Genetic mutations that impact triglyceride levels are associated with cardiovascular risk

Triglyceride levels are correlated with risk of coronary disease and individual variability in triglyceride levels are largely accounted by heritability. In this study, the authors made use of advances in DNA sequencing technology to identify mutations in protein-coding sequences (the exome) to identify genetic variants that might lower triglyceride levels and confer protection for coronary heart disease. In this study from the Exome Sequencing Project, the association between plasma triglyceride levels and specific DNA sequence variants from exome sequencing in 3734 study volunteers was assessed. As many variants occurred infrequently, variants were aggregated within each gene to identify those genes most strongly associated with triglyceride levels. In this …