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Background ACE2 has been identified as the entry receptor for coronaviruses into human cells, including SARS-COV-2 that causes COVID-19. Since hypertension is a leading comorbidity in non-survivors of COVID-19, we tested for association between ACE2 gene and hypertension in interaction with specific pre-existing conditions known to be associated with COVID-19 severity. Methods Genetic analysis of ACE2 gene was conducted in French-Canadian and British populations. Results In French-Canadian individuals, the T allele of the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs2074192 of ACE2 gene was a risk factor for hypertension in adult obese males [odds ratio (OR)=1.39, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.06-1.83)] and even more so in obese males who smoked (OR=1.67, CI: 1.24-2.55), but not in lean males, non-smoker males or females. The T allele was significantly associated with severity of hypertension and with earlier penetrance of hypertension in obese smoking males. Significant interaction between the T allele and obesity was present in both sexes. The association of ACE2 (rs233575) genotype with blood pressure was also seen in adolescents but the interaction with obesity was present only in females. Several variants in ACE2 gene were found to be associated with hypertension in obese, smoking males in British individuals of the UK Biobank. In addition, we observed more severe outcomes to COVID-19 in association with ACE2 risk alleles in obese, smoking males. Conclusion This is the first report that ACE2 variants are associated with earlier penetrance and more severe hypertension and with more severe outcomes of COVID-19 in obese smoking males., Graphical Abstract Graphical Abstract

Aims/hypothesis Type 2 diabetes increases the risk of cardiovascular and renal complications, but early risk prediction could lead to timely intervention and better outcomes. Genetic information can be used to enable early detection of risk. Methods We developed a multi-polygenic risk score (multiPRS) that combines ten weighted PRSs (10 wPRS) composed of 598 SNPs associated with main risk factors and outcomes of type 2 diabetes, derived from summary statistics data of genome-wide association studies. The 10 wPRS, first principal component of ethnicity, sex, age at onset and diabetes duration were included into one logistic regression model to predict micro- and macrovascular outcomes in 4098 participants in the ADVANCE study and 17,604 individuals with type 2 diabetes in the UK Biobank study. Results The model showed a similar predictive performance for cardiovascular and renal complications in different cohorts. It identified the top 30% of ADVANCE participants with a mean of 3.1-fold increased risk of major micro- and macrovascular events (p = 6.3 × 10−21 and p = 9.6 × 10−31, respectively) and a 4.4-fold (p = 6.8 × 10−33) higher risk of cardiovascular death. While in ADVANCE overall, combined intensive blood pressure and glucose control decreased cardiovascular death by 24%, the model identified a high-risk group in whom it decreased the mortality rate by 47%, and a low-risk group in whom it had no discernible effect. High-risk individuals had the greatest absolute risk reduction with a number needed to treat of 12 to prevent one cardiovascular death over 5 years. Conclusions/interpretation This novel multiPRS model stratified individuals with type 2 diabetes according to risk of complications and helped to target earlier those who would receive greater benefit from intensive therapy. Graphical abstract

Introduction: We assessed the performance of our newly developed polygenic risk score (PRS) to predict microvascular and macrovascular complications of type 2 diabetes (T2D) in men and women. The PRS is composed of 600 common genomic variants associated to diabetes, cardiovascular and renal diseases and their key risk factors selected from summary statistics of meta-analyses of published genome-wide association studies performed in over 1.2 million of individuals. The performance of the polygenic model was assessed by c-statistics in 4098 genotyped participants of European descent of the ADVANCE trial (46.4% women) followed during a period of five years. Methods: The logistic regression model that included the PRS adjusted for the principal component (PC1) of genetically determined ancestry, age at diagnosis and T2D duration, and treatment assignment, did not include any clinical or outcome data. Results: The discrimination between cases (having a specific complication) from controls (free of this complication) at entry in ADVANCE had AUCs for microvascular complications of 0.63 (0.60-0.65) in men and 0.66 (0.63-0.69) in women, sex differences p = 0.07. AUCs for macrovascular complications were 0.56 (0.54-0.58) in men and 0.57 (0.54-0.61) in women; p = 0.41. The AUCs for prediction of incident cases, defined as having an outcome during the ADVANCE trial (free of outcome at baseline) compared to controls that did not have a specific outcome at any time during the study, were for microvascular events 0.66 (0.63-0.70) in men and 0.71 (0.66-0.77) in women; p = 0.15. AUCs for macrovascular events were 0.65 (0.62-0.68) and 0.72 (0.68-0.76) respectively, p = 0.01. AUC for prediction of cardiovascular death occurring during the trial was 0.71 (0.67-0.75) in men and 0.77 (0.72-0.82) in women; p = 0.04. Conclusion: Our polygenic model demonstrated an overall better performance in women than in men and a better prediction capacity in individuals free of previous events in both sexes. Disclosure J. Tremblay: Research Support; Self; Servier. Stock/Shareholder; Self; OPTITHERA. R. Attaoua: None. M. Haloui: None. R. Tahir: None. C. Long: None. C. Hizel: None. J. Chalmers: None. S. Harrap: None. M. Woodward: Consultant; Self; Amgen, Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co., Ltd. P. Hamet: Research Support; Self; Servier. Stock/Shareholder; Self; OPTITHERA. Funding Genome Quebec; Canadian Institutes of Health Research; MEIE; CQDM; Opti Thera; Servier, Canada Research Chair in Predictive Genomics

