@article {7920, title = {Genome Analyses of >200,000 Individuals Identify 58 Loci for Chronic Inflammation and Highlight Pathways that Link Inflammation and Complex Disorders.}, journal = {Am J Hum Genet}, volume = {103}, year = {2018}, month = {2018 Nov 01}, pages = {691-706}, abstract = {

C-reactive protein (CRP) is a sensitive biomarker of chronic low-grade inflammation and is associated with multiple complex diseases. The genetic determinants of chronic inflammation remain largely unknown, and the causal role of CRP in several clinical outcomes is debated. We performed two genome-wide association studies (GWASs), on HapMap and 1000 Genomes imputed data, of circulating amounts of CRP by using data from 88 studies comprising 204,402 European individuals. Additionally, we performed in silico functional analyses and Mendelian randomization analyses with several clinical outcomes. The GWAS meta-analyses of CRP revealed 58 distinct genetic loci (p < 5~{\texttimes} 10). After adjustment for body mass index in the regression analysis, the associations at all except three loci remained. The lead variants at the distinct loci explained up to 7.0\% of the variance in circulating amounts of CRP. We identified 66 gene sets that were organized in two substantially correlated clusters, one mainly composed of immune pathways and the other characterized by metabolic pathways in the liver. Mendelian randomization analyses revealed a causal protective effect of CRP on schizophrenia and a risk-increasing effect on bipolar disorder. Our findings provide further insights into the biology of inflammation and could lead to interventions for treating inflammation and its clinical consequences.

