@article {1027, title = {Biomarkers of Inflammation and MRI-Defined Small Vessel Disease of the Brain: The Cardiovascular Health Study.}, journal = {Stroke}, volume = {39}, year = {2008}, month = {2008 Jul}, pages = {1952-9}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: To clarify the role of inflammation in the pathogenesis of small vessel disease of the brain, we investigated the association between common variation in the C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin (IL)-6 genes, plasma CRP and IL6 levels, and presence of MRI-defined white matter lesions (WML) and brain infarcts (BI) in elderly participants of the Cardiovascular Health Study.

METHODS: Tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the CRP and IL6 genes were selected from the SeattleSNPs database. In cross-sectional analyses, logistic regression models adjusting for known cardiovascular disease risk factors were constructed to assess the associations of plasma CRP and IL6 levels and common CRP and IL6 gene haplotypes with presence of WML or BI in Blacks (n=532) and Whites (n=2905).

RESULTS: Plasma IL6 and CRP levels were associated with presence of WML and BI in both races. In Whites, common haplotypes of the IL6 gene were significantly associated with WML and BI. The common haplotype tagged by the -174G/C promoter polymorphism was associated with an increased risk of WML (OR=1.14; 95\% CI: [1.02; 1.28]). The common haplotype tagged by the -572G/C promoter polymorphism was associated with an increased risk of BI (OR=1.57; 95\% CI: [1.15; 2.14]). Significant associations were lacking for WML or BI with IL6 gene variation in Blacks, or with CRP gene variation in either race.

CONCLUSIONS: This study provides evidence of a genetic basis underlying the relationship between plasma biomarkers of inflammation and small vessel disease of the brain. Further studies to elucidate the specific role of IL6 in disease pathogenesis are warranted.

}, keywords = {African Continental Ancestry Group, Aged, Biomarkers, Brain Infarction, C-Reactive Protein, Cohort Studies, European Continental Ancestry Group, Female, Haplotypes, Humans, Inflammation, Interleukin-6, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide}, issn = {1524-4628}, doi = {10.1161/STROKEAHA.107.508135}, author = {Fornage, Myriam and Chiang, Y Aron and O{\textquoteright}Meara, Ellen S and Psaty, Bruce M and Reiner, Alexander P and Siscovick, David S and Tracy, Russell P and Longstreth, W T} } @article {1154, title = {Common coding variants of the HNF1A gene are associated with multiple cardiovascular risk phenotypes in community-based samples of younger and older European-American adults: the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study and The Cardiovascula}, journal = {Circ Cardiovasc Genet}, volume = {2}, year = {2009}, month = {2009 Jun}, pages = {244-54}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: The transcription factor hepatocyte nuclear factor (HNF)-1 alpha regulates the activity of a number of genes involved in innate immunity, blood coagulation, lipid and glucose transport and metabolism, and cellular detoxification. Common polymorphisms of the HNF-1 alpha gene (HNF1A) were recently associated with plasma C-reactive protein and gamma-glutamyl transferase concentration in middle-aged to older European Americans (EA).

METHODS AND RESULTS: We assessed whether common variants of HNF1A are associated with C-reactive protein, gamma-glutamyl transferase, and other atherosclerotic and metabolic risk factors, in the large, population-based Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study of healthy young EA (n=2154) and African American (AA; n=2083) adults. The minor alleles of Ile27Leu (rs1169288) and Ser486Asn (rs2464196) were associated with 0.10 to 0.15 standard deviation units lower C-reactive protein and gamma-glutamyl transferase levels in EA. The same HNF1A coding variants were associated with higher low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, apolipoprotein B, creatinine, and fibrinogen in EA. We replicated the associations between HNF1A coding variants and C-reactive protein, fibrinogen, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and renal function in a second population-based sample of EA adults 65 years and older from the Cardiovascular Health Study. The HNF1A Ser486Asn and/or Ile27Leu variants were also associated with increased risk of subclinical coronary atherosclerosis in Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults and with incident coronary heart disease in Cardiovascular Health Study. The Ile27Leu and Ser486Asn variants were 3-fold less common in AA than in EA. There was little evidence of association between HNF1A genotype and atherosclerosis-related phenotypes in AA.

CONCLUSIONS: Common polymorphisms of HNF1A seem to influence multiple phenotypes related to cardiovascular risk in the general population of younger and older EA adults.

}, keywords = {Adolescent, Adult, African Americans, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, C-Reactive Protein, Cardiovascular Diseases, Cholesterol, LDL, Cohort Studies, European Continental Ancestry Group, Female, Fibrinogen, gamma-Glutamyltransferase, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genotype, Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor 1-alpha, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Phenotype, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Risk Factors}, issn = {1942-3268}, doi = {10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.108.839506}, author = {Reiner, Alexander P and Gross, Myron D and Carlson, Christopher S and Bielinski, Suzette J and Lange, Leslie A and Fornage, Myriam and Jenny, Nancy S and Walston, Jeremy and Tracy, Russell P and Williams, O Dale and Jacobs, David R and Nickerson, Deborah A} } @article {1092, title = {Genomewide association studies of stroke.}, journal = {N Engl J Med}, volume = {360}, year = {2009}, month = {2009 Apr 23}, pages = {1718-28}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: The genes underlying the risk of stroke in the general population remain undetermined.

METHODS: We carried out an analysis of genomewide association data generated from four large cohorts composing the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology consortium, including 19,602 white persons (mean [+/-SD] age, 63+/-8 years) in whom 1544 incident strokes (1164 ischemic strokes) developed over an average follow-up of 11 years. We tested the markers most strongly associated with stroke in a replication cohort of 2430 black persons with 215 incident strokes (191 ischemic strokes), another cohort of 574 black persons with 85 incident strokes (68 ischemic strokes), and 652 Dutch persons with ischemic stroke and 3613 unaffected persons.

RESULTS: Two intergenic single-nucleotide polymorphisms on chromosome 12p13 and within 11 kb of the gene NINJ2 were associated with stroke (P<5x10(-8)). NINJ2 encodes an adhesion molecule expressed in glia and shows increased expression after nerve injury. Direct genotyping showed that rs12425791 was associated with an increased risk of total (i.e., all types) and ischemic stroke, with hazard ratios of 1.30 (95\% confidence interval [CI], 1.19 to 1.42) and 1.33 (95\% CI, 1.21 to 1.47), respectively, yielding population attributable risks of 11\% and 12\% in the discovery cohorts. Corresponding hazard ratios were 1.35 (95\% CI, 1.01 to 1.79; P=0.04) and 1.42 (95\% CI, 1.06 to 1.91; P=0.02) in the large cohort of black persons and 1.17 (95\% CI, 1.01 to 1.37; P=0.03) and 1.19 (95\% CI, 1.01 to 1.41; P=0.04) in the Dutch sample; the results of an underpowered analysis of the smaller black cohort were nonsignificant.

CONCLUSIONS: A genetic locus on chromosome 12p13 is associated with an increased risk of stroke.

}, keywords = {African Continental Ancestry Group, Aged, Chromosomes, Human, Pair 12, Cohort Studies, European Continental Ancestry Group, Female, Genetic Markers, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Genotype, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Proportional Hazards Models, Risk Factors, Stroke}, issn = {1533-4406}, doi = {10.1056/NEJMoa0900094}, author = {Ikram, M Arfan and Seshadri, Sudha and Bis, Joshua C and Fornage, Myriam and DeStefano, Anita L and Aulchenko, Yurii S and Debette, Stephanie and Lumley, Thomas and Folsom, Aaron R and van den Herik, Evita G and Bos, Michiel J and Beiser, Alexa and Cushman, Mary and Launer, Lenore J and Shahar, Eyal and Struchalin, Maksim and Du, Yangchun and Glazer, Nicole L and Rosamond, Wayne D and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Kelly-Hayes, Margaret and Lopez, Oscar L and Coresh, Josef and Hofman, Albert and DeCarli, Charles and Heckbert, Susan R and Koudstaal, Peter J and Yang, Qiong and Smith, Nicholas L and Kase, Carlos S and Rice, Kenneth and Haritunians, Talin and Roks, Gerwin and de Kort, Paul L M and Taylor, Kent D and de Lau, Lonneke M and Oostra, Ben A and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Rotter, Jerome I and Boerwinkle, Eric and Psaty, Bruce M and Mosley, Thomas H and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Breteler, Monique M B and Longstreth, W T and Wolf, Philip A} } @article {1188, title = {Candidate gene association resource (CARe): design, methods, and proof of concept.}, journal = {Circ Cardiovasc Genet}, volume = {3}, year = {2010}, month = {2010 Jun}, pages = {267-75}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute{\textquoteright}s Candidate Gene Association Resource (CARe), a planned cross-cohort analysis of genetic variation in cardiovascular, pulmonary, hematologic, and sleep-related traits, comprises >40,000 participants representing 4 ethnic groups in 9 community-based cohorts. The goals of CARe include the discovery of new variants associated with traits using a candidate gene approach and the discovery of new variants using the genome-wide association mapping approach specifically in African Americans.

METHODS AND RESULTS: CARe has assembled DNA samples for >40,000 individuals self-identified as European American, African American, Hispanic, or Chinese American, with accompanying data on hundreds of phenotypes that have been standardized and deposited in the CARe Phenotype Database. All participants were genotyped for 7 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) selected based on prior association evidence. We performed association analyses relating each of these SNPs to lipid traits, stratified by sex and ethnicity, and adjusted for age and age squared. In at least 2 of the ethnic groups, SNPs near CETP, LIPC, and LPL strongly replicated for association with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations, PCSK9 with low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, and LPL and APOA5 with serum triglycerides. Notably, some SNPs showed varying effect sizes and significance of association in different ethnic groups.

CONCLUSIONS: The CARe Pilot Study validates the operational framework for phenotype collection, SNP genotyping, and analytic pipeline of the CARe project and validates the planned candidate gene study of approximately 2000 biological candidate loci in all participants and genome-wide association study in approximately 8000 African American participants. CARe will serve as a valuable resource for the scientific community.

}, keywords = {African Americans, Cholesterol, HDL, Cholesterol, LDL, Cohort Studies, Databases, Genetic, European Continental Ancestry Group, Genetic Association Studies, Genotype, Humans, Phenotype, Pilot Projects, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Research Design, Triglycerides}, issn = {1942-3268}, doi = {10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.109.882696}, author = {Musunuru, Kiran and Lettre, Guillaume and Young, Taylor and Farlow, Deborah N and Pirruccello, James P and Ejebe, Kenechi G and Keating, Brendan J and Yang, Qiong and Chen, Ming-Huei and Lapchyk, Nina and Crenshaw, Andrew and Ziaugra, Liuda and Rachupka, Anthony and Benjamin, Emelia J and Cupples, L Adrienne and Fornage, Myriam and Fox, Ervin R and Heckbert, Susan R and Hirschhorn, Joel N and Newton-Cheh, Christopher and Nizzari, Marcia M and Paltoo, Dina N and Papanicolaou, George J and Patel, Sanjay R and Psaty, Bruce M and Rader, Daniel J and Redline, Susan and Rich, Stephen S and Rotter, Jerome I and Taylor, Herman A and Tracy, Russell P and Vasan, Ramachandran S and Wilson, James G and Kathiresan, Sekar and Fabsitz, Richard R and Boerwinkle, Eric and Gabriel, Stacey B} } @article {1156, title = {Genome-wide association studies of MRI-defined brain infarcts: meta-analysis from the CHARGE Consortium.}, journal = {Stroke}, volume = {41}, year = {2010}, month = {2010 Feb}, pages = {210-7}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Previous studies examining genetic associations with MRI-defined brain infarct have yielded inconsistent findings. We investigated genetic variation underlying covert MRI infarct in persons without histories of transient ischemic attack or stroke. We performed meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of white participants in 6 studies comprising the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) consortium.

