A proteome-wide association study of cardiovascular diseases in 640,000 participants of multiple ancestries

Researchers developed genetic models to predict levels of 2,594 plasma proteins using data from 54,219 UK Biobank participants and validated their accuracy across multiple ethnic groups. These models were applied to over 640,000 participants from the UK Biobank and the All of Us Research Program. The study identified approximately 9,000 associations between proteins and 89 cardiovascular diseases, with most associations being consistent across ethnic groups and biobanks. Many identified proteins are targets of drugs that are already approved or in development. Researchers identified the ITIH4 protein as a potential factor in coronary artery disease development and experimentally confirmed that its disruption reduces cholesterol and atherosclerotic lipid levels. The study results are available on the OmicsPred platform for further research by the community.