@article {1153, title = {Association of novel genetic Loci with circulating fibrinogen levels: a genome-wide association study in 6 population-based cohorts.}, journal = {Circ Cardiovasc Genet}, volume = {2}, year = {2009}, month = {2009 Apr}, pages = {125-33}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Fibrinogen is both central to blood coagulation and an acute-phase reactant. We aimed to identify common variants influencing circulation fibrinogen levels.

METHODS AND RESULTS: We conducted a genome-wide association analysis on 6 population-based studies, the Rotterdam Study, the Framingham Heart Study, the Cardiovascular Health Study, the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study, the Monitoring of Trends and Determinants in Cardiovascular Disease/KORA Augsburg Study, and the British 1958 Birth Cohort Study, including 22 096 participants of European ancestry. Four loci were marked by 1 or more single-nucleotide polymorphisms that demonstrated genome-wide significance (P<5.0 x 10(-8)). These included a single-nucleotide polymorphism located in the fibrinogen beta chain (FGB) gene and 3 single-nucleotide polymorphisms representing newly identified loci. The high-signal single-nucleotide polymorphisms were rs1800789 in exon 7 of FGB (P=1.8 x 10(-30)), rs2522056 downstream from the interferon regulatory factor 1 (IRF1) gene (P=1.3 x 10(-15)), rs511154 within intron 1 of the propionyl coenzyme A carboxylase (PCCB) gene (P=5.9 x 10(-10)), and rs1539019 on the NLR family pyrin domain containing 3 isoforms (NLRP3) gene (P=1.04 x 10(-8)).

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings highlight biological pathways that may be important in regulation of inflammation underlying cardiovascular disease.

}, keywords = {Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Cardiovascular Diseases, Cohort Studies, European Continental Ancestry Group, Female, Fibrinogen, Genetic Loci, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Pedigree, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Young Adult}, issn = {1942-3268}, doi = {10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.108.825224}, author = {Dehghan, Abbas and Yang, Qiong and Peters, Annette and Basu, Saonli and Bis, Joshua C and Rudnicka, Alicja R and Kavousi, Maryam and Chen, Ming-Huei and Baumert, Jens and Lowe, Gordon D O and McKnight, Barbara and Tang, Weihong and de Maat, Moniek and Larson, Martin G and Eyhermendy, Susana and McArdle, Wendy L and Lumley, Thomas and Pankow, James S and Hofman, Albert and Massaro, Joseph M and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Kolz, Melanie and Taylor, Kent D and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Kathiresan, Sekar and Illig, Thomas and Aulchenko, Yurii S and Volcik, Kelly A and Johnson, Andrew D and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Tofler, Geoffrey H and Gieger, Christian and Psaty, Bruce M and Couper, David J and Boerwinkle, Eric and Koenig, Wolfgang and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J and Witteman, Jacqueline C and Strachan, David P and Smith, Nicholas L and Folsom, Aaron R} } @article {1107, title = {NRXN3 is a novel locus for waist circumference: a genome-wide association study from the CHARGE Consortium.}, journal = {PLoS Genet}, volume = {5}, year = {2009}, month = {2009 Jun}, pages = {e1000539}, abstract = {

Central abdominal fat is a strong risk factor for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. To identify common variants influencing central abdominal fat, we conducted a two-stage genome-wide association analysis for waist circumference (WC). In total, three loci reached genome-wide significance. In stage 1, 31,373 individuals of Caucasian descent from eight cohort studies confirmed the role of FTO and MC4R and identified one novel locus associated with WC in the neurexin 3 gene [NRXN3 (rs10146997, p = 6.4x10(-7))]. The association with NRXN3 was confirmed in stage 2 by combining stage 1 results with those from 38,641 participants in the GIANT consortium (p = 0.009 in GIANT only, p = 5.3x10(-8) for combined analysis, n = 70,014). Mean WC increase per copy of the G allele was 0.0498 z-score units (0.65 cm). This SNP was also associated with body mass index (BMI) [p = 7.4x10(-6), 0.024 z-score units (0.10 kg/m(2)) per copy of the G allele] and the risk of obesity (odds ratio 1.13, 95\% CI 1.07-1.19; p = 3.2x10(-5) per copy of the G allele). The NRXN3 gene has been previously implicated in addiction and reward behavior, lending further evidence that common forms of obesity may be a central nervous system-mediated disorder. Our findings establish that common variants in NRXN3 are associated with WC, BMI, and obesity.

}, keywords = {Aged, Body Mass Index, Cohort Studies, European Continental Ancestry Group, Female, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Nerve Tissue Proteins, Obesity, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Waist Circumference}, issn = {1553-7404}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pgen.1000539}, author = {Heard-Costa, Nancy L and Zillikens, M Carola and Monda, Keri L and Johansson, Asa and Harris, Tamara B and Fu, Mao and Haritunians, Talin and Feitosa, Mary F and Aspelund, Thor and Eiriksdottir, Gudny and Garcia, Melissa and Launer, Lenore J and Smith, Albert V and Mitchell, Braxton D and McArdle, Patrick F and Shuldiner, Alan R and Bielinski, Suzette J and Boerwinkle, Eric and Brancati, Fred and Demerath, Ellen W and Pankow, James S and Arnold, Alice M and Chen, Yii-Der Ida and Glazer, Nicole L and McKnight, Barbara and Psaty, Bruce M and Rotter, Jerome I and Amin, Najaf and Campbell, Harry and Gyllensten, Ulf and Pattaro, Cristian and Pramstaller, Peter P and Rudan, Igor and Struchalin, Maksim and Vitart, Veronique and Gao, Xiaoyi and Kraja, Aldi and Province, Michael A and Zhang, Qunyuan and Atwood, Larry D and Dupuis, Jos{\'e}e and Hirschhorn, Joel N and Jaquish, Cashell E and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J and Vasan, Ramachandran S and White, Charles C and Aulchenko, Yurii S and Estrada, Karol and Hofman, Albert and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Witteman, Jacqueline C M and Oostra, Ben A and Kaplan, Robert C and Gudnason, Vilmundur and O{\textquoteright}Connell, Jeffrey R and Borecki, Ingrid B and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Cupples, L Adrienne and Fox, Caroline S and North, Kari E} } @article {1237, title = {Association analyses of 249,796 individuals reveal 18 new loci associated with body mass index.}, journal = {Nat Genet}, volume = {42}, year = {2010}, month = {2010 Nov}, pages = {937-48}, abstract = {

Obesity is globally prevalent and highly heritable, but its underlying genetic factors remain largely elusive. To identify genetic loci for obesity susceptibility, we examined associations between body mass index and \~{} 2.8 million SNPs in up to 123,865 individuals with targeted follow up of 42 SNPs in up to 125,931 additional individuals. We confirmed 14 known obesity susceptibility loci and identified 18 new loci associated with body mass index (P < 5 {\texttimes} 10$^{-}$$^{8}$), one of which includes a copy number variant near GPRC5B. Some loci (at MC4R, POMC, SH2B1 and BDNF) map near key hypothalamic regulators of energy balance, and one of these loci is near GIPR, an incretin receptor. Furthermore, genes in other newly associated loci may provide new insights into human body weight regulation.

}, keywords = {Body Height, Body Mass Index, Body Size, Body Weight, Chromosome Mapping, European Continental Ancestry Group, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Obesity, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide}, issn = {1546-1718}, doi = {10.1038/ng.686}, author = {Speliotes, Elizabeth K and Willer, Cristen J and Berndt, Sonja I and Monda, Keri L and Thorleifsson, Gudmar and Jackson, Anne U and Lango Allen, Hana and Lindgren, Cecilia M and Luan, Jian{\textquoteright}an and M{\"a}gi, Reedik and Randall, Joshua C and Vedantam, Sailaja and Winkler, Thomas W and Qi, Lu and Workalemahu, Tsegaselassie and Heid, Iris M and Steinthorsdottir, Valgerdur and Stringham, Heather M and Weedon, Michael N and Wheeler, Eleanor and Wood, Andrew R and Ferreira, Teresa and Weyant, Robert J and Segr{\`e}, Ayellet V and Estrada, Karol and Liang, Liming and Nemesh, James and Park, Ju-Hyun and Gustafsson, Stefan and Kilpel{\"a}inen, Tuomas O and Yang, Jian and Bouatia-Naji, Nabila and Esko, T{\~o}nu and Feitosa, Mary F and Kutalik, Zolt{\'a}n and Mangino, Massimo and Raychaudhuri, Soumya and Scherag, Andre and Smith, Albert Vernon and Welch, Ryan and Zhao, Jing Hua and Aben, Katja K and Absher, Devin M and Amin, Najaf and Dixon, Anna L and Fisher, Eva and Glazer, Nicole L and Goddard, Michael E and Heard-Costa, Nancy L and Hoesel, Volker and Hottenga, Jouke-Jan and Johansson, Asa and Johnson, Toby and Ketkar, Shamika and Lamina, Claudia and Li, Shengxu and Moffatt, Miriam F and Myers, Richard H and Narisu, Narisu and Perry, John R B and Peters, Marjolein J and Preuss, Michael and Ripatti, Samuli and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Sandholt, Camilla and Scott, Laura J and Timpson, Nicholas J and Tyrer, Jonathan P and van Wingerden, Sophie and Watanabe, Richard M and White, Charles C and Wiklund, Fredrik and Barlassina, Christina and Chasman, Daniel I and Cooper, Matthew N and Jansson, John-Olov and Lawrence, Robert W and Pellikka, Niina and Prokopenko, Inga and Shi, Jianxin and Thiering, Elisabeth and Alavere, Helene and Alibrandi, Maria T S and Almgren, Peter and Arnold, Alice M and Aspelund, Thor and Atwood, Larry D and Balkau, Beverley and Balmforth, Anthony J and Bennett, Amanda J and Ben-Shlomo, Yoav and Bergman, Richard N and Bergmann, Sven and Biebermann, Heike and Blakemore, Alexandra I F and Boes, Tanja and Bonnycastle, Lori L and Bornstein, Stefan R and Brown, Morris J and Buchanan, Thomas A and Busonero, Fabio and Campbell, Harry and Cappuccio, Francesco P and Cavalcanti-Proen{\c c}a, Christine and Chen, Yii-Der Ida and Chen, Chih-Mei and Chines, Peter S and Clarke, Robert and Coin, Lachlan and Connell, John and Day, Ian N M and den Heijer, Martin and Duan, Jubao and Ebrahim, Shah and Elliott, Paul and Elosua, Roberto and Eiriksdottir, Gudny and Erdos, Michael R and Eriksson, Johan G and Facheris, Maurizio F and Felix, Stephan B and Fischer-Posovszky, Pamela and Folsom, Aaron R and Friedrich, Nele and Freimer, Nelson B and Fu, Mao and Gaget, Stefan and Gejman, Pablo V and Geus, Eco J C and Gieger, Christian and Gjesing, Anette P and Goel, Anuj and Goyette, Philippe and Grallert, Harald and Gr{\"a}ssler, J{\"u}rgen and Greenawalt, Danielle M and Groves, Christopher J and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Guiducci, Candace and Hartikainen, Anna-Liisa and Hassanali, Neelam and Hall, Alistair S and Havulinna, Aki S and Hayward, Caroline and Heath, Andrew C and Hengstenberg, Christian and Hicks, Andrew A and Hinney, Anke and Hofman, Albert and Homuth, Georg and Hui, Jennie and Igl, Wilmar and Iribarren, Carlos and Isomaa, Bo and Jacobs, Kevin B and Jarick, Ivonne and Jewell, Elizabeth and John, Ulrich and J{\o}rgensen, Torben and Jousilahti, Pekka and Jula, Antti and Kaakinen, Marika and Kajantie, Eero and Kaplan, Lee M and Kathiresan, Sekar and Kettunen, Johannes and Kinnunen, Leena and Knowles, Joshua W and Kolcic, Ivana and K{\"o}nig, Inke R and Koskinen, Seppo and Kovacs, Peter and Kuusisto, Johanna and Kraft, Peter and Kval{\o}y, Kirsti and Laitinen, Jaana and Lantieri, Olivier and Lanzani, Chiara and Launer, Lenore J and Lecoeur, C{\'e}cile and Lehtim{\"a}ki, Terho and Lettre, Guillaume and Liu, Jianjun and Lokki, Marja-Liisa and Lorentzon, Mattias and Luben, Robert N and Ludwig, Barbara and Manunta, Paolo and Marek, Diana and Marre, Michel and Martin, Nicholas G and McArdle, Wendy L and McCarthy, Anne and McKnight, Barbara and Meitinger, Thomas and Melander, Olle and Meyre, David and Midthjell, Kristian and Montgomery, Grant W and Morken, Mario A and Morris, Andrew P and Mulic, Rosanda and Ngwa, Julius S and Nelis, Mari and Neville, Matt J and Nyholt, Dale R and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J and O{\textquoteright}Rahilly, Stephen and Ong, Ken K and Oostra, Ben and Par{\'e}, Guillaume and Parker, Alex N and Perola, Markus and Pichler, Irene and Pietil{\"a}inen, Kirsi H and Platou, Carl G P and Polasek, Ozren and Pouta, Anneli and Rafelt, Suzanne and Raitakari, Olli and Rayner, Nigel W and Ridderstr{\r a}le, Martin and Rief, Winfried and Ruokonen, Aimo and Robertson, Neil R and Rzehak, Peter and Salomaa, Veikko and Sanders, Alan R and Sandhu, Manjinder S and Sanna, Serena and Saramies, Jouko and Savolainen, Markku J and Scherag, Susann and Schipf, Sabine and Schreiber, Stefan and Schunkert, Heribert and Silander, Kaisa and Sinisalo, Juha and Siscovick, David S and Smit, Jan H and Soranzo, Nicole and Sovio, Ulla and Stephens, Jonathan and Surakka, Ida and Swift, Amy J and Tammesoo, Mari-Liis and Tardif, Jean-Claude and Teder-Laving, Maris and Teslovich, Tanya M and Thompson, John R and Thomson, Brian and T{\"o}njes, Anke and Tuomi, Tiinamaija and van Meurs, Joyce B J and van Ommen, Gert-Jan and Vatin, Vincent and Viikari, Jorma and Visvikis-Siest, Sophie and Vitart, Veronique and Vogel, Carla I G and Voight, Benjamin F and Waite, Lindsay L and Wallaschofski, Henri and Walters, G Bragi and Widen, Elisabeth and Wiegand, Susanna and Wild, Sarah H and Willemsen, Gonneke and Witte, Daniel R and Witteman, Jacqueline C and Xu, Jianfeng and Zhang, Qunyuan and Zgaga, Lina and Ziegler, Andreas and Zitting, Paavo and Beilby, John P and Farooqi, I Sadaf and Hebebrand, Johannes and Huikuri, Heikki V and James, Alan L and K{\"a}h{\"o}nen, Mika and Levinson, Douglas F and Macciardi, Fabio and Nieminen, Markku S and Ohlsson, Claes and Palmer, Lyle J and Ridker, Paul M and Stumvoll, Michael and Beckmann, Jacques S and Boeing, Heiner and Boerwinkle, Eric and Boomsma, Dorret I and Caulfield, Mark J and Chanock, Stephen J and Collins, Francis S and Cupples, L Adrienne and Smith, George Davey and Erdmann, Jeanette and Froguel, Philippe and Gr{\"o}nberg, Henrik and Gyllensten, Ulf and Hall, Per and Hansen, Torben and Harris, Tamara B and Hattersley, Andrew T and Hayes, Richard B and Heinrich, Joachim and Hu, Frank B and Hveem, Kristian and Illig, Thomas and Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta and Kaprio, Jaakko and Karpe, Fredrik and Khaw, Kay-Tee and Kiemeney, Lambertus A and Krude, Heiko and Laakso, Markku and Lawlor, Debbie A and Metspalu, Andres and Munroe, Patricia B and Ouwehand, Willem H and Pedersen, Oluf and Penninx, Brenda W and Peters, Annette and Pramstaller, Peter P and Quertermous, Thomas and Reinehr, Thomas and Rissanen, Aila and Rudan, Igor and Samani, Nilesh J and Schwarz, Peter E H and Shuldiner, Alan R and Spector, Timothy D and Tuomilehto, Jaakko and Uda, Manuela and Uitterlinden, Andre and Valle, Timo T and Wabitsch, Martin and Waeber, G{\'e}rard and Wareham, Nicholas J and Watkins, Hugh and Wilson, James F and Wright, Alan F and Zillikens, M Carola and Chatterjee, Nilanjan and McCarroll, Steven A and Purcell, Shaun and Schadt, Eric E and Visscher, Peter M and Assimes, Themistocles L and Borecki, Ingrid B and Deloukas, Panos and Fox, Caroline S and Groop, Leif C and Haritunians, Talin and Hunter, David J and Kaplan, Robert C and Mohlke, Karen L and O{\textquoteright}Connell, Jeffrey R and Peltonen, Leena and Schlessinger, David and Strachan, David P and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Wichmann, H-Erich and Frayling, Timothy M and Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur and Abecasis, Goncalo R and Barroso, In{\^e}s and Boehnke, Michael and Stefansson, Kari and North, Kari E and McCarthy, Mark I and Hirschhorn, Joel N and Ingelsson, Erik and Loos, Ruth J F} } @article {1243, title = {Four novel Loci (19q13, 6q24, 12q24, and 5q14) influence the microcirculation in vivo.}, journal = {PLoS Genet}, volume = {6}, year = {2010}, month = {2010 Oct 28}, pages = {e1001184}, abstract = {

