Description of Research Expertise

Research Interests
The Rader laboratory is focused on two major themes: 1) novel pathways regulating lipid and lipoprotein metabolism and atherosclerosis inspired by unbiased studies of human genetics; 2) factors regulating the structure and function of high density lipoproteins and the process of reverse cholesterol transport and their relationship to atherosclerosis. A variety of basic cell and molecular laboratory techniques, mouse models, and translational research approaches are used in addressing these questions.

Some examples of ongoing projects are:
1) The roles of sortilin (gene SORT1) and tribbles-1 (gene TRIB1) in lipoprotein metabolism and atherosclerosis. Variants at the SORT1 locus are among the most strongly associated with LDL cholesterol and (coronary artery disease) in the human genome, and variants at the TRIB1 locus are significantly associated with all major plasma lipid traits and CAD. A variety of tissue-specific deleted mouse models, gene targeting in iPS cells with differentiation to hepatocytes, and cell biologic and biochemical approaches are being employed.

2) Functional genomics and mechanistic studies of a number of additional genes at loci significantly associated with lipid and metabolic traits, CAD, or other cardiovascular traits. Most of these genes harbor rare coding variants associated with these traits. In addition to elucidating fundamental mechanisms by which the protein influences relevant biology, the influence of specific mutations on protein structure and function are being explored.

3) Molecular regulation of HDLmetabolism and reverse cholesterol transport using cells, mice, and humans

4) Deep phenotyping of humans with low-frequency and rare variants in genes influencing lipid and cardiovascular traits, including the generation of iPS cells and differentiation to a variety of relevant cell types

Research Lab:
11th floor, Smilow Center for Translational Research

Clinical Research:
9th floor Maloney Building, Hospital of The University of Pennsylvania

Selected Publications

Dron JS, Wang J, Low-Kam C, Khetarpal SA, Robinson JF, McIntyre AD, Ban MR, Cao H, Rhainds D, Dubé MP, Rader DJ, Lettre G, Tardif JC, Hegele RA: Polygenic determinants in extremes of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. J Lipid Res : 2017.

Zhao W, Rasheed A, Tikkanen E, Lee JJ, Butterworth AS, Howson JMM, Assimes TL, Chowdhury R, Orho-Melander M, Damrauer S, Small A, Asma S, Imamura M, Yamauch T, Chambers JC, Chen P, Sapkota BR, Shah N, Jabeen S, Surendran P, Lu Y, Zhang W, Imran A, Abbas S, Majeed F, Trindade K, Qamar N, Mallick NH, Yaqoob Z, Saghir T, Rizvi SNH, Memon A, Rasheed SZ, Memon FU, Mehmood K, Ahmed N, Qureshi IH, Tanveer-Us-Salam, Iqbal W, Malik U, Mehra N, Kuo JZ, Sheu WH, Guo X, Hsiung CA, Juang JJ, Taylor KD, Hung YJ, Lee WJ, Quertermous T, Lee IT, Hsu CC, Bottinger EP, Ralhan S, Teo YY, Wang TD, Alam DS, Di Angelantonio E, Epstein S, Nielsen SF, Nordestgaard BG, Tybjaerg-Hansen A, Young R; CHD Exome+ Consortium, Benn M, Frikke-Schmidt R, Kamstrup PR; EPIC-CVD Consortium; EPIC-Interact Consortium; Michigan Biobank, Jukema JW, Sattar N, Smit R, Chung RH, Liang KW, Anand S, Sanghera DK, Ripatti S, Loos RJF, Kooner JS, Tai ES, Rotter JI, Chen YI, Frossard P, Maeda S, Kadowaki T, Reilly M, Pare G, Melander O, Salomaa V, Rader DJ, Danesh J, Voight BF, Saleheen D.: Identification of new susceptibility loci for type 2 diabetes and shared etiological pathways with coronary heart disease. Nat Genet : 2017.

Tuteja S, Wang L, Dunbar RL, Chen J, DerOhannessian S, Marcovina SM, Elam M, Lader E, Rader DJ: Genetic coding variants in the niacin receptor, hydroxyl-carboxylic acid receptor 2, and response to niacin therapy. Pharmacogenet Genomics. 27 (8): 285-293,2017.

Dunbar RL, Movva R, Bloedon LT, Duffy D, Norris RB, Navab M, Fogelman AM, Rader DJ.: Oral Apolipoprotein A-I Mimetic D-4F Lowers HDL-Inflammatory Index in High-Risk Patients: A First-in-Human Multiple-Dose, Randomized Controlled Trial. Clin Transl Sci : 2017.