}, issn = {1537-6605}, doi = {10.1016/j.ajhg.2018.09.009}, author = {Ligthart, Symen and Vaez, Ahmad and V{\~o}sa, Urmo and Stathopoulou, Maria G and de Vries, Paul S and Prins, Bram P and van der Most, Peter J and Tanaka, Toshiko and Naderi, Elnaz and Rose, Lynda M and Wu, Ying and Karlsson, Robert and Barbalic, Maja and Lin, Honghuang and Pool, Rene and Zhu, Gu and Mace, Aurelien and Sidore, Carlo and Trompet, Stella and Mangino, Massimo and Sabater-Lleal, Maria and Kemp, John P and Abbasi, Ali and Kacprowski, Tim and Verweij, Niek and Smith, Albert V and Huang, Tao and Marzi, Carola and Feitosa, Mary F and Lohman, Kurt K and Kleber, Marcus E and Milaneschi, Yuri and Mueller, Christian and Huq, Mahmudul and Vlachopoulou, Efthymia and Lyytik{\"a}inen, Leo-Pekka and Oldmeadow, Christopher and Deelen, Joris and Perola, Markus and Zhao, Jing Hua and Feenstra, Bjarke and Amini, Marzyeh and Lahti, Jari and Schraut, Katharina E and Fornage, Myriam and Suktitipat, Bhoom and Chen, Wei-Min and Li, Xiaohui and Nutile, Teresa and Malerba, Giovanni and Luan, Jian{\textquoteright}an and Bak, Tom and Schork, Nicholas and del Greco M, Fabiola and Thiering, Elisabeth and Mahajan, Anubha and Marioni, Riccardo E and Mihailov, Evelin and Eriksson, Joel and Ozel, Ayse Bilge and Zhang, Weihua and Nethander, Maria and Cheng, Yu-Ching and Aslibekyan, Stella and Ang, Wei and Gandin, Ilaria and Yengo, Loic and Portas, Laura and Kooperberg, Charles and Hofer, Edith and Rajan, Kumar B and Schurmann, Claudia and den Hollander, Wouter and Ahluwalia, Tarunveer S and Zhao, Jing and Draisma, Harmen H M and Ford, Ian and Timpson, Nicholas and Teumer, Alexander and Huang, Hongyan and Wahl, Simone and Liu, Yongmei and Huang, Jie and Uh, Hae-Won and Geller, Frank and Joshi, Peter K and Yanek, Lisa R and Trabetti, Elisabetta and Lehne, Benjamin and Vozzi, Diego and Verbanck, Marie and Biino, Ginevra and Saba, Yasaman and Meulenbelt, Ingrid and O{\textquoteright}Connell, Jeff R and Laakso, Markku and Giulianini, Franco and Magnusson, Patrik K E and Ballantyne, Christie M and Hottenga, Jouke Jan and Montgomery, Grant W and Rivadineira, Fernando and Rueedi, Rico and Steri, Maristella and Herzig, Karl-Heinz and Stott, David J and Menni, Cristina and Fr{\r a}nberg, Mattias and St Pourcain, Beate and Felix, Stephan B and Pers, Tune H and Bakker, Stephan J L and Kraft, Peter and Peters, Annette and Vaidya, Dhananjay and Delgado, Graciela and Smit, Johannes H and Gro{\ss}mann, Vera and Sinisalo, Juha and Sepp{\"a}l{\"a}, Ilkka and Williams, Stephen R and Holliday, Elizabeth G and Moed, Matthijs and Langenberg, Claudia and R{\"a}ikk{\"o}nen, Katri and Ding, Jingzhong and Campbell, Harry and Sale, Mich{\`e}le M and Chen, Yii-der I and James, Alan L and Ruggiero, Daniela and Soranzo, Nicole and Hartman, Catharina A and Smith, Erin N and Berenson, Gerald S and Fuchsberger, Christian and Hernandez, Dena and Tiesler, Carla M T and Giedraitis, Vilmantas and Liewald, David and Fischer, Krista and Mellstr{\"o}m, Dan and Larsson, Anders and Wang, Yunmei and Scott, William R and Lorentzon, Matthias and Beilby, John and Ryan, Kathleen A and Pennell, Craig E and Vuckovic, Dragana and Balkau, Beverly and Concas, Maria Pina and Schmidt, Reinhold and Mendes de Leon, Carlos F and Bottinger, Erwin P and Kloppenburg, Margreet and Paternoster, Lavinia and Boehnke, Michael and Musk, A W and Willemsen, Gonneke and Evans, David M and Madden, Pamela A F and K{\"a}h{\"o}nen, Mika and Kutalik, Zolt{\'a}n and Zoledziewska, Magdalena and Karhunen, Ville and Kritchevsky, Stephen B and Sattar, Naveed and Lachance, Genevieve and Clarke, Robert and Harris, Tamara B and Raitakari, Olli T and Attia, John R and van Heemst, Diana and Kajantie, Eero and Sorice, Rossella and Gambaro, Giovanni and Scott, Robert A and Hicks, Andrew A and Ferrucci, Luigi and Standl, Marie and Lindgren, Cecilia M and Starr, John M and Karlsson, Magnus and Lind, Lars and Li, Jun Z and Chambers, John C and Mori, Trevor A and de Geus, Eco J C N and Heath, Andrew C and Martin, Nicholas G and Auvinen, Juha and Buckley, Brendan M and de Craen, Anton J M and Waldenberger, Melanie and Strauch, Konstantin and Meitinger, Thomas and Scott, Rodney J and McEvoy, Mark and Beekman, Marian and Bombieri, Cristina and Ridker, Paul M and Mohlke, Karen L and Pedersen, Nancy L and Morrison, Alanna C and Boomsma, Dorret I and Whitfield, John B and Strachan, David P and Hofman, Albert and Vollenweider, Peter and Cucca, Francesco and Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta and Jukema, J Wouter and Spector, Tim D and Hamsten, Anders and Zeller, Tanja and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Nauck, Matthias and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Qi, Lu and Grallert, Harald and Borecki, Ingrid B and Rotter, Jerome I and M{\"a}rz, Winfried and Wild, Philipp S and Lokki, Marja-Liisa and Boyle, Michael and Salomaa, Veikko and Melbye, Mads and Eriksson, Johan G and Wilson, James F and Penninx, Brenda W J H and Becker, Diane M and Worrall, Bradford B and Gibson, Greg and Krauss, Ronald M and Ciullo, Marina and Zaza, Gianluigi and Wareham, Nicholas J and Oldehinkel, Albertine J and Palmer, Lyle J and Murray, Sarah S and Pramstaller, Peter P and Bandinelli, Stefania and Heinrich, Joachim and Ingelsson, Erik and Deary, Ian J and M{\"a}gi, Reedik and Vandenput, Liesbeth and van der Harst, Pim and Desch, Karl C and Kooner, Jaspal S and Ohlsson, Claes and Hayward, Caroline and Lehtim{\"a}ki, Terho and Shuldiner, Alan R and Arnett, Donna K and Beilin, Lawrence J and Robino, Antonietta and Froguel, Philippe and Pirastu, Mario and Jess, Tine and Koenig, Wolfgang and Loos, Ruth J F and Evans, Denis A and Schmidt, Helena and Smith, George Davey and Slagboom, P Eline and Eiriksdottir, Gudny and Morris, Andrew P and Psaty, Bruce M and Tracy, Russell P and Nolte, Ilja M and Boerwinkle, Eric and Visvikis-Siest, Sophie and Reiner, Alex P and Gross, Myron and Bis, Joshua C and Franke, Lude and Franco, Oscar H and Benjamin, Emelia J and Chasman, Daniel I and Dupuis, Jos{\'e}e and Snieder, Harold and Dehghan, Abbas and Alizadeh, Behrooz Z} } @article {8046, title = {No causal effects of serum urate levels on the risk of chronic kidney disease: A Mendelian randomization study.}, journal = {PLoS Med}, volume = {16}, year = {2019}, month = {2019 01}, pages = {e1002725}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Studies have shown strong positive associations between serum urate (SU) levels and chronic kidney disease (CKD) risk; however, whether the relation is causal remains uncertain. We evaluate whether genetic data are consistent with a causal impact of SU level on the risk of CKD and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR).

