@article {Hemani078972, author = {Gibran Hemani and Jie Zheng and Kaitlin H Wade and Charles Laurin and Benjamin Elsworth and Stephen Burgess and Jack Bowden and Ryan Langdon and Vanessa Tan and James Yarmolinsky and Hashem A. Shihab and Nicholas Timpson and David M Evans and Caroline Relton and Richard M Martin and George Davey Smith and Tom R Gaunt and Philip C Haycock}, editor = {Soranzo, Nicole and van Heel, David A and Okada, Yukinori and Tang, Clara S. and Garcia-Barcelo, Merce and Tam, Paul KH and Jacobsen, Kaya Kvarme and Jones, Gregory T and Bown, Matthew J and Albagha, Omar and Ralston, Stuart H. and Franke, Andre and Fischer, Annegret and Ellinghaus, David and F{\"o}rsti, Asta and Thomsen, Hauke and Landi, Stefano and Cordell, Heather and Manichaikul, Ani W and Barr, R Graham and Lee, Jeffrey E}, title = {MR-Base: a platform for systematic causal inference across the phenome using billions of genetic associations}, elocation-id = {078972}, year = {2016}, doi = {10.1101/078972}, publisher = {Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory}, abstract = {Published genetic associations can be used to infer causal relationships between phenotypes, bypassing the need for individual-level genotype or phenotype data. We have curated complete summary data from 1094 genome-wide association studies (GWAS) on diseases and other complex traits into a centralised database, and developed an analytical platform that uses these data to perform Mendelian randomization (MR) tests and sensitivity analyses (MR-Base, http://www.mrbase.org). Combined with curated data of published GWAS hits for phenomic measures, the MR-Base platform enables millions of potential causal relationships to be evaluated. We use the platform to predict the impact of lipid lowering on human health. While our analysis provides evidence that reducing LDL-cholesterol, lipoprotein(a) or triglyceride levels reduce coronary disease risk, it also suggests causal effects on a number of other non-vascular outcomes, indicating potential for adverse-effects or drug repositioning of lipid-lowering therapies.}, URL = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/12/16/078972}, eprint = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/12/16/078972.full.pdf}, journal = {bioRxiv} }