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Updated: Oct 13, 2025

A High-Throughput Luciferase Assay to Evaluate Proteolysis of the Single-Turnover Protease PCSK9
Published on: August 28, 2018
Effect of Loss-of-Function Genetic Variants in PCSK9 on Glycemic Traits, Neurocognitive Impairment, and Hepatobiliary
Jonas Ghouse1,2, Gustav Ahlberg1,2, Henning Bundgaard3
11Laboratory for Molecular Cardiology, Department of Cardiology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Objective:
To evaluate the association between PCSK9 predicted loss-of-function (pLoF) variants and glycemic traits, hepatobiliary function, and neurocognitive traits.
Research Design And Methods:
We identified carriers of PCSK9 pLoF variants in UK Biobank exome sequencing data. We assessed the aggregate effects of these variants on lipid and lipoprotein traits, which served as a positive control. Association of PCSK9 pLoF carrier status and glycemic traits, hepatobiliary function, and neurocognitive traits was then evaluated as a measure for adverse effects.
Results:
We identified 374 individuals carrying one of 41 unique PCSK9 pLoF variants. As expected, we found that PCSK9 pLoF carriers had significantly lower LDL cholesterol C levels (P = 7.4 × 10-55) and apolipoprotein B levels (P = 7.6 × 10-50) than did noncarriers. However, we found no significant associations between pLoF carrier status and glycemic traits, hepatobiliary function, and neurocognitive traits (P > 0.05).
Conclusions:
Our results do not support adverse effects of PCSK9 pLoF variants on glycemic traits, hepatobiliary function, or neurocognitive traits.
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