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Journal of Lipid Research, Vol. 50, 1917-1926, September 2009
Copyright © 2009 by American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Patient-Oriented and Epidemiological Research

Genetic and environmental influences on factors associated with cardiovascular disease and the metabolic syndrome

Sonya J. Elder^*, Alice H. Lichtenstein^*, Anastassios G. Pittas, Susan B. Roberts^*, Paul J. Fuss^*, Andrew S. Greenberg^*, Megan A. McCrory, Thomas J. Bouchard, Jr.^**, Edward Saltzman^* and Michael C. Neale^1,

^* Jean Mayer United States Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts University, Boston, MA
Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, MA
Departments of Foods and Nutrition, and Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
^** Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Virginia Institute of Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics and Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA

¹ To whom correspondence should be addressed. e-mail: neale{at}vcu.edu

The relative influence of genetics and the environment on factors associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) and metabolic syndrome (MetS) remains unclear. We performed model-fitting analyses to quantify genetic, common environmental, and unique environmental variance components of factors associated with CVD and MetS [waist circumference, blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose and insulin, homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), and fasting plasma lipids] in adult male and female monozygotic twins reared apart or together. We also investigated whether MetS components share common influences. Plasma cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations were highly heritable (56–77%, statistically significant). Waist circumference, plasma glucose and insulin, HOMA-IR, and blood pressure were moderately heritable (43–57%, statistically significant). Unique environmental factors contributed to the variance of all variables (20–38%, perforce statistically significant). Common environmental factors contributed 23, 30, and 42% (statistically significant) of the variance of waist circumference, systolic blood pressure, and plasma glucose, respectively. Two shared factors influenced MetS components; one influenced all components except HDL cholesterol, another influenced only lipid (triglyceride and HDL cholesterol) concentrations. These results suggest that genetic variance has a dominant influence on total variance of factors associated with CVD and MetS and support the proposal of one or more underlying pathologies of MetS.

Supplementary key words twins • heritability • genetics • risk factors

Abbreviations: AIC, Akaike's information criterion; apo, apolipoprotein; ATP III, Third Report of the National Cholesterol Education Program's Adult Treatment Panel; BMI, body mass index; CVD, cardiovascular disease; df, degrees of freedom; HNRCA, Jean Mayer US Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University; HOMA-IR, homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance; –2lnL, minus twice the natural logarithm of the likelihood; LRT, likelihood ratio tests; MetS, metabolic syndrome; MZA, monozygotic twins reared apart; MZT, monozygotic twins reared together; G, genetic influences; C, common environmental influences; E, unique environmental influences; V_C, common environmental variance; V_E, unique environmental variance; V_G, genetic variance; V_P, total phenotypic variance

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