Several genome-wide association studies have been performed on warfarin. For acenocoumarol, the most frequently used coumarin in many countries worldwide, pharmacodynamic influences are expected to be comparable. Pharmacokinetics however might differ. We aimed to confirm known or identify new genetic variants contributing to interindividual variation on stabilized acenocoumarol dosage by a GWAS. The index population consisted of 1451 Caucasian subjects from the Rotterdam study and results were replicated in 287 subjects from the Rotterdam study extended cohort. Both cohorts were genotyped on the Illumina 550K Human Map SNP array. From polymorphisms tested for association with acenocoumarol dosage, 35 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on chromosome 16 and 18 SNPs on chromosome 10 reached genome-wide significance. The SNP with the lowest P-value was rs10871454 on chromosome 16 linked to SNPs within the vitamin K epoxide reductase complex subunit 1 (VKORC1) (P = 2.0 x 10(-123)). The lowest P-value on chromosome 10 was obtained by rs4086116 within cytochrome P450 2C9 (CYP2C9) (P = 3.3 x 10(-24)). After adjustment for these SNPs, the rs2108622 polymorphism within cytochrome P450 4F2 (CYP4F2) gene on chromosome 19 reached genome-wide significance (P = 2.0 x 10(-8)). On chromosome 10, we further identified genetic variation in the cytochrome P450 2C18 (CYP2C18) gene contributing to variance of acenocoumarol dosage. Thus we confirmed earlier findings that acenocoumarol dosage mainly depends on polymorphisms in the VKORC1 and CYP2C9 genes. Besides age, gender, body mass index and target INR, one polymorphism within each of the VKORC1, CYP2C9, CYP4F2 and CYP2C18 genes could explain 48.8% of acenocoumarol dosage variation.

Background Estimates of the heritability of plasma fibrinogen concentration, an established predictor of cardiovascular disease (CVD), range from 34 to 50%. Genetic variants so far identified by genome-wide association (GWA) studies only explain a small proportion (< 2%) of its variation. Methods and Results We conducted a meta-analysis of 28 GWA studies, including more than 90,000 subjects of European ancestry, the first GWA meta-analysis of fibrinogen levels in 7 African Americans studies totaling 8,289 samples, and a GWA study in Hispanic-Americans totaling 1,366 samples. Evaluation for association of SNPs with clinical outcomes included a total of 40,695 cases and 85,582 controls for coronary artery disease (CAD), 4,752 cases and 24,030 controls for stroke, and 3,208 cases and 46,167 controls for venous thromboembolism (VTE). Overall, we identified 24 genome-wide significant (P<5×10−8) independent signals in 23 loci, including 15 novel associations, together accounting for 3.7% of plasma fibrinogen variation. Gene-set enrichment analysis highlighted key roles in fibrinogen regulation for the three structural fibrinogen genes and pathways related to inflammation, adipocytokines and thyrotrophin-releasing hormone signaling. Whereas lead SNPs in a few loci were significantly associated with CAD, the combined effect of all 24 fibrinogen-associated lead SNPs was not significant for CAD, stroke or VTE. Conclusion We identify 23 robustly associated fibrinogen loci, 15 of which are new. Clinical outcome analysis of these loci does not support a causal relationship between circulating levels of fibrinogen and CAD, stroke or VTE.

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a common, heritable disease resulting in high rates of hospitalization and mortality. Yet few associations between VTE and genetic variants, all in the coagulation pathway, have been established. To identify additional genetic determinants of VTE, we conducted a 2-stage genome-wide association study (GWAS) among individuals of European ancestry in the extended CHARGE VTE consortium. The discovery GWAS comprised 1,618 incident VTE cases out of 44,499 participants from six community-based studies. Genotypes for genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were imputed to ~2.5 million SNPs in HapMap and association with VTE assessed using study-design appropriate regression methods. Meta-analysis of these results identified two known loci, in F5 and ABO. Top 1,047 tag SNPs (p≤0.0016) from the discovery GWAS were tested for association in an additional 3,231 cases and 3,536 controls from three case-control studies. In the combined data from these two stages, additional genome-wide significant associations were observed on 4q35 at F11 (top SNP rs4253399, intronic to F11) and on 4q28 at FGG (rs6536024, 9.7 kb from FGG) (p<5.0×10−13 for both). The associations at the FGG locus were not completely explained by previously reported variants. Loci at or near SUSD1 and OTUD7A showed borderline yet novel associations (p<5.0×10-6) and constitute new candidate genes. In conclusion, this large GWAS replicated key genetic associations in F5 and ABO, and confirmed the importance of F11 and FGG loci for VTE. Future studies are warranted to better characterize the associations with F11 and FGG and to replicate the new candidate associations.

Community pharmacists actively providing comprehensive pharmacy care could improve effective treatment in asthma and COPD patients and thereby decrease the number of prescriptions for exacerbations for these patients.