The candidate has recently joined the staff at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and received an appointment at Harvard Medical School effective July 2012. Over the last four years the candidate has studied the epidemiology and genetics of atrial fibrillation (AF), achieved a Master of Public Health degree, completed cardiac electrophysiology training, and established scientifically productive relationships with hi mentors. This Career Development Award is motivated by the public health importance of AF, which affects over 3 million Americans and is increasing in incidence and prevalence worldwide. Substantial morbidity and mortality are attributable to AF, including increased risks of disabling stroke, heart failure, and death. Furthermore, AF is responsible for an estimated $26 billion in annual health care costs in the United States. A widespread heritable component underlying AF is now recognized, and common genetic variants associated with AF have been discovered. Despite advances in the understanding of AF genetics, knowledge gaps remain. Associated signals at discovered AF susceptibility loci span up to hundreds of thousands of base pairs and remain poorly characterized. Data suggest that independent susceptibility signals may exist at known loci, and may both facilitate the identification of individuals at risk for AF as well as localize functional elements involved in AF pathogenesis. Relations between AF susceptibility variants and morbidity from AF remain unexplored. Associations between AF associated variants and clinical manifestations of AF may enable efforts to apply genetic and other discoveries to patient management in an effort to prevent morbidity. The candidate seeks to address these knowledge gaps by leveraging the power and complementarity of well-phenotyped cohorts spanning hospital-referral, community-based, and clinical trials samples. Specifically, the candidate proposes to: 1) discover independent AF genetic susceptibility variants in the international CHARGE consortium;2) determine the clinical and genetic predictors of AF progression in cohorts from MGH and the Framingham Heart Study;and 3) examine relations between AF susceptibility variants and stroke in individuals with and without AF in two Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction Study Group trials. This K23 is designed to foster independence through advanced training in genetic epidemiology, biostatistics, and clinical trial methods. The application draws upon strengths of different cohorts and experienced mentors in a multidisciplinary fashion.
The aims will inform our understanding of the mechanisms, clinical features, and outcomes of AF, a morbid arrhythmia of substantial public health importance. In future R01 applications the candidate will be poised to test whether application of genetic knowledge can facilitate prevention of AF related morbidity, and whether genetic variants associate differentially with response to pharmacologic agents used to treat patients with AF.

Public Health Relevance

Atrial fibrillation is an increasingly common and morbid cardiac arrhythmia associated with substantial risks of disabling stroke, heart failure, and death, as well as with significant healthcare costs. It is now recognized that a widespread heritable component underlies atrial fibrillation, and common genetic variants have been discovered that associate with the arrhythmia. We seek to examine the relations between genetic variants associated with atrial fibrillation and clinical manifestations of the arrhythmia in order to asses whether applying genetic and other discoveries to patient management can reduce morbidity from atrial fibrillation.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Type
Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (K23)
Project #
5K23HL114724-02
Application #
8669150
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZHL1-CSR-X (F1))
Program Officer
Scott, Jane
Project Start
2013-06-01
Project End
2018-03-31
Budget Start
2014-04-01
Budget End
2015-03-31
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2014
Total Cost
$163,709
Indirect Cost
$11,709
Name
Massachusetts General Hospital
Department
Type
DUNS #
073130411
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02199
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Lin, Honghuang; van Setten, Jessica; Smith, Albert V et al. (2018) Common and Rare Coding Genetic Variation Underlying the Electrocardiographic PR Interval. Circ Genom Precis Med 11:e002037
Turcot, Valérie (see original citation for additional authors) (2018) Protein-altering variants associated with body mass index implicate pathways that control energy intake and expenditure in obesity. Nat Genet 50:26-41
Choi, Seung Hoan; Weng, Lu-Chen; Roselli, Carolina et al. (2018) Association Between Titin Loss-of-Function Variants and Early-Onset Atrial Fibrillation. JAMA 320:2354-2364
van Setten, Jessica; Brody, Jennifer A; Jamshidi, Yalda et al. (2018) PR interval genome-wide association meta-analysis identifies 50 loci associated with atrial and atrioventricular electrical activity. Nat Commun 9:2904
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Khurshid, Shaan; Choi, Seung Hoan; Weng, Lu-Chen et al. (2018) Frequency of Cardiac Rhythm Abnormalities in a Half Million Adults. Circ Arrhythm Electrophysiol 11:e006273
Staerk, Laila; Wang, Biqi; Preis, Sarah R et al. (2018) Lifetime risk of atrial fibrillation according to optimal, borderline, or elevated levels of risk factors: cohort study based on longitudinal data from the Framingham Heart Study. BMJ 361:k1453
Prins, Bram P; Mead, Timothy J; Brody, Jennifer A et al. (2018) Exome-chip meta-analysis identifies novel loci associated with cardiac conduction, including ADAMTS6. Genome Biol 19:87
Bapat, Aneesh; Anderson, Christopher D; Ellinor, Patrick T et al. (2018) Genomic basis of atrial fibrillation. Heart 104:201-206

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