There is increasing evidence that the microcirculation plays an important role in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases. Changes in retinal vascular caliber reflect early microvascular disease and predict incident cardiovascular events. We performed a genome-wide association study to identify genetic variants associated with retinal vascular caliber. We analyzed data from four population-based discovery cohorts with 15,358 unrelated Caucasian individuals, who are members of the Cohort for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) consortium, and replicated findings in four independent Caucasian cohorts (n  =  6,652). All participants had retinal photography and retinal arteriolar and venular caliber measured from computer software. In the discovery cohorts, 179 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) spread across five loci were significantly associated (p<5.0{\texttimes}10(-8)) with retinal venular caliber, but none showed association with arteriolar caliber. Collectively, these five loci explain 1.0\%-3.2\% of the variation in retinal venular caliber. Four out of these five loci were confirmed in independent replication samples. In the combined analyses, the top SNPs at each locus were: rs2287921 (19q13; p  =  1.61{\texttimes}10(-25), within the RASIP1 locus), rs225717 (6q24; p = 1.25{\texttimes}10(-16), adjacent to the VTA1 and NMBR loci), rs10774625 (12q24; p  =  2.15{\texttimes}10(-13), in the region of ATXN2,SH2B3 and PTPN11 loci), and rs17421627 (5q14; p = 7.32{\texttimes}10(-16), adjacent to the MEF2C locus). In two independent samples, locus 12q24 was also associated with coronary heart disease and hypertension. Our population-based genome-wide association study demonstrates four novel loci associated with retinal venular caliber, an endophenotype of the microcirculation associated with clinical cardiovascular disease. These data provide further insights into the contribution and biological mechanisms of microcirculatory changes that underlie cardiovascular disease.

}, keywords = {Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Cardiovascular Diseases, Child, Child, Preschool, Chromosomes, Human, Pair 12, Chromosomes, Human, Pair 19, Chromosomes, Human, Pair 5, Chromosomes, Human, Pair 6, Cohort Studies, European Continental Ancestry Group, Female, Genetic Loci, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Male, Meta-Analysis as Topic, Microcirculation, Middle Aged, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Retinal Vessels, Young Adult}, issn = {1553-7404}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pgen.1001184}, author = {Ikram, M Kamran and Sim, Xueling and Xueling, Sim and Jensen, Richard A and Cotch, Mary Frances and Hewitt, Alex W and Ikram, M Arfan and Wang, Jie Jin and Klein, Ronald and Klein, Barbara E K and Breteler, Monique M B and Cheung, Ning and Liew, Gerald and Mitchell, Paul and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Hofman, Albert and de Jong, Paulus T V M and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Kao, Linda and Cheng, Ching-Yu and Smith, Albert Vernon and Glazer, Nicole L and Lumley, Thomas and McKnight, Barbara and Psaty, Bruce M and Jonasson, Fridbert and Eiriksdottir, Gudny and Aspelund, Thor and Harris, Tamara B and Launer, Lenore J and Taylor, Kent D and Li, Xiaohui and Iyengar, Sudha K and Xi, Quansheng and Sivakumaran, Theru A and Mackey, David A and Macgregor, Stuart and Martin, Nicholas G and Young, Terri L and Bis, Josh C and Wiggins, Kerri L and Heckbert, Susan R and Hammond, Christopher J and Andrew, Toby and Fahy, Samantha and Attia, John and Holliday, Elizabeth G and Scott, Rodney J and Islam, F M Amirul and Rotter, Jerome I and McAuley, Annie K and Boerwinkle, Eric and Tai, E Shyong and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Siscovick, David S and Vingerling, Johannes R and Wong, Tien Y} } @article {1234, title = {Hundreds of variants clustered in genomic loci and biological pathways affect human height.}, journal = {Nature}, volume = {467}, year = {2010}, month = {2010 Oct 14}, pages = {832-8}, abstract = {

Most common human traits and diseases have a polygenic pattern of inheritance: DNA sequence variants at many genetic loci influence the phenotype. Genome-wide association (GWA) studies have identified more than 600 variants associated with human traits, but these typically explain small fractions of phenotypic variation, raising questions about the use of further studies. Here, using 183,727 individuals, we show that hundreds of genetic variants, in at least 180 loci, influence adult height, a highly heritable and classic polygenic trait. The large number of loci reveals patterns with important implications for genetic studies of common human diseases and traits. First, the 180 loci are not random, but instead are enriched for genes that are connected in biological pathways (P = 0.016) and that underlie skeletal growth defects (P < 0.001). Second, the likely causal gene is often located near the most strongly associated variant: in 13 of 21 loci containing a known skeletal growth gene, that gene was closest to the associated variant. Third, at least 19 loci have multiple independently associated variants, suggesting that allelic heterogeneity is a frequent feature of polygenic traits, that comprehensive explorations of already-discovered loci should discover additional variants and that an appreciable fraction of associated loci may have been identified. Fourth, associated variants are enriched for likely functional effects on genes, being over-represented among variants that alter amino-acid structure of proteins and expression levels of nearby genes. Our data explain approximately 10\% of the phenotypic variation in height, and we estimate that unidentified common variants of similar effect sizes would increase this figure to approximately 16\% of phenotypic variation (approximately 20\% of heritable variation). Although additional approaches are needed to dissect the genetic architecture of polygenic human traits fully, our findings indicate that GWA studies can identify large numbers of loci that implicate biologically relevant genes and pathways.

}, keywords = {Body Height, Chromosomes, Human, Pair 3, Genetic Loci, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome, Human, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Metabolic Networks and Pathways, Multifactorial Inheritance, Phenotype, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide}, issn = {1476-4687}, doi = {10.1038/nature09410}, author = {Lango Allen, Hana and Estrada, Karol and Lettre, Guillaume and Berndt, Sonja I and Weedon, Michael N and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Willer, Cristen J and Jackson, Anne U and Vedantam, Sailaja and Raychaudhuri, Soumya and Ferreira, Teresa and Wood, Andrew R and Weyant, Robert J and Segr{\`e}, Ayellet V and Speliotes, Elizabeth K and Wheeler, Eleanor and Soranzo, Nicole and Park, Ju-Hyun and Yang, Jian and Gudbjartsson, Daniel and Heard-Costa, Nancy L and Randall, Joshua C and Qi, Lu and Vernon Smith, Albert and M{\"a}gi, Reedik and Pastinen, Tomi and Liang, Liming and Heid, Iris M and Luan, Jian{\textquoteright}an and Thorleifsson, Gudmar and Winkler, Thomas W and Goddard, Michael E and Sin Lo, Ken and Palmer, Cameron and Workalemahu, Tsegaselassie and Aulchenko, Yurii S and Johansson, Asa and Zillikens, M Carola and Feitosa, Mary F and Esko, T{\~o}nu and Johnson, Toby and Ketkar, Shamika and Kraft, Peter and Mangino, Massimo and Prokopenko, Inga and Absher, Devin and Albrecht, Eva and Ernst, Florian and Glazer, Nicole L and Hayward, Caroline and Hottenga, Jouke-Jan and Jacobs, Kevin B and Knowles, Joshua W and Kutalik, Zolt{\'a}n and Monda, Keri L and Polasek, Ozren and Preuss, Michael and Rayner, Nigel W and Robertson, Neil R and Steinthorsdottir, Valgerdur and Tyrer, Jonathan P and Voight, Benjamin F and Wiklund, Fredrik and Xu, Jianfeng and Zhao, Jing Hua and Nyholt, Dale R and Pellikka, Niina and Perola, Markus and Perry, John R B and Surakka, Ida and Tammesoo, Mari-Liis and Altmaier, Elizabeth L and Amin, Najaf and Aspelund, Thor and Bhangale, Tushar and Boucher, Gabrielle and Chasman, Daniel I and Chen, Constance and Coin, Lachlan and Cooper, Matthew N and Dixon, Anna L and Gibson, Quince and Grundberg, Elin and Hao, Ke and Juhani Junttila, M and Kaplan, Lee M and Kettunen, Johannes and K{\"o}nig, Inke R and Kwan, Tony and Lawrence, Robert W and Levinson, Douglas F and Lorentzon, Mattias and McKnight, Barbara and Morris, Andrew P and M{\"u}ller, Martina and Suh Ngwa, Julius and Purcell, Shaun and Rafelt, Suzanne and Salem, Rany M and Salvi, Erika and Sanna, Serena and Shi, Jianxin and Sovio, Ulla and Thompson, John R and Turchin, Michael C and Vandenput, Liesbeth and Verlaan, Dominique J and Vitart, Veronique and White, Charles C and Ziegler, Andreas and Almgren, Peter and Balmforth, Anthony J and Campbell, Harry and Citterio, Lorena and De Grandi, Alessandro and Dominiczak, Anna and Duan, Jubao and Elliott, Paul and Elosua, Roberto and Eriksson, Johan G and Freimer, Nelson B and Geus, Eco J C and Glorioso, Nicola and Haiqing, Shen and Hartikainen, Anna-Liisa and Havulinna, Aki S and Hicks, Andrew A and Hui, Jennie and Igl, Wilmar and Illig, Thomas and Jula, Antti and Kajantie, Eero and Kilpel{\"a}inen, Tuomas O and Koiranen, Markku and Kolcic, Ivana and Koskinen, Seppo and Kovacs, Peter and Laitinen, Jaana and Liu, Jianjun and Lokki, Marja-Liisa and Marusic, Ana and Maschio, Andrea and Meitinger, Thomas and Mulas, Antonella and Par{\'e}, Guillaume and Parker, Alex N and Peden, John F and Petersmann, Astrid and Pichler, Irene and Pietil{\"a}inen, Kirsi H and Pouta, Anneli and Ridderstr{\r a}le, Martin and Rotter, Jerome I and Sambrook, Jennifer G and Sanders, Alan R and Schmidt, Carsten Oliver and Sinisalo, Juha and Smit, Jan H and Stringham, Heather M and Bragi Walters, G and Widen, Elisabeth and Wild, Sarah H and Willemsen, Gonneke and Zagato, Laura and Zgaga, Lina and Zitting, Paavo and Alavere, Helene and Farrall, Martin and McArdle, Wendy L and Nelis, Mari and Peters, Marjolein J and Ripatti, Samuli and van Meurs, Joyce B J and Aben, Katja K and Ardlie, Kristin G and Beckmann, Jacques S and Beilby, John P and Bergman, Richard N and Bergmann, Sven and Collins, Francis S and Cusi, Daniele and den Heijer, Martin and Eiriksdottir, Gudny and Gejman, Pablo V and Hall, Alistair S and Hamsten, Anders and Huikuri, Heikki V and Iribarren, Carlos and K{\"a}h{\"o}nen, Mika and Kaprio, Jaakko and Kathiresan, Sekar and Kiemeney, Lambertus and Kocher, Thomas and Launer, Lenore J and Lehtim{\"a}ki, Terho and Melander, Olle and Mosley, Tom H and Musk, Arthur W and Nieminen, Markku S and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J and Ohlsson, Claes and Oostra, Ben and Palmer, Lyle J and Raitakari, Olli and Ridker, Paul M and Rioux, John D and Rissanen, Aila and Rivolta, Carlo and Schunkert, Heribert and Shuldiner, Alan R and Siscovick, David S and Stumvoll, Michael and T{\"o}njes, Anke and Tuomilehto, Jaakko and van Ommen, Gert-Jan and Viikari, Jorma and Heath, Andrew C and Martin, Nicholas G and Montgomery, Grant W and Province, Michael A and Kayser, Manfred and Arnold, Alice M and Atwood, Larry D and Boerwinkle, Eric and Chanock, Stephen J and Deloukas, Panos and Gieger, Christian and Gr{\"o}nberg, Henrik and Hall, Per and Hattersley, Andrew T and Hengstenberg, Christian and Hoffman, Wolfgang and Lathrop, G Mark and Salomaa, Veikko and Schreiber, Stefan and Uda, Manuela and Waterworth, Dawn and Wright, Alan F and Assimes, Themistocles L and Barroso, In{\^e}s and Hofman, Albert and Mohlke, Karen L and Boomsma, Dorret I and Caulfield, Mark J and Cupples, L Adrienne and Erdmann, Jeanette and Fox, Caroline S and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Gyllensten, Ulf and Harris, Tamara B and Hayes, Richard B and Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta and Mooser, Vincent and Munroe, Patricia B and Ouwehand, Willem H and Penninx, Brenda W and Pramstaller, Peter P and Quertermous, Thomas and Rudan, Igor and Samani, Nilesh J and Spector, Timothy D and V{\"o}lzke, Henry and Watkins, Hugh and Wilson, James F and Groop, Leif C and Haritunians, Talin and Hu, Frank B and Kaplan, Robert C and Metspalu, Andres and North, Kari E and Schlessinger, David and Wareham, Nicholas J and Hunter, David J and O{\textquoteright}Connell, Jeffrey R and Strachan, David P and Wichmann, H-Erich and Borecki, Ingrid B and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Schadt, Eric E and Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur and Peltonen, Leena and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Visscher, Peter M and Chatterjee, Nilanjan and Loos, Ruth J F and Boehnke, Michael and McCarthy, Mark I and Ingelsson, Erik and Lindgren, Cecilia M and Abecasis, Goncalo R and Stefansson, Kari and Frayling, Timothy M and Hirschhorn, Joel N} } @article {1236, title = {Meta-analysis identifies 13 new loci associated with waist-hip ratio and reveals sexual dimorphism in the genetic basis of fat distribution.}, journal = {Nat Genet}, volume = {42}, year = {2010}, month = {2010 Nov}, pages = {949-60}, abstract = {

Waist-hip ratio (WHR) is a measure of body fat distribution and a predictor of metabolic consequences independent of overall adiposity. WHR is heritable, but few genetic variants influencing this trait have been identified. We conducted a meta-analysis of 32 genome-wide association studies for WHR adjusted for body mass index (comprising up to 77,167 participants), following up 16 loci in an additional 29 studies (comprising up to 113,636 subjects). We identified 13 new loci in or near RSPO3, VEGFA, TBX15-WARS2, NFE2L3, GRB14, DNM3-PIGC, ITPR2-SSPN, LY86, HOXC13, ADAMTS9, ZNRF3-KREMEN1, NISCH-STAB1 and CPEB4 (P = 1.9 {\texttimes} 10$^{-}$$^{9}$ to P = 1.8 {\texttimes} 10$^{-}$$^{4}$$^{0}$) and the known signal at LYPLAL1. Seven of these loci exhibited marked sexual dimorphism, all with a stronger effect on WHR in women than men (P for sex difference = 1.9 {\texttimes} 10$^{-}${\textthreesuperior} to P = 1.2 {\texttimes} 10$^{-}${\textonesuperior}{\textthreesuperior}). These findings provide evidence for multiple loci that modulate body fat distribution independent of overall adiposity and reveal strong gene-by-sex interactions.

