma levels is due to the additive effects of
genes. Some genes influence EC-SOD and apoA-I levels. The same is true
of NOx and apoA-I but not of EC-SOD and NOx.
These patterns of pleiotropy can guide subsequent attempts to identify
the genes and physiological mechanisms
underlying them.
Key Words: superoxide dismutase nitric oxide apolipoproteins heritability pleiotropy
| Introduction |
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One protective response of tissues against untoward effects of ROS is production of antioxidative molecules, such as superoxide dismutase (SOD). Whereas each of the 3 isoenzymes of SOD (secreted extracellular SOD [EC-SOD], cytosolic CuZn-SOD, and mitochondrial Mn-SOD)8 9 10 has specific cellular locations and functions, all reduce superoxide radicals to hydrogen peroxide and molecular oxygen. Over 90% of EC-SOD is found in the interstitial spaces of tissues and extracellular fluids and is responsible for the majority of SOD activity of plasma, lymph, and synovial fluid.8 11 12 EC-SOD has a high affinity for heparin sulfate proteoglycans13 14 15 present in the connective tissue matrix and on cell surfaces, particularly surfaces of endothelial cells. Endothelium surfacebound EC-SOD is the primary source of circulating plasma EC-SOD, and levels are in equilibrium between these 2 phases.11 12 16 It is a key component in the antioxidation capability of the vascular wall and likely contributes to atherogenesis.
Results of a recent study in an Australian population with coronary artery disease are consistent with a relation between EC-SOD bioavailability and cardiovascular disease risk.17 When individuals with a mutation known to produce extremely high EC-SOD levels were excluded, plasma EC-SOD levels were inversely associated with smoking behavior so that those of current smokers were lowest, those of exsmokers were intermediate, and those of nonsmokers were highest. Furthermore, patients with a history of myocardial infarction had lower plasma EC-SOD levels.
Known genetic effects on plasma EC-SOD levels are limited to those
attributed to a single base-pair substitution, Arg213
Gly at the
heparin-binding domain, in the structural gene for EC-SOD located on
chromosome 4 (4pter-q21). This mutation has been identified and found
to be associated with very high plasma EC-SOD levels in several
populations, albeit with a low prevalence: eg, 6% in Japanese, 3.2%
in Australian whites, and 2.2% in Swedes.17 18 19 20 21
The mutation impairs the affinity of EC-SOD for heparin at the
endothelial cell surface,18 22 23 but
given the equilibrium between plasma and endothelial
cell surface EC-SOD, it appears to be directly responsible for markedly
increased plasma EC-SOD levels in those who possess it. Although it is
known that the Arg213
Gly mutation was responsible for a bimodal
distribution of EC-SOD levels in the Australian study population cited
above,17 the genetic contribution to quantitative
variation in the more common range of this phenotype, exhibited
by 93% to 97% of that population, is still unknown.
Slightly more is known about the genetic contribution to normal
variation in endothelial constitutive NO, a key
molecule in peroxynitrite production against which EC-SOD is a
protective response. Analyses of data from a study of healthy
members of >100 Australian families showed that genes and plasma
levels of apoA-I significantly influence normal variation in plasma NO
levels.24 The potential role of EC-SOD plus these
observations on NO motivated the 2 principal objectives of the
present study. The first was to detect and measure the effects of
genes on normal quantitative variation in plasma levels of EC-SOD in
individuals not possessing the Arg213
Gly mutation. The second
objective was to discern the extent to which genes influencing plasma
EC-SOD levels also influenced plasma levels of NO and apoA-I.
| Methods |
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A 4-mL venous blood sample was drawn into an EDTA tube after an overnight fast (12 to 14 hours). The blood sample was maintained at 4°C for 2 to 4 hours and centrifuged at 3500 rpm (2000g). Plasma was stored at -70°C in aliquots until analysis for EC-SOD.
Measurements of EC-SOD Levels and Biochemical
Analyses
Circulating plasma EC-SOD levels were measured as described
previously.25 Plasma levels of total
cholesterol, HDL cholesterol,
triglycerides, glucose, and creatinine were
measured by the Clinical Chemistry Department, Prince of Wales
Hospital, Sydney, Australia, by using standard enzymatic methods. LDL
cholesterol levels were calculated by use of the
Friedewald formula. We measured levels of apoA-I, apoB, and
Lp(a) by using ELISA methods developed in our
laboratory.26 Plasma NO levels (NOx,
measured as the metabolites nitrite and nitrate) were assayed as
described by Wang et al.27
Statistical Genetic Analysis
Pedigree and phenotype data management and preparation
were accomplished by using the computer package PEDSYS.28
Statistical genetic analyses were conducted with the use of
maximum-likelihood methods implemented in Sequential Oliogenic Linkage
Analysis Routines (SOLAR)29 and a modified version
of Pedigree Analysis Programs (PAP) 3.030 to
compute likelihoods of genetic models on phenotypic data distributed in
pedigrees.