METHODS: Using 2.2 million genotyped and imputed single nucleotide polymorphisms, each study performed cross-sectional genome-wide association analysis of MRI infarct using age- and sex-adjusted logistic regression models. Study-specific findings were combined in an inverse-variance-weighted meta-analysis, including 9401 participants with mean age 69.7 (19.4\% of whom had >or=1 MRI infarct).

RESULTS: The most significant association was found with rs2208454 (minor allele frequency, 20\%), located in intron 3 of MACRO domain containing 2 gene and in the downstream region of fibronectin leucine-rich transmembrane protein 3 gene. Each copy of the minor allele was associated with lower risk of MRI infarcts (odds ratio, 0.76; 95\% confidence interval, 0.68-0.84; P=4.64x10(-7)). Highly suggestive associations (P<1.0x10(-5)) were also found for 22 other single nucleotide polymorphisms in linkage disequilibrium (r(2)>0.64) with rs2208454. The association with rs2208454 did not replicate in independent samples of 1822 white and 644 black participants, although 4 single nucleotide polymorphisms within 200 kb from rs2208454 were associated with MRI infarcts in the black population sample.

CONCLUSIONS: This first community-based, genome-wide association study on covert MRI infarcts uncovered novel associations. Although replication of the association with top single nucleotide polymorphisms failed, possibly because of insufficient power, results in the black population sample are encouraging, and further efforts at replication are needed.

}, keywords = {African Americans, Aged, Brain, Brain Infarction, Cohort Studies, DNA Mutational Analysis, Female, Gene Frequency, Genetic Markers, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genetic Testing, Genetic Variation, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Linkage Disequilibrium, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Middle Aged, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Prospective Studies}, issn = {1524-4628}, doi = {10.1161/STROKEAHA.109.569194}, author = {Debette, Stephanie and Bis, Joshua C and Fornage, Myriam and Schmidt, Helena and Ikram, M Arfan and Sigurdsson, Sigurdur and Heiss, Gerardo and Struchalin, Maksim and Smith, Albert V and van der Lugt, Aad and DeCarli, Charles and Lumley, Thomas and Knopman, David S and Enzinger, Christian and Eiriksdottir, Gudny and Koudstaal, Peter J and DeStefano, Anita L and Psaty, Bruce M and Dufouil, Carole and Catellier, Diane J and Fazekas, Franz and Aspelund, Thor and Aulchenko, Yurii S and Beiser, Alexa and Rotter, Jerome I and Tzourio, Christophe and Shibata, Dean K and Tscherner, Maria and Harris, Tamara B and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Atwood, Larry D and Rice, Kenneth and Gottesman, Rebecca F and van Buchem, Mark A and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Kelly-Hayes, Margaret and Cushman, Mary and Zhu, Yicheng and Boerwinkle, Eric and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Hofman, Albert and Romero, Jose R and Lopez, Oscar and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Au, Rhoda and Heckbert, Susan R and Wolf, Philip A and Mosley, Thomas H and Seshadri, Sudha and Breteler, Monique M B and Schmidt, Reinhold and Launer, Lenore J and Longstreth, W T} } @article {1298, title = {Genome-wide association studies of cerebral white matter lesion burden: the CHARGE consortium.}, journal = {Ann Neurol}, volume = {69}, year = {2011}, month = {2011 Jun}, pages = {928-39}, abstract = {

OBJECTIVE: White matter hyperintensities (WMHs) detectable by magnetic resonance imaging are part of the spectrum of vascular injury associated with aging of the brain and are thought to reflect ischemic damage to the small deep cerebral vessels. WMHs are associated with an increased risk of cognitive and motor dysfunction, dementia, depression, and stroke. Despite a significant heritability, few genetic loci influencing WMH burden have been identified.

METHODS: We performed a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWASs) for WMH burden in 9,361 stroke-free individuals of European descent from 7 community-based cohorts. Significant findings were tested for replication in 3,024 individuals from 2 additional cohorts.

RESULTS: We identified 6 novel risk-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 1 locus on chromosome 17q25 encompassing 6 known genes including WBP2, TRIM65, TRIM47, MRPL38, FBF1, and ACOX1. The most significant association was for rs3744028 (p(discovery) = 4.0 {\texttimes} 10(-9) ; p(replication) = 1.3 {\texttimes} 10(-7) ; p(combined) = 4.0 {\texttimes} 10(-15) ). Other SNPs in this region also reaching genome-wide significance were rs9894383 (p = 5.3 {\texttimes} 10(-9) ), rs11869977 (p = 5.7 {\texttimes} 10(-9) ), rs936393 (p = 6.8 {\texttimes} 10(-9) ), rs3744017 (p = 7.3 {\texttimes} 10(-9) ), and rs1055129 (p = 4.1 {\texttimes} 10(-8) ). Variant alleles at these loci conferred a small increase in WMH burden (4-8\% of the overall mean WMH burden in the sample).

INTERPRETATION: This large GWAS of WMH burden in community-based cohorts of individuals of European descent identifies a novel locus on chromosome 17. Further characterization of this locus may provide novel insights into the pathogenesis of cerebral WMH.

}, keywords = {Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Cerebral Cortex, Chromosomes, Human, Pair 17, Cognition Disorders, Cohort Studies, European Continental Ancestry Group, Female, Gene Frequency, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Genotype, Humans, Leukoencephalopathies, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Middle Aged, Movement Disorders, Nerve Fibers, Myelinated, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Residence Characteristics, RNA, Messenger}, issn = {1531-8249}, doi = {10.1002/ana.22403}, author = {Fornage, Myriam and Debette, Stephanie and Bis, Joshua C and Schmidt, Helena and Ikram, M Arfan and Dufouil, Carole and Sigurdsson, Sigurdur and Lumley, Thomas and DeStefano, Anita L and Fazekas, Franz and Vrooman, Henri A and Shibata, Dean K and Maillard, Pauline and Zijdenbos, Alex and Smith, Albert V and Gudnason, Haukur and de Boer, Renske and Cushman, Mary and Mazoyer, Bernard and Heiss, Gerardo and Vernooij, Meike W and Enzinger, Christian and Glazer, Nicole L and Beiser, Alexa and Knopman, David S and Cavalieri, Margherita and Niessen, Wiro J and Harris, Tamara B and Petrovic, Katja and Lopez, Oscar L and Au, Rhoda and Lambert, Jean-Charles and Hofman, Albert and Gottesman, Rebecca F and Garcia, Melissa and Heckbert, Susan R and Atwood, Larry D and Catellier, Diane J and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Yang, Qiong and Smith, Nicholas L and Aspelund, Thor and Romero, Jose R and Rice, Kenneth and Taylor, Kent D and Nalls, Michael A and Rotter, Jerome I and Sharrett, Richey and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Amouyel, Philippe and Wolf, Philip A and Gudnason, Vilmundur and van der Lugt, Aad and Boerwinkle, Eric and Psaty, Bruce M and Seshadri, Sudha and Tzourio, Christophe and Breteler, Monique M B and Mosley, Thomas H and Schmidt, Reinhold and Longstreth, W T and DeCarli, Charles and Launer, Lenore J} } @article {6067, title = {Best practices and joint calling of the HumanExome BeadChip: the CHARGE Consortium.}, journal = {PLoS One}, volume = {8}, year = {2013}, month = {2013}, pages = {e68095}, abstract = {

Genotyping arrays are a cost effective approach when typing previously-identified genetic polymorphisms in large numbers of samples. One limitation of genotyping arrays with rare variants (e.g., minor allele frequency [MAF] <0.01) is the difficulty that automated clustering algorithms have to accurately detect and assign genotype calls. Combining intensity data from large numbers of samples may increase the ability to accurately call the genotypes of rare variants. Approximately 62,000 ethnically diverse samples from eleven Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) Consortium cohorts were genotyped with the Illumina HumanExome BeadChip across seven genotyping centers. The raw data files for the samples were assembled into a single project for joint calling. To assess the quality of the joint calling, concordance of genotypes in a subset of individuals having both exome chip and exome sequence data was analyzed. After exclusion of low performing SNPs on the exome chip and non-overlap of SNPs derived from sequence data, genotypes of 185,119 variants (11,356 were monomorphic) were compared in 530 individuals that had whole exome sequence data. A total of 98,113,070 pairs of genotypes were tested and 99.77\% were concordant, 0.14\% had missing data, and 0.09\% were discordant. We report that joint calling allows the ability to accurately genotype rare variation using array technology when large sample sizes are available and best practices are followed. The cluster file from this experiment is available at www.chargeconsortium.com/main/exomechip.

}, keywords = {Aging, Alleles, Cluster Analysis, Cohort Studies, Continental Population Groups, Exome, Female, Gene Frequency, Genomics, Genotype, Heart, Humans, Male, Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Sample Size, Self Report, Sequence Analysis, DNA}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0068095}, author = {Grove, Megan L and Yu, Bing and Cochran, Barbara J and Haritunians, Talin and Bis, Joshua C and Taylor, Kent D and Hansen, Mark and Borecki, Ingrid B and Cupples, L Adrienne and Fornage, Myriam and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Harris, Tamara B and Kathiresan, Sekar and Kraaij, Robert and Launer, Lenore J and Levy, Daniel and Liu, Yongmei and Mosley, Thomas and Peloso, Gina M and Psaty, Bruce M and Rich, Stephen S and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Siscovick, David S and Smith, Albert V and Uitterlinden, Andre and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Wilson, James G and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J and Rotter, Jerome I and Boerwinkle, Eric} } @article {5880, title = {Genome-wide association study identifies novel loci associated with concentrations of four plasma phospholipid fatty acids in the de novo lipogenesis pathway: results from the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) consortiu}, journal = {Circ Cardiovasc Genet}, volume = {6}, year = {2013}, month = {2013 Apr}, pages = {171-83}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND- Palmitic acid (16:0), stearic acid (18:0), palmitoleic acid (16:1n-7), and oleic acid (18:1n-9) are major saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids that affect cellular signaling and metabolic pathways. They are synthesized via de novo lipogenesis and are the main saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids in the diet. Levels of these fatty acids have been linked to diseases including type 2 diabetes mellitus and coronary heart disease. METHODS AND RESULTS- Genome-wide association studies were conducted in 5 population-based cohorts comprising 8961 participants of European ancestry to investigate the association of common genetic variation with plasma levels of these 4 fatty acids. We identified polymorphisms in 7 novel loci associated with circulating levels of >=1 of these fatty acids. ALG14 (asparagine-linked glycosylation 14 homolog) polymorphisms were associated with higher 16:0 (P=2.7{\texttimes}10(-11)) and lower 18:0 (P=2.2{\texttimes}10(-18)). FADS1 and FADS2 (desaturases) polymorphisms were associated with higher 16:1n-7 (P=6.6{\texttimes}10(-13)) and 18:1n-9 (P=2.2{\texttimes}10(-32)) and lower 18:0 (P=1.3{\texttimes}10(-20)). LPGAT1 (lysophosphatidylglycerol acyltransferase) polymorphisms were associated with lower 18:0 (P=2.8{\texttimes}10(-9)). GCKR (glucokinase regulator; P=9.8{\texttimes}10(-10)) and HIF1AN (factor inhibiting hypoxia-inducible factor-1; P=5.7{\texttimes}10(-9)) polymorphisms were associated with higher 16:1n-7, whereas PKD2L1 (polycystic kidney disease 2-like 1; P=5.7{\texttimes}10(-15)) and a locus on chromosome 2 (not near known genes) were associated with lower 16:1n-7 (P=4.1{\texttimes}10(-8)). CONCLUSIONS- Our findings provide novel evidence that common variations in genes with diverse functions, including protein-glycosylation, polyunsaturated fatty acid metabolism, phospholipid modeling, and glucose- and oxygen-sensing pathways, are associated with circulating levels of 4 fatty acids in the de novo lipogenesis pathway. These results expand our knowledge of genetic factors relevant to de novo lipogenesis and fatty acid biology.

