Evidence of QTL on 15q21 for high-density lipoprotein cholesterol: The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Family Heart Study (NHLBI FHS)

These results suggest that there are multiple pathways and factors involving genetic and environmental effects influencing HDL-cholesterol levels, and by taking some of these known factors into account, we obtained strong evidence of a QTL influencing HDL-cholesterol levels. While this putative QTL may also have an effect in diabetes, our data suggest a more pronounced role in non-diabetics. A prominent candidate gene residing within the linkage region on 15q21 is hepatic lipase (HL), which has a major role in lipoprotein metabolism.