The Etiology of HDL Cholesterol

We have assembled what we believe to be the largest cohort in the world ascertained specifically based on the phenotypes of extremely low or high HDL-Cholesterol (HDL-C). Several years ago, we initiated a protocol at the University of Pennsylvania to recruit subjects with extremely low or high levels of HDL-C with the primary goal of identifying novel genetic factors that are associated with this phenotype. We have focused our efforts on individuals who have HDL-C < 5th percentile or > 95th percentile. To date, we have recruited a total of > 2000 probands with low or high HDL-C.