}, keywords = {Adipose Tissue, Age Factors, Chromosome Mapping, Female, Genome, Human, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Male, Meta-Analysis as Topic, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Sex Characteristics, Waist-Hip Ratio}, issn = {1546-1718}, doi = {10.1038/ng.685}, author = {Heid, Iris M and Jackson, Anne U and Randall, Joshua C and Winkler, Thomas W and Qi, Lu and Steinthorsdottir, Valgerdur and Thorleifsson, Gudmar and Zillikens, M Carola and Speliotes, Elizabeth K and M{\"a}gi, Reedik and Workalemahu, Tsegaselassie and White, Charles C and Bouatia-Naji, Nabila and Harris, Tamara B and Berndt, Sonja I and Ingelsson, Erik and Willer, Cristen J and Weedon, Michael N and Luan, Jian{\textquoteright}an and Vedantam, Sailaja and Esko, T{\~o}nu and Kilpel{\"a}inen, Tuomas O and Kutalik, Zolt{\'a}n and Li, Shengxu and Monda, Keri L and Dixon, Anna L and Holmes, Christopher C and Kaplan, Lee M and Liang, Liming and Min, Josine L and Moffatt, Miriam F and Molony, Cliona and Nicholson, George and Schadt, Eric E and Zondervan, Krina T and Feitosa, Mary F and Ferreira, Teresa and Lango Allen, Hana and Weyant, Robert J and Wheeler, Eleanor and Wood, Andrew R and Estrada, Karol and Goddard, Michael E and Lettre, Guillaume and Mangino, Massimo and Nyholt, Dale R and Purcell, Shaun and Smith, Albert Vernon and Visscher, Peter M and Yang, Jian and McCarroll, Steven A and Nemesh, James and Voight, Benjamin F and Absher, Devin and Amin, Najaf and Aspelund, Thor and Coin, Lachlan and Glazer, Nicole L and Hayward, Caroline and Heard-Costa, Nancy L and Hottenga, Jouke-Jan and Johansson, Asa and Johnson, Toby and Kaakinen, Marika and Kapur, Karen and Ketkar, Shamika and Knowles, Joshua W and Kraft, Peter and Kraja, Aldi T and Lamina, Claudia and Leitzmann, Michael F and McKnight, Barbara and Morris, Andrew P and Ong, Ken K and Perry, John R B and Peters, Marjolein J and Polasek, Ozren and Prokopenko, Inga and Rayner, Nigel W and Ripatti, Samuli and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Robertson, Neil R and Sanna, Serena and Sovio, Ulla and Surakka, Ida and Teumer, Alexander and van Wingerden, Sophie and Vitart, Veronique and Zhao, Jing Hua and Cavalcanti-Proen{\c c}a, Christine and Chines, Peter S and Fisher, Eva and Kulzer, Jennifer R and Lecoeur, C{\'e}cile and Narisu, Narisu and Sandholt, Camilla and Scott, Laura J and Silander, Kaisa and Stark, Klaus and Tammesoo, Mari-Liis and Teslovich, Tanya M and Timpson, Nicholas John and Watanabe, Richard M and Welch, Ryan and Chasman, Daniel I and Cooper, Matthew N and Jansson, John-Olov and Kettunen, Johannes and Lawrence, Robert W and Pellikka, Niina and Perola, Markus and Vandenput, Liesbeth and Alavere, Helene and Almgren, Peter and Atwood, Larry D and Bennett, Amanda J and Biffar, Reiner and Bonnycastle, Lori L and Bornstein, Stefan R and Buchanan, Thomas A and Campbell, Harry and Day, Ian N M and Dei, Mariano and D{\"o}rr, Marcus and Elliott, Paul and Erdos, Michael R and Eriksson, Johan G and Freimer, Nelson B and Fu, Mao and Gaget, Stefan and Geus, Eco J C and Gjesing, Anette P and Grallert, Harald and Gr{\"a}ssler, J{\"u}rgen and Groves, Christopher J and Guiducci, Candace and Hartikainen, Anna-Liisa and Hassanali, Neelam and Havulinna, Aki S and Herzig, Karl-Heinz and Hicks, Andrew A and Hui, Jennie and Igl, Wilmar and Jousilahti, Pekka and Jula, Antti and Kajantie, Eero and Kinnunen, Leena and Kolcic, Ivana and Koskinen, Seppo and Kovacs, Peter and Kroemer, Heyo K and Krzelj, Vjekoslav and Kuusisto, Johanna and Kvaloy, Kirsti and Laitinen, Jaana and Lantieri, Olivier and Lathrop, G Mark and Lokki, Marja-Liisa and Luben, Robert N and Ludwig, Barbara and McArdle, Wendy L and McCarthy, Anne and Morken, Mario A and Nelis, Mari and Neville, Matt J and Par{\'e}, Guillaume and Parker, Alex N and Peden, John F and Pichler, Irene and Pietil{\"a}inen, Kirsi H and Platou, Carl G P and Pouta, Anneli and Ridderstr{\r a}le, Martin and Samani, Nilesh J and Saramies, Jouko and Sinisalo, Juha and Smit, Jan H and Strawbridge, Rona J and Stringham, Heather M and Swift, Amy J and Teder-Laving, Maris and Thomson, Brian and Usala, Gianluca and van Meurs, Joyce B J and van Ommen, Gert-Jan and Vatin, Vincent and Volpato, Claudia B and Wallaschofski, Henri and Walters, G Bragi and Widen, Elisabeth and Wild, Sarah H and Willemsen, Gonneke and Witte, Daniel R and Zgaga, Lina and Zitting, Paavo and Beilby, John P and James, Alan L and K{\"a}h{\"o}nen, Mika and Lehtim{\"a}ki, Terho and Nieminen, Markku S and Ohlsson, Claes and Palmer, Lyle J and Raitakari, Olli and Ridker, Paul M and Stumvoll, Michael and T{\"o}njes, Anke and Viikari, Jorma and Balkau, Beverley and Ben-Shlomo, Yoav and Bergman, Richard N and Boeing, Heiner and Smith, George Davey and Ebrahim, Shah and Froguel, Philippe and Hansen, Torben and Hengstenberg, Christian and Hveem, Kristian and Isomaa, Bo and J{\o}rgensen, Torben and Karpe, Fredrik and Khaw, Kay-Tee and Laakso, Markku and Lawlor, Debbie A and Marre, Michel and Meitinger, Thomas and Metspalu, Andres and Midthjell, Kristian and Pedersen, Oluf and Salomaa, Veikko and Schwarz, Peter E H and Tuomi, Tiinamaija and Tuomilehto, Jaakko and Valle, Timo T and Wareham, Nicholas J and Arnold, Alice M and Beckmann, Jacques S and Bergmann, Sven and Boerwinkle, Eric and Boomsma, Dorret I and Caulfield, Mark J and Collins, Francis S and Eiriksdottir, Gudny and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Gyllensten, Ulf and Hamsten, Anders and Hattersley, Andrew T and Hofman, Albert and Hu, Frank B and Illig, Thomas and Iribarren, Carlos and Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta and Kao, W H Linda and Kaprio, Jaakko and Launer, Lenore J and Munroe, Patricia B and Oostra, Ben and Penninx, Brenda W and Pramstaller, Peter P and Psaty, Bruce M and Quertermous, Thomas and Rissanen, Aila and Rudan, Igor and Shuldiner, Alan R and Soranzo, Nicole and Spector, Timothy D and Syv{\"a}nen, Ann-Christine and Uda, Manuela and Uitterlinden, Andre and V{\"o}lzke, Henry and Vollenweider, Peter and Wilson, James F and Witteman, Jacqueline C and Wright, Alan F and Abecasis, Goncalo R and Boehnke, Michael and Borecki, Ingrid B and Deloukas, Panos and Frayling, Timothy M and Groop, Leif C and Haritunians, Talin and Hunter, David J and Kaplan, Robert C and North, Kari E and O{\textquoteright}Connell, Jeffrey R and Peltonen, Leena and Schlessinger, David and Strachan, David P and Hirschhorn, Joel N and Assimes, Themistocles L and Wichmann, H-Erich and Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Stefansson, Kari and Cupples, L Adrienne and Loos, Ruth J F and Barroso, In{\^e}s and McCarthy, Mark I and Fox, Caroline S and Mohlke, Karen L and Lindgren, Cecilia M} } @article {1176, title = {Novel associations of multiple genetic loci with plasma levels of factor VII, factor VIII, and von Willebrand factor: The CHARGE (Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genome Epidemiology) Consortium.}, journal = {Circulation}, volume = {121}, year = {2010}, month = {2010 Mar 30}, pages = {1382-92}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Plasma levels of coagulation factors VII (FVII), VIII (FVIII), and von Willebrand factor (vWF) influence risk of hemorrhage and thrombosis. We conducted genome-wide association studies to identify new loci associated with plasma levels.

METHODS AND RESULTS: The setting of the study included 5 community-based studies for discovery comprising 23 608 European-ancestry participants: Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities Study, Cardiovascular Health Study, British 1958 Birth Cohort, Framingham Heart Study, and Rotterdam Study. All subjects had genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) scans and at least 1 phenotype measured: FVII activity/antigen, FVIII activity, and vWF antigen. Each study used its genotype data to impute to HapMap SNPs and independently conducted association analyses of hemostasis measures using an additive genetic model. Study findings were combined by meta-analysis. Replication was conducted in 7604 participants not in the discovery cohort. For FVII, 305 SNPs exceeded the genome-wide significance threshold of 5.0x10(-8) and comprised 5 loci on 5 chromosomes: 2p23 (smallest P value 6.2x10(-24)), 4q25 (3.6x10(-12)), 11q12 (2.0x10(-10)), 13q34 (9.0x10(-259)), and 20q11.2 (5.7x10(-37)). Loci were within or near genes, including 4 new candidate genes and F7 (13q34). For vWF, 400 SNPs exceeded the threshold and marked 8 loci on 6 chromosomes: 6q24 (1.2x10(-22)), 8p21 (1.3x10(-16)), 9q34 (<5.0x10(-324)), 12p13 (1.7x10(-32)), 12q23 (7.3x10(-10)), 12q24.3 (3.8x10(-11)), 14q32 (2.3x10(-10)), and 19p13.2 (1.3x10(-9)). All loci were within genes, including 6 new candidate genes, as well as ABO (9q34) and VWF (12p13). For FVIII, 5 loci were identified and overlapped vWF findings. Nine of the 10 new findings were replicated.

CONCLUSIONS: New genetic associations were discovered outside previously known biological pathways and may point to novel prevention and treatment targets of hemostasis disorders.

}, keywords = {Adult, Factor VII, Factor VIII, Female, Genome-Wide Association Study, Hemostasis, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Phenotype, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Thrombosis, von Willebrand Factor}, issn = {1524-4539}, doi = {10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.109.869156}, author = {Smith, Nicholas L and Chen, Ming-Huei and Dehghan, Abbas and Strachan, David P and Basu, Saonli and Soranzo, Nicole and Hayward, Caroline and Rudan, Igor and Sabater-Lleal, Maria and Bis, Joshua C and de Maat, Moniek P M and Rumley, Ann and Kong, Xiaoxiao and Yang, Qiong and Williams, Frances M K and Vitart, Veronique and Campbell, Harry and M{\"a}larstig, Anders and Wiggins, Kerri L and van Duijn, Cornelia M and McArdle, Wendy L and Pankow, James S and Johnson, Andrew D and Silveira, Angela and McKnight, Barbara and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Aleksic, Nena and Meigs, James B and Peters, Annette and Koenig, Wolfgang and Cushman, Mary and Kathiresan, Sekar and Rotter, Jerome I and Bovill, Edwin G and Hofman, Albert and Boerwinkle, Eric and Tofler, Geoffrey H and Peden, John F and Psaty, Bruce M and Leebeek, Frank and Folsom, Aaron R and Larson, Martin G and Spector, Timothy D and Wright, Alan F and Wilson, James F and Hamsten, Anders and Lumley, Thomas and Witteman, Jacqueline C M and Tang, Weihong and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J} } @article {1275, title = {Cerivastatin, genetic variants, and the risk of rhabdomyolysis.}, journal = {Pharmacogenet Genomics}, volume = {21}, year = {2011}, month = {2011 May}, pages = {280-8}, abstract = {

OBJECTIVE: The withdrawal of cerivastatin involved an uncommon but serious adverse reaction, rhabdomyolysis. The bimodal response, rhabdomyolysis in a small proportion of users, points to genetic factors as a potential cause. We conducted a case-control study to evaluate genetic markers for cerivastatin-associated rhabdomyolysis.

METHODS: This study had two components: a candidate gene study to evaluate variants in CYP2C8, UGT1A1, UGT1A3, and SLCO1B1; and a genome-wide association study to identify risk factors in other regions of the genome. A total of 185 rhabdomyolysis cases were frequency matched to statin-using controls from the Cardiovascular Health Study (n=374) and the Heart and Vascular Health Study (n=358). Validation relied on functional studies.

RESULTS: Permutation test results suggested an association between cerivastatin-associated rhabdomyolysis and variants in SLCO1B1 (P=0.002), but not variants in CYP2C8 (P=0.073) or UGTs (P=0.523). An additional copy of the minor allele of SLCO1B1 rs4149056 (p.Val174Ala) was associated with the risk of rhabdomyolysis (odds ratio: 1.89; 95\% confidence interval: 1.40-2.56). In transfected cells, this variant reduced cerivastatin transport by 40\% compared with the reference transporter (P<0.001). The genome-wide association study identified an intronic variant (rs2819742) in the ryanodine receptor 2 gene (RYR2) as significant (P=1.74E-07). An additional copy of the minor allele of the RYR2 variant was associated with a reduced risk of rhabdomyolysis (odds ratio: 0.48; 95\% confidence interval: 0.36-0.63).

CONCLUSION: We identified modest genetic risk factors for an extreme response to cerivastatin. Disabling genetic variants in the candidate genes were not responsible for the bimodal response to cerivastatin.

}, keywords = {Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Aryl Hydrocarbon Hydroxylases, Case-Control Studies, Cytochrome P-450 CYP2C8, Female, Genetic Variation, Genome-Wide Association Study, Glucuronosyltransferase, Humans, Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors, Male, Middle Aged, Organic Anion Transporters, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Pyridines, Rhabdomyolysis, Risk, Ryanodine Receptor Calcium Release Channel, Solute Carrier Organic Anion Transporter Family Member 1b1}, issn = {1744-6880}, doi = {10.1097/FPC.0b013e328343dd7d}, author = {Marciante, Kristin D and Durda, Jon P and Heckbert, Susan R and Lumley, Thomas and Rice, Ken and McKnight, Barbara and Totah, Rheem A and Tamraz, Bani and Kroetz, Deanna L and Fukushima, Hisayo and Kaspera, R{\"u}diger and Bis, Joshua C and Glazer, Nicole L and Li, Guo and Austin, Thomas R and Taylor, Kent D and Rotter, Jerome I and Jaquish, Cashell E and Kwok, Pui-Yan and Tracy, Russell P and Psaty, Bruce M} } @article {1339, title = {Fasting and post-glucose load measures of insulin resistance and risk of ischemic stroke in older adults.}, journal = {Stroke}, volume = {42}, year = {2011}, month = {2011 Dec}, pages = {3347-51}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Few studies have assessed post-glucose load measures of insulin resistance and ischemic stroke risk, and data are sparse for older adults. We investigated whether fasting and post-glucose load measures of insulin resistance were related to incident ischemic stroke in nondiabetic, older adults.

METHODS: Participants were men and women in the Cardiovascular Health Study, age 65+ years and without prevalent diabetes or stroke at baseline, followed for 17 years for incident ischemic stroke. The Gutt insulin sensitivity index was calculated from baseline body weight and from fasting and 2-hour postload insulin and glucose; a lower Gutt index indicates higher insulin resistance.

RESULTS: Analyses included 3442 participants (42\% men) with a mean age of 73 years. Incidence of ischemic stroke was 9.8 strokes per 1000 person-years. The relative risk (RR) for lowest quartile versus highest quartile of Gutt index was 1.64 (95\% CI, 1.24-2.16), adjusted for demographics and prevalent cardiovascular and kidney disease. Similarly, the adjusted RR for highest quartile versus lowest quartile of 2-hour glucose was 1.84 (95\% CI, 1.39-2.42). In contrast, the adjusted RR for highest quartile versus lowest quartile of fasting insulin was 1.10 (95\% CI, 0.84-1.46).