Initial univariate analyses
simultaneously estimated the mean effects of potential
covariates and the proportions of the phenotypic variance in each of
the 3 traits that were attributable to the additive effects of genes
(heritability, or h2) and unmeasured
environmental factors (e2). We estimated
h2 as
G2/
P2,
where
G2 is the variance due
to the effects of genes, and
P2 is the phenotypic
variance. In addition to effects of sex and sex-specific age terms, we
screened the following for inclusion as covariates in genetic models
for each trait: plasma levels of the other 2 phenotypes, total
cholesterol, HDL cholesterol,
triglycerides, apoB, Lp(a), glucose, and
creatinine.
Multivariate quantitative genetic analyses were
conducted to determine the extent to which variation in plasma levels
of EC-SOD, NOx, and apoA-I were attributable to
the additive effects of shared genes and shared nongenetic factors. We
used an analytical approach developed by Blangero and
Konigsberg31 and described in detail by Mahaney et
al32 to model the multivariate
phenotype of an individual as a linear function of the
measurements on individuals traits, the population means of these
traits, and the covariates and their regression coefficients, plus the
additive genetic values and random environmental deviations. From this
model, we also estimated the additive genetic and environmental
(nongenetic) correlations,
G and
E, between trait pairs. Respectively, these 2
correlations estimate the effects of shared genes (ie, pleiotropy) and
shared, unmeasured, nongenetic factors on the phenotypic variance in a
trait. We used maximum-likelihood estimates of the 2 to obtain
estimates of total phenotypic correlation,
P,
between trait pairs as described elsewhere.32
Significance of all parameters, including variance components, covariate effects, and correlations, was assessed by natural log likelihood ratio tests,33 in which -2xnatural log likelihood of a restricted model (in which the parameter value to be tested is fixed at zero) is compared with that same statistic for a more general model in which that parameter value is estimated. An additional likelihood ratio test in which the absolute value of the genetic correlation was fixed at 1.0 was used to test the hypothesis of complete pleiotropy, ie, the case for which all additive genetic variance in 2 traits is due to the same shared genes. Although critical values for including covariates in genetic models after initial screens corresponded to P=0.10, we did not consider maximum estimates of, for example, heritabilities, correlations, and covariate effects to be significant in the final analyses at P>0.05.
Analyses of nuclear family data may lead to inflated h2 estimates because of the confounding of additive genetic and common familial environmental effects. Spousal correlations (rsp) were estimated for each trait, and rsp values significantly >0.0 were considered evidence of such confounding.
| Results |
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Gly mutation,20 were identified as "outliers"
and eliminated from further analysis. Summary statistics for
age and the 3 phenotypes for the remaining individuals in the
sample, none of whom was found to have the Arg213
Gly mutation, are
presented in Table 1
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Maximum-likelihood parameter estimates and their standard
errors from the unrestricted univariate quantitative
genetic model for each of the 3 traits are presented in Table 2
. In addition to age and sex terms,
those covariates with potential utility for better characterization of
the variance component model for each trait (ie, P<0.10 in
the initial covariate screen) were also included. For EC-SOD, these
covariates included plasma levels of HDL cholesterol,
creatinine, and apoA-I and accounted for 38.6% of the
phenotypic variance of this trait. Two variables, apoA-I and apoB,
contributed only 6% of the phenotypic variance in
NOx. Over 25% of the phenotypic variance in
apoA-I was due to the effects of HDL cholesterol,
triglycerides, apoB, NOx, and EC-SOD.
Genes contributed significantly to the remaining residual phenotypic
variance in plasma levels of EC-SOD (h2=0.58,
P<0.000001), NOx
(h2=0.18, P=0.000016), and apoA-I
(h2=0.62, P<0.000001). Respectively,
these estimates indicate that additive genetic effects account for
35.6%, 16.7%, and 15.7% of the total phenotypic variance in EC-SOD,
NOx, and apoA-I. Because no
rsp value was significantly >0.0 (SOD
rsp=-0.03, NOx
rsp=-0.02, and apoA-I
rsp=0.06; P>0.10), inflation of the
heritability estimates due to common familial environmental effects is
unlikely in these data.