}, keywords = {Adult, Aged, Chromosomes, Human, Pair 2, Cohort Studies, Coronary Disease, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Fatty Acids, Monounsaturated, Female, Genetic Loci, Genome-Wide Association Study, Genotype, Humans, Linkage Disequilibrium, Lipogenesis, Male, Middle Aged, Oleic Acid, Palmitic Acid, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Stearic Acids}, issn = {1942-3268}, doi = {10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.112.964619}, author = {Wu, Jason H Y and Lemaitre, Rozenn N and Manichaikul, Ani and Guan, Weihua and Tanaka, Toshiko and Foy, Millennia and Kabagambe, Edmond K and Djouss{\'e}, Luc and Siscovick, David and Fretts, Amanda M and Johnson, Catherine and King, Irena B and Psaty, Bruce M and McKnight, Barbara and Rich, Stephen S and Chen, Yii-der I and Nettleton, Jennifer A and Tang, Weihong and Bandinelli, Stefania and Jacobs, David R and Browning, Brian L and Laurie, Cathy C and Gu, Xiangjun and Tsai, Michael Y and Steffen, Lyn M and Ferrucci, Luigi and Fornage, Myriam and Mozaffarian, Dariush} } @article {6108, title = {Ischemic stroke is associated with the ABO locus: the EuroCLOT study.}, journal = {Ann Neurol}, volume = {73}, year = {2013}, month = {2013 Jan}, pages = {16-31}, abstract = {

OBJECTIVE: End-stage coagulation and the structure/function of fibrin are implicated in the pathogenesis of ischemic stroke. We explored whether genetic variants associated with end-stage coagulation in healthy volunteers account for the genetic predisposition to ischemic stroke and examined their influence on stroke subtype.

METHODS: Common genetic variants identified through genome-wide association studies of coagulation factors and fibrin structure/function in healthy twins (n = 2,100, Stage 1) were examined in ischemic stroke (n = 4,200 cases) using 2 independent samples of European ancestry (Stage 2). A third clinical collection having stroke subtyping (total 8,900 cases, 55,000 controls) was used for replication (Stage 3).

RESULTS: Stage 1 identified 524 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from 23 linkage disequilibrium blocks having significant association (p < 5 {\texttimes} 10(-8)) with 1 or more coagulation/fibrin phenotypes. The most striking associations included SNP rs5985 with factor XIII activity (p = 2.6 {\texttimes} 10(-186)), rs10665 with FVII (p = 2.4 {\texttimes} 10(-47)), and rs505922 in the ABO gene with both von Willebrand factor (p = 4.7 {\texttimes} 10(-57)) and factor VIII (p = 1.2 {\texttimes} 10(-36)). In Stage 2, the 23 independent SNPs were examined in stroke cases/noncases using MOnica Risk, Genetics, Archiving and Monograph (MORGAM) and Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium 2 collections. SNP rs505922 was nominally associated with ischemic stroke (odds ratio = 0.94, 95\% confidence interval = 0.88-0.99, p = 0.023). Independent replication in Meta-Stroke confirmed the rs505922 association with stroke, beta (standard error, SE) = 0.066 (0.02), p = 0.001, a finding specific to large-vessel and cardioembolic stroke (p = 0.001 and p = < 0.001, respectively) but not seen with small-vessel stroke (p = 0.811).

INTERPRETATION: ABO gene variants are associated with large-vessel and cardioembolic stroke but not small-vessel disease. This work sheds light on the different pathogenic mechanisms underpinning stroke subtype.

}, keywords = {ABO Blood-Group System, Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Blood Coagulation, Brain Ischemia, Cohort Studies, Europe, Female, Genetic Loci, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genetic Variation, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Stroke, Young Adult}, issn = {1531-8249}, doi = {10.1002/ana.23838}, author = {Williams, Frances M K and Carter, Angela M and Hysi, Pirro G and Surdulescu, Gabriela and Hodgkiss, Dylan and Soranzo, Nicole and Traylor, Matthew and Bevan, Steve and Dichgans, Martin and Rothwell, Peter M W and Sudlow, Cathie and Farrall, Martin and Silander, Kaisa and Kaunisto, Mari and Wagner, Peter and Saarela, Olli and Kuulasmaa, Kari and Virtamo, Jarmo and Salomaa, Veikko and Amouyel, Philippe and Arveiler, Dominique and Ferrieres, Jean and Wiklund, Per-Gunnar and Ikram, M Arfan and Hofman, Albert and Boncoraglio, Giorgio B and Parati, Eugenio A and Helgadottir, Anna and Gretarsdottir, Solveig and Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur and Thorleifsson, Gudmar and Stefansson, Kari and Seshadri, Sudha and DeStefano, Anita and Gschwendtner, Andreas and Psaty, Bruce and Longstreth, Will and Mitchell, Braxton D and Cheng, Yu-Ching and Clarke, Robert and Ferrario, Marco and Bis, Joshua C and Levi, Christopher and Attia, John and Holliday, Elizabeth G and Scott, Rodney J and Fornage, Myriam and Sharma, Pankaj and Furie, Karen L and Rosand, Jonathan and Nalls, Mike and Meschia, James and Mosely, Thomas H and Evans, Alun and Palotie, Aarno and Markus, Hugh S and Grant, Peter J and Spector, Tim D} } @article {6292, title = {No evidence of interaction between known lipid-associated genetic variants and smoking in the multi-ethnic PAGE population.}, journal = {Hum Genet}, volume = {132}, year = {2013}, month = {2013 Dec}, pages = {1427-31}, abstract = {

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified many variants that influence high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and/or triglycerides. However, environmental modifiers, such as smoking, of these known genotype-phenotype associations are just recently emerging in the literature. We have tested for interactions between smoking and 49 GWAS-identified variants in over 41,000 racially/ethnically diverse samples with lipid levels from the Population Architecture Using Genomics and Epidemiology (PAGE) study. Despite their biological plausibility, we were unable to detect significant SNP {\texttimes} smoking interactions.

}, keywords = {Cholesterol, HDL, Cholesterol, LDL, Cohort Studies, Ethnic Groups, Female, Gene Frequency, Gene-Environment Interaction, Genetics, Population, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Lipid Metabolism, Male, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Prevalence, Smoking, Triglycerides, Young Adult}, issn = {1432-1203}, doi = {10.1007/s00439-013-1375-3}, author = {Dumitrescu, Logan and Carty, Cara L and Franceschini, Nora and Hindorff, Lucia A and Cole, Shelley A and B{\r u}zkov{\'a}, Petra and Schumacher, Fredrick R and Eaton, Charles B and Goodloe, Robert J and Duggan, David J and Haessler, Jeff and Cochran, Barbara and Henderson, Brian E and Cheng, Iona and Johnson, Karen C and Carlson, Chris S and Love, Shelly-Anne and Brown-Gentry, Kristin and Nato, Alejandro Q and Quibrera, Miguel and Shohet, Ralph V and Ambite, Jose Luis and Wilkens, Lynne R and Le Marchand, Lo{\"\i}c and Haiman, Christopher A and Buyske, Steven and Kooperberg, Charles and North, Kari E and Fornage, Myriam and Crawford, Dana C} } @article {6590, title = {Association of low-frequency and rare coding-sequence variants with blood lipids and coronary heart disease in 56,000 whites and blacks.}, journal = {Am J Hum Genet}, volume = {94}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Feb 06}, pages = {223-32}, abstract = {

Low-frequency coding DNA sequence variants in the proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 gene (PCSK9) lower plasma low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), protect against risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), and have prompted the development of a new class of therapeutics. It is uncertain whether the PCSK9 example represents a paradigm or an isolated exception. We used the "Exome Array" to genotype >200,000 low-frequency and rare coding sequence variants across the genome in 56,538 individuals (42,208 European ancestry [EA] and 14,330 African ancestry [AA]) and tested these variants for association with LDL-C, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and triglycerides. Although we did not identify new genes associated with LDL-C, we did identify four low-frequency (frequencies between 0.1\% and 2\%) variants (ANGPTL8 rs145464906 [c.361C>T; p.Gln121*], PAFAH1B2 rs186808413 [c.482C>T; p.Ser161Leu], COL18A1 rs114139997 [c.331G>A; p.Gly111Arg], and PCSK7 rs142953140 [c.1511G>A; p.Arg504His]) with large effects on HDL-C and/or triglycerides. None of these four variants was associated with risk for CHD, suggesting that examples of low-frequency coding variants with robust effects on both lipids and CHD will be limited.