CONCLUSIONS: In nondiabetic, older adults, insulin resistance measured by Gutt index or 2-hour glucose, but not by fasting insulin, was associated with risk of incident ischemic stroke.

}, keywords = {Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Blood Glucose, Body Mass Index, Brain Ischemia, Fasting, Female, Humans, Incidence, Insulin Resistance, Male, Risk, Stroke}, issn = {1524-4628}, doi = {10.1161/STROKEAHA.111.620773}, author = {Thacker, Evan L and Psaty, Bruce M and McKnight, Barbara and Heckbert, Susan R and Longstreth, W T and Mukamal, Kenneth J and Meigs, James B and de Boer, Ian H and Boyko, Edward J and Carnethon, Mercedes R and Kizer, Jorge R and Tracy, Russell P and Smith, Nicholas L and Siscovick, David S} } @article {1311, title = {Genetic loci associated with plasma phospholipid n-3 fatty acids: a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies from the CHARGE Consortium.}, journal = {PLoS Genet}, volume = {7}, year = {2011}, month = {2011 Jul}, pages = {e1002193}, abstract = {

Long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) can derive from diet or from α-linolenic acid (ALA) by elongation and desaturation. We investigated the association of common genetic variation with plasma phospholipid levels of the four major n-3 PUFAs by performing genome-wide association studies in five population-based cohorts comprising 8,866 subjects of European ancestry. Minor alleles of SNPs in FADS1 and FADS2 (desaturases) were associated with higher levels of ALA (p = 3 x 10$^{-}$$^{6}$$^{4}$) and lower levels of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, p = 5 x 10$^{-}$$^{5}$$^{8}$) and docosapentaenoic acid (DPA, p = 4 x 10$^{-}${\textonesuperior}$^{5}$$^{4}$). Minor alleles of SNPs in ELOVL2 (elongase) were associated with higher EPA (p = 2 x 10$^{-}${\textonesuperior}{\texttwosuperior}) and DPA (p = 1 x 10$^{-}$$^{4}${\textthreesuperior}) and lower docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, p = 1 x 10$^{-}${\textonesuperior}$^{5}$). In addition to genes in the n-3 pathway, we identified a novel association of DPA with several SNPs in GCKR (glucokinase regulator, p = 1 x 10$^{-}$$^{8}$). We observed a weaker association between ALA and EPA among carriers of the minor allele of a representative SNP in FADS2 (rs1535), suggesting a lower rate of ALA-to-EPA conversion in these subjects. In samples of African, Chinese, and Hispanic ancestry, associations of n-3 PUFAs were similar with a representative SNP in FADS1 but less consistent with a representative SNP in ELOVL2. Our findings show that common variation in n-3 metabolic pathway genes and in GCKR influences plasma phospholipid levels of n-3 PUFAs in populations of European ancestry and, for FADS1, in other ancestries.

}, keywords = {Alleles, Continental Population Groups, Fatty Acids, Omega-3, Female, Genetic Loci, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Male, Metabolic Networks and Pathways, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide}, issn = {1553-7404}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pgen.1002193}, author = {Lemaitre, Rozenn N and Tanaka, Toshiko and Tang, Weihong and Manichaikul, Ani and Foy, Millennia and Kabagambe, Edmond K and Nettleton, Jennifer A and King, Irena B and Weng, Lu-Chen and Bhattacharya, Sayanti and Bandinelli, Stefania and Bis, Joshua C and Rich, Stephen S and Jacobs, David R and Cherubini, Antonio and McKnight, Barbara and Liang, Shuang and Gu, Xiangjun and Rice, Kenneth and Laurie, Cathy C and Lumley, Thomas and Browning, Brian L and Psaty, Bruce M and Chen, Yii-der I and Friedlander, Yechiel and Djouss{\'e}, Luc and Wu, Jason H Y and Siscovick, David S and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Arnett, Donna K and Ferrucci, Luigi and Fornage, Myriam and Tsai, Michael Y and Mozaffarian, Dariush and Steffen, Lyn M} } @article {1284, title = {Genetic predictors of fibrin D-dimer levels in healthy adults.}, journal = {Circulation}, volume = {123}, year = {2011}, month = {2011 May 03}, pages = {1864-72}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Fibrin fragment D-dimer, one of several peptides produced when crosslinked fibrin is degraded by plasmin, is the most widely used clinical marker of activated blood coagulation. To identity genetic loci influencing D-dimer levels, we performed the first large-scale, genome-wide association search.

METHODS AND RESULTS: A genome-wide investigation of the genomic correlates of plasma D-dimer levels was conducted among 21 052 European-ancestry adults. Plasma levels of D-dimer were measured independently in each of 13 cohorts. Each study analyzed the association between ≈2.6 million genotyped and imputed variants across the 22 autosomal chromosomes and natural-log{\textendash}transformed D-dimer levels using linear regression in additive genetic models adjusted for age and sex. Among all variants, 74 exceeded the genome-wide significance threshold and marked 3 regions. At 1p22, rs12029080 (P=6.4{\texttimes}10(-52)) was 46.0 kb upstream from F3, coagulation factor III (tissue factor). At 1q24, rs6687813 (P=2.4{\texttimes}10(-14)) was 79.7 kb downstream of F5, coagulation factor V. At 4q32, rs13109457 (P=2.9{\texttimes}10(-18)) was located between 2 fibrinogen genes: 10.4 kb downstream from FGG and 3.0 kb upstream from FGA. Variants were associated with a 0.099-, 0.096-, and 0.061-unit difference, respectively, in natural-log{\textendash}transformed D-dimer and together accounted for 1.8\% of the total variance. When adjusted for nonsynonymous substitutions in F5 and FGA loci known to be associated with D-dimer levels, there was no evidence of an additional association at either locus.

CONCLUSIONS: Three genes were associated with fibrin D-dimer levels. Of these 3, the F3 association was the strongest, and has not been previously reported.

}, keywords = {Adult, Aged, Blood Coagulation, European Continental Ancestry Group, Factor V, Female, Fibrin Fibrinogen Degradation Products, Fibrinogen, Genetic Testing, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Reference Values, Thromboplastin}, issn = {1524-4539}, doi = {10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.110.009480}, author = {Smith, Nicholas L and Huffman, Jennifer E and Strachan, David P and Huang, Jie and Dehghan, Abbas and Trompet, Stella and Lopez, Lorna M and Shin, So-Youn and Baumert, Jens and Vitart, Veronique and Bis, Joshua C and Wild, Sarah H and Rumley, Ann and Yang, Qiong and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Stott, David J and Davies, Gail and Carter, Angela M and Thorand, Barbara and Polasek, Ozren and McKnight, Barbara and Campbell, Harry and Rudnicka, Alicja R and Chen, Ming-Huei and Buckley, Brendan M and Harris, Sarah E and Peters, Annette and Pulanic, Drazen and Lumley, Thomas and de Craen, Anton J M and Liewald, David C and Gieger, Christian and Campbell, Susan and Ford, Ian and Gow, Alan J and Luciano, Michelle and Porteous, David J and Guo, Xiuqing and Sattar, Naveed and Tenesa, Albert and Cushman, Mary and Slagboom, P Eline and Visscher, Peter M and Spector, Tim D and Illig, Thomas and Rudan, Igor and Bovill, Edwin G and Wright, Alan F and McArdle, Wendy L and Tofler, Geoffrey and Hofman, Albert and Westendorp, Rudi G J and Starr, John M and Grant, Peter J and Karakas, Mahir and Hastie, Nicholas D and Psaty, Bruce M and Wilson, James F and Lowe, Gordon D O and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J and Witteman, Jacqueline C M and Jukema, J Wouter and Deary, Ian J and Soranzo, Nicole and Koenig, Wolfgang and Hayward, Caroline} } @article {1301, title = {Genetic variation near IRS1 associates with reduced adiposity and an impaired metabolic profile.}, journal = {Nat Genet}, volume = {43}, year = {2011}, month = {2011 Jun 26}, pages = {753-60}, abstract = {

Genome-wide association studies have identified 32 loci influencing body mass index, but this measure does not distinguish lean from fat mass. To identify adiposity loci, we meta-analyzed associations between \~{}2.5 million SNPs and body fat percentage from 36,626 individuals and followed up the 14 most significant (P < 10(-6)) independent loci in 39,576 individuals. We confirmed a previously established adiposity locus in FTO (P = 3 {\texttimes} 10(-26)) and identified two new loci associated with body fat percentage, one near IRS1 (P = 4 {\texttimes} 10(-11)) and one near SPRY2 (P = 3 {\texttimes} 10(-8)). Both loci contain genes with potential links to adipocyte physiology. Notably, the body-fat-decreasing allele near IRS1 is associated with decreased IRS1 expression and with an impaired metabolic profile, including an increased visceral to subcutaneous fat ratio, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, risk of diabetes and coronary artery disease and decreased adiponectin levels. Our findings provide new insights into adiposity and insulin resistance.

}, keywords = {Adiponectin, Adiposity, Alleles, Body Fat Distribution, Body Mass Index, Body Weight, Female, Genetic Variation, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Insulin Receptor Substrate Proteins, Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins, Male, Membrane Proteins, Meta-Analysis as Topic, Metabolome, Obesity, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Subcutaneous Fat}, issn = {1546-1718}, doi = {10.1038/ng.866}, author = {Kilpel{\"a}inen, Tuomas O and Zillikens, M Carola and Stan{\v c}{\'a}kov{\'a}, Alena and Finucane, Francis M and Ried, Janina S and Langenberg, Claudia and Zhang, Weihua and Beckmann, Jacques S and Luan, Jian{\textquoteright}an and Vandenput, Liesbeth and Styrkarsdottir, Unnur and Zhou, Yanhua and Smith, Albert Vernon and Zhao, Jing-Hua and Amin, Najaf and Vedantam, Sailaja and Shin, So-Youn and Haritunians, Talin and Fu, Mao and Feitosa, Mary F and Kumari, Meena and Halldorsson, Bjarni V and Tikkanen, Emmi and Mangino, Massimo and Hayward, Caroline and Song, Ci and Arnold, Alice M and Aulchenko, Yurii S and Oostra, Ben A and Campbell, Harry and Cupples, L Adrienne and Davis, Kathryn E and D{\"o}ring, Angela and Eiriksdottir, Gudny and Estrada, Karol and Fern{\'a}ndez-Real, Jos{\'e} Manuel and Garcia, Melissa and Gieger, Christian and Glazer, Nicole L and Guiducci, Candace and Hofman, Albert and Humphries, Steve E and Isomaa, Bo and Jacobs, Leonie C and Jula, Antti and Karasik, David and Karlsson, Magnus K and Khaw, Kay-Tee and Kim, Lauren J and Kivimaki, Mika and Klopp, Norman and Kuhnel, Brigitte and Kuusisto, Johanna and Liu, Yongmei and Ljunggren, Osten and Lorentzon, Mattias and Luben, Robert N and McKnight, Barbara and Mellstr{\"o}m, Dan and Mitchell, Braxton D and Mooser, Vincent and Moreno, Jos{\'e} Maria and M{\"a}nnist{\"o}, Satu and O{\textquoteright}Connell, Jeffery R and Pascoe, Laura and Peltonen, Leena and Peral, Bel{\'e}n and Perola, Markus and Psaty, Bruce M and Salomaa, Veikko and Savage, David B and Semple, Robert K and Skaric-Juric, Tatjana and Sigurdsson, Gunnar and Song, Kijoung S and Spector, Timothy D and Syv{\"a}nen, Ann-Christine and Talmud, Philippa J and Thorleifsson, Gudmar and Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Vidal-Puig, Antonio and Wild, Sarah H and Wright, Alan F and Clegg, Deborah J and Schadt, Eric and Wilson, James F and Rudan, Igor and Ripatti, Samuli and Borecki, Ingrid B and Shuldiner, Alan R and Ingelsson, Erik and Jansson, John-Olov and Kaplan, Robert C and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Harris, Tamara B and Groop, Leif and Kiel, Douglas P and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Walker, Mark and Barroso, In{\^e}s and Vollenweider, Peter and Waeber, G{\'e}rard and Chambers, John C and Kooner, Jaspal S and Soranzo, Nicole and Hirschhorn, Joel N and Stefansson, Kari and Wichmann, H-Erich and Ohlsson, Claes and O{\textquoteright}Rahilly, Stephen and Wareham, Nicholas J and Speliotes, Elizabeth K and Fox, Caroline S and Laakso, Markku and Loos, Ruth J F} } @article {1355, title = {New gene functions in megakaryopoiesis and platelet formation.}, journal = {Nature}, volume = {480}, year = {2011}, month = {2011 Nov 30}, pages = {201-8}, abstract = {

Platelets are the second most abundant cell type in blood and are essential for maintaining haemostasis. Their count and volume are tightly controlled within narrow physiological ranges, but there is only limited understanding of the molecular processes controlling both traits. Here we carried out a high-powered meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in up to 66,867 individuals of European ancestry, followed by extensive biological and functional assessment. We identified 68 genomic loci reliably associated with platelet count and volume mapping to established and putative novel regulators of megakaryopoiesis and platelet formation. These genes show megakaryocyte-specific gene expression patterns and extensive network connectivity. Using gene silencing in Danio rerio and Drosophila melanogaster, we identified 11 of the genes as novel regulators of blood cell formation. Taken together, our findings advance understanding of novel gene functions controlling fate-determining events during megakaryopoiesis and platelet formation, providing a new example of successful translation of GWAS to function.

}, keywords = {Animals, Blood Platelets, Cell Size, Drosophila melanogaster, Drosophila Proteins, Europe, Gene Expression Profiling, Gene Silencing, Genome, Human, Genome-Wide Association Study, Hematopoiesis, Humans, Megakaryocytes, Platelet Count, Protein Interaction Maps, Transcription, Genetic, Zebrafish, Zebrafish Proteins}, issn = {1476-4687}, doi = {10.1038/nature10659}, author = {Gieger, Christian and Radhakrishnan, Aparna and Cvejic, Ana and Tang, Weihong and Porcu, Eleonora and Pistis, Giorgio and Serbanovic-Canic, Jovana and Elling, Ulrich and Goodall, Alison H and Labrune, Yann and Lopez, Lorna M and M{\"a}gi, Reedik and Meacham, Stuart and Okada, Yukinori and Pirastu, Nicola and Sorice, Rossella and Teumer, Alexander and Voss, Katrin and Zhang, Weihua and Ramirez-Solis, Ramiro and Bis, Joshua C and Ellinghaus, David and G{\"o}gele, Martin and Hottenga, Jouke-Jan and Langenberg, Claudia and Kovacs, Peter and O{\textquoteright}Reilly, Paul F and Shin, So-Youn and Esko, T{\~o}nu and Hartiala, Jaana and Kanoni, Stavroula and Murgia, Federico and Parsa, Afshin and Stephens, Jonathan and van der Harst, Pim and Ellen van der Schoot, C and Allayee, Hooman and Attwood, Antony and Balkau, Beverley and Bastardot, Fran{\c c}ois and Basu, Saonli and Baumeister, Sebastian E and Biino, Ginevra and Bomba, Lorenzo and Bonnefond, Am{\'e}lie and Cambien, Francois and Chambers, John C and Cucca, Francesco and D{\textquoteright}Adamo, Pio and Davies, Gail and de Boer, Rudolf A and de Geus, Eco J C and D{\"o}ring, Angela and Elliott, Paul and Erdmann, Jeanette and Evans, David M and Falchi, Mario and Feng, Wei and Folsom, Aaron R and Frazer, Ian H and Gibson, Quince D and Glazer, Nicole L and Hammond, Chris and Hartikainen, Anna-Liisa and Heckbert, Susan R and Hengstenberg, Christian and Hersch, Micha and Illig, Thomas and Loos, Ruth J F and Jolley, Jennifer and Khaw, Kay Tee and Kuhnel, Brigitte and Kyrtsonis, Marie-Christine and Lagou, Vasiliki and Lloyd-Jones, Heather and Lumley, Thomas and Mangino, Massimo and Maschio, Andrea and Mateo Leach, Irene and McKnight, Barbara and Memari, Yasin and Mitchell, Braxton D and Montgomery, Grant W and Nakamura, Yusuke and Nauck, Matthias and Navis, Gerjan and N{\"o}thlings, Ute and Nolte, Ilja M and Porteous, David J and Pouta, Anneli and Pramstaller, Peter P and Pullat, Janne and Ring, Susan M and Rotter, Jerome I and Ruggiero, Daniela and Ruokonen, Aimo and Sala, Cinzia and Samani, Nilesh J and Sambrook, Jennifer and Schlessinger, David and Schreiber, Stefan and Schunkert, Heribert and Scott, James and Smith, Nicholas L and Snieder, Harold and Starr, John M and Stumvoll, Michael and Takahashi, Atsushi and Tang, W H Wilson and Taylor, Kent and Tenesa, Albert and Lay Thein, Swee and T{\"o}njes, Anke and Uda, Manuela and Ulivi, Sheila and van Veldhuisen, Dirk J and Visscher, Peter M and V{\"o}lker, Uwe and Wichmann, H-Erich and Wiggins, Kerri L and Willemsen, Gonneke and Yang, Tsun-Po and Hua Zhao, Jing and Zitting, Paavo and Bradley, John R and Dedoussis, George V and Gasparini, Paolo and Hazen, Stanley L and Metspalu, Andres and Pirastu, Mario and Shuldiner, Alan R and Joost van Pelt, L and Zwaginga, Jaap-Jan and Boomsma, Dorret I and Deary, Ian J and Franke, Andre and Froguel, Philippe and Ganesh, Santhi K and Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta and Martin, Nicholas G and Meisinger, Christa and Psaty, Bruce M and Spector, Timothy D and Wareham, Nicholas J and Akkerman, Jan-Willem N and Ciullo, Marina and Deloukas, Panos and Greinacher, Andreas and Jupe, Steve and Kamatani, Naoyuki and Khadake, Jyoti and Kooner, Jaspal S and Penninger, Josef and Prokopenko, Inga and Stemple, Derek and Toniolo, Daniela and Wernisch, Lorenz and Sanna, Serena and Hicks, Andrew A and Rendon, Augusto and Ferreira, Manuel A and Ouwehand, Willem H and Soranzo, Nicole} } @article {1396, title = {Circulating and dietary α-linolenic acid and incidence of congestive heart failure in older adults: the Cardiovascular Health Study.}, journal = {Am J Clin Nutr}, volume = {96}, year = {2012}, month = {2012 Aug}, pages = {269-74}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Few studies have evaluated the association between the n-3 fatty acid α-linolenic acid (ALA) and the incidence of congestive heart failure (CHF).

