Aung N, Vargas JD, Yang C, et al. - In order to gain clarity about the genetic basis of left ventricular (LV) image-derived phenotypes, which are crucial with respect to the diagnosis, management and risk stratification of cardiovascular diseases, researchers conducted genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of six LV traits and developed polygenic risk scores (PRSs) from the GWAS summary statistics to foretell the heart failure events. With no prevalent myocardial infarction or heart failure, a total of 16,923 European UK Biobank participants (mean age: 62.5 years; 45.8% men) were included. At a stringent p < 1 x 10^-8, 14 genome-wide significant loci were identified, including 3 loci each for LV end-diastolic volume, LV end-systolic volume and LV mass to end-diastolic volume ratio; 4 loci for LV ejection fraction and 1 locus for LV mass. In the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis study (N = 4,383), 3 loci were replicated at Bonferroni significance and 7 loci at nominal significance. Backed by at least 2 independent lines of in-silico proof, 8 genes (TTN, BAG3, GRK5, HSPB7, MTSS1, ALPK3, NMB and MMP11) were found to be involved in the cardiac morphogenesis and heart failure development. In a hold-out UK Biobank sample of 3,106 cases and 224,134 controls, heart failure was predicted by the PRSs of LV phenotypes.