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Updated: Jun 1, 2026

Screening Assays to Characterize Novel Endothelial Regulators Involved in the Inflammatory Response
Published on: September 15, 2017
Genetic and environmental regulation of inflammatory CVD biomarkers Lp-PLA2 and IgM anti-PC
Iffat Rahman1, Rajai Atout, Nancy L Pedersen
1Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Box 281, 17177 Stockholm, Sweden. Iffat.Rahman@ki.se
Objective:
We set out to investigate the relative contribution of genetic and environmental effect on two inflammatory CVD biomarkers; lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A(2) (Lp-PLA(2)) and anti-phosphorylcholine IgM (anti-PC). Their relationships and possible co-regulation with other established CVD biomarkers are also examined.
Methods:
Lp-PLA(2) activity (N=1600) and anti-PC (N=2036) levels were measured in elderly Swedish twins. Correlation analyses and heritability estimation were conducted by structural equation modeling.
Results:
We attribute 0.37 of the variance of Lp-PLA(2) and 0.40 of anti-PC variance to genetic variance. In addition, a bivariate heritability of 0.33, 0.35 and 0.36 could be detected for levels of Lp-PLA(2) together with ApoB, total cholesterol and LDL, respectively. Anti-PC was only weakly related to other biomarkers of CVD, which may suggest a more independent role of anti-PC as a biomarker.
Conclusions:
In this large sample, Lp-PLA(2) activity has lower heritability and higher environmental regulation than previously reported. Anti-PC levels are partly influenced by dominance genetics and appear to be regulated independently of more established CVD biomarkers.
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