OBJECTIVE: We investigated whether plasma phospholipid concentrations and estimated dietary consumption of ALA are associated with incident CHF.

DESIGN: We used data from the Cardiovascular Health Study, a prospective cohort study of cardiovascular diseases among adults aged >=65 y, from 4 US communities. A total of 2957 participants free of prevalent heart disease and with available fatty acid measurements were included in biomarker analyses (30,722 person-years and 686 incident CHF events). A total of 4432 participants free of prevalent heart disease were included in dietary analyses (52,609 person-years and 1072 events). We investigated the association of ALA with incident CHF by using Cox regression.

RESULTS: After adjustment for age, sex, race, education, smoking status, BMI, waist circumference, and alcohol consumption, plasma phospholipid ALA was not associated with incident CHF (HR for the highest compared with the lowest quartile: 0.97; 95\% CI: 0.79, 1.21; P-trend = 0.85). Likewise, dietary ALA was not associated with incident CHF (adjusted HR for the highest compared with the lowest quartile: 0.96; 95\% CI: 0.82, 1.20; P-trend = 0.97). We observed no association of biomarker or dietary ALA with nonvalvular CHF subtype. We also found little evidence of an association between ALA and CHF in subgroups based on age, sex, diabetes, fish consumption, BMI, or FADS2 genotype (rs1535).

CONCLUSION: ALA intake is not associated with incident CHF in older adults. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00005133.

}, keywords = {Aged, Alcohol Drinking, alpha-Linolenic Acid, Biomarkers, Body Mass Index, Cardiovascular Diseases, Diet, Fatty Acid Desaturases, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Heart Failure, Humans, Incidence, Male, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Prevalence, Prospective Studies, Risk Factors, Smoking, Surveys and Questionnaires, United States}, issn = {1938-3207}, doi = {10.3945/ajcn.112.037960}, author = {Lemaitre, Rozenn N and Sitlani, Colleen and Song, Xiaoling and King, Irena B and McKnight, Barbara and Spiegelman, Donna and Sacks, Frank M and Djouss{\'e}, Luc and Rimm, Eric B and Siscovick, David S and Mozaffarian, Dariush} } @article {6175, title = {FTO genotype is associated with phenotypic variability of body mass index.}, journal = {Nature}, volume = {490}, year = {2012}, month = {2012 Oct 11}, pages = {267-72}, abstract = {

There is evidence across several species for genetic control of phenotypic variation of complex traits, such that the variance among phenotypes is genotype dependent. Understanding genetic control of variability is important in evolutionary biology, agricultural selection programmes and human medicine, yet for complex traits, no individual genetic variants associated with variance, as opposed to the mean, have been identified. Here we perform a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of phenotypic variation using \~{}170,000 samples on height and body mass index (BMI) in human populations. We report evidence that the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs7202116 at the FTO gene locus, which is known to be associated with obesity (as measured by mean BMI for each rs7202116 genotype), is also associated with phenotypic variability. We show that the results are not due to scale effects or other artefacts, and find no other experiment-wise significant evidence for effects on variability, either at loci other than FTO for BMI or at any locus for height. The difference in variance for BMI among individuals with opposite homozygous genotypes at the FTO locus is approximately 7\%, corresponding to a difference of \~{}0.5 kilograms in the standard deviation of weight. Our results indicate that genetic variants can be discovered that are associated with variability, and that between-person variability in obesity can partly be explained by the genotype at the FTO locus. The results are consistent with reported FTO by environment interactions for BMI, possibly mediated by DNA methylation. Our BMI results for other SNPs and our height results for all SNPs suggest that most genetic variants, including those that influence mean height or mean BMI, are not associated with phenotypic variance, or that their effects on variability are too small to detect even with samples sizes greater than 100,000.

}, keywords = {Alpha-Ketoglutarate-Dependent Dioxygenase FTO, Body Height, Body Mass Index, Co-Repressor Proteins, Female, Genetic Variation, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Male, Nerve Tissue Proteins, Phenotype, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Proteins, Repressor Proteins}, issn = {1476-4687}, doi = {10.1038/nature11401}, author = {Yang, Jian and Loos, Ruth J F and Powell, Joseph E and Medland, Sarah E and Speliotes, Elizabeth K and Chasman, Daniel I and Rose, Lynda M and Thorleifsson, Gudmar and Steinthorsdottir, Valgerdur and M{\"a}gi, Reedik and Waite, Lindsay and Smith, Albert Vernon and Yerges-Armstrong, Laura M and Monda, Keri L and Hadley, David and Mahajan, Anubha and Li, Guo and Kapur, Karen and Vitart, Veronique and Huffman, Jennifer E and Wang, Sophie R and Palmer, Cameron and Esko, T{\~o}nu and Fischer, Krista and Zhao, Jing Hua and Demirkan, Ayse and Isaacs, Aaron and Feitosa, Mary F and Luan, Jian{\textquoteright}an and Heard-Costa, Nancy L and White, Charles and Jackson, Anne U and Preuss, Michael and Ziegler, Andreas and Eriksson, Joel and Kutalik, Zolt{\'a}n and Frau, Francesca and Nolte, Ilja M and van Vliet-Ostaptchouk, Jana V and Hottenga, Jouke-Jan and Jacobs, Kevin B and Verweij, Niek and Goel, Anuj and Medina-G{\'o}mez, Carolina and Estrada, Karol and Bragg-Gresham, Jennifer Lynn and Sanna, Serena and Sidore, Carlo and Tyrer, Jonathan and Teumer, Alexander and Prokopenko, Inga and Mangino, Massimo and Lindgren, Cecilia M and Assimes, Themistocles L and Shuldiner, Alan R and Hui, Jennie and Beilby, John P and McArdle, Wendy L and Hall, Per and Haritunians, Talin and Zgaga, Lina and Kolcic, Ivana and Polasek, Ozren and Zemunik, Tatijana and Oostra, Ben A and Junttila, M Juhani and Gr{\"o}nberg, Henrik and Schreiber, Stefan and Peters, Annette and Hicks, Andrew A and Stephens, Jonathan and Foad, Nicola S and Laitinen, Jaana and Pouta, Anneli and Kaakinen, Marika and Willemsen, Gonneke and Vink, Jacqueline M and Wild, Sarah H and Navis, Gerjan and Asselbergs, Folkert W and Homuth, Georg and John, Ulrich and Iribarren, Carlos and Harris, Tamara and Launer, Lenore and Gudnason, Vilmundur and O{\textquoteright}Connell, Jeffrey R and Boerwinkle, Eric and Cadby, Gemma and Palmer, Lyle J and James, Alan L and Musk, Arthur W and Ingelsson, Erik and Psaty, Bruce M and Beckmann, Jacques S and Waeber, G{\'e}rard and Vollenweider, Peter and Hayward, Caroline and Wright, Alan F and Rudan, Igor and Groop, Leif C and Metspalu, Andres and Khaw, Kay Tee and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Borecki, Ingrid B and Province, Michael A and Wareham, Nicholas J and Tardif, Jean-Claude and Huikuri, Heikki V and Cupples, L Adrienne and Atwood, Larry D and Fox, Caroline S and Boehnke, Michael and Collins, Francis S and Mohlke, Karen L and Erdmann, Jeanette and Schunkert, Heribert and Hengstenberg, Christian and Stark, Klaus and Lorentzon, Mattias and Ohlsson, Claes and Cusi, Daniele and Staessen, Jan A and van der Klauw, Melanie M and Pramstaller, Peter P and Kathiresan, Sekar and Jolley, Jennifer D and Ripatti, Samuli and Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta and de Geus, Eco J C and Boomsma, Dorret I and Penninx, Brenda and Wilson, James F and Campbell, Harry and Chanock, Stephen J and van der Harst, Pim and Hamsten, Anders and Watkins, Hugh and Hofman, Albert and Witteman, Jacqueline C and Zillikens, M Carola and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Zillikens, M Carola and Kiemeney, Lambertus A and Vermeulen, Sita H and Abecasis, Goncalo R and Schlessinger, David and Schipf, Sabine and Stumvoll, Michael and T{\"o}njes, Anke and Spector, Tim D and North, Kari E and Lettre, Guillaume and McCarthy, Mark I and Berndt, Sonja I and Heath, Andrew C and Madden, Pamela A F and Nyholt, Dale R and Montgomery, Grant W and Martin, Nicholas G and McKnight, Barbara and Strachan, David P and Hill, William G and Snieder, Harold and Ridker, Paul M and Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur and Stefansson, Kari and Frayling, Timothy M and Hirschhorn, Joel N and Goddard, Michael E and Visscher, Peter M} } @article {6089, title = {Genome-wide association study for circulating levels of PAI-1 provides novel insights into its regulation.}, journal = {Blood}, volume = {120}, year = {2012}, month = {2012 Dec 06}, pages = {4873-81}, abstract = {

We conducted a genome-wide association study to identify novel associations between genetic variants and circulating plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) concentration, and examined functional implications of variants and genes that were discovered. A discovery meta-analysis was performed in 19 599 subjects, followed by replication analysis of genome-wide significant (P < 5 {\texttimes} 10(-8)) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 10 796 independent samples. We further examined associations with type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease, assessed the functional significance of the SNPs for gene expression in human tissues, and conducted RNA-silencing experiments for one novel association. We confirmed the association of the 4G/5G proxy SNP rs2227631 in the promoter region of SERPINE1 (7q22.1) and discovered genome-wide significant associations at 3 additional loci: chromosome 7q22.1 close to SERPINE1 (rs6976053, discovery P = 3.4 {\texttimes} 10(-10)); chromosome 11p15.2 within ARNTL (rs6486122, discovery P = 3.0 {\texttimes} 10(-8)); and chromosome 3p25.2 within PPARG (rs11128603, discovery P = 2.9 {\texttimes} 10(-8)). Replication was achieved for the 7q22.1 and 11p15.2 loci. There was nominal association with type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease at ARNTL (P < .05). Functional studies identified MUC3 as a candidate gene for the second association signal on 7q22.1. In summary, SNPs in SERPINE1 and ARNTL and an SNP associated with the expression of MUC3 were robustly associated with circulating levels of PAI-1.

}, keywords = {Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing, ARNTL Transcription Factors, ATPases Associated with Diverse Cellular Activities, Cell Line, Cell Line, Tumor, Cohort Studies, Coronary Artery Disease, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Gene Expression Profiling, Gene Expression Regulation, Gene Frequency, Genome-Wide Association Study, Genotype, Humans, LIM Domain Proteins, Meta-Analysis as Topic, Monocytes, Mucin-3, Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 1, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, PPAR gamma, Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex, RNA Interference, Transcription Factors}, issn = {1528-0020}, doi = {10.1182/blood-2012-06-436188}, author = {Huang, Jie and Sabater-Lleal, Maria and Asselbergs, Folkert W and Tregouet, David and Shin, So-Youn and Ding, Jingzhong and Baumert, Jens and Oudot-Mellakh, Tiphaine and Folkersen, Lasse and Johnson, Andrew D and Smith, Nicholas L and Williams, Scott M and Ikram, Mohammad A and Kleber, Marcus E and Becker, Diane M and Truong, Vinh and Mychaleckyj, Josyf C and Tang, Weihong and Yang, Qiong and Sennblad, Bengt and Moore, Jason H and Williams, Frances M K and Dehghan, Abbas and Silbernagel, G{\"u}nther and Schrijvers, Elisabeth M C and Smith, Shelly and Karakas, Mahir and Tofler, Geoffrey H and Silveira, Angela and Navis, Gerjan J and Lohman, Kurt and Chen, Ming-Huei and Peters, Annette and Goel, Anuj and Hopewell, Jemma C and Chambers, John C and Saleheen, Danish and Lundmark, Per and Psaty, Bruce M and Strawbridge, Rona J and Boehm, Bernhard O and Carter, Angela M and Meisinger, Christa and Peden, John F and Bis, Joshua C and McKnight, Barbara and Ohrvik, John and Taylor, Kent and Franzosi, Maria Grazia and Seedorf, Udo and Collins, Rory and Franco-Cereceda, Anders and Syv{\"a}nen, Ann-Christine and Goodall, Alison H and Yanek, Lisa R and Cushman, Mary and M{\"u}ller-Nurasyid, Martina and Folsom, Aaron R and Basu, Saonli and Matijevic, Nena and van Gilst, Wiek H and Kooner, Jaspal S and Hofman, Albert and Danesh, John and Clarke, Robert and Meigs, James B and Kathiresan, Sekar and Reilly, Muredach P and Klopp, Norman and Harris, Tamara B and Winkelmann, Bernhard R and Grant, Peter J and Hillege, Hans L and Watkins, Hugh and Spector, Timothy D and Becker, Lewis C and Tracy, Russell P and M{\"a}rz, Winfried and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Eriksson, Per and Cambien, Francois and Morange, Pierre-Emmanuel and Koenig, Wolfgang and Soranzo, Nicole and van der Harst, Pim and Liu, Yongmei and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J and Hamsten, Anders} } @article {1394, title = {Hemodynamic fluid shear stress response genes and carotid intima-media thickness: a candidate gene association analysis in the cardiovascular health study.}, journal = {Int J Mol Epidemiol Genet}, volume = {3}, year = {2012}, month = {2012}, pages = {174-8}, abstract = {

OBJECTIVE: This study examined whether carotid artery intimal-medial thickness (cIMT) is associated with genetic variations (SNPs) in a hemodynamics-responsive gene pathway.

METHODS: Subjects were Cardiovascular Health Study participants free of cardiovascular events at baseline (N=3388). Genotype was measured using Illumina 370CNV HumanHap chip. Carotid IMT was measured using ultrasound. Estimated mean differences in cIMT per additional minor allele for 366 SNPs in MAP2K5, MAPK7, MEF2A/C, and KLF2 were adjusted for sex, age, clinic, and medication use. SNP-SNP interactions were examined using logic regression for 71 tagSNPs.

