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Schnitzler GR, Kang H, Fang S, Angom RS, Lee-Kim VS, Ma XR, Zhou R, Zeng T, Guo K, Taylor MS, Vellarikkal SK, Barry AE, Sias-Garcia O, Bloemendal A, Munson G, Guckelberger P, Nguyen TH, Bergman DT, Hinshaw S, Cheng N, Cleary B, Aragam K, Lander ES, Finucane HK, Mukhopadhyay D, Gupta RM, Engreitz JM. Convergence of coronary artery disease genes onto endothelial cell programs. Nature 2024; 626:799-807. [PMID: 38326615 PMCID: PMC10921916 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07022-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2022] [Accepted: 01/03/2024] [Indexed: 02/09/2024]
Abstract
Linking variants from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to underlying mechanisms of disease remains a challenge1-3. For some diseases, a successful strategy has been to look for cases in which multiple GWAS loci contain genes that act in the same biological pathway1-6. However, our knowledge of which genes act in which pathways is incomplete, particularly for cell-type-specific pathways or understudied genes. Here we introduce a method to connect GWAS variants to functions. This method links variants to genes using epigenomics data, links genes to pathways de novo using Perturb-seq and integrates these data to identify convergence of GWAS loci onto pathways. We apply this approach to study the role of endothelial cells in genetic risk for coronary artery disease (CAD), and discover 43 CAD GWAS signals that converge on the cerebral cavernous malformation (CCM) signalling pathway. Two regulators of this pathway, CCM2 and TLNRD1, are each linked to a CAD risk variant, regulate other CAD risk genes and affect atheroprotective processes in endothelial cells. These results suggest a model whereby CAD risk is driven in part by the convergence of causal genes onto a particular transcriptional pathway in endothelial cells. They highlight shared genes between common and rare vascular diseases (CAD and CCM), and identify TLNRD1 as a new, previously uncharacterized member of the CCM signalling pathway. This approach will be widely useful for linking variants to functions for other common polygenic diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gavin R Schnitzler
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
- The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Genomic Mechanisms of Disease, Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Divisions of Genetics and Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Helen Kang
- Department of Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
- Basic Science and Engineering Initiative, Stanford Children's Health, Betty Irene Moore Children's Heart Center, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Shi Fang
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Divisions of Genetics and Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Ramcharan S Angom
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, Jacksonville, FL, USA
| | - Vivian S Lee-Kim
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Divisions of Genetics and Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - X Rosa Ma
- Department of Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
- Basic Science and Engineering Initiative, Stanford Children's Health, Betty Irene Moore Children's Heart Center, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Ronghao Zhou
- Department of Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
- Basic Science and Engineering Initiative, Stanford Children's Health, Betty Irene Moore Children's Heart Center, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Tony Zeng
- Department of Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
- Basic Science and Engineering Initiative, Stanford Children's Health, Betty Irene Moore Children's Heart Center, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Katherine Guo
- Department of Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
- Basic Science and Engineering Initiative, Stanford Children's Health, Betty Irene Moore Children's Heart Center, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Martin S Taylor
- Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Shamsudheen K Vellarikkal
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Divisions of Genetics and Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Aurelie E Barry
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Divisions of Genetics and Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Oscar Sias-Garcia
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Divisions of Genetics and Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Alex Bloemendal
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
- The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Genomic Mechanisms of Disease, Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Glen Munson
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | | | - Tung H Nguyen
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Drew T Bergman
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH, USA
| | - Stephen Hinshaw
- Department of Chemical and Systems Biology, ChEM-H, and Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Nathan Cheng
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Brian Cleary
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Faculty of Computing and Data Sciences, Departments of Biology and Biomedical Engineering, Biological Design Center, and Program in Bioinformatics, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Krishna Aragam
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Cardiovascular Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Eric S Lander
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Department of Biology, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Hilary K Finucane
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Analytic and Translational Genetics Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Debabrata Mukhopadhyay
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, Jacksonville, FL, USA
| | - Rajat M Gupta
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA.
- The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Genomic Mechanisms of Disease, Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA, USA.
- Divisions of Genetics and Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
| | - Jesse M Engreitz
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA.