}, keywords = {1-Alkyl-2-acetylglycerophosphocholine Esterase, Adult, African Continental Ancestry Group, Aged, Alleles, Animals, Cholesterol, HDL, Cholesterol, LDL, Cohort Studies, Coronary Disease, European Continental Ancestry Group, Female, Gene Frequency, Genetic Association Studies, Genetic Code, Genetic Variation, Humans, Linear Models, Male, Mice, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Microtubule-Associated Proteins, Middle Aged, Phenotype, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Subtilisins, Triglycerides}, issn = {1537-6605}, doi = {10.1016/j.ajhg.2014.01.009}, author = {Peloso, Gina M and Auer, Paul L and Bis, Joshua C and Voorman, Arend and Morrison, Alanna C and Stitziel, Nathan O and Brody, Jennifer A and Khetarpal, Sumeet A and Crosby, Jacy R and Fornage, Myriam and Isaacs, Aaron and Jakobsdottir, Johanna and Feitosa, Mary F and Davies, Gail and Huffman, Jennifer E and Manichaikul, Ani and Davis, Brian and Lohman, Kurt and Joon, Aron Y and Smith, Albert V and Grove, Megan L and Zanoni, Paolo and Redon, Valeska and Demissie, Serkalem and Lawson, Kim and Peters, Ulrike and Carlson, Christopher and Jackson, Rebecca D and Ryckman, Kelli K and Mackey, Rachel H and Robinson, Jennifer G and Siscovick, David S and Schreiner, Pamela J and Mychaleckyj, Josyf C and Pankow, James S and Hofman, Albert and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Harris, Tamara B and Taylor, Kent D and Stafford, Jeanette M and Reynolds, Lindsay M and Marioni, Riccardo E and Dehghan, Abbas and Franco, Oscar H and Patel, Aniruddh P and Lu, Yingchang and Hindy, George and Gottesman, Omri and Bottinger, Erwin P and Melander, Olle and Orho-Melander, Marju and Loos, Ruth J F and Duga, Stefano and Merlini, Piera Angelica and Farrall, Martin and Goel, Anuj and Asselta, Rosanna and Girelli, Domenico and Martinelli, Nicola and Shah, Svati H and Kraus, William E and Li, Mingyao and Rader, Daniel J and Reilly, Muredach P and McPherson, Ruth and Watkins, Hugh and Ardissino, Diego and Zhang, Qunyuan and Wang, Judy and Tsai, Michael Y and Taylor, Herman A and Correa, Adolfo and Griswold, Michael E and Lange, Leslie A and Starr, John M and Rudan, Igor and Eiriksdottir, Gudny and Launer, Lenore J and Ordovas, Jose M and Levy, Daniel and Chen, Y-D Ida and Reiner, Alexander P and Hayward, Caroline and Polasek, Ozren and Deary, Ian J and Borecki, Ingrid B and Liu, Yongmei and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Wilson, James G and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Kooperberg, Charles and Rich, Stephen S and Psaty, Bruce M and Rotter, Jerome I and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J and Rice, Kenneth and Boerwinkle, Eric and Kathiresan, Sekar and Cupples, L Adrienne} } @article {6556, title = {Effect of genetic variants associated with plasma homocysteine levels on stroke risk.}, journal = {Stroke}, volume = {45}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Jul}, pages = {1920-4}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Elevated total plasma homocysteine (tHcy) levels are known to be associated with increased risk of ischemic stroke (IS). Given that both tHcy and IS are heritable traits, we investigated a potential genetic relationship between homocysteine levels and stroke risk by assessing 18 polymorphisms previously associated with tHcy levels for their association with IS and its subtypes.

METHODS: Previous meta-analysis results from an international stroke collaborative network, METASTROKE, were used to assess association of the 18 tHcy-associated single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 12 389 IS cases and 62 004 controls. We also investigated the associations in regions located within 50 kb from the 18 tHcy-related SNPs and the association of a genetic risk score, including the 18 SNPs.

RESULTS: One SNP located in the RASIP1 gene and a cluster of 3 SNPs located at and near SLC17A3 were significantly associated with IS (P<0.0003) after correcting for multiple testing. For stroke subtypes, the sentinel SNP located upstream of MUT was significantly associated with small-vessel disease (P=0.0022), whereas 1 SNP located in MTHFR was significantly associated with large-vessel disease (P=0.00019). A genetic risk score, including the 18 SNPs, did not show significant association with IS or its subtypes.

CONCLUSIONS: This study found several potential associations with IS and its subtypes: an association of an MUT variant with small-vessel disease, an MTHFR variant with large-vessel disease, and associations of RASIP1 and SLC17A3 variants with overall IS.

}, keywords = {Brain Ischemia, Cohort Studies, Europe, Genetic Association Studies, Genetic Loci, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genetic Variation, Genome, Homocysteine, Humans, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Risk, Stroke}, issn = {1524-4628}, doi = {10.1161/STROKEAHA.114.005208}, author = {Cotlarciuc, Ioana and Malik, Rainer and Holliday, Elizabeth G and Ahmadi, Kourosh R and Par{\'e}, Guillaume and Psaty, Bruce M and Fornage, Myriam and Hasan, Nazeeha and Rinne, Paul E and Ikram, M Arfan and Markus, Hugh S and Rosand, Jonathan and Mitchell, Braxton D and Kittner, Steven J and Meschia, James F and van Meurs, Joyce B J and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Worrall, Bradford B and Dichgans, Martin and Sharma, Pankaj} } @article {6599, title = {Gene-age interactions in blood pressure regulation: a large-scale investigation with the CHARGE, Global BPgen, and ICBP Consortia.}, journal = {Am J Hum Genet}, volume = {95}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Jul 03}, pages = {24-38}, abstract = {

Although age-dependent effects on blood pressure (BP) have been reported, they have not been systematically investigated in large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWASs). We leveraged the infrastructure of three well-established consortia (CHARGE, GBPgen, and ICBP) and a nonstandard approach (age stratification and metaregression) to conduct a genome-wide search of common variants with age-dependent effects on systolic (SBP), diastolic (DBP), mean arterial (MAP), and pulse (PP) pressure. In a two-staged design using 99,241 individuals of European ancestry, we identified 20 genome-wide significant (p <= 5 {\texttimes} 10(-8)) loci by using joint tests of the SNP main effect and SNP-age interaction. Nine of the significant loci demonstrated nominal evidence of age-dependent effects on BP by tests of the interactions alone. Index SNPs in the EHBP1L1 (DBP and MAP), CASZ1 (SBP and MAP), and GOSR2 (PP) loci exhibited the largest age interactions, with opposite directions of effect in the young versus the old. The changes in the genetic effects over time were small but nonnegligible (up to 1.58 mm Hg over 60 years). The EHBP1L1 locus was discovered through gene-age interactions only in whites but had DBP main effects replicated (p = 8.3 {\texttimes} 10(-4)) in 8,682 Asians from Singapore, indicating potential interethnic heterogeneity. A secondary analysis revealed 22 loci with evidence of age-specific effects (e.g., only in 20 to 29-year-olds). Age can be used to select samples with larger genetic effect sizes and more homogenous phenotypes, which may increase statistical power. Age-dependent effects identified through novel statistical approaches can provide insight into the biology and temporal regulation underlying BP associations.

}, keywords = {Adolescent, Adult, Age Factors, Aged, Blood Pressure, Cohort Studies, Humans, Middle Aged, Young Adult}, issn = {1537-6605}, doi = {10.1016/j.ajhg.2014.05.010}, author = {Simino, Jeannette and Shi, Gang and Bis, Joshua C and Chasman, Daniel I and Ehret, Georg B and Gu, Xiangjun and Guo, Xiuqing and Hwang, Shih-Jen and Sijbrands, Eric and Smith, Albert V and Verwoert, Germaine C and Bragg-Gresham, Jennifer L and Cadby, Gemma and Chen, Peng and Cheng, Ching-Yu and Corre, Tanguy and de Boer, Rudolf A and Goel, Anuj and Johnson, Toby and Khor, Chiea-Chuen and Llu{\'\i}s-Ganella, Carla and Luan, Jian{\textquoteright}an and Lyytik{\"a}inen, Leo-Pekka and Nolte, Ilja M and Sim, Xueling and S{\~o}ber, Siim and van der Most, Peter J and Verweij, Niek and Zhao, Jing Hua and Amin, Najaf and Boerwinkle, Eric and Bouchard, Claude and Dehghan, Abbas and Eiriksdottir, Gudny and Elosua, Roberto and Franco, Oscar H and Gieger, Christian and Harris, Tamara B and Hercberg, Serge and Hofman, Albert and James, Alan L and Johnson, Andrew D and K{\"a}h{\"o}nen, Mika and Khaw, Kay-Tee and Kutalik, Zolt{\'a}n and Larson, Martin G and Launer, Lenore J and Li, Guo and Liu, Jianjun and Liu, Kiang and Morrison, Alanna C and Navis, Gerjan and Ong, Rick Twee-Hee and Papanicolau, George J and Penninx, Brenda W and Psaty, Bruce M and Raffel, Leslie J and Raitakari, Olli T and Rice, Kenneth and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Rose, Lynda M and Sanna, Serena and Scott, Robert A and Siscovick, David S and Stolk, Ronald P and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Vaidya, Dhananjay and van der Klauw, Melanie M and Vasan, Ramachandran S and Vithana, Eranga Nishanthie and V{\"o}lker, Uwe and V{\"o}lzke, Henry and Watkins, Hugh and Young, Terri L and Aung, Tin and Bochud, Murielle and Farrall, Martin and Hartman, Catharina A and Laan, Maris and Lakatta, Edward G and Lehtim{\"a}ki, Terho and Loos, Ruth J F and Lucas, Gavin and Meneton, Pierre and Palmer, Lyle J and Rettig, Rainer and Snieder, Harold and Tai, E Shyong and Teo, Yik-Ying and van der Harst, Pim and Wareham, Nicholas J and Wijmenga, Cisca and Wong, Tien Yin and Fornage, Myriam and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Levy, Daniel and Palmas, Walter and Ridker, Paul M and Rotter, Jerome I and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Witteman, Jacqueline C M and Chakravarti, Aravinda and Rao, Dabeeru C} } @article {6582, title = {Genome-wide association analysis identifies six new loci associated with forced vital capacity.}, journal = {Nat Genet}, volume = {46}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Jul}, pages = {669-77}, abstract = {

Forced vital capacity (FVC), a spirometric measure of pulmonary function, reflects lung volume and is used to diagnose and monitor lung diseases. We performed genome-wide association study meta-analysis of FVC in 52,253 individuals from 26 studies and followed up the top associations in 32,917 additional individuals of European ancestry. We found six new regions associated at genome-wide significance (P < 5 {\texttimes} 10(-8)) with FVC in or near EFEMP1, BMP6, MIR129-2-HSD17B12, PRDM11, WWOX and KCNJ2. Two loci previously associated with spirometric measures (GSTCD and PTCH1) were related to FVC. Newly implicated regions were followed up in samples from African-American, Korean, Chinese and Hispanic individuals. We detected transcripts for all six newly implicated genes in human lung tissue. The new loci may inform mechanisms involved in lung development and the pathogenesis of restrictive lung disease.