RESULTS: None of the associations was significant after correction for multiple comparisons; smallest P-value=0.065 for MAP2K5 and common cIMT. The best-performing logic regression tree combined two SNPs in MAP2K5-rs745212 and rs12905175- and common cIMT; this association was not significant, corrected P-value=0.062.

CONCLUSION: There was not strong evidence of association between genetic variants in a hemodynamics-responsive gene pathway and atherosclerosis among older adults.

}, issn = {1948-1756}, author = {Suchy-Dicey, Astrid M and Enquobahrie, Daniel A and Heckbert, Susan R and Rotter, Jerome I and Psaty, Bruce M and McKnight, Barbara} } @article {1360, title = {Meta-analyses identify 13 loci associated with age at menopause and highlight DNA repair and immune pathways.}, journal = {Nat Genet}, volume = {44}, year = {2012}, month = {2012 Jan 22}, pages = {260-8}, abstract = {

To newly identify loci for age at natural menopause, we carried out a meta-analysis of 22 genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in 38,968 women of European descent, with replication in up to 14,435 women. In addition to four known loci, we identified 13 loci newly associated with age at natural menopause (at P < 5 {\texttimes} 10(-8)). Candidate genes located at these newly associated loci include genes implicated in DNA repair (EXO1, HELQ, UIMC1, FAM175A, FANCI, TLK1, POLG and PRIM1) and immune function (IL11, NLRP11 and PRRC2A (also known as BAT2)). Gene-set enrichment pathway analyses using the full GWAS data set identified exoDNase, NF-κB signaling and mitochondrial dysfunction as biological processes related to timing of menopause.

}, keywords = {Age Factors, DNA Helicases, DNA Polymerase gamma, DNA Primase, DNA Repair, DNA Repair Enzymes, DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase, European Continental Ancestry Group, Exodeoxyribonucleases, Female, Genetic Loci, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Immunity, Menopause, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Proteins}, issn = {1546-1718}, doi = {10.1038/ng.1051}, author = {Stolk, Lisette and Perry, John R B and Chasman, Daniel I and He, Chunyan and Mangino, Massimo and Sulem, Patrick and Barbalic, Maja and Broer, Linda and Byrne, Enda M and Ernst, Florian and Esko, T{\~o}nu and Franceschini, Nora and Gudbjartsson, Daniel F and Hottenga, Jouke-Jan and Kraft, Peter and McArdle, Patrick F and Porcu, Eleonora and Shin, So-Youn and Smith, Albert V and van Wingerden, Sophie and Zhai, Guangju and Zhuang, Wei V and Albrecht, Eva and Alizadeh, Behrooz Z and Aspelund, Thor and Bandinelli, Stefania and Lauc, Lovorka Barac and Beckmann, Jacques S and Boban, Mladen and Boerwinkle, Eric and Broekmans, Frank J and Burri, Andrea and Campbell, Harry and Chanock, Stephen J and Chen, Constance and Cornelis, Marilyn C and Corre, Tanguy and Coviello, Andrea D and D{\textquoteright}Adamo, Pio and Davies, Gail and de Faire, Ulf and de Geus, Eco J C and Deary, Ian J and Dedoussis, George V Z and Deloukas, Panagiotis and Ebrahim, Shah and Eiriksdottir, Gudny and Emilsson, Valur and Eriksson, Johan G and Fauser, Bart C J M and Ferreli, Liana and Ferrucci, Luigi and Fischer, Krista and Folsom, Aaron R and Garcia, Melissa E and Gasparini, Paolo and Gieger, Christian and Glazer, Nicole and Grobbee, Diederick E and Hall, Per and Haller, Toomas and Hankinson, Susan E and Hass, Merli and Hayward, Caroline and Heath, Andrew C and Hofman, Albert and Ingelsson, Erik and Janssens, A Cecile J W and Johnson, Andrew D and Karasik, David and Kardia, Sharon L R and Keyzer, Jules and Kiel, Douglas P and Kolcic, Ivana and Kutalik, Zolt{\'a}n and Lahti, Jari and Lai, Sandra and Laisk, Triin and Laven, Joop S E and Lawlor, Debbie A and Liu, Jianjun and Lopez, Lorna M and Louwers, Yvonne V and Magnusson, Patrik K E and Marongiu, Mara and Martin, Nicholas G and Klaric, Irena Martinovic and Masciullo, Corrado and McKnight, Barbara and Medland, Sarah E and Melzer, David and Mooser, Vincent and Navarro, Pau and Newman, Anne B and Nyholt, Dale R and Onland-Moret, N Charlotte and Palotie, Aarno and Par{\'e}, Guillaume and Parker, Alex N and Pedersen, Nancy L and Peeters, Petra H M and Pistis, Giorgio and Plump, Andrew S and Polasek, Ozren and Pop, Victor J M and Psaty, Bruce M and R{\"a}ikk{\"o}nen, Katri and Rehnberg, Emil and Rotter, Jerome I and Rudan, Igor and Sala, Cinzia and Salumets, Andres and Scuteri, Angelo and Singleton, Andrew and Smith, Jennifer A and Snieder, Harold and Soranzo, Nicole and Stacey, Simon N and Starr, John M and Stathopoulou, Maria G and Stirrups, Kathleen and Stolk, Ronald P and Styrkarsdottir, Unnur and Sun, Yan V and Tenesa, Albert and Thorand, Barbara and Toniolo, Daniela and Tryggvadottir, Laufey and Tsui, Kim and Ulivi, Sheila and van Dam, Rob M and van der Schouw, Yvonne T and van Gils, Carla H and van Nierop, Peter and Vink, Jacqueline M and Visscher, Peter M and Voorhuis, Marlies and Waeber, G{\'e}rard and Wallaschofski, Henri and Wichmann, H Erich and Widen, Elisabeth and Wijnands-van Gent, Colette J M and Willemsen, Gonneke and Wilson, James F and Wolffenbuttel, Bruce H R and Wright, Alan F and Yerges-Armstrong, Laura M and Zemunik, Tatijana and Zgaga, Lina and Zillikens, M Carola and Zygmunt, Marek and Arnold, Alice M and Boomsma, Dorret I and Buring, Julie E and Crisponi, Laura and Demerath, Ellen W and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Harris, Tamara B and Hu, Frank B and Hunter, David J and Launer, Lenore J and Metspalu, Andres and Montgomery, Grant W and Oostra, Ben A and Ridker, Paul M and Sanna, Serena and Schlessinger, David and Spector, Tim D and Stefansson, Kari and Streeten, Elizabeth A and Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur and Uda, Manuela and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and van Duijn, Cornelia M and V{\"o}lzke, Henry and Murray, Anna and Murabito, Joanne M and Visser, Jenny A and Lunetta, Kathryn L} } @article {1383, title = {Meta-analysis identifies six new susceptibility loci for atrial fibrillation.}, journal = {Nat Genet}, volume = {44}, year = {2012}, month = {2012 Apr 29}, pages = {670-5}, abstract = {

Atrial fibrillation is a highly prevalent arrhythmia and a major risk factor for stroke, heart failure and death. We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in individuals of European ancestry, including 6,707 with and 52,426 without atrial fibrillation. Six new atrial fibrillation susceptibility loci were identified and replicated in an additional sample of individuals of European ancestry, including 5,381 subjects with and 10,030 subjects without atrial fibrillation (P < 5 {\texttimes} 10(-8)). Four of the loci identified in Europeans were further replicated in silico in a GWAS of Japanese individuals, including 843 individuals with and 3,350 individuals without atrial fibrillation. The identified loci implicate candidate genes that encode transcription factors related to cardiopulmonary development, cardiac-expressed ion channels and cell signaling molecules.

}, keywords = {Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Asian Continental Ancestry Group, Atrial Fibrillation, Child, Child, Preschool, European Continental Ancestry Group, Female, Genetic Loci, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Infant, Infant, Newborn, Male, Middle Aged, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Risk Factors, Young Adult}, issn = {1546-1718}, doi = {10.1038/ng.2261}, author = {Ellinor, Patrick T and Lunetta, Kathryn L and Albert, Christine M and Glazer, Nicole L and Ritchie, Marylyn D and Smith, Albert V and Arking, Dan E and M{\"u}ller-Nurasyid, Martina and Krijthe, Bouwe P and Lubitz, Steven A and Bis, Joshua C and Chung, Mina K and D{\"o}rr, Marcus and Ozaki, Kouichi and Roberts, Jason D and Smith, J Gustav and Pfeufer, Arne and Sinner, Moritz F and Lohman, Kurt and Ding, Jingzhong and Smith, Nicholas L and Smith, Jonathan D and Rienstra, Michiel and Rice, Kenneth M and Van Wagoner, David R and Magnani, Jared W and Wakili, Reza and Clauss, Sebastian and Rotter, Jerome I and Steinbeck, Gerhard and Launer, Lenore J and Davies, Robert W and Borkovich, Matthew and Harris, Tamara B and Lin, Honghuang and V{\"o}lker, Uwe and V{\"o}lzke, Henry and Milan, David J and Hofman, Albert and Boerwinkle, Eric and Chen, Lin Y and Soliman, Elsayed Z and Voight, Benjamin F and Li, Guo and Chakravarti, Aravinda and Kubo, Michiaki and Tedrow, Usha B and Rose, Lynda M and Ridker, Paul M and Conen, David and Tsunoda, Tatsuhiko and Furukawa, Tetsushi and Sotoodehnia, Nona and Xu, Siyan and Kamatani, Naoyuki and Levy, Daniel and Nakamura, Yusuke and Parvez, Babar and Mahida, Saagar and Furie, Karen L and Rosand, Jonathan and Muhammad, Raafia and Psaty, Bruce M and Meitinger, Thomas and Perz, Siegfried and Wichmann, H-Erich and Witteman, Jacqueline C M and Kao, W H Linda and Kathiresan, Sekar and Roden, Dan M and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Rivadeneira, Fernando and McKnight, Barbara and Sj{\"o}gren, Marketa and Newman, Anne B and Liu, Yongmei and Gollob, Michael H and Melander, Olle and Tanaka, Toshihiro and Stricker, Bruno H Ch and Felix, Stephan B and Alonso, Alvaro and Darbar, Dawood and Barnard, John and Chasman, Daniel I and Heckbert, Susan R and Benjamin, Emelia J and Gudnason, Vilmundur and K{\"a}{\"a}b, Stefan} } @article {5846, title = {Associations of plasma phospholipid and dietary alpha linolenic acid with incident atrial fibrillation in older adults: the Cardiovascular Health Study.}, journal = {J Am Heart Assoc}, volume = {2}, year = {2013}, month = {2013 Jan 31}, pages = {e003814}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Few studies have examined the relationship of α-linolenic acid (ALA 18:3n-3), an intermediate-chain essential n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid derived from plants and vegetable oils, with incident atrial fibrillation (AF).

METHODS AND RESULTS: The study population included participants from the Cardiovascular Health Study, a community-based longitudinal cohort of adults aged 65 or older, free of prevalent coronary heart disease and atrial fibrillation. We assessed the associations of plasma phospholipid and dietary ALA with incident AF using Cox regression. The biomarker analysis comprised a total of 2899 participants, and the dietary analysis comprised 4337 participants. We found no association of plasma phospholipid ALA and incident AF. Comparing each of the second, third, and fourth quartiles to the lowest quartile, the hazard ratios for AF were 1.11 (95\% CI, 0.90 to 1.37), 1.09 (95\% CI, 0.88 to 1.35), and 0.92 (95\% CI, 0.74 to 1.15), after adjustment for age, sex, race, clinic, education, smoking, alcohol, body mass index, waist circumference, diabetes, heart failure, stroke, treated hypertension, and physical activity (P trend=0.48). When dietary ALA was considered the exposure of interest, results were similar.

CONCLUSIONS: Results from this prospective cohort study of older adults indicate no association of plasma phospholipid or dietary ALA and incident AF.

}, keywords = {Age Factors, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, alpha-Linolenic Acid, Atrial Fibrillation, Biomarkers, Diet, Female, Humans, Incidence, Linear Models, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Nutritional Status, Phospholipids, Proportional Hazards Models, Prospective Studies, Risk Assessment, Risk Factors, Time Factors, United States}, issn = {2047-9980}, doi = {10.1161/JAHA.112.003814}, author = {Fretts, Amanda M and Mozaffarian, Dariush and Siscovick, David S and Heckbert, Susan R and McKnight, Barbara and King, Irena B and Rimm, Eric B and Psaty, Bruce M and Sacks, Frank M and Song, Xiaoling and Spiegelman, Donna and Lemaitre, Rozenn N} } @article {6002, title = {Atrial fibrillation and cognitive decline: a longitudinal cohort study.}, journal = {Neurology}, volume = {81}, year = {2013}, month = {2013 Jul 09}, pages = {119-25}, abstract = {

OBJECTIVE: We sought to determine whether in the absence of clinical stroke, people with atrial fibrillation experience faster cognitive decline than people without atrial fibrillation.

METHODS: We conducted a longitudinal analysis in the Cardiovascular Health Study, a community-based study of 5,888 men and women aged 65 years and older, enrolled in 1989/1990 or 1992/1993. Participants did not have atrial fibrillation or a history of stroke at baseline. Participants were censored when they experienced incident clinical stroke. Incident atrial fibrillation was identified by hospital discharge diagnosis codes and annual study ECGs. The main outcome was rate of decline in mean scores on the 100-point Modified Mini-Mental State Examination (3MSE), administered annually up to 9 times.

RESULTS: Analyses included 5,150 participants, of whom 552 (10.7\%) developed incident atrial fibrillation during a mean of 7 years of follow-up. Mean 3MSE scores declined faster after incident atrial fibrillation compared with no prior atrial fibrillation. For example, the predicted 5-year decline in mean 3MSE score from age 80 to age 85 was -6.4 points (95\% confidence interval [CI]: -7.0, -5.9) for participants without a history of atrial fibrillation, but was -10.3 points (95\% CI: -11.8, -8.9) for participants experiencing incident atrial fibrillation at age 80, a 5-year difference of -3.9 points (95\% CI: -5.3, -2.5).

CONCLUSIONS: In the absence of clinical stroke, people with incident atrial fibrillation are likely to reach thresholds of cognitive impairment or dementia at earlier ages than people with no history of atrial fibrillation.

}, keywords = {Age Factors, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Atrial Fibrillation, Cognition Disorders, Comorbidity, Female, Humans, Incidence, Longitudinal Studies, Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery, Male, Predictive Value of Tests}, issn = {1526-632X}, doi = {10.1212/WNL.0b013e31829a33d1}, author = {Thacker, Evan L and McKnight, Barbara and Psaty, Bruce M and Longstreth, W T and Sitlani, Colleen M and Dublin, Sascha and Arnold, Alice M and Fitzpatrick, Annette L and Gottesman, Rebecca F and Heckbert, Susan R} } @article {6284, title = {Common genetic loci influencing plasma homocysteine concentrations and their effect on risk of coronary artery disease.}, journal = {Am J Clin Nutr}, volume = {98}, year = {2013}, month = {2013 Sep}, pages = {668-76}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: The strong observational association between total homocysteine (tHcy) concentrations and risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) and the null associations in the homocysteine-lowering trials have prompted the need to identify genetic variants associated with homocysteine concentrations and risk of CAD.

OBJECTIVE: We tested whether common genetic polymorphisms associated with variation in tHcy are also associated with CAD.

DESIGN: We conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) on tHcy concentrations in 44,147 individuals of European descent. Polymorphisms associated with tHcy (P < 10($^{-}$$^{8}$) were tested for association with CAD in 31,400 cases and 92,927 controls.