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Using parameter estimates from Table 2
as the new
initial values, we maximized the likelihood of a single trivariate
quantitative genetic model that included plasma EC-SOD,
NOx, and apoA-I on the same family data to
estimate genetic and nongenetic correlations between these traits (note
that because they were included as the primary phenotypes in
this trivariate model, plasma levels for these 3 traits were not
included also as covariates). Maximum-likelihood estimates of the
correlations due to shared effects of additive genes and shared effects
of nongenetic factors and the phenotypic correlations derived from them
are presented in Table 3
. Plasma
levels of EC-SOD exhibit a significant negative genetic correlation
with apoA-I levels only (
G=-0.45). In
contrast, plasma apoA-I levels show a significant, but positive,
genetic correlation with plasma levels of NOx
(
G=0.58). Likelihood ratio tests rejected the
hypothesis of complete pleiotropy for both significant correlations
(P<0.05). None of the correlations due to unmeasured
nongenetic factors was significant (P>0.09).
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The squared additive genetic correlation is interpreted as the
proportion of the additive genetic variance in each of the 2 traits
attributable to shared genetic effects (Table 4
). Shared genetic effects account for
20% of the additive genetic variance in plasma levels of EC-SOD and
apoA-I. NOx and apoA-I share nearly 34% of their
additive genetic effects. Similar treatment of the nonsignificant
correlations between EC-SOD and NOx reveals that
shared genetic effects would account for <3% of the additive genetic
variance in these 2 traits.
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The proportion of the total phenotypic variance in each trait of a trait pair that is due to the effects of shared genes equals the product of the squared additive genetic correlation, h2, and the proportion of the total phenotypic variance not attributable to covariate effects. For EC-SOD and NOx, these proportions are negligible; but for EC-SOD and apoA-I, respectively, the proportions of the total phenotypic variance due to shared gene effects are 7.2% and 9.3%; and, for NOx and apoA-I, the respective proportions are 5.7% and 15.5%.
Analogous calculations applied to correlations due to shared, unmeasured, nongenetic factors provides tentative evidence for such an effect between plasma levels of EC-SOD and apoA-I only. Shared unmeasured nongenetic factors account for <1% of the total phenotypic variance in either of these 2 traits.
| Discussion |
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To our knowledge, little is known of the possible interactions of growth, development, and maturation on differences in plasma EC-SOD levels in children, adolescents, and adults.34 If they existed, such interactions might tend to obscure, rather than inflate, evidence of additive genetic effects on variation in a sample like ours, in which the data from both adults in the parental generation and their preadult offspring were analyzed. Consequently, we are confident that the estimates of heritability and genetic correlation presented in the present study are, at worst, conservative ones.
Contrary to our expectations, given the reported concordance between EC-SOD expression and inducible NO synthase expression in human and rabbit atherosclerotic lesions,35 we have also learned that in these Australian families EC-SOD levels are related to NOx levels through their separate pleiotropic interactions with plasma levels of apoA-I. Significant positive pleiotropy between apoA-I and NOx indicates that a common gene or suite of genes contributes to correlated upregulation and downregulation of production for both phenotypes. We believe that this pleiotropy is biologically important: over a third of the additive genetic variance in both traits and nearly 16% and 6% of the total phenotypic variance in apoA-I and NOx, respectively, are attributable to the additive effects of the same gene or genes. Because the pleiotropy is incomplete, other genes, not shared by these 2 traits, account for >60% of the additive genetic variance in these 2 traits.
EC-SOD and apoA-I also share genes in common, but this pleiotropic
relation is a negative one. When mechanisms that influence plasma
levels of EC-SOD are upregulated, those influencing plasma levels of
apoA-I are downregulated, or vice versa. This pleiotropy is somewhat
weaker than that between plasma levels of NOx and
apoA-I, accounting for one fifth of the additive genetic variance in
plasma EC-SOD and apoA-I levels and
7% and 9% of their respective
total phenotypic variance. Genes other than those producing this
negative pleiotropy are responsible for the remaining additive genetic
variance in plasma levels of EC-SOD and apoA-I.