}, keywords = {Cohort Studies, Databases, Genetic, Follow-Up Studies, Forced Expiratory Volume, Genetic Loci, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome, Human, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Lung Diseases, Meta-Analysis as Topic, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Prognosis, Quantitative Trait Loci, Respiratory Function Tests, Spirometry, Vital Capacity}, issn = {1546-1718}, doi = {10.1038/ng.3011}, author = {Loth, Daan W and Soler Artigas, Maria and Gharib, Sina A and Wain, Louise V and Franceschini, Nora and Koch, Beate and Pottinger, Tess D and Smith, Albert Vernon and Duan, Qing and Oldmeadow, Chris and Lee, Mi Kyeong and Strachan, David P and James, Alan L and Huffman, Jennifer E and Vitart, Veronique and Ramasamy, Adaikalavan and Wareham, Nicholas J and Kaprio, Jaakko and Wang, Xin-Qun and Trochet, Holly and K{\"a}h{\"o}nen, Mika and Flexeder, Claudia and Albrecht, Eva and Lopez, Lorna M and de Jong, Kim and Thyagarajan, Bharat and Alves, Alexessander Couto and Enroth, Stefan and Omenaas, Ernst and Joshi, Peter K and Fall, Tove and Vi{\~n}uela, Ana and Launer, Lenore J and Loehr, Laura R and Fornage, Myriam and Li, Guo and Wilk, Jemma B and Tang, Wenbo and Manichaikul, Ani and Lahousse, Lies and Harris, Tamara B and North, Kari E and Rudnicka, Alicja R and Hui, Jennie and Gu, Xiangjun and Lumley, Thomas and Wright, Alan F and Hastie, Nicholas D and Campbell, Susan and Kumar, Rajesh and Pin, Isabelle and Scott, Robert A and Pietil{\"a}inen, Kirsi H and Surakka, Ida and Liu, Yongmei and Holliday, Elizabeth G and Schulz, Holger and Heinrich, Joachim and Davies, Gail and Vonk, Judith M and Wojczynski, Mary and Pouta, Anneli and Johansson, Asa and Wild, Sarah H and Ingelsson, Erik and Rivadeneira, Fernando and V{\"o}lzke, Henry and Hysi, Pirro G and Eiriksdottir, Gudny and Morrison, Alanna C and Rotter, Jerome I and Gao, Wei and Postma, Dirkje S and White, Wendy B and Rich, Stephen S and Hofman, Albert and Aspelund, Thor and Couper, David and Smith, Lewis J and Psaty, Bruce M and Lohman, Kurt and Burchard, Esteban G and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Garcia, Melissa and Joubert, Bonnie R and McArdle, Wendy L and Musk, A Bill and Hansel, Nadia and Heckbert, Susan R and Zgaga, Lina and van Meurs, Joyce B J and Navarro, Pau and Rudan, Igor and Oh, Yeon-Mok and Redline, Susan and Jarvis, Deborah L and Zhao, Jing Hua and Rantanen, Taina and O{\textquoteright}Connor, George T and Ripatti, Samuli and Scott, Rodney J and Karrasch, Stefan and Grallert, Harald and Gaddis, Nathan C and Starr, John M and Wijmenga, Cisca and Minster, Ryan L and Lederer, David J and Pekkanen, Juha and Gyllensten, Ulf and Campbell, Harry and Morris, Andrew P and Gl{\"a}ser, Sven and Hammond, Christopher J and Burkart, Kristin M and Beilby, John and Kritchevsky, Stephen B and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Hancock, Dana B and Williams, O Dale and Polasek, Ozren and Zemunik, Tatijana and Kolcic, Ivana and Petrini, Marcy F and Wjst, Matthias and Kim, Woo Jin and Porteous, David J and Scotland, Generation and Smith, Blair H and Viljanen, Anne and Heli{\"o}vaara, Markku and Attia, John R and Sayers, Ian and Hampel, Regina and Gieger, Christian and Deary, Ian J and Boezen, H Marike and Newman, Anne and Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta and Wilson, James F and Lind, Lars and Stricker, Bruno H and Teumer, Alexander and Spector, Timothy D and Mel{\'e}n, Erik and Peters, Marjolein J and Lange, Leslie A and Barr, R Graham and Bracke, Ken R and Verhamme, Fien M and Sung, Joohon and Hiemstra, Pieter S and Cassano, Patricia A and Sood, Akshay and Hayward, Caroline and Dupuis, Jos{\'e}e and Hall, Ian P and Brusselle, Guy G and Tobin, Martin D and London, Stephanie J} } @article {6819, title = {Genome-wide association study of L-arginine and dimethylarginines reveals novel metabolic pathway for symmetric dimethylarginine.}, journal = {Circ Cardiovasc Genet}, volume = {7}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Dec}, pages = {864-72}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Dimethylarginines (DMA) interfere with nitric oxide formation by inhibiting nitric oxide synthase (asymmetrical DMA [ADMA]) and l-arginine uptake into the cell (ADMA and symmetrical DMA [SDMA]). In prospective clinical studies, ADMA has been characterized as a cardiovascular risk marker, whereas SDMA is a novel marker for renal function and associated with all-cause mortality after ischemic stroke. The aim of the current study was to characterize the environmental and genetic contributions to interindividual variability of these biomarkers.

METHODS AND RESULTS: This study comprised a genome-wide association analysis of 3 well-characterized population-based cohorts (Framingham Heart Study [FHS; n=2992], Gutenberg Health Study [GHS; n=4354], and Multinational Monitoring of Trends and Determinants in Cardiovascular Disease Study [MONICA]/Cooperative Health Research in the Augsburg Area, Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany [KORA] F3 [n=581]) and identified replicated loci (DDAH1, MED23, Arg1, and AGXT2) associated with the interindividual variability in ADMA, l-arginine, and SDMA. Experimental in silico and in vitro studies confirmed functional significance of the identified AGXT2 variants. Clinical outcome analysis in 384 patients of the Leeds stroke study demonstrated an association between increased plasma levels of SDMA, AGXT2 variants, and various cardiometabolic risk factors. AGXT2 variants were not associated with poststroke survival in the Leeds study or were they associated with incident stroke in the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) consortium.

CONCLUSIONS: These genome-wide association study support the importance of DDAH1 and MED23/Arg1 in regulating ADMA and l-arginine metabolism, respectively, and identify a novel regulatory renal pathway for SDMA by AGXT2. AGXT2 variants might explain part of the pathogenic link between SDMA, renal function, and outcome. An association between AGXT2 variants and stroke is unclear and warrants further investigation.

}, keywords = {Adult, Aged, Amidohydrolases, Arginine, Binding Sites, Cohort Studies, Female, Genetic Loci, Genome-Wide Association Study, Genotype, HEK293 Cells, Humans, Male, Mediator Complex, Middle Aged, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Protein Structure, Tertiary, Risk Factors, Stroke, Substrate Specificity, Transaminases}, issn = {1942-3268}, doi = {10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.113.000264}, author = {L{\"u}neburg, Nicole and Lieb, Wolfgang and Zeller, Tanja and Chen, Ming-Huei and Maas, Renke and Carter, Angela M and Xanthakis, Vanessa and Glazer, Nicole L and Schwedhelm, Edzard and Seshadri, Sudha and Ikram, Mohammad Arfan and Longstreth, William T and Fornage, Myriam and K{\"o}nig, Inke R and Loley, Christina and Ojeda, Francisco M and Schillert, Arne and Wang, Thomas J and Sticht, Heinrich and Kittel, Anja and K{\"o}nig, J{\"o}rg and Benjamin, Emelia J and Sullivan, Lisa M and Bernges, Isabel and Anderssohn, Maike and Ziegler, Andreas and Gieger, Christian and Illig, Thomas and Meisinger, Christa and Wichmann, H-Erich and Wild, Philipp S and Schunkert, Heribert and Psaty, Bruce M and Wiggins, Kerri L and Heckbert, Susan R and Smith, Nicholas and Lackner, Karl and Lunetta, Kathryn L and Blankenberg, Stefan and Erdmann, Jeanette and M{\"u}nzel, Thomas and Grant, Peter J and Vasan, Ramachandran S and B{\"o}ger, Rainer H} } @article {6297, title = {Multilocus genetic risk score associates with ischemic stroke in case-control and prospective cohort studies.}, journal = {Stroke}, volume = {45}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Feb}, pages = {394-402}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Genome-wide association studies have revealed multiple common variants associated with known risk factors for ischemic stroke (IS). However, their aggregate effect on risk is uncertain. We aimed to generate a multilocus genetic risk score (GRS) for IS based on genome-wide association studies data from clinical-based samples and to establish its external validity in prospective population-based cohorts.

METHODS: Three thousand five hundred forty-eight clinic-based IS cases and 6399 controls from the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium 2 were used for derivation of the GRS. Subjects from the METASTROKE consortium served as a replication sample. The validation sample consisted of 22 751 participants from the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology consortium. We selected variants that had reached genome-wide significance in previous association studies on established risk factors for IS.

RESULTS: A combined GRS for atrial fibrillation, coronary artery disease, hypertension, and systolic blood pressure significantly associated with IS both in the case-control samples and in the prospective population-based studies. Subjects in the top quintile of the combined GRS had >2-fold increased risk of IS compared with subjects in the lowest quintile. Addition of the combined GRS to a simple model based on sex significantly improved the prediction of IS in the combined clinic-based samples but not in the population-based studies, and there was no significant improvement in net reclassification.

CONCLUSIONS: A multilocus GRS based on common variants for established cardiovascular risk factors was significantly associated with IS both in clinic-based samples and in the general population. However, the improvement in clinical risk prediction was found to be small.

}, keywords = {Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Atrial Fibrillation, Blood Pressure, Brain Ischemia, Case-Control Studies, Cohort Studies, Coronary Artery Disease, Female, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genetic Variation, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Hypertension, Male, Middle Aged, Multilocus Sequence Typing, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Population, Prospective Studies, Reproducibility of Results, Risk Assessment, Risk Factors, Sex Factors, Stroke}, issn = {1524-4628}, doi = {10.1161/STROKEAHA.113.002938}, author = {Malik, Rainer and Bevan, Steve and Nalls, Michael A and Holliday, Elizabeth G and Devan, William J and Cheng, Yu-Ching and Ibrahim-Verbaas, Carla A and Verhaaren, Benjamin F J and Bis, Joshua C and Joon, Aron Y and de Stefano, Anita L and Fornage, Myriam and Psaty, Bruce M and Ikram, M Arfan and Launer, Lenore J and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Sharma, Pankaj and Mitchell, Braxton D and Rosand, Jonathan and Meschia, James F and Levi, Christopher and Rothwell, Peter M and Sudlow, Cathie and Markus, Hugh S and Seshadri, Sudha and Dichgans, Martin} } @article {6220, title = {Predicting stroke through genetic risk functions: the CHARGE Risk Score Project.}, journal = {Stroke}, volume = {45}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Feb}, pages = {403-12}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Beyond the Framingham Stroke Risk Score, prediction of future stroke may improve with a genetic risk score (GRS) based on single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with stroke and its risk factors.

METHODS: The study includes 4 population-based cohorts with 2047 first incident strokes from 22,720 initially stroke-free European origin participants aged >=55 years, who were followed for up to 20 years. GRSs were constructed with 324 single-nucleotide polymorphisms implicated in stroke and 9 risk factors. The association of the GRS to first incident stroke was tested using Cox regression; the GRS predictive properties were assessed with area under the curve statistics comparing the GRS with age and sex, Framingham Stroke Risk Score models, and reclassification statistics. These analyses were performed per cohort and in a meta-analysis of pooled data. Replication was sought in a case-control study of ischemic stroke.

RESULTS: In the meta-analysis, adding the GRS to the Framingham Stroke Risk Score, age and sex model resulted in a significant improvement in discrimination (all stroke: Δjoint area under the curve=0.016, P=2.3{\texttimes}10(-6); ischemic stroke: Δjoint area under the curve=0.021, P=3.7{\texttimes}10(-7)), although the overall area under the curve remained low. In all the studies, there was a highly significantly improved net reclassification index (P<10(-4)).

CONCLUSIONS: The single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with stroke and its risk factors result only in a small improvement in prediction of future stroke compared with the classical epidemiological risk factors for stroke.