- The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Genomic Mechanisms of Disease, Broad Institute, Cambridge, MA, USA.
- Department of Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
- Basic Science and Engineering Initiative, Stanford Children's Health, Betty Irene Moore Children's Heart Center, Stanford, CA, USA.
- Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
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Gupta RM, Schnitzler G, Fang S, Lee-Kim VS, Barry A. Multiomic Analysis and CRISPR Perturbation Screens Identify Endothelial Cell Programs and Novel Therapeutic Targets for Coronary Artery Disease. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 2023; 43:600-608. [PMID: 36994731 PMCID: PMC10170398 DOI: 10.1161/atvbaha.123.318328] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/31/2023]
Abstract
Endothelial cells (EC) are an important mediator of atherosclerosis and vascular disease. Their exposure to atherogenic risk factors such as hypertension and serum cholesterol leads to endothelial dysfunction and many disease-associated processes. Identifying which of these multiple EC functions is causally related to disease risk has been challenging. There is evidence from in vivo models and human sequencing studies that dysregulation of nitric oxide production directly affects risk of coronary artery disease. Human genetics can help prioritize the other EC functions with causal relationships because germline mutations are acquired at birth and serve as a randomized test of which pathways affect disease risk. Though several coronary artery disease risk variants have been linked to EC function, this process has been slow and laborious. Unbiased analyses of EC dysfunction using multiomic approaches promise to identify the causal genetic mechanisms responsible for vascular disease. Here, we review the data from genomic, epigenomic, and transcriptomic studies that prioritize EC-specific causal pathways. New methods that CRISPR perturbation technology with genomic, epigenomic, and transcriptomic analysis promise to speed up the characterization of disease-associated genetic variation. We summarize several recent studies in ECs which use high-throughput genetic perturbation to identify disease-relevant pathways and novel mechanisms of disease. These genetically validated pathways can accelerate the identification of drug targets for the prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rajat M Gupta
- Divisions of Genetics and Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston MA (R.M.G., G.S., S.F., V.S.L.-K., A.B.)
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA (R.M.G., G.S., S.F., V.S.L.-K., A.B.)
| | - Gavin Schnitzler
- Divisions of Genetics and Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston MA (R.M.G., G.S., S.F., V.S.L.-K., A.B.)
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA (R.M.G., G.S., S.F., V.S.L.-K., A.B.)
| | - Shi Fang
- Divisions of Genetics and Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston MA (R.M.G., G.S., S.F., V.S.L.-K., A.B.)
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA (R.M.G., G.S., S.F., V.S.L.-K., A.B.)
| | - Vivian S Lee-Kim
- Divisions of Genetics and Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston MA (R.M.G., G.S., S.F., V.S.L.-K., A.B.)
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA (R.M.G., G.S., S.F., V.S.L.-K., A.B.)
| | - Aurelie Barry
- Divisions of Genetics and Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston MA (R.M.G., G.S., S.F., V.S.L.-K., A.B.)
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA (R.M.G., G.S., S.F., V.S.L.-K., A.B.)
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Atri DS, Lee-Kim VS, Vellarikkal SK, Sias-Garcia O, Yanamandala M, Schniztler GR, Gupta RM. CRISPR-Cas9 Genome Editing of Primary Human Vascular Cells In Vitro. Curr Protoc 2021; 1:e291. [PMID: 34748284 PMCID: PMC8580244 DOI: 10.1002/cpz1.291] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
Genome editing of primary human cells with CRISPR-Cas9 is a powerful tool to study gene function. For many cell types, there are efficient protocols for editing with optimized plasmids for Cas9 and sgRNA expression. Vascular cells, however, remain refractory to plasmid-based delivery of CRISPR machinery for in vitro genome editing due to low transfection efficiency, poor expression of the Cas9 machinery, and toxic effects of the selection antibiotics. Here, we describe a method for high-efficiency editing of primary human vascular cells in vitro using nucleofection for direct delivery of sgRNA:Cas9-NLS ribonucleoprotein complexes. This method is more rapid and its high editing efficiency eliminates the need for additional selection steps. The edited cells can be employed in diverse applications, such as gene expression measurement or functional assays to assess various genetic perturbation effects in vitro. This method proves effective in vascular cells that are refractory to standard genome manipulation techniques using viral plasmid delivery. We anticipate that this technique will be applied to other non-vascular cell types that face similar barriers to efficient genome editing. © 2021 Wiley Periodicals LLC. Basic Protocol: CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing of primary human vascular cells in vitro.