Type 2 diabetes increases the risk of cardiovascular and renal complications, but early risk prediction can lead to timely intervention and better outcomes. Through summary statistics of meta-analyses of published genome-wide association studies performed in over 1.2 million of individuals, we combined 9 PRS gathering genomic variants associated to cardiovascular and renal diseases and their key risk factors into one logistic regression model, to predict micro- and macrovascular endpoints of diabetes. Its clinical utility in predicting complications of diabetes was tested in 4098 participants with diabetes of the ADVANCE trial followed during a period of 10 years and replicated it in three independent non-trial cohorts. The prediction model adjusted for ethnicity, sex, age at onset and diabetes duration, identified the top 30% of ADVANCE participants at 3.1-fold increased risk of major micro- and macrovascular events (p=6.3×10−21 and p=9.6×10−31, respectively) and at 4.4-fold (p=6.8×10−33) increased risk of cardiovascular death compared to the remainder of T2D subjects. While in ADVANCE overall, combined intensive therapy of blood pressure and glycaemia decreased cardiovascular mortality by 24%, the prediction model identified a high-risk group in whom this therapy decreased mortality by 47%, and a low risk group in whom the therapy had no discernable effect. Patients with high PRS had the greatest absolute risk reduction with a number needed to treat of 12 to prevent one cardiovascular death over 5 years. This novel polygenic prediction model identified people with diabetes at low and high risk of complications and improved targeting those at greater benefit from intensive therapy while avoiding unnecessary intensification in low-risk subjects.

Cardiovascular and renal complications of T2D represent a human and societal burden. Early detection of susceptibility to complications could help their prevention. Clinical scores are useful to predict hard outcomes but genomic score can be applied earlier than a risk factor based score and thus save morbidity. We have constructed a polygenic risk score (PRS) based on genetic variants associated to risk factors and outcomes of T2D available from GWAS catalog and tested it on 5,000 genotyped Caucasian subjects with T2D of ADVANCE trial and its 5 year extension in ADVANCE-ON. We selected 620 SNPs which in combination with geo-ethnic principal component, age of onset and diabetes duration achieved a highly significant prediction of outcomes, including cardiovascular (AUC=0.80) and total mortality (AUC=0.77), equalling and surpassing such clinical scores as Framingham and UKPDS. The highest positive predictive values for micro- and macro-vascular prevalent cases were 81% and 78%, respectively. Individuals within the highest tertile of genetic risk for total prevalence of both microvascular and macrovascular events, had significantly higher cardiovascular death than subjects with the lowest genetic score (p=2.02x10-12). The number needed to treat to prevent one CV death over 5 years by ADVANCE therapies, was 12 in subjects with high PRS (p=0.0045) compared to 45 (p=0.14) in subjects with low PRS. Cox cumulative hazard plots demonstrated persistence of benefits for all cause and cardiovascular mortality in high PRS tertile over 10 years of intensive blood pressure control, while for glucose intensive therapy the benefit was restricted to the high PRS group for end-stage renal disease. We conclude that the use of a PRS that detects the risk of micro- and macrovascular complications at the time of T2D diagnosis could effectively assist in preventive and therapeutic measures to attenuate diabetes complications. Disclosure P. Hamet: Consultant; Self; Servier. F. Harvey: None. M. Haloui: None. M. Woodward: None. R. Tahir: None. F. Marois-Blanchet: None. C. Long: None. M. Marre: Board Member; Self; Abbott. Consultant; Self; AstraZeneca. Board Member; Self; Intarcia Therapeutics, Inc.. Consultant; Self; Eli Lilly and Company. Board Member; Self; Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., Novo Nordisk A/S. Research Support; Self; Sanofi. Board Member; Self; Servier. S. Harrap: Research Support; Self; Servier. J. Chalmers: Research Support; Self; Servier. Other Relationship; Self; Servier. J. Tremblay: Consultant; Self; Servier.