}, keywords = {Age Factors, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Area Under Curve, Case-Control Studies, Cohort Studies, European Continental Ancestry Group, Female, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Genotype, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Regression Analysis, Risk Factors, ROC Curve, Sex Factors, Stroke}, issn = {1524-4628}, doi = {10.1161/STROKEAHA.113.003044}, author = {Ibrahim-Verbaas, Carla A and Fornage, Myriam and Bis, Joshua C and Choi, Seung Hoan and Psaty, Bruce M and Meigs, James B and Rao, Madhu and Nalls, Mike and Fontes, Jo{\~a}o D and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J and Kathiresan, Sekar and Ehret, Georg B and Fox, Caroline S and Malik, Rainer and Dichgans, Martin and Schmidt, Helena and Lahti, Jari and Heckbert, Susan R and Lumley, Thomas and Rice, Kenneth and Rotter, Jerome I and Taylor, Kent D and Folsom, Aaron R and Boerwinkle, Eric and Rosamond, Wayne D and Shahar, Eyal and Gottesman, Rebecca F and Koudstaal, Peter J and Amin, Najaf and Wieberdink, Renske G and Dehghan, Abbas and Hofman, Albert and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and DeStefano, Anita L and Debette, Stephanie and Xue, Luting and Beiser, Alexa and Wolf, Philip A and DeCarli, Charles and Ikram, M Arfan and Seshadri, Sudha and Mosley, Thomas H and Longstreth, W T and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Launer, Lenore J} } @article {6577, title = {Whole-exome sequencing identifies rare and low-frequency coding variants associated with LDL cholesterol.}, journal = {Am J Hum Genet}, volume = {94}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Feb 06}, pages = {233-45}, abstract = {

Elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) is a treatable, heritable risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified 157 variants associated with lipid levels but are not well suited to assess the impact of rare and low-frequency variants. To determine whether rare or low-frequency coding variants are associated with LDL-C, we exome sequenced 2,005 individuals, including 554 individuals selected for extreme LDL-C (>98(th) or <2(nd) percentile). Follow-up analyses included sequencing of 1,302 additional individuals and genotype-based analysis of 52,221 individuals. We observed significant evidence of association between LDL-C and the burden of rare or low-frequency variants in PNPLA5, encoding a phospholipase-domain-containing protein, and both known and previously unidentified variants in PCSK9, LDLR and APOB, three known lipid-related genes. The effect sizes for the burden of rare variants for each associated gene were substantially higher than those observed for individual SNPs identified from GWASs. We replicated the PNPLA5 signal in an independent large-scale sequencing study of 2,084 individuals. In conclusion, this large whole-exome-sequencing study for LDL-C identified a gene not known to be implicated in LDL-C and provides unique insight into the design and analysis of similar experiments.

}, keywords = {Adult, Aged, Apolipoproteins E, Cholesterol, LDL, Cohort Studies, Dyslipidemias, Exome, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Gene Frequency, Genetic Code, Genome-Wide Association Study, Genotype, Humans, Lipase, Male, Middle Aged, Phenotype, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Proprotein Convertase 9, Proprotein Convertases, Receptors, LDL, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Serine Endopeptidases}, issn = {1537-6605}, doi = {10.1016/j.ajhg.2014.01.010}, author = {Lange, Leslie A and Hu, Youna and Zhang, He and Xue, Chenyi and Schmidt, Ellen M and Tang, Zheng-Zheng and Bizon, Chris and Lange, Ethan M and Smith, Joshua D and Turner, Emily H and Jun, Goo and Kang, Hyun Min and Peloso, Gina and Auer, Paul and Li, Kuo-Ping and Flannick, Jason and Zhang, Ji and Fuchsberger, Christian and Gaulton, Kyle and Lindgren, Cecilia and Locke, Adam and Manning, Alisa and Sim, Xueling and Rivas, Manuel A and Holmen, Oddgeir L and Gottesman, Omri and Lu, Yingchang and Ruderfer, Douglas and Stahl, Eli A and Duan, Qing and Li, Yun and Durda, Peter and Jiao, Shuo and Isaacs, Aaron and Hofman, Albert and Bis, Joshua C and Correa, Adolfo and Griswold, Michael E and Jakobsdottir, Johanna and Smith, Albert V and Schreiner, Pamela J and Feitosa, Mary F and Zhang, Qunyuan and Huffman, Jennifer E and Crosby, Jacy and Wassel, Christina L and Do, Ron and Franceschini, Nora and Martin, Lisa W and Robinson, Jennifer G and Assimes, Themistocles L and Crosslin, David R and Rosenthal, Elisabeth A and Tsai, Michael and Rieder, Mark J and Farlow, Deborah N and Folsom, Aaron R and Lumley, Thomas and Fox, Ervin R and Carlson, Christopher S and Peters, Ulrike and Jackson, Rebecca D and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Levy, Daniel and Rotter, Jerome I and Taylor, Herman A and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Siscovick, David S and Fornage, Myriam and Borecki, Ingrid B and Hayward, Caroline and Rudan, Igor and Chen, Y Eugene and Bottinger, Erwin P and Loos, Ruth J F and S{\ae}trom, P{\r a}l and Hveem, Kristian and Boehnke, Michael and Groop, Leif and McCarthy, Mark and Meitinger, Thomas and Ballantyne, Christie M and Gabriel, Stacey B and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J and Post, Wendy S and North, Kari E and Reiner, Alexander P and Boerwinkle, Eric and Psaty, Bruce M and Altshuler, David and Kathiresan, Sekar and Lin, Dan-Yu and Jarvik, Gail P and Cupples, L Adrienne and Kooperberg, Charles and Wilson, James G and Nickerson, Deborah A and Abecasis, Goncalo R and Rich, Stephen S and Tracy, Russell P and Willer, Cristen J} } @article {6597, title = {Association of exome sequences with plasma C-reactive protein levels in >9000 participants.}, journal = {Hum Mol Genet}, volume = {24}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Jan 15}, pages = {559-71}, abstract = {

C-reactive protein (CRP) concentration is a heritable systemic marker of inflammation that is associated with cardiovascular disease risk. Genome-wide association studies have identified CRP-associated common variants associated in \~{}25 genes. Our aims were to apply exome sequencing to (1) assess whether the candidate loci contain rare coding variants associated with CRP levels and (2) perform an exome-wide search for rare variants in novel genes associated with CRP levels. We exome-sequenced 6050 European-Americans (EAs) and 3109 African-Americans (AAs) from the NHLBI-ESP and the CHARGE consortia, and performed association tests of sequence data with measured CRP levels. In single-variant tests across candidate loci, a novel rare (minor allele frequency = 0.16\%) CRP-coding variant (rs77832441-A; p.Thr59Met) was associated with 53\% lower mean CRP levels (P = 2.9 {\texttimes} 10(-6)). We replicated the association of rs77832441 in an exome array analysis of 11 414 EAs (P = 3.0 {\texttimes} 10(-15)). Despite a strong effect on CRP levels, rs77832441 was not associated with inflammation-related phenotypes including coronary heart disease. We also found evidence for an AA-specific association of APOE-ε2 rs7214 with higher CRP levels. At the exome-wide significance level (P < 5.0 {\texttimes} 10(-8)), we confirmed associations for reported common variants of HNF1A, CRP, IL6R and TOMM40-APOE. In gene-based tests, a burden of rare/lower frequency variation in CRP in EAs (P <= 6.8 {\texttimes} 10(-4)) and in retinoic acid receptor-related orphan receptor α (RORA) in AAs (P = 1.7 {\texttimes} 10(-3)) were associated with CRP levels at the candidate gene level (P < 2.0 {\texttimes} 10(-3)). This inquiry did not elucidate novel genes, but instead demonstrated that variants distributed across the allele frequency spectrum within candidate genes contribute to CRP levels.

}, keywords = {Adult, African Americans, C-Reactive Protein, Cardiovascular Diseases, Cohort Studies, European Continental Ancestry Group, Exome, Female, Gene Frequency, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor 1-alpha, Humans, Male, Plasma, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Receptors, Interleukin-6, Risk Factors}, issn = {1460-2083}, doi = {10.1093/hmg/ddu450}, author = {Schick, Ursula M and Auer, Paul L and Bis, Joshua C and Lin, Honghuang and Wei, Peng and Pankratz, Nathan and Lange, Leslie A and Brody, Jennifer and Stitziel, Nathan O and Kim, Daniel S and Carlson, Christopher S and Fornage, Myriam and Haessler, Jeffery and Hsu, Li and Jackson, Rebecca D and Kooperberg, Charles and Leal, Suzanne M and Psaty, Bruce M and Boerwinkle, Eric and Tracy, Russell and Ardissino, Diego and Shah, Svati and Willer, Cristen and Loos, Ruth and Melander, Olle and McPherson, Ruth and Hovingh, Kees and Reilly, Muredach and Watkins, Hugh and Girelli, Domenico and Fontanillas, Pierre and Chasman, Daniel I and Gabriel, Stacey B and Gibbs, Richard and Nickerson, Deborah A and Kathiresan, Sekar and Peters, Ulrike and Dupuis, Jos{\'e}e and Wilson, James G and Rich, Stephen S and Morrison, Alanna C and Benjamin, Emelia J and Gross, Myron D and Reiner, Alex P} } @article {6615, title = {Genetic loci associated with circulating levels of very long-chain saturated fatty acids.}, journal = {J Lipid Res}, volume = {56}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Jan}, pages = {176-84}, abstract = {

Very long-chain saturated fatty acids (VLSFAs) are saturated fatty acids with 20 or more carbons. In contrast to the more abundant saturated fatty acids, such as palmitic acid, there is growing evidence that circulating VLSFAs may have beneficial biological properties. Whether genetic factors influence circulating levels of VLSFAs is not known. We investigated the association of common genetic variation with plasma phospholipid/erythrocyte levels of three VLSFAs by performing genome-wide association studies in seven population-based cohorts comprising 10,129 subjects of European ancestry. We observed associations of circulating VLSFA concentrations with common variants in two genes, serine palmitoyl-transferase long-chain base subunit 3 (SPTLC3), a gene involved in the rate-limiting step of de novo sphingolipid synthesis, and ceramide synthase 4 (CERS4). The SPTLC3 variant at rs680379 was associated with higher arachidic acid (20:0 , P = 5.81 {\texttimes} 10(-13)). The CERS4 variant at rs2100944 was associated with higher levels of 20:0 (P = 2.65 {\texttimes} 10(-40)) and in analyses that adjusted for 20:0, with lower levels of behenic acid (P = 4.22 {\texttimes} 10(-26)) and lignoceric acid (P = 3.20 {\texttimes} 10(-21)). These novel associations suggest an inter-relationship of circulating VLSFAs and sphingolipid synthesis.

