Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 23, 2026

A High-Throughput Luciferase Assay to Evaluate Proteolysis of the Single-Turnover Protease PCSK9
Published on: August 28, 2018
Common and low-frequency genetic variants in the PCSK9 locus influence circulating PCSK9 levels
Ekaterina Chernogubova1, Rona Strawbridge, Hovsep Mahdessian
1Cardiovascular Genetics and Genomics Group, Center for Molecular Medicine, L8:02, Karolinska University Hospital Solna, SE-17176 Stockholm, Sweden.
Objective:
Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) is a circulating protein that influences plasma low-density lipoprotein concentration and susceptibility to coronary heart disease. Circulating PCSK9 levels show considerable interindividual differences, but the factors responsible for this variation are largely unknown.
Methods And Results:
We analyzed circulating PCSK9 levels in 4 cohorts of healthy, middle-aged Swedes (n=5722) and found that PCSK9 levels varied over ≈50-fold range, showed a positive relationship with plasma low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol concentration, and were associated with plasma triglyceride, fibrinogen, insulin, and glucose concentrations. A genome-wide association study conducted in 2 cohorts (n=1215) failed to uncover common genetic variants robustly associated with variation in circulating PCSK9 level. As expected, the minor allele of the PCSK9 R46L variant was in all cohorts associated with reduced PCSK9 levels and decreased plasma low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol concentrations, but no relationship was observed with the plasma triglyceride concentration. Further mapping of the PCSK9 locus revealed a common polymorphism (rs2479415, minor allele frequency 43.9%), located ≈6 kb upstream from PCSK9, which is independently associated with increased circulating PCSK9 levels.
Conclusions:
Common and low-frequency genetic variants in the PCSK9 locus influence the pronounced interindividual variation in circulating PCSK9 levels in healthy, middle-aged white (predominantly Swedish) subjects.
Related Concept Videos
Pharmacogenomics: Identification of New Drug Targets
Pharmacogenetic Phenotypes: Alterations in Pharmacokinetics, Drug Targets and Biologic Milieu
Pharmacogenetics of Drug Transporters: P-Glycoprotein and Solute Carrier Transporters
Principles of Pharmacogenetics: Types of Genetic Variants
Pharmacogenetics of Phase I Enzymes: Cytochrome P450 Isozymes
Comparing Copy Number Variations and SNPs
Copy number variations or CNVs are the structural variations that cover more than 1kb of DNA sequence. The single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), on the other hand, is a single nucleotide change or a point mutation that is found in more than 1%...