Bajaj A, Damrauer SM, Anderson AH, Xie D, Budoff MJ, Go AS, He J, Lash JP, Ojo A, Post WS, Rahman M, Reilly MP, Saleheen D, Townsend RR, Chen J, Rader DJ: Lipoprotein(a) and Risk of Myocardial Infarction and Death in Chronic Kidney Disease: Findings From the CRIC Study (Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort). Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol : 2017.

Koekemoer AL, Codd V, Masca NGD, Nelson CP, Musameh MD, Kaess BM, Hengstenberg C, Rader DJ, Samani NJ: Large-Scale Analysis of Determinants, Stability, and Heritability of High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Efflux Capacity. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol : 2017.

Khetarpal SA, Zeng X, Millar JS, Vitali C, Somasundara AVH, Zanoni P, Landro JA, Barucci N, Zavadoski WJ, Sun Z, de Haard H, Toth IV, Peloso GM, Natarajan P, Cuchel M, Lund-Katz S, Phillips MC, Tall AR, Kathiresan S, DaSilva-Jardine P, Yates NA, Rader DJ: A human APOC3 missense variant and monoclonal antibody accelerate apoC-III clearance and lower triglyceride-rich lipoprotein levels. Nat Med : 2017.

Small AM, Kiss DH, Zlatsin Y, Birtwell DL, Williams H, Guerraty MA, Han Y, Anwaruddin S, Holmes JH, Chirinos JA, Wilensky RL, Giri J, Rader DJ: Text mining applied to electronic cardiovascular procedure reports to identify patients with trileaflet aortic stenosis and coronary artery disease. J Biomed Inform 72 : 77-84,2017.

Howson JMM, Zhao W, Barnes DR, Ho WK, Young R, Paul DS, Waite LL, Freitag DF, Fauman EB, Salfati EL, Sun BB, Eicher JD, Johnson AD, Sheu WHH, Nielsen SF, Lin WY, Surendran P, Malarstig A, Wilk JB, Tybjærg-Hansen A, Rasmussen KL, Kamstrup PR, Deloukas P, Erdmann J, Kathiresan S, Samani NJ, Schunkert H, Watkins H; CARDIoGRAMplusC4D, Do R, Rader DJ, Johnson JA, Hazen SL, Quyyumi AA, Spertus JA, Pepine CJ, Franceschini N, Justice A, Reiner AP, Buyske S, Hindorff LA, Carty CL, North KE, Kooperberg C, Boerwinkle E, Young K, Graff M, Peters U, Absher D, Hsiung CA, Lee WJ, Taylor KD, Chen YH, Lee IT, Guo X, Chung RH, Hung YJ, Rotter JI, Juang JJ, Quertermous T, Wang TD, Rasheed A, Frossard P, Alam DS, Majumder AAS, Di Angelantonio E, Chowdhury R; EPIC-CVD, Chen YI, Nordestgaard BG, Assimes TL, Danesh J, Butterworth AS, Saleheen D.: Fifteen new risk loci for coronary artery disease highlight arterial-wall-specific mechanisms. Nat Genet 49 (7): 1113-1119,2017.

Dewey FE, Gusarova V, Dunbar RL, O'Dushlaine C, Schurmann C, Gottesman O, McCarthy S, Van Hout CV, Bruse S, Dansky HM, Leader JB, Murray MF, Ritchie MD, Kirchner HL, Habegger L, Lopez A, Penn J, Zhao A, Shao W, Stahl N, Murphy AJ, Hamon S, Bouzelmat A, Zhang R, Shumel B, Pordy R, Gipe D, Herman GA, Sheu WHH, Lee IT, Liang KW, Guo X, Rotter JI, Chen YI, Kraus WE, Shah SH, Damrauer S, Small A, Rader DJ, Wulff AB, Nordestgaard BG, Tybjærg-Hansen A, van den Hoek AM, Princen HMG, Ledbetter DH, Carey DJ, Overton JD, Reid JG, Sasiela WJ, Banerjee P, Shuldiner AR, Borecki IB, Teslovich TM, Yancopoulos GD, Mellis SJ, Gromada J, Baras A.: Genetic and Pharmacologic Inactivation of ANGPTL3 and Cardiovascular Disease. N Engl J Med 377 (3): 211-221,2017.

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Academic Contact Information

Perelman School of Medicine
University of Pennsylvania
11-125 Smilow Center for Translational Research
3400 Civic Center Blvd

Philadelphia, PA 19104-5158
Phone: 215-573-4176
Patient appointments: 800-789-7366