}, keywords = {Cohort Studies, Fatty Acids, Genetic Loci, Genetic Variation, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans}, issn = {1539-7262}, doi = {10.1194/jlr.M052456}, author = {Lemaitre, Rozenn N and King, Irena B and Kabagambe, Edmond K and Wu, Jason H Y and McKnight, Barbara and Manichaikul, Ani and Guan, Weihua and Sun, Qi and Chasman, Daniel I and Foy, Millennia and Wang, Lu and Zhu, Jingwen and Siscovick, David S and Tsai, Michael Y and Arnett, Donna K and Psaty, Bruce M and Djouss{\'e}, Luc and Chen, Yii-der I and Tang, Weihong and Weng, Lu-Chen and Wu, Hongyu and Jensen, Majken K and Chu, Audrey Y and Jacobs, David R and Rich, Stephen S and Mozaffarian, Dariush and Steffen, Lyn and Rimm, Eric B and Hu, Frank B and Ridker, Paul M and Fornage, Myriam and Friedlander, Yechiel} } @article {6688, title = {Genetic overlap between diagnostic subtypes of ischemic stroke.}, journal = {Stroke}, volume = {46}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Mar}, pages = {615-9}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Despite moderate heritability, the phenotypic heterogeneity of ischemic stroke has hampered gene discovery, motivating analyses of diagnostic subtypes with reduced sample sizes. We assessed evidence for a shared genetic basis among the 3 major subtypes: large artery atherosclerosis (LAA), cardioembolism, and small vessel disease (SVD), to inform potential cross-subtype analyses.

METHODS: Analyses used genome-wide summary data for 12 389 ischemic stroke cases (including 2167 LAA, 2405 cardioembolism, and 1854 SVD) and 62 004 controls from the Metastroke consortium. For 4561 cases and 7094 controls, individual-level genotype data were also available. Genetic correlations between subtypes were estimated using linear mixed models and polygenic profile scores. Meta-analysis of a combined LAA-SVD phenotype (4021 cases and 51 976 controls) was performed to identify shared risk alleles.

RESULTS: High genetic correlation was identified between LAA and SVD using linear mixed models (rg=0.96, SE=0.47, P=9{\texttimes}10(-4)) and profile scores (rg=0.72; 95\% confidence interval, 0.52-0.93). Between LAA and cardioembolism and SVD and cardioembolism, correlation was moderate using linear mixed models but not significantly different from zero for profile scoring. Joint meta-analysis of LAA and SVD identified strong association (P=1{\texttimes}10(-7)) for single nucleotide polymorphisms near the opioid receptor μ1 (OPRM1) gene.

CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that LAA and SVD, which have been hitherto treated as genetically distinct, may share a substantial genetic component. Combined analyses of LAA and SVD may increase power to identify small-effect alleles influencing shared pathophysiological processes.

}, keywords = {Alleles, Atherosclerosis, Cerebral Small Vessel Diseases, Cohort Studies, Data Interpretation, Statistical, Embolism, Genome-Wide Association Study, Genotype, Humans, Ischemia, Linear Models, Meta-Analysis as Topic, Phenotype, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Stroke}, issn = {1524-4628}, doi = {10.1161/STROKEAHA.114.007930}, author = {Holliday, Elizabeth G and Traylor, Matthew and Malik, Rainer and Bevan, Steve and Falcone, Guido and Hopewell, Jemma C and Cheng, Yu-Ching and Cotlarciuc, Ioana and Bis, Joshua C and Boerwinkle, Eric and Boncoraglio, Giorgio B and Clarke, Robert and Cole, John W and Fornage, Myriam and Furie, Karen L and Ikram, M Arfan and Jannes, Jim and Kittner, Steven J and Lincz, Lisa F and Maguire, Jane M and Meschia, James F and Mosley, Thomas H and Nalls, Mike A and Oldmeadow, Christopher and Parati, Eugenio A and Psaty, Bruce M and Rothwell, Peter M and Seshadri, Sudha and Scott, Rodney J and Sharma, Pankaj and Sudlow, Cathie and Wiggins, Kerri L and Worrall, Bradford B and Rosand, Jonathan and Mitchell, Braxton D and Dichgans, Martin and Markus, Hugh S and Levi, Christopher and Attia, John and Wray, Naomi R} } @article {6684, title = {Genome-wide studies of verbal declarative memory in nondemented older people: the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology consortium.}, journal = {Biol Psychiatry}, volume = {77}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Apr 15}, pages = {749-63}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Memory performance in older persons can reflect genetic influences on cognitive function and dementing processes. We aimed to identify genetic contributions to verbal declarative memory in a community setting.

METHODS: We conducted genome-wide association studies for paragraph or word list delayed recall in 19 cohorts from the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology consortium, comprising 29,076 dementia- and stroke-free individuals of European descent, aged >=45 years. Replication of suggestive associations (p < 5 {\texttimes} 10(-6)) was sought in 10,617 participants of European descent, 3811 African-Americans, and 1561 young adults.

RESULTS: rs4420638, near APOE, was associated with poorer delayed recall performance in discovery (p = 5.57 {\texttimes} 10(-10)) and replication cohorts (p = 5.65 {\texttimes} 10(-8)). This association was stronger for paragraph than word list delayed recall and in the oldest persons. Two associations with specific tests, in subsets of the total sample, reached genome-wide significance in combined analyses of discovery and replication (rs11074779 [HS3ST4], p = 3.11 {\texttimes} 10(-8), and rs6813517 [SPOCK3], p = 2.58 {\texttimes} 10(-8)) near genes involved in immune response. A genetic score combining 58 independent suggestive memory risk variants was associated with increasing Alzheimer disease pathology in 725 autopsy samples. Association of memory risk loci with gene expression in 138 human hippocampus samples showed cis-associations with WDR48 and CLDN5, both related to ubiquitin metabolism.

CONCLUSIONS: This largest study to date exploring the genetics of memory function in ~40,000 older individuals revealed genome-wide associations and suggested an involvement of immune and ubiquitin pathways.

}, keywords = {Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Aging, Apolipoproteins E, Claudin-5, Cohort Studies, Female, Genome-Wide Association Study, Genotype, Humans, Male, Memory Disorders, Middle Aged, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Proteins, Proteoglycans, Regression Analysis, Sulfotransferases, Verbal Learning}, issn = {1873-2402}, doi = {10.1016/j.biopsych.2014.08.027}, author = {Debette, Stephanie and Ibrahim Verbaas, Carla A and Bressler, Jan and Schuur, Maaike and Smith, Albert and Bis, Joshua C and Davies, Gail and Wolf, Christiane and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Chibnik, Lori B and Yang, Qiong and DeStefano, Anita L and de Quervain, Dominique J F and Srikanth, Velandai and Lahti, Jari and Grabe, Hans J and Smith, Jennifer A and Priebe, Lutz and Yu, Lei and Karbalai, Nazanin and Hayward, Caroline and Wilson, James F and Campbell, Harry and Petrovic, Katja and Fornage, Myriam and Chauhan, Ganesh and Yeo, Robin and Boxall, Ruth and Becker, James and Stegle, Oliver and Mather, Karen A and Chouraki, Vincent and Sun, Qi and Rose, Lynda M and Resnick, Susan and Oldmeadow, Christopher and Kirin, Mirna and Wright, Alan F and Jonsdottir, Maria K and Au, Rhoda and Becker, Albert and Amin, Najaf and Nalls, Mike A and Turner, Stephen T and Kardia, Sharon L R and Oostra, Ben and Windham, Gwen and Coker, Laura H and Zhao, Wei and Knopman, David S and Heiss, Gerardo and Griswold, Michael E and Gottesman, Rebecca F and Vitart, Veronique and Hastie, Nicholas D and Zgaga, Lina and Rudan, Igor and Polasek, Ozren and Holliday, Elizabeth G and Schofield, Peter and Choi, Seung Hoan and Tanaka, Toshiko and An, Yang and Perry, Rodney T and Kennedy, Richard E and Sale, Mich{\`e}le M and Wang, Jing and Wadley, Virginia G and Liewald, David C and Ridker, Paul M and Gow, Alan J and Pattie, Alison and Starr, John M and Porteous, David and Liu, Xuan and Thomson, Russell and Armstrong, Nicola J and Eiriksdottir, Gudny and Assareh, Arezoo A and Kochan, Nicole A and Widen, Elisabeth and Palotie, Aarno and Hsieh, Yi-Chen and Eriksson, Johan G and Vogler, Christian and van Swieten, John C and Shulman, Joshua M and Beiser, Alexa and Rotter, Jerome and Schmidt, Carsten O and Hoffmann, Wolfgang and N{\"o}then, Markus M and Ferrucci, Luigi and Attia, John and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Amouyel, Philippe and Dartigues, Jean-Fran{\c c}ois and Amieva, H{\'e}l{\`e}ne and R{\"a}ikk{\"o}nen, Katri and Garcia, Melissa and Wolf, Philip A and Hofman, Albert and Longstreth, W T and Psaty, Bruce M and Boerwinkle, Eric and DeJager, Philip L and Sachdev, Perminder S and Schmidt, Reinhold and Breteler, Monique M B and Teumer, Alexander and Lopez, Oscar L and Cichon, Sven and Chasman, Daniel I and Grodstein, Francine and M{\"u}ller-Myhsok, Bertram and Tzourio, Christophe and Papassotiropoulos, Andreas and Bennett, David A and Ikram, M Arfan and Deary, Ian J and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Launer, Lenore and Fitzpatrick, Annette L and Seshadri, Sudha and Mosley, Thomas H} } @article {6812, title = {Meta-Analysis of Genome-Wide Association Studies Identifies Genetic Risk Factors for Stroke in African Americans.}, journal = {Stroke}, volume = {46}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Aug}, pages = {2063-8}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The majority of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of stroke have focused on European-ancestry populations; however, none has been conducted in African Americans, despite the disproportionately high burden of stroke in this population. The Consortium of Minority Population Genome-Wide Association Studies of Stroke (COMPASS) was established to identify stroke susceptibility loci in minority populations.

METHODS: Using METAL, we conducted meta-analyses of GWAS in 14 746 African Americans (1365 ischemic and 1592 total stroke cases) from COMPASS, and tested genetic variants with P<10(-6) for validation in METASTROKE, a consortium of ischemic stroke genetic studies in European-ancestry populations. We also evaluated stroke loci previously identified in European-ancestry populations.

RESULTS: The 15q21.3 locus linked with lipid levels and hypertension was associated with total stroke (rs4471613; P=3.9{\texttimes}10(-8)) in African Americans. Nominal associations (P<10(-6)) for total or ischemic stroke were observed for 18 variants in or near genes implicated in cell cycle/mRNA presplicing (PTPRG, CDC5L), platelet function (HPS4), blood-brain barrier permeability (CLDN17), immune response (ELTD1, WDFY4, and IL1F10-IL1RN), and histone modification (HDAC9). Two of these loci achieved nominal significance in METASTROKE: 5q35.2 (P=0.03), and 1p31.1 (P=0.018). Four of 7 previously reported ischemic stroke loci (PITX2, HDAC9, CDKN2A/CDKN2B, and ZFHX3) were nominally associated (P<0.05) with stroke in COMPASS.

CONCLUSIONS: We identified a novel genetic variant associated with total stroke in African Americans and found that ischemic stroke loci identified in European-ancestry populations may also be relevant for African Americans. Our findings support investigation of diverse populations to identify and characterize genetic risk factors, and the importance of shared genetic risk across populations.