A lack of pleiotropy between EC-SOD and NOx when both exhibit pleiotropy with apoA-I indicates that the 2 observed pleiotropic relations (EC-SOD with apoA-I and NOx with apoA-I) are attributable to 2 independent sets of genes. However, our findings are from analyses of data obtained from healthy families with no frank cardiovascular disease and the correlated expression of EC-SOD and inducible NOS, leading us to expect the pleiotropy between EC-SOD and NOx that was observed in studies of atherosclerotic lesions.33 It is possible that interaction with internal or external environmental factors, normal or pathological, that are not present in the families in the present study could effect the gene expression necessary to establish this "missing" pleiotropy.
It is highly unlikely that the genetic correlations detected in the present study are reflective of linkage rather than pleiotropy. That would require strong linkage disequilibrium resulting from multiple mutations at different loci within a very narrow region (eg, <<1 cM) of a chromosome.
The ultimate objective of any cardiovascular disease genetics research includes the unambiguous identification and complete characterization of the individual genes responsible for quantitative variation in a risk factor for, or susceptibility to, cardiovascular disease. The present study does not identify the specific loci responsible for our observations, but quantifying the extent to which variation in EC-SOD is heritable is a necessary prerequisite to initiating a formal search for those loci (ie, one cannot localize and identify genes for traits having no measurable genetic component). Whereas statistical power to localize and identify the actual loci involved is proportional to the effect size (ie, heritability) of those loci,29 this power can also be improved greatly by exploiting the pleiotropy observed between these phenotypes in a multivariate whole genome linkage screen.36 37 38
At this time, obvious candidate genes include structural loci for the 3
traits and/or loci whose products are thought to be central to
regulating their production: eg, apoAI at 11q23,
ecNOS at 7q35 to 36, iNOS at 17cen-q12, and
ecSOD at 4pter-q21. One or more of these loci may contribute
to the detected pleiotropy. The previously noted effect of the
dominant-acting Arg213
Gly mutation in the ecSOD locus on
plasma levels of EC-SOD17 and linkage of
ecNOS4 genotypes to variation in
NOx levels in many of these same families lend
credence to this possibility.24 However, it is just
as likely that other loci, including those that currently may be
unknown and/or whose effects on one or more of these traits has yet to
be appreciated, also are involved.
The actual regulatory mechanisms responsible for these pleiotropic relations remain speculative. A possible role for apoA-I may derive from recent reports that it is readily oxidizable in vitro.39 40 Although in vivo apoA-I oxidation remains to be demonstrated, a recent study suggests that compared with native apoA-I, oxidized apoA-I may promote more efficient reverse cholesterol transport.41 Therefore, a possible functional link between apoA-I and NO and between apoA-I and EC-SOD is a scenario casting apoA-I as an antioxidant or ROS recipient whereby overproduction of NO might necessitate increased apoA-I production to counter the untoward oxidation effect.
In summary, genes influence a significant proportion of the quantitative phenotypic variation in plasma levels of EC-SOD in healthy Australians. Some, but not all, of these genes also contribute significantly to variation in plasma levels of apoA-I but not NOx. Although a small, but significant, proportion of normal variation in plasma levels of NOx is attributable to the effects of genes that also influence variation in plasma apoA-I levels, these genes, or their effects, are not shared with plasma EC-SOD. Given the hypothesized importance of mechanisms that counter ROS to the maintenance of healthy endothelial function and prevention or amelioration of cardiovascular disease,42 our results warrant further studies. The objectives of these studies should include localizing and identifying the genes responsible for this pleiotropy in healthy individuals, determining whether it is maintained in the presence of cardiovascular disease and/or exposure to pathological levels of other known risk factors, and investigating its possible physiological bases.
| Acknowledgments |
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Received July 9, 1999; accepted October 1, 1999.
| References |
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-tocopherol. J Biol Chem. 1998;273:60806087.This article has been cited by other articles:
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J Esparza-Gordillo, J M Soria, A Buil, J C Souto, L Almasy, J Blangero, S R de Cordoba, and J Fontcuberta Genetic correlation between plasma levels of C4BP isoforms containing {beta} chains and susceptibility to thrombosis J. Med. Genet., January 1, 2004; 41(1): e5 - 5. [Full Text] [PDF] |
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X. L. Wang, D. L. Rainwater, J. F. VandeBerg, B. D. Mitchell, and M. C. Mahaney Genetic Contributions to Plasma Total Antioxidant Activity Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol., July 1, 2001; 21(7): 1190 - 1195. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
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