RESULTS: Common variants at 13 loci, explaining 5.9\% of the variation in tHcy, were associated with tHcy concentrations, including 6 novel loci in or near MMACHC (2.1 {\texttimes} 10$^{-}$$^{9}$), SLC17A3 (1.0 {\texttimes} 10$^{-}$$^{8}$), GTPB10 (1.7 {\texttimes} 10$^{-}$$^{8}$), CUBN (7.5 {\texttimes} 10$^{-}${\textonesuperior}$^{0}$), HNF1A (1.2 {\texttimes} 10$^{-}${\textonesuperior}{\texttwosuperior})), and FUT2 (6.6 {\texttimes} 10$^{-}$$^{9}$), and variants previously reported at or near the MTHFR, MTR, CPS1, MUT, NOX4, DPEP1, and CBS genes. Individuals within the highest 10\% of the genotype risk score (GRS) had 3-μmol/L higher mean tHcy concentrations than did those within the lowest 10\% of the GRS (P = 1 {\texttimes} 10$^{-}${\textthreesuperior}$^{6}$). The GRS was not associated with risk of CAD (OR: 1.01; 95\% CI: 0.98, 1.04; P = 0.49).

CONCLUSIONS: We identified several novel loci that influence plasma tHcy concentrations. Overall, common genetic variants that influence plasma tHcy concentrations are not associated with risk of CAD in white populations, which further refutes the causal relevance of moderately elevated tHcy concentrations and tHcy-related pathways for CAD.

}, keywords = {Coronary Artery Disease, Genes, Genetic Loci, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genotype, Homocysteine, Humans, Polymorphism, Genetic, Risk Factors}, issn = {1938-3207}, doi = {10.3945/ajcn.112.044545}, author = {van Meurs, Joyce B J and Par{\'e}, Guillaume and Schwartz, Stephen M and Hazra, Aditi and Tanaka, Toshiko and Vermeulen, Sita H and Cotlarciuc, Ioana and Yuan, Xin and M{\"a}larstig, Anders and Bandinelli, Stefania and Bis, Joshua C and Blom, Henk and Brown, Morris J and Chen, Constance and Chen, Yii-Der and Clarke, Robert J and Dehghan, Abbas and Erdmann, Jeanette and Ferrucci, Luigi and Hamsten, Anders and Hofman, Albert and Hunter, David J and Goel, Anuj and Johnson, Andrew D and Kathiresan, Sekar and Kampman, Ellen and Kiel, Douglas P and Kiemeney, Lambertus A L M and Chambers, John C and Kraft, Peter and Lindemans, Jan and McKnight, Barbara and Nelson, Christopher P and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J and Psaty, Bruce M and Ridker, Paul M and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Rose, Lynda M and Seedorf, Udo and Siscovick, David S and Schunkert, Heribert and Selhub, Jacob and Ueland, Per M and Vollenweider, Peter and Waeber, G{\'e}rard and Waterworth, Dawn M and Watkins, Hugh and Witteman, Jacqueline C M and den Heijer, Martin and Jacques, Paul and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Kooner, Jaspal S and Rader, Dan J and Reilly, Muredach P and Mooser, Vincent and Chasman, Daniel I and Samani, Nilesh J and Ahmadi, Kourosh R} } @article {6027, title = {Genetic loci for retinal arteriolar microcirculation.}, journal = {PLoS One}, volume = {8}, year = {2013}, month = {2013}, pages = {e65804}, abstract = {

Narrow arterioles in the retina have been shown to predict hypertension as well as other vascular diseases, likely through an increase in the peripheral resistance of the microcirculatory flow. In this study, we performed a genome-wide association study in 18,722 unrelated individuals of European ancestry from the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology consortium and the Blue Mountain Eye Study, to identify genetic determinants associated with variations in retinal arteriolar caliber. Retinal vascular calibers were measured on digitized retinal photographs using a standardized protocol. One variant (rs2194025 on chromosome 5q14 near the myocyte enhancer factor 2C MEF2C gene) was associated with retinal arteriolar caliber in the meta-analysis of the discovery cohorts at genome-wide significance of P-value <5{\texttimes}10(-8). This variant was replicated in an additional 3,939 individuals of European ancestry from the Australian Twins Study and Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (rs2194025, P-value = 2.11{\texttimes}10(-12) in combined meta-analysis of discovery and replication cohorts). In independent studies of modest sample sizes, no significant association was found between this variant and clinical outcomes including coronary artery disease, stroke, myocardial infarction or hypertension. In conclusion, we found one novel loci which underlie genetic variation in microvasculature which may be relevant to vascular disease. The relevance of these findings to clinical outcomes remains to be determined.

}, keywords = {Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Arterioles, Chromosomes, Human, Pair 5, European Continental Ancestry Group, Female, Genetic Loci, Genome-Wide Association Study, Genotype, Humans, Male, MEF2 Transcription Factors, Microcirculation, Middle Aged, Models, Genetic, Retinal Vessels}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0065804}, author = {Sim, Xueling and Jensen, Richard A and Ikram, M Kamran and Cotch, Mary Frances and Li, Xiaohui and Macgregor, Stuart and Xie, Jing and Smith, Albert Vernon and Boerwinkle, Eric and Mitchell, Paul and Klein, Ronald and Klein, Barbara E K and Glazer, Nicole L and Lumley, Thomas and McKnight, Barbara and Psaty, Bruce M and de Jong, Paulus T V M and Hofman, Albert and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Aspelund, Thor and Eiriksdottir, Gudny and Harris, Tamara B and Jonasson, Fridbert and Launer, Lenore J and Attia, John and Baird, Paul N and Harrap, Stephen and Holliday, Elizabeth G and Inouye, Michael and Rochtchina, Elena and Scott, Rodney J and Viswanathan, Ananth and Li, Guo and Smith, Nicholas L and Wiggins, Kerri L and Kuo, Jane Z and Taylor, Kent D and Hewitt, Alex W and Martin, Nicholas G and Montgomery, Grant W and Sun, Cong and Young, Terri L and Mackey, David A and van Zuydam, Natalie R and Doney, Alex S F and Palmer, Colin N A and Morris, Andrew D and Rotter, Jerome I and Tai, E Shyong and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Vingerling, Johannes R and Siscovick, David S and Wang, Jie Jin and Wong, Tien Y} } @article {6287, title = {Genome-wide association of body fat distribution in African ancestry populations suggests new loci.}, journal = {PLoS Genet}, volume = {9}, year = {2013}, month = {2013}, pages = {e1003681}, abstract = {

Central obesity, measured by waist circumference (WC) or waist-hip ratio (WHR), is a marker of body fat distribution. Although obesity disproportionately affects minority populations, few studies have conducted genome-wide association study (GWAS) of fat distribution among those of predominantly African ancestry (AA). We performed GWAS of WC and WHR, adjusted and unadjusted for BMI, in up to 33,591 and 27,350 AA individuals, respectively. We identified loci associated with fat distribution in AA individuals using meta-analyses of GWA results for WC and WHR (stage 1). Overall, 25 SNPs with single genomic control (GC)-corrected p-values<5.0 {\texttimes} 10(-6) were followed-up (stage 2) in AA with WC and with WHR. Additionally, we interrogated genomic regions of previously identified European ancestry (EA) WHR loci among AA. In joint analysis of association results including both Stage 1 and 2 cohorts, 2 SNPs demonstrated association, rs2075064 at LHX2, p = 2.24{\texttimes}10(-8) for WC-adjusted-for-BMI, and rs6931262 at RREB1, p = 2.48{\texttimes}10(-8) for WHR-adjusted-for-BMI. However, neither signal was genome-wide significant after double GC-correction (LHX2: p = 6.5 {\texttimes} 10(-8); RREB1: p = 5.7 {\texttimes} 10(-8)). Six of fourteen previously reported loci for waist in EA populations were significant (p<0.05 divided by the number of independent SNPs within the region) in AA studied here (TBX15-WARS2, GRB14, ADAMTS9, LY86, RSPO3, ITPR2-SSPN). Further, we observed associations with metabolic traits: rs13389219 at GRB14 associated with HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, and fasting insulin, and rs13060013 at ADAMTS9 with HDL-cholesterol and fasting insulin. Finally, we observed nominal evidence for sexual dimorphism, with stronger results in AA women at the GRB14 locus (p for interaction = 0.02). In conclusion, we identified two suggestive loci associated with fat distribution in AA populations in addition to confirming 6 loci previously identified in populations of EA. These findings reinforce the concept that there are fat distribution loci that are independent of generalized adiposity.

}, keywords = {Adiposity, African Continental Ancestry Group, Body Fat Distribution, European Continental Ancestry Group, Female, Genetic Loci, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Male, Obesity, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Waist-Hip Ratio}, issn = {1553-7404}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pgen.1003681}, author = {Liu, Ching-Ti and Monda, Keri L and Taylor, Kira C and Lange, Leslie and Demerath, Ellen W and Palmas, Walter and Wojczynski, Mary K and Ellis, Jaclyn C and Vitolins, Mara Z and Liu, Simin and Papanicolaou, George J and Irvin, Marguerite R and Xue, Luting and Griffin, Paula J and Nalls, Michael A and Adeyemo, Adebowale and Liu, Jiankang and Li, Guo and Ruiz-Narvaez, Edward A and Chen, Wei-Min and Chen, Fang and Henderson, Brian E and Millikan, Robert C and Ambrosone, Christine B and Strom, Sara S and Guo, Xiuqing and Andrews, Jeanette S and Sun, Yan V and Mosley, Thomas H and Yanek, Lisa R and Shriner, Daniel and Haritunians, Talin and Rotter, Jerome I and Speliotes, Elizabeth K and Smith, Megan and Rosenberg, Lynn and Mychaleckyj, Josyf and Nayak, Uma and Spruill, Ida and Garvey, W Timothy and Pettaway, Curtis and Nyante, Sarah and Bandera, Elisa V and Britton, Angela F and Zonderman, Alan B and Rasmussen-Torvik, Laura J and Chen, Yii-Der Ida and Ding, Jingzhong and Lohman, Kurt and Kritchevsky, Stephen B and Zhao, Wei and Peyser, Patricia A and Kardia, Sharon L R and Kabagambe, Edmond and Broeckel, Ulrich and Chen, Guanjie and Zhou, Jie and Wassertheil-Smoller, Sylvia and Neuhouser, Marian L and Rampersaud, Evadnie and Psaty, Bruce and Kooperberg, Charles and Manson, JoAnn E and Kuller, Lewis H and Ochs-Balcom, Heather M and Johnson, Karen C and Sucheston, Lara and Ordovas, Jose M and Palmer, Julie R and Haiman, Christopher A and McKnight, Barbara and Howard, Barbara V and Becker, Diane M and Bielak, Lawrence F and Liu, Yongmei and Allison, Matthew A and Grant, Struan F A and Burke, Gregory L and Patel, Sanjay R and Schreiner, Pamela J and Borecki, Ingrid B and Evans, Michele K and Taylor, Herman and Sale, Mich{\`e}le M and Howard, Virginia and Carlson, Christopher S and Rotimi, Charles N and Cushman, Mary and Harris, Tamara B and Reiner, Alexander P and Cupples, L Adrienne and North, Kari E and Fox, Caroline S} } @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 {6153, title = {A genome-wide association study of early menopause and the combined impact of identified variants.}, journal = {Hum Mol Genet}, volume = {22}, year = {2013}, month = {2013 Apr 01}, pages = {1465-72}, abstract = {

Early menopause (EM) affects up to 10\% of the female population, reducing reproductive lifespan considerably. Currently, it constitutes the leading cause of infertility in the western world, affecting mainly those women who postpone their first pregnancy beyond the age of 30 years. The genetic aetiology of EM is largely unknown in the majority of cases. We have undertaken a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWASs) in 3493 EM cases and 13 598 controls from 10 independent studies. No novel genetic variants were discovered, but the 17 variants previously associated with normal age at natural menopause as a quantitative trait (QT) were also associated with EM and primary ovarian insufficiency (POI). Thus, EM has a genetic aetiology which overlaps variation in normal age at menopause and is at least partly explained by the additive effects of the same polygenic variants. The combined effect of the common variants captured by the single nucleotide polymorphism arrays was estimated to account for \~{}30\% of the variance in EM. The association between the combined 17 variants and the risk of EM was greater than the best validated non-genetic risk factor, smoking.

}, keywords = {Case-Control Studies, Female, Gene Frequency, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Menopause, Premature, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Primary Ovarian Insufficiency, Quantitative Trait Loci, Risk}, issn = {1460-2083}, doi = {10.1093/hmg/dds551}, author = {Perry, John R B and Corre, Tanguy and Esko, T{\~o}nu and Chasman, Daniel I and Fischer, Krista and Franceschini, Nora and He, Chunyan and Kutalik, Zolt{\'a}n and Mangino, Massimo and Rose, Lynda M and Vernon Smith, Albert and Stolk, Lisette and Sulem, Patrick and Weedon, Michael N and Zhuang, Wei V and Arnold, Alice and Ashworth, Alan and Bergmann, Sven and Buring, Julie E and Burri, Andrea and Chen, Constance and Cornelis, Marilyn C and Couper, David J and Goodarzi, Mark O and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Harris, Tamara and Hofman, Albert and Jones, Michael and Kraft, Peter and Launer, Lenore and Laven, Joop S E and Li, Guo and McKnight, Barbara and Masciullo, Corrado and Milani, Lili and Orr, Nicholas and Psaty, Bruce M and Ridker, Paul M and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Sala, Cinzia and Salumets, Andres and Schoemaker, Minouk and Traglia, Michela and Waeber, G{\'e}rard and Chanock, Stephen J and Demerath, Ellen W and Garcia, Melissa and Hankinson, Susan E and Hu, Frank B and Hunter, David J and Lunetta, Kathryn L and Metspalu, Andres and Montgomery, Grant W and Murabito, Joanne M and Newman, Anne B and Ong, Ken K and Spector, Tim D and Stefansson, Kari and Swerdlow, Anthony J and Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur and van Dam, Rob M and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Visser, Jenny A and Vollenweider, Peter and Toniolo, Daniela and Murray, Anna} } @article {6072, title = {Genome-wide association study of retinopathy in individuals without diabetes.}, journal = {PLoS One}, volume = {8}, year = {2013}, month = {2013}, pages = {e54232}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Mild retinopathy (microaneurysms or dot-blot hemorrhages) is observed in persons without diabetes or hypertension and may reflect microvascular disease in other organs. We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of mild retinopathy in persons without diabetes.

METHODS: A working group agreed on phenotype harmonization, covariate selection and analytic plans for within-cohort GWAS. An inverse-variance weighted fixed effects meta-analysis was performed with GWAS results from six cohorts of 19,411 Caucasians. The primary analysis included individuals without diabetes and secondary analyses were stratified by hypertension status. We also singled out the results from single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) previously shown to be associated with diabetes and hypertension, the two most common causes of retinopathy.

RESULTS: No SNPs reached genome-wide significance in the primary analysis or the secondary analysis of participants with hypertension. SNP, rs12155400, in the histone deacetylase 9 gene (HDAC9) on chromosome 7, was associated with retinopathy in analysis of participants without hypertension, -1.3{\textpm}0.23 (beta {\textpm} standard error), p = 6.6{\texttimes}10(-9). Evidence suggests this was a false positive finding. The minor allele frequency was low (\~{}2\%), the quality of the imputation was moderate (r(2) \~{}0.7), and no other common variants in the HDAC9 gene were associated with the outcome. SNPs found to be associated with diabetes and hypertension in other GWAS were not associated with retinopathy in persons without diabetes or in subgroups with or without hypertension.

CONCLUSIONS: This GWAS of retinopathy in individuals without diabetes showed little evidence of genetic associations. Further studies are needed to identify genes associated with these signs in order to help unravel novel pathways and determinants of microvascular diseases.