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Affiliation(s)
- Deepak S. Atri
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and Department of Genetics, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston MA
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge MA
| | - Vivian S. Lee-Kim
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and Department of Genetics, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston MA
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge MA
| | - Shamsudheen K. Vellarikkal
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and Department of Genetics, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston MA
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge MA
| | - Oscar Sias-Garcia
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and Department of Genetics, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston MA
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge MA
| | - Mounica Yanamandala
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and Department of Genetics, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston MA
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge MA
| | - Gavin R. Schniztler
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and Department of Genetics, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston MA
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge MA
| | - Rajat M. Gupta
- Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and Department of Genetics, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston MA
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge MA
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4
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Wang M, Lee-Kim VS, Atri DS, Elowe NH, Yu J, Garvie CW, Won HH, Hadaya JE, MacDonald BT, Trindade K, Melander O, Rader DJ, Natarajan P, Kathiresan S, Kaushik VK, Khera AV, Gupta RM. Rare, Damaging DNA Variants in CORIN and Risk of Coronary Artery Disease: Insights From Functional Genomics and Large-Scale Sequencing Analyses. Circ Genom Precis Med 2021; 14:e003399. [PMID: 34592835 DOI: 10.1161/circgen.121.003399] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Corin is a protease expressed in cardiomyocytes that plays a key role in salt handling and intravascular volume homeostasis via activation of natriuretic peptides. It is unknown if Corin loss-of-function (LOF) is causally associated with risk of coronary artery disease (CAD). METHODS We analyzed all coding CORIN variants in an Italian case-control study of CAD. We functionally tested all 64 rare missense mutations in Western Blot and Mass Spectroscopy assays for proatrial natriuretic peptide cleavage. An expanded rare variant association analysis for Corin LOF mutations was conducted in whole exome sequencing data from 37 799 CAD cases and 212 184 controls. RESULTS We observed LOF variants in CORIN in 8 of 1803 (0.4%) CAD cases versus 0 of 1725 controls (P, 0.007). Of 64 rare missense variants profiled, 21 (33%) demonstrated <30% of wild-type activity and were deemed damaging in the 2 functional assays for Corin activity. In a rare variant association study that aggregated rare LOF and functionally validated damaging missense variants from the Italian study, we observed no association with CAD-21 of 1803 CAD cases versus 12 of 1725 controls with adjusted odds ratio of 1.61 ([95% CI, 0.79-3.29]; P=0.17). In the expanded sequencing dataset, there was no relationship between rare LOF variants with CAD was also observed (odds ratio, 1.15 [95% CI, 0.89-1.49]; P=0.30). Consistent with the genetic analysis, we observed no relationship between circulating Corin concentrations with incident CAD events among 4744 participants of a prospective cohort study-sex-stratified hazard ratio per SD increment of 0.96 ([95% CI, 0.87-1.07], P=0.48). CONCLUSIONS Functional testing of missense mutations improved the accuracy of rare variant association analysis. Despite compelling pathophysiology and a preliminary observation suggesting association, we observed no relationship between rare damaging variants in CORIN or circulating Corin concentrations with risk of CAD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Minxian Wang
- Program in Medical and Population Genetics (M.W., J.E.H., P.N., A.V.K., R.M.G.), Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA.,Cardiovascular Disease Initiative (M.W., V.S.L.-K., D.S.A., N.H.E., J.Y., C.W.G., B.T.M., P.N., V.K.K., A.V.K., R.M.G.), Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA.,Center for Genomic Medicine (M.W., P.N., S.K., A.V.K.), Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
| | - Vivian S Lee-Kim
- Cardiovascular Disease Initiative (M.W., V.S.L.-K., D.S.A., N.H.E., J.Y., C.W.G., B.T.M., P.N., V.K.K., A.V.K., R.M.G.), Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA.,Divisions of Genetics and Cardiovascular Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA (V.S.L.-K., D.S.A.)