}, keywords = {African Americans, Case-Control Studies, Cohort Studies, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Risk Factors, Stroke}, issn = {1524-4628}, doi = {10.1161/STROKEAHA.115.009044}, author = {Carty, Cara L and Keene, Keith L and Cheng, Yu-Ching and Meschia, James F and Chen, Wei-Min and Nalls, Mike and Bis, Joshua C and Kittner, Steven J and Rich, Stephen S and Tajuddin, Salman and Zonderman, Alan B and Evans, Michele K and Langefeld, Carl D and Gottesman, Rebecca and Mosley, Thomas H and Shahar, Eyal and Woo, Daniel and Yaffe, Kristine and Liu, Yongmei and Sale, Mich{\`e}le M and Dichgans, Martin and Malik, Rainer and Longstreth, W T and Mitchell, Braxton D and Psaty, Bruce M and Kooperberg, Charles and Reiner, Alexander and Worrall, Bradford B and Fornage, Myriam} } @article {6788, title = {Rare and low-frequency variants and their association with plasma levels of fibrinogen, FVII, FVIII, and vWF.}, journal = {Blood}, volume = {126}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Sep 10}, pages = {e19-29}, abstract = {

Fibrinogen, coagulation factor VII (FVII), and factor VIII (FVIII) and its carrier von Willebrand factor (vWF) play key roles in hemostasis. Previously identified common variants explain only a small fraction of the trait heritabilities, and additional variations may be explained by associations with rarer variants with larger effects. The aim of this study was to identify low-frequency (minor allele frequency [MAF] >=0.01 and <0.05) and rare (MAF <0.01) variants that influence plasma concentrations of these 4 hemostatic factors by meta-analyzing exome chip data from up to 76,000 participants of 4 ancestries. We identified 12 novel associations of low-frequency (n = 2) and rare (n = 10) variants across the fibrinogen, FVII, FVIII, and vWF traits that were independent of previously identified associations. Novel loci were found within previously reported genes and had effect sizes much larger than and independent of previously identified common variants. In addition, associations at KCNT1, HID1, and KATNB1 identified new candidate genes related to hemostasis for follow-up replication and functional genomic analysis. Newly identified low-frequency and rare-variant associations accounted for modest amounts of trait variance and therefore are unlikely to increase predicted trait heritability but provide new information for understanding individual variation in hemostasis pathways.

}, keywords = {Cohort Studies, Factor VII, Factor VIII, Fibrinogen, Gene Frequency, Genetic Association Studies, Genetic Variation, Humans, Nerve Tissue Proteins, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Potassium Channels, von Willebrand Factor}, issn = {1528-0020}, doi = {10.1182/blood-2015-02-624551}, author = {Huffman, Jennifer E and de Vries, Paul S and Morrison, Alanna C and Sabater-Lleal, Maria and Kacprowski, Tim and Auer, Paul L and Brody, Jennifer A and Chasman, Daniel I and Chen, Ming-Huei and Guo, Xiuqing and Lin, Li-An and Marioni, Riccardo E and M{\"u}ller-Nurasyid, Martina and Yanek, Lisa R and Pankratz, Nathan and Grove, Megan L and de Maat, Moniek P M and Cushman, Mary and Wiggins, Kerri L and Qi, Lihong and Sennblad, Bengt and Harris, Sarah E and Polasek, Ozren and Riess, Helene and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Rose, Lynda M and Goel, Anuj and Taylor, Kent D and Teumer, Alexander and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Vaidya, Dhananjay and Yao, Jie and Tang, Weihong and Levy, Daniel and Waldenberger, Melanie and Becker, Diane M and Folsom, Aaron R and Giulianini, Franco and Greinacher, Andreas and Hofman, Albert and Huang, Chiang-Ching and Kooperberg, Charles and Silveira, Angela and Starr, John M and Strauch, Konstantin and Strawbridge, Rona J and Wright, Alan F and McKnight, Barbara and Franco, Oscar H and Zakai, Neil and Mathias, Rasika A and Psaty, Bruce M and Ridker, Paul M and Tofler, Geoffrey H and V{\"o}lker, Uwe and Watkins, Hugh and Fornage, Myriam and Hamsten, Anders and Deary, Ian J and Boerwinkle, Eric and Koenig, Wolfgang and Rotter, Jerome I and Hayward, Caroline and Dehghan, Abbas and Reiner, Alex P and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J and Smith, Nicholas L} } @article {6861, title = {White Matter Lesion Progression: Genome-Wide Search for Genetic Influences.}, journal = {Stroke}, volume = {46}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Nov}, pages = {3048-57}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: White matter lesion (WML) progression on magnetic resonance imaging is related to cognitive decline and stroke, but its determinants besides baseline WML burden are largely unknown. Here, we estimated heritability of WML progression, and sought common genetic variants associated with WML progression in elderly participants from the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) consortium.

METHODS: Heritability of WML progression was calculated in the Framingham Heart Study. The genome-wide association study included 7773 elderly participants from 10 cohorts. To assess the relative contribution of genetic factors to progression of WML, we compared in 7 cohorts risk models including demographics, vascular risk factors plus single-nucleotide polymorphisms that have been shown to be associated cross-sectionally with WML in the current and previous association studies.

RESULTS: A total of 1085 subjects showed WML progression. The heritability estimate for WML progression was low at 6.5\%, and no single-nucleotide polymorphisms achieved genome-wide significance (P<5{\texttimes}10(-8)). Four loci were suggestive (P<1{\texttimes}10(-5)) of an association with WML progression: 10q24.32 (rs10883817, P=1.46{\texttimes}10(-6)); 12q13.13 (rs4761974, P=8.71{\texttimes}10(-7)); 20p12.1 (rs6135309, P=3.69{\texttimes}10(-6)); and 4p15.31 (rs7664442, P=2.26{\texttimes}10(-6)). Variants that have been previously related to WML explained only 0.8\% to 11.7\% more of the variance in WML progression than age, vascular risk factors, and baseline WML burden.

CONCLUSIONS: Common genetic factors contribute little to the progression of age-related WML in middle-aged and older adults. Future research on determinants of WML progression should focus more on environmental, lifestyle, or host-related biological factors.

}, keywords = {Adult, Aged, Cohort Studies, Disease Progression, Female, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Leukoencephalopathies, Male, Middle Aged, Prospective Studies, White Matter}, issn = {1524-4628}, doi = {10.1161/STROKEAHA.115.009252}, author = {Hofer, Edith and Cavalieri, Margherita and Bis, Joshua C and DeCarli, Charles and Fornage, Myriam and Sigurdsson, Sigurdur and Srikanth, Velandai and Trompet, Stella and Verhaaren, Benjamin F J and Wolf, Christiane and Yang, Qiong and Adams, Hieab H H and Amouyel, Philippe and Beiser, Alexa and Buckley, Brendan M and Callisaya, Michele and Chauhan, Ganesh and de Craen, Anton J M and Dufouil, Carole and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Ford, Ian and Freudenberger, Paul and Gottesman, Rebecca F and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Heiss, Gerardo and Hofman, Albert and Lumley, Thomas and Martinez, Oliver and Mazoyer, Bernard and Moran, Chris and Niessen, Wiro J and Phan, Thanh and Psaty, Bruce M and Satizabal, Claudia L and Sattar, Naveed and Schilling, Sabrina and Shibata, Dean K and Slagboom, P Eline and Smith, Albert and Stott, David J and Taylor, Kent D and Thomson, Russell and T{\"o}glhofer, Anna M and Tzourio, Christophe and van Buchem, Mark and Wang, Jing and Westendorp, Rudi G J and Windham, B Gwen and Vernooij, Meike W and Zijdenbos, Alex and Beare, Richard and Debette, Stephanie and Ikram, M Arfan and Jukema, J Wouter and Launer, Lenore J and Longstreth, W T and Mosley, Thomas H and Seshadri, Sudha and Schmidt, Helena and Schmidt, Reinhold} } @article {8507, title = {Blood Leukocyte DNA Methylation Predicts Risk of Future Myocardial Infarction and Coronary Heart Disease.}, journal = {Circulation}, volume = {140}, year = {2019}, month = {2019 08 20}, pages = {645-657}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: DNA methylation is implicated in coronary heart disease (CHD), but current evidence is based on small, cross-sectional studies. We examined blood DNA methylation in relation to incident CHD across multiple prospective cohorts.

METHODS: Nine population-based cohorts from the United States and Europe profiled epigenome-wide blood leukocyte DNA methylation using the Illumina Infinium 450k microarray, and prospectively ascertained CHD events including coronary insufficiency/unstable angina, recognized myocardial infarction, coronary revascularization, and coronary death. Cohorts conducted race-specific analyses adjusted for age, sex, smoking, education, body mass index, blood cell type proportions, and technical variables. We conducted fixed-effect meta-analyses across cohorts.

RESULTS: Among 11 461 individuals (mean age 64 years, 67\% women, 35\% African American) free of CHD at baseline, 1895 developed CHD during a mean follow-up of 11.2 years. Methylation levels at 52 CpG (cytosine-phosphate-guanine) sites were associated with incident CHD or myocardial infarction (false discovery rate<0.05). These CpGs map to genes with key roles in calcium regulation (ATP2B2, CASR, GUCA1B, HPCAL1), and genes identified in genome- and epigenome-wide studies of serum calcium (CASR), serum calcium-related risk of CHD (CASR), coronary artery calcified plaque (PTPRN2), and kidney function (CDH23, HPCAL1), among others. Mendelian randomization analyses supported a causal effect of DNA methylation on incident CHD; these CpGs map to active regulatory regions proximal to long non-coding RNA transcripts.

CONCLUSION: Methylation of blood-derived DNA is associated with risk of future CHD across diverse populations and may serve as an informative tool for gaining further insight on the development of CHD.

}, keywords = {Adult, Aged, Cohort Studies, Coronary Disease, CpG Islands, DNA Methylation, Europe, Female, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Incidence, Leukocytes, Male, Middle Aged, Myocardial Infarction, Population Groups, Prognosis, Prospective Studies, Risk, United States}, issn = {1524-4539}, doi = {10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.118.039357}, author = {Agha, Golareh and Mendelson, Michael M and Ward-Caviness, Cavin K and Joehanes, Roby and Huan, Tianxiao and Gondalia, Rahul and Salfati, Elias and Brody, Jennifer A and Fiorito, Giovanni and Bressler, Jan and Chen, Brian H and Ligthart, Symen and Guarrera, Simonetta and Colicino, Elena and Just, Allan C and Wahl, Simone and Gieger, Christian and Vandiver, Amy R and Tanaka, Toshiko and Hernandez, Dena G and Pilling, Luke C and Singleton, Andrew B and Sacerdote, Carlotta and Krogh, Vittorio and Panico, Salvatore and Tumino, Rosario and Li, Yun and Zhang, Guosheng and Stewart, James D and Floyd, James S and Wiggins, Kerri L and Rotter, Jerome I and Multhaup, Michael and Bakulski, Kelly and Horvath, Steven and Tsao, Philip S and Absher, Devin M and Vokonas, Pantel and Hirschhorn, Joel and Fallin, M Daniele and Liu, Chunyu and Bandinelli, Stefania and Boerwinkle, Eric and Dehghan, Abbas and Schwartz, Joel D and Psaty, Bruce M and Feinberg, Andrew P and Hou, Lifang and Ferrucci, Luigi and Sotoodehnia, Nona and Matullo, Giuseppe and Peters, Annette and Fornage, Myriam and Assimes, Themistocles L and Whitsel, Eric A and Levy, Daniel and Baccarelli, Andrea A} }