Background: The prevalence of diabetic nephropathy varies according to ethnicity. Environmental as well as genetic factors contribute to the heterogeneity in the presentation of diabetic nephropathy. Our objective was to evaluate this heterogeneity within the Caucasian population. Methods: The geo-ethnic origin of the 3409 genotyped Caucasian type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients of Action in Diabetes and Vascular Disease: Preterax and Diamicron MR Controlled Evaluation was determined using principal component analysis. Genome-wide association studies analyses of age of onset of T2D were performed for geo-ethnic groups separately and combined. Results: The first principal component separated the Caucasian study participants into Slavic and Celtic ethnic origins. Age of onset of diabetes was significantly lower in Slavic patients (P = 7.3 x 10-20), whereas the prevalence of hypertension (P = 4.9 x 10-31) and albuminuria (5.1 x 10-9) were significantly higher. Age of onset of T2D and albuminuria appear to have an important genetic component as the values of these traits were also different between Slavic and Celtic individuals living in the same countries. Common and geo-ethnic-specific loci were found to be associated to age of onset of diabetes. Among the latter, the PROX1/PROX1-AS1 genes (rs340841) had the highest impact. Single-nucleotide polymorphism rs340841 CC genotype was associated with a 4.4 year earlier onset of T2D in Slavic patients living or not in countries with predominant Slavic populations. Conclusion: These results reveal the presence of distinct genetic architectures between Caucasian ethnic groups that likely have clinical relevance, among them PROX1 gene is a strong candidate of early onset of diabetes with variations depending on ethnicity.

OBJECTIVE: We have previously reported distinct genetic architectures of renal impairment in T2D patients of Slavic and Celtic origins participating in the ADVANCE trial (J Hypertens. 2015 Jun;33 Suppl 1:e3). Further analysis suggests that the major driver of the difference in the prevalence of T2D complications between Slavic and Celtic groups is due to an earlier onset of diabetes in Slavic patients. In an attempt to distinguish between environmental and genetic factors on age of onset of diabetes, we have determined the age of onset of T2D in Slavic subjects living in Celtic countries and confirmed the same earlier onset (-2 years) in these subjects, notwithstanding their living environment. DESIGN AND METHOD: We performed GWAS analyses of age of onset of T2D in 3500 T2D patients from ADVANCE trial. Analyses were done for Celtic and Slavic groups separately and combined. RESULTS: 7 loci are associated to age of onset of T2D in patients of both Celtic and Slavic origins, including HDAC9 gene (rs1128745). 9 loci are selectively associated to this phenotype in patients of Celtic origin, including the Il23R (rs1273974) while 9 different loci are associated to it in Slavic patients only. Among the latter, PROX1/PROX1-AS1 genes (rs340841) has the highest effect size. SNP rs 340841 homozygous CC genotype is associated with 2 years earlier onset of T2D in Slavic patients living in Slavic countries or in Celtic countries. This locus is also associated with eGFR decline in Slavic, with macroalbuminuria and hypertension in all ADVANCE subjects of Caucasian origin and with Interleukin-6 levels at baseline. In recent literature search we found that PROX1 gene has been associated with abnormalities of glucose metabolism and risk of diabetes with variations depending on ethnicity. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that fine granularity of distinction in geo-ethic background assist in resolution of clinically relevant genetic contribution to cardiovascular complication in T2D.

Objective:The genetic architecture of type 2 diabetes (T2D) has been reported to be different between Asian and Caucasian populations (BBRC 2014;452:213–220). It is also well recognized that renal complications of T2D start earlier and are more severe in Asian subjects. Our objective was to determin