Heterozygous ATP-binding Cassette Transporter G5 Gene Deficiency and Risk of Coronary Artery Disease

Abstract Background Familial sitosterolemia is a rare, recessive Mendelian disorder characterized by hyperabsorption and decreased biliary excretion of dietary sterols. Affected individuals typically have complete genetic deficiency – homozygous loss-of-function (LoF) variants — in the ATP-binding cassette transporter G5 ( ABCG5 ) or G8 ( ABCG8 ) genes, and have substantially elevated plasma sitosterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels. The impact of partial genetic deficiency of ABCG5 or ABCG8 , as occurs in heterozygous carriers of LoF variants, on LDL-C and risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) has remained uncertain. Methods We first recruited nine sitosterolemia families, identified causative LoF variants in ABCG5 or ABCG8 , and evaluated the associations of these ABCG5 or ABCG8 LoF variants with plasma phytosterols and lipid levels. We next assessed for LoF variants in ABCG5 or ABCG8 in CAD cases (n=29,361) versus controls (n=357,326). We tested the association of rare LoF variants in ABCG5 or ABCG8 with blood lipids and risk for CAD. Rare LoF variants were defined as protein-truncating variants with minor allele frequency less than 0.1% in ABCG5 or ABCG8 . Results In sitosterolemia families, seven pedigrees harbored causative LoF variants in ABCG5 and two pedigrees in ABCG8 . Homozygous LoF variants in either ABCG5 or ABCG8 led to marked elevations in sitosterol and LDL-C. Of those sitosterolemia families, heterozygous carriers of ABCG5 LoF variants exhibited increased sitosterol and LDL-C levels compared to non-carriers. Within the large-scale CAD case-control cohorts, prevalence of rare LoF variants in ABCG5 and in ABCG8 were approximately 0.1% each. ABCG5 heterozygous LoF variant carriers had significantly elevated LDL-C levels (24.7 mg/dL; 95% confidence interval [CI] 14 to 35; P=1.1×10 −6 ), and were at two-fold increased risk of CAD (odds ratio 2.06, 95% CI 1.27 to 3.35; P=0.004). By contrast, ABCG8 heterozygous LoF carrier status was not associated with increased LDL-C or risk of CAD. Conclusions Although familial sitosterolemia is traditionally considered as a recessive disorder, we observed that heterozygous carriers of a LoF variant in ABCG5 had significantly increased sitosterol and LDL-C levels and a two-fold increase in risk of CAD.

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