}, keywords = {Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Female, Genome-Wide Association Study, Genotype, Histone Deacetylases, Humans, Hypertension, Male, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Repressor Proteins, Retinal Diseases}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0054232}, author = {Jensen, Richard A and Sim, Xueling and Li, Xiaohui and Cotch, Mary Frances and Ikram, M Kamran and Holliday, Elizabeth G and Eiriksdottir, Gudny and Harris, Tamara B and Jonasson, Fridbert and Klein, Barbara E K and Launer, Lenore J and Smith, Albert Vernon and Boerwinkle, Eric and Cheung, Ning and Hewitt, Alex W and Liew, Gerald and Mitchell, Paul and Wang, Jie Jin and Attia, John and Scott, Rodney and Glazer, Nicole L and Lumley, Thomas and McKnight, Barbara and Psaty, Bruce M and Taylor, Kent and Hofman, Albert and de Jong, Paulus T V M and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Tay, Wan-Ting and Teo, Yik Ying and Seielstad, Mark and Liu, Jianjun and Cheng, Ching-Yu and Saw, Seang-Mei and Aung, Tin and Ganesh, Santhi K and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J and Nalls, Mike A and Wiggins, Kerri L and Kuo, Jane Z and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Klein, Ronald and Siscovick, David S and Rotter, Jerome I and Tai, E Shong and Vingerling, Johannes and Wong, Tien Y} } @article {6152, title = {Genome-wide meta-analysis identifies 11 new loci for anthropometric traits and provides insights into genetic architecture.}, journal = {Nat Genet}, volume = {45}, year = {2013}, month = {2013 May}, pages = {501-12}, abstract = {

Approaches exploiting trait distribution extremes may be used to identify loci associated with common traits, but it is unknown whether these loci are generalizable to the broader population. In a genome-wide search for loci associated with the upper versus the lower 5th percentiles of body mass index, height and waist-to-hip ratio, as well as clinical classes of obesity, including up to 263,407 individuals of European ancestry, we identified 4 new loci (IGFBP4, H6PD, RSRC1 and PPP2R2A) influencing height detected in the distribution tails and 7 new loci (HNF4G, RPTOR, GNAT2, MRPS33P4, ADCY9, HS6ST3 and ZZZ3) for clinical classes of obesity. Further, we find a large overlap in genetic structure and the distribution of variants between traits based on extremes and the general population and little etiological heterogeneity between obesity subgroups.

}, keywords = {Anthropometry, Body Height, Body Mass Index, Case-Control Studies, European Continental Ancestry Group, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Genotype, Humans, Meta-Analysis as Topic, Obesity, Phenotype, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Quantitative Trait Loci, Waist-Hip Ratio}, issn = {1546-1718}, doi = {10.1038/ng.2606}, author = {Berndt, Sonja I and Gustafsson, Stefan and M{\"a}gi, Reedik and Ganna, Andrea and Wheeler, Eleanor and Feitosa, Mary F and Justice, Anne E and Monda, Keri L and Croteau-Chonka, Damien C and Day, Felix R and Esko, T{\~o}nu and Fall, Tove and Ferreira, Teresa and Gentilini, Davide and Jackson, Anne U and Luan, Jian{\textquoteright}an and Randall, Joshua C and Vedantam, Sailaja and Willer, Cristen J and Winkler, Thomas W and Wood, Andrew R and Workalemahu, Tsegaselassie and Hu, Yi-Juan and Lee, Sang Hong and Liang, Liming and Lin, Dan-Yu and Min, Josine L and Neale, Benjamin M and Thorleifsson, Gudmar and Yang, Jian and Albrecht, Eva and Amin, Najaf and Bragg-Gresham, Jennifer L and Cadby, Gemma and den Heijer, Martin and Eklund, Niina and Fischer, Krista and Goel, Anuj and Hottenga, Jouke-Jan and Huffman, Jennifer E and Jarick, Ivonne and Johansson, Asa and Johnson, Toby and Kanoni, Stavroula and Kleber, Marcus E and K{\"o}nig, Inke R and Kristiansson, Kati and Kutalik, Zolt{\'a}n and Lamina, Claudia and Lecoeur, C{\'e}cile and Li, Guo and Mangino, Massimo and McArdle, Wendy L and Medina-G{\'o}mez, Carolina and M{\"u}ller-Nurasyid, Martina and Ngwa, Julius S and Nolte, Ilja M and Paternoster, Lavinia and Pechlivanis, Sonali and Perola, Markus and Peters, Marjolein J and Preuss, Michael and Rose, Lynda M and Shi, Jianxin and Shungin, Dmitry and Smith, Albert Vernon and Strawbridge, Rona J and Surakka, Ida and Teumer, Alexander and Trip, Mieke D and Tyrer, Jonathan and van Vliet-Ostaptchouk, Jana V and Vandenput, Liesbeth and Waite, Lindsay L and Zhao, Jing Hua and Absher, Devin and Asselbergs, Folkert W and Atalay, Mustafa and Attwood, Antony P and Balmforth, Anthony J and Basart, Hanneke and Beilby, John and Bonnycastle, Lori L and Brambilla, Paolo and Bruinenberg, Marcel and Campbell, Harry and Chasman, Daniel I and Chines, Peter S and Collins, Francis S and Connell, John M and Cookson, William O and de Faire, Ulf and de Vegt, Femmie and Dei, Mariano and Dimitriou, Maria and Edkins, Sarah and Estrada, Karol and Evans, David M and Farrall, Martin and Ferrario, Marco M and Ferrieres, Jean and Franke, Lude and Frau, Francesca and Gejman, Pablo V and Grallert, Harald and Gr{\"o}nberg, Henrik and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Hall, Alistair S and Hall, Per and Hartikainen, Anna-Liisa and Hayward, Caroline and Heard-Costa, Nancy L and Heath, Andrew C and Hebebrand, Johannes and Homuth, Georg and Hu, Frank B and Hunt, Sarah E and Hypp{\"o}nen, Elina and Iribarren, Carlos and Jacobs, Kevin B and Jansson, John-Olov and Jula, Antti and K{\"a}h{\"o}nen, Mika and Kathiresan, Sekar and Kee, Frank and Khaw, Kay-Tee and Kivimaki, Mika and Koenig, Wolfgang and Kraja, Aldi T and Kumari, Meena and Kuulasmaa, Kari and Kuusisto, Johanna and Laitinen, Jaana H and Lakka, Timo A and Langenberg, Claudia and Launer, Lenore J and Lind, Lars and Lindstr{\"o}m, Jaana and Liu, Jianjun and Liuzzi, Antonio and Lokki, Marja-Liisa and Lorentzon, Mattias and Madden, Pamela A and Magnusson, Patrik K and Manunta, Paolo and Marek, Diana and M{\"a}rz, Winfried and Mateo Leach, Irene and McKnight, Barbara and Medland, Sarah E and Mihailov, Evelin and Milani, Lili and Montgomery, Grant W and Mooser, Vincent and M{\"u}hleisen, Thomas W and Munroe, Patricia B and Musk, Arthur W and Narisu, Narisu and Navis, Gerjan and Nicholson, George and Nohr, Ellen A and Ong, Ken K and Oostra, Ben A and Palmer, Colin N A and Palotie, Aarno and Peden, John F and Pedersen, Nancy and Peters, Annette and Polasek, Ozren and Pouta, Anneli and Pramstaller, Peter P and Prokopenko, Inga and P{\"u}tter, Carolin and Radhakrishnan, Aparna and Raitakari, Olli and Rendon, Augusto and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Rudan, Igor and Saaristo, Timo E and Sambrook, Jennifer G and Sanders, Alan R and Sanna, Serena and Saramies, Jouko and Schipf, Sabine and Schreiber, Stefan and Schunkert, Heribert and Shin, So-Youn and Signorini, Stefano and Sinisalo, Juha and Skrobek, Boris and Soranzo, Nicole and Stan{\v c}{\'a}kov{\'a}, Alena and Stark, Klaus and Stephens, Jonathan C and Stirrups, Kathleen and Stolk, Ronald P and Stumvoll, Michael and Swift, Amy J and Theodoraki, Eirini V and Thorand, Barbara and Tr{\'e}gou{\"e}t, David-Alexandre and Tremoli, Elena and van der Klauw, Melanie M and van Meurs, Joyce B J and Vermeulen, Sita H and Viikari, Jorma and Virtamo, Jarmo and Vitart, Veronique and Waeber, G{\'e}rard and Wang, Zhaoming and Widen, Elisabeth and Wild, Sarah H and Willemsen, Gonneke and Winkelmann, Bernhard R and Witteman, Jacqueline C M and Wolffenbuttel, Bruce H R and Wong, Andrew and Wright, Alan F and Zillikens, M Carola and Amouyel, Philippe and Boehm, Bernhard O and Boerwinkle, Eric and Boomsma, Dorret I and Caulfield, Mark J and Chanock, Stephen J and Cupples, L Adrienne and Cusi, Daniele and Dedoussis, George V and Erdmann, Jeanette and Eriksson, Johan G and Franks, Paul W and Froguel, Philippe and Gieger, Christian and Gyllensten, Ulf and Hamsten, Anders and Harris, Tamara B and Hengstenberg, Christian and Hicks, Andrew A and Hingorani, Aroon and Hinney, Anke and Hofman, Albert and Hovingh, Kees G and Hveem, Kristian and Illig, Thomas and Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta and J{\"o}ckel, Karl-Heinz and Keinanen-Kiukaanniemi, Sirkka M and Kiemeney, Lambertus A and Kuh, Diana and Laakso, Markku and Lehtim{\"a}ki, Terho and Levinson, Douglas F and Martin, Nicholas G and Metspalu, Andres and Morris, Andrew D and Nieminen, Markku S and Nj{\o}lstad, Inger and Ohlsson, Claes and Oldehinkel, Albertine J and Ouwehand, Willem H and Palmer, Lyle J and Penninx, Brenda and Power, Chris and Province, Michael A and Psaty, Bruce M and Qi, Lu and Rauramaa, Rainer and Ridker, Paul M and Ripatti, Samuli and Salomaa, Veikko and Samani, Nilesh J and Snieder, Harold and S{\o}rensen, Thorkild I A and Spector, Timothy D and Stefansson, Kari and T{\"o}njes, Anke and Tuomilehto, Jaakko and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Uusitupa, Matti and van der Harst, Pim and Vollenweider, Peter and Wallaschofski, Henri and Wareham, Nicholas J and Watkins, Hugh and Wichmann, H-Erich and Wilson, James F and Abecasis, Goncalo R and Assimes, Themistocles L and Barroso, In{\^e}s and Boehnke, Michael and Borecki, Ingrid B and Deloukas, Panos and Fox, Caroline S and Frayling, Timothy and Groop, Leif C and Haritunian, Talin and Heid, Iris M and Hunter, David and Kaplan, Robert C and Karpe, Fredrik and Moffatt, Miriam F and Mohlke, Karen L and O{\textquoteright}Connell, Jeffrey R and Pawitan, Yudi and Schadt, Eric E and Schlessinger, David and Steinthorsdottir, Valgerdur and Strachan, David P and Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Visscher, Peter M and Di Blasio, Anna Maria and Hirschhorn, Joel N and Lindgren, Cecilia M and Morris, Andrew P and Meyre, David and Scherag, Andre and McCarthy, Mark I and Speliotes, Elizabeth K and North, Kari E and Loos, Ruth J F and Ingelsson, Erik} } @article {5875, title = {Insights into the genetic architecture of early stage age-related macular degeneration: a genome-wide association study meta-analysis.}, journal = {PLoS One}, volume = {8}, year = {2013}, month = {2013}, pages = {e53830}, abstract = {

Genetic factors explain a majority of risk variance for age-related macular degeneration (AMD). While genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for late AMD implicate genes in complement, inflammatory and lipid pathways, the genetic architecture of early AMD has been relatively under studied. We conducted a GWAS meta-analysis of early AMD, including 4,089 individuals with prevalent signs of early AMD (soft drusen and/or retinal pigment epithelial changes) and 20,453 individuals without these signs. For various published late AMD risk loci, we also compared effect sizes between early and late AMD using an additional 484 individuals with prevalent late AMD. GWAS meta-analysis confirmed previously reported association of variants at the complement factor H (CFH) (peak P = 1.5{\texttimes}10(-31)) and age-related maculopathy susceptibility 2 (ARMS2) (P = 4.3{\texttimes}10(-24)) loci, and suggested Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) polymorphisms (rs2075650; P = 1.1{\texttimes}10(-6)) associated with early AMD. Other possible loci that did not reach GWAS significance included variants in the zinc finger protein gene GLI3 (rs2049622; P = 8.9{\texttimes}10(-6)) and upstream of GLI2 (rs6721654; P = 6.5{\texttimes}10(-6)), encoding retinal Sonic hedgehog signalling regulators, and in the tyrosinase (TYR) gene (rs621313; P = 3.5{\texttimes}10(-6)), involved in melanin biosynthesis. For a range of published, late AMD risk loci, estimated effect sizes were significantly lower for early than late AMD. This study confirms the involvement of multiple established AMD risk variants in early AMD, but suggests weaker genetic effects on the risk of early AMD relative to late AMD. Several biological processes were suggested to be potentially specific for early AMD, including pathways regulating RPE cell melanin content and signalling pathways potentially involved in retinal regeneration, generating hypotheses for further investigation.

}, keywords = {Apolipoproteins E, Complement Factor H, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Genotype, Humans, Kruppel-Like Transcription Factors, Macular Degeneration, Nerve Tissue Proteins, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Proteins, Risk Factors, Zinc Finger Protein Gli3}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0053830}, author = {Holliday, Elizabeth G and Smith, Albert V and Cornes, Belinda K and Buitendijk, Gabri{\"e}lle H S and Jensen, Richard A and Sim, Xueling and Aspelund, Thor and Aung, Tin and Baird, Paul N and Boerwinkle, Eric and Cheng, Ching Yu and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Eiriksdottir, Gudny and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Harris, Tamara and Hewitt, Alex W and Inouye, Michael and Jonasson, Fridbert and Klein, Barbara E K and Launer, Lenore and Li, Xiaohui and Liew, Gerald and Lumley, Thomas and McElduff, Patrick and McKnight, Barbara and Mitchell, Paul and Psaty, Bruce M and Rochtchina, Elena and Rotter, Jerome I and Scott, Rodney J and Tay, Wanting and Taylor, Kent and Teo, Yik Ying and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Viswanathan, Ananth and Xie, Sophia and Vingerling, Johannes R and Klaver, Caroline C W and Tai, E Shyong and Siscovick, David and Klein, Ronald and Cotch, Mary Frances and Wong, Tien Y and Attia, John and Wang, Jie Jin} } @article {6078, title = {A meta-analysis identifies new loci associated with body mass index in individuals of African ancestry.}, journal = {Nat Genet}, volume = {45}, year = {2013}, month = {2013 Jun}, pages = {690-6}, abstract = {

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified 36 loci associated with body mass index (BMI), predominantly in populations of European ancestry. We conducted a meta-analysis to examine the association of >3.2 million SNPs with BMI in 39,144 men and women of African ancestry and followed up the most significant associations in an additional 32,268 individuals of African ancestry. We identified one new locus at 5q33 (GALNT10, rs7708584, P = 3.4 {\texttimes} 10(-11)) and another at 7p15 when we included data from the GIANT consortium (MIR148A-NFE2L3, rs10261878, P = 1.2 {\texttimes} 10(-10)). We also found suggestive evidence of an association at a third locus at 6q16 in the African-ancestry sample (KLHL32, rs974417, P = 6.9 {\texttimes} 10(-8)). Thirty-two of the 36 previously established BMI variants showed directionally consistent effect estimates in our GWAS (binomial P = 9.7 {\texttimes} 10(-7)), five of which reached genome-wide significance. These findings provide strong support for shared BMI loci across populations, as well as for the utility of studying ancestrally diverse populations.

}, keywords = {African Americans, Body Mass Index, Case-Control Studies, Gene Frequency, Genetic Loci, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Linkage Disequilibrium, Obesity, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide}, issn = {1546-1718}, doi = {10.1038/ng.2608}, author = {Monda, Keri L and Chen, Gary K and Taylor, Kira C and Palmer, Cameron and Edwards, Todd L and Lange, Leslie A and Ng, Maggie C Y and Adeyemo, Adebowale A and Allison, Matthew A and Bielak, Lawrence F and Chen, Guanjie and Graff, Mariaelisa and Irvin, Marguerite R and Rhie, Suhn K and Li, Guo and Liu, Yongmei and Liu, Youfang and Lu, Yingchang and Nalls, Michael A and Sun, Yan V and Wojczynski, Mary K and Yanek, Lisa R and Aldrich, Melinda C and Ademola, Adeyinka and Amos, Christopher I and Bandera, Elisa V and Bock, Cathryn H and Britton, Angela and Broeckel, Ulrich and Cai, Quiyin and Caporaso, Neil E and Carlson, Chris S and Carpten, John and Casey, Graham and Chen, Wei-Min and Chen, Fang and Chen, Yii-der I and Chiang, Charleston W K and