METHODS AND FINDINGS: We used Mendelian randomization (MR) methods to evaluate the presence of a causal effect. We used aggregated genome-wide association data (N = 110,347 for SU, N = 69,374 for gout, N = 133,413 for eGFR, N = 117,165 for CKD), electronic-medical-record-linked UK Biobank data (N = 335,212), and population-based cohorts (N = 13,425), all in individuals of European ancestry, for SU levels and CKD. Our MR analysis showed that SU has a causal effect on neither eGFR level nor CKD risk across all MR analyses (all P > 0.05). These null associations contrasted with our epidemiological association findings from the 4 population-based cohorts (change in eGFR level per 1-mg/dl [59.48 μmol/l] increase in SU: -1.99 ml/min/1.73 m2; 95\% CI -2.86 to -1.11; P = 8.08 {\texttimes} 10(-6); odds ratio [OR] for CKD: 1.48; 95\% CI 1.32 to 1.65; P = 1.52 {\texttimes} 10(-11)). In contrast, the same MR approaches showed that SU has a causal effect on the risk of gout (OR estimates ranging from 3.41 to 6.04 per 1-mg/dl increase in SU, all P < 10-3), which served as a positive control of our approach. Overall, our MR analysis had >99\% power to detect a causal effect of SU level on the risk of CKD of the same magnitude as the observed epidemiological association between SU and CKD. Limitations of this study include the lifelong effect of a genetic perturbation not being the same as an acute perturbation, the inability to study non-European populations, and some sample overlap between the datasets used in the study.

CONCLUSIONS: Evidence from our series of causal inference approaches using genetics does not support a causal effect of SU level on eGFR level or CKD risk. Reducing SU levels is unlikely to reduce the risk of CKD development.

