Assessing the causal association of glycine with risk of cardio-metabolic diseases

83Citations
Citations of this article
115Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

This article is free to access.

Abstract

Circulating levels of glycine have previously been associated with lower incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD) and type 2 diabetes (T2D) but it remains uncertain if glycine plays an aetiological role. We present a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for glycine in 80,003 participants and investigate the causality and potential mechanisms of the association between glycine and cardio-metabolic diseases using genetic approaches. We identify 27 genetic loci, of which 22 have not previously been reported for glycine. We show that glycine is genetically associated with lower CHD risk and find that this may be partly driven by blood pressure. Evidence for a genetic association of glycine with T2D is weaker, but we find a strong inverse genetic effect of hyperinsulinaemia on glycine. Our findings strengthen evidence for a protective effect of glycine on CHD and show that the glycine-T2D association may be driven by a glycine-lowering effect of insulin resistance.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Wittemans, L. B. L., Lotta, L. A., Oliver-Williams, C., Stewart, I. D., Surendran, P., Karthikeyan, S., … Langenberg, C. (2019). Assessing the causal association of glycine with risk of cardio-metabolic diseases. Nature Communications, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-08936-1

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free