| | - Deepak S Atri
- Cardiovascular Disease Initiative (M.W., V.S.L.-K., D.S.A., N.H.E., J.Y., C.W.G., B.T.M., P.N., V.K.K., A.V.K., R.M.G.), Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA.,Divisions of Genetics and Cardiovascular Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA (V.S.L.-K., D.S.A.)
| | - Nadine H Elowe
- Cardiovascular Disease Initiative (M.W., V.S.L.-K., D.S.A., N.H.E., J.Y., C.W.G., B.T.M., P.N., V.K.K., A.V.K., R.M.G.), Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA
| | - John Yu
- Cardiovascular Disease Initiative (M.W., V.S.L.-K., D.S.A., N.H.E., J.Y., C.W.G., B.T.M., P.N., V.K.K., A.V.K., R.M.G.), Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA
| | - Colin W Garvie
- Cardiovascular Disease Initiative (M.W., V.S.L.-K., D.S.A., N.H.E., J.Y., C.W.G., B.T.M., P.N., V.K.K., A.V.K., R.M.G.), Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA
| | - Hong-Hee Won
- Samsung Advanced Institute for Health Sciences and Technology (SAIHST), Sungkyunkwan University, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Gyeonggi, South Korea (H.-H.W.)
| | - Joseph E Hadaya
- Program in Medical and Population Genetics (M.W., J.E.H., P.N., A.V.K., R.M.G.), Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA
| | - Bryan T MacDonald
- Cardiovascular Disease Initiative (M.W., V.S.L.-K., D.S.A., N.H.E., J.Y., C.W.G., B.T.M., P.N., V.K.K., A.V.K., R.M.G.), Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA
| | - Kevin Trindade
- Cardiovascular Institute, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (K.T., D.J.R.)
| | - Olle Melander
- Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Malmö, Skåne, Sweden (O.M.).,Department of Internal Medicine, Skåne University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden (O.M.)
| | - Daniel J Rader
- Cardiovascular Institute, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (K.T., D.J.R.)
| | - Pradeep Natarajan
- Program in Medical and Population Genetics (M.W., J.E.H., P.N., A.V.K., R.M.G.), Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA.,Cardiovascular Disease Initiative (M.W., V.S.L.-K., D.S.A., N.H.E., J.Y., C.W.G., B.T.M., P.N., V.K.K., A.V.K., R.M.G.), Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA.,Center for Genomic Medicine (M.W., P.N., S.K., A.V.K.), Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.,Division of Cardiology (P.N., S.K., A.V.K.), Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
| | - Sekar Kathiresan
- Center for Genomic Medicine (M.W., P.N., S.K., A.V.K.), Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.,Division of Cardiology (P.N., S.K., A.V.K.), Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.,Verve Therapeutics, Cambridge, MA (S.K.)
| | - Virendar K Kaushik
- Cardiovascular Disease Initiative (M.W., V.S.L.-K., D.S.A., N.H.E., J.Y., C.W.G., B.T.M., P.N., V.K.K., A.V.K., R.M.G.), Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA
| | - Amit V Khera
- Program in Medical and Population Genetics (M.W., J.E.H., P.N., A.V.K., R.M.G.), Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA.,Center for Genomic Medicine (M.W., P.N., S.K., A.V.K.), Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.,Division of Cardiology (P.N., S.K., A.V.K.), Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston
| | - Rajat M Gupta
- Program in Medical and Population Genetics (M.W., J.E.H., P.N., A.V.K., R.M.G.), Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA.,Cardiovascular Disease Initiative (M.W., V.S.L.-K., D.S.A., N.H.E., J.Y., C.W.G., B.T.M., P.N., V.K.K., A.V.K., R.M.G.), Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA
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5
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Affiliation(s)
- Rajat M Gupta
- From the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
| | - Vivian S Lee-Kim
- From the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
| | - Peter Libby
- From the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
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