The human glucocorticoid receptor variant rs6190 increases blood cholesterol and promotes atherosclerosis.

Abstract

Elevated cholesterol poses cardiovascular risks. The glucocorticoid receptor (GR) harbors a still undefined role in cholesterol regulation. Here, we report that a coding SNP in the gene encoding the GR, rs6190, is associated with increased cholesterol in women according to UK Biobank and All of Us (NIH) datasets. In SNP-genocopying mice, we found that the SNP enhanced hepatic GR activity to transactivate Pcsk9 and Bhlhe40, negative regulators of LDL and HDL receptors, respectively. In mice, the SNP was sufficient to elevate circulating cholesterol across all lipoprotein fractions and the risk and severity of atherosclerotic lesions on the proatherogenic hAPOE*2/*2 background. The SNP effect on atherosclerosis was blocked by in vivo liver knockdown of Pcsk9 and Bhlhe40. Also, corticosterone and testosterone were protective against the mutant GR program in cholesterol and atherosclerosis in male mice, while the SNP effect was additive to estrogen loss in females. Remarkably, we found that the mutant GR program was conserved in human hepatocyte-like cells using CRISPR-engineered, SNP-genocopying human induced pluripotent stem cells. Taken together, our study leverages a nonrare human variant to uncover a GR-dependent mechanism contributing to atherogenic risk, particularly in women.