# Hispanic Latino Lipid Consortium

> **NIH NIH R01** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · 2024 · $641,284

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Cardiometabolic diseases (CMD), including obesity, dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes, and hypertension, are the
leading cause of disease burden in the world with a disproportionate impact on historically marginalized
populations. In the first funding period of our project, The Hispanic/Latino Lipid Consortium (HLLC), our efforts
centered on discovering genetic factors impacting serum lipid levels, obesity, and T2D in self-identified
Hispanic/Latinos (HL), a population with significant CMD health disparities. This highly impactful research, which
has resulted in 39 published papers to-date, leveraged extant genetic data as well as new genetic data generated
for the project in >63k participants to identify multiple new CMD loci. We also characterized the regulatory
mechanisms influencing lipid levels using a new resource of whole blood (WB) gene expression profiles in 880
HL participants. Yet, the mechanism of action of most GWAS signals and the molecular pathways
disrupted in metabolic tissues are still not well understood. As such, in the second funding period of the
HLLC, we propose to build on our remarkable success and experience generating and analyzing transcriptomic
data in HL. Here, we aim to investigate the role of multi-tissue gene expression (WB and subcutaneous adipose
tissue [SAT]) and changes in WB expression over time with the goal of identifying key modifiable molecular
signatures associated with CMDs in an even larger, more diverse sample of HL. Specifically, we propose to:
first, identify multi-tissue transcriptomic patterns associated with CMD and related traits (obesity, type 2
diabetes, dyslipidemia, hypertension measures) in recently acquired WB RNA sequencing data from 14k HL
participants as well as in 300 SAT tissue specimens from HL participants recruited for the present application;
second, identify longitudinal changes in WB transcriptomic data associated with changes in CMD-related risk
factors in participants from the HLCC (1500 RNA measures from 750 participants with an average of 5 years
between the two RNA sequencing measures for each person); and third, conduct integrative analyses of genetic
and transcriptomic data to establish causality via Mendelian Randomization and characterize existing genomic
findings with functional evidence. Our aims are entirely independent, exceptionally well powered, and designed
to answer critical questions about the causal pathways underlying observed transcriptomic differences in CMD.
This work will result in creation of a publicly available resource of eQTL information for metabolic tissues in HL
and identify novel targets for early prevention and pharmaceutical intervention. Significantly, by addressing CMD
risk in an under-represented population, our work contributes directly to the NIH’s mission to promote disease
prevention and treatment in historically marginalized populations.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10874629
- **Project number:** 5R01HL142302-06
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Jennifer Below
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $641,284
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-08-10 → 2027-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10874629

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10874629, Hispanic Latino Lipid Consortium (5R01HL142302-06). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10874629. Licensed CC0.

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