Genome-wide pleiotropy analysis of coronary artery disease and pneumonia identifies shared immune pathways.

Abstract

Coronary artery disease (CAD) remains the leading cause of death despite scientific advances. Elucidating shared CAD/pneumonia pathways may reveal novel insights regarding CAD pathways. We performed genome-wide pleiotropy analyses of CAD and pneumonia, examined the causal effects of the expression of genes near independently replicated SNPs and interacting genes with CAD and pneumonia, and tested interactions between disruptive coding mutations of each pleiotropic gene and smoking status on CAD and pneumonia risks. Identified pleiotropic SNPs were annotated to <i>ADAMTS7</i> and <i>IL6R</i>. Increased <i>ADAMTS7</i> expression across tissues consistently showed decreased risk for CAD and increased risk for pneumonia; increased <i>IL6R</i> expression showed increased risk for CAD and decreased risk for pneumonia. We similarly observed opposing CAD/pneumonia effects for <i>NLRP3</i>. Reduced <i>ADAMTS7</i> expression conferred a reduced CAD risk without increased pneumonia risk only among never-smokers. Genetic immune-inflammatory axes of CAD linked to respiratory infections implicate <i>ADAMTS7</i> and <i>IL6R</i>, and related genes.