}, keywords = {Adult, Age Factors, Female, Genome-Wide Association Study, Glomerular Filtration Rate, Humans, Male, Mendelian Randomization Analysis, Renal Insufficiency, Chronic, Sex Factors, Uric Acid, Young Adult}, issn = {1549-1676}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pmed.1002725}, author = {Jordan, Daniel M and Choi, Hyon K and Verbanck, Marie and Topless, Ruth and Won, Hong-Hee and Nadkarni, Girish and Merriman, Tony R and Do, Ron} } @article {9176, title = {Large-scale genome-wide association study of coronary artery disease in genetically diverse populations.}, journal = {Nat Med}, volume = {28}, year = {2022}, month = {2022 08}, pages = {1679-1692}, abstract = {

We report a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of coronary artery disease (CAD) incorporating nearly a quarter of a million cases, in which existing studies are integrated with data from cohorts of white, Black and Hispanic individuals from the Million Veteran Program. We document near equivalent heritability of CAD across multiple ancestral groups, identify 95 novel loci, including nine on the X chromosome, detect eight loci of genome-wide significance in Black and Hispanic individuals, and demonstrate that two common haplotypes at the 9p21 locus are responsible for risk stratification in all populations except those of African origin, in which these haplotypes are virtually absent. Moreover, in the largest GWAS for angiographically derived coronary atherosclerosis performed to date, we find 15 loci of genome-wide significance that robustly overlap with established loci for clinical CAD. Phenome-wide association analyses of novel loci and polygenic risk scores (PRSs) augment signals related to insulin resistance, extend pleiotropic associations of these loci to include smoking and family history, and precisely document the markedly reduced transferability of existing PRSs to Black individuals. Downstream integrative analyses reinforce the critical roles of vascular endothelial, fibroblast, and smooth muscle cells in CAD susceptibility, but also point to a shared biology between atherosclerosis and oncogenesis. This study highlights the value of diverse populations in further characterizing the genetic architecture of CAD.

}, keywords = {Coronary Artery Disease, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Risk Factors}, issn = {1546-170X}, doi = {10.1038/s41591-022-01891-3}, author = {Tcheandjieu, Catherine and Zhu, Xiang and Hilliard, Austin T and Clarke, Shoa L and Napolioni, Valerio and Ma, Shining and Lee, Kyung Min and Fang, Huaying and Chen, Fei and Lu, Yingchang and Tsao, Noah L and Raghavan, Sridharan and Koyama, Satoshi and Gorman, Bryan R and Vujkovic, Marijana and Klarin, Derek and Levin, Michael G and Sinnott-Armstrong, Nasa and Wojcik, Genevieve L and Plomondon, Mary E and Maddox, Thomas M and Waldo, Stephen W and Bick, Alexander G and Pyarajan, Saiju and Huang, Jie and Song, Rebecca and Ho, Yuk-Lam and Buyske, Steven and Kooperberg, Charles and Haessler, Jeffrey and Loos, Ruth J F and Do, Ron and Verbanck, Marie and Chaudhary, Kumardeep and North, Kari E and Avery, Christy L and Graff, Mariaelisa and Haiman, Christopher A and Le Marchand, Lo{\"\i}c and Wilkens, Lynne R and Bis, Joshua C and Leonard, Hampton and Shen, Botong and Lange, Leslie A and Giri, Ayush and Dikilitas, Ozan and Kullo, Iftikhar J and Stanaway, Ian B and Jarvik, Gail P and Gordon, Adam S and Hebbring, Scott and Namjou, Bahram and Kaufman, Kenneth M and Ito, Kaoru and Ishigaki, Kazuyoshi and Kamatani, Yoichiro and Verma, Shefali S and Ritchie, Marylyn D and Kember, Rachel L and Baras, Aris and Lotta, Luca A and Kathiresan, Sekar and Hauser, Elizabeth R and Miller, Donald R and Lee, Jennifer S and Saleheen, Danish and Reaven, Peter D and Cho, Kelly and Gaziano, J Michael and Natarajan, Pradeep and Huffman, Jennifer E and Voight, Benjamin F and Rader, Daniel J and Chang, Kyong-Mi and Lynch, Julie A and Damrauer, Scott M and Wilson, Peter W F and Tang, Hua and Sun, Yan V and Tsao, Philip S and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J and Assimes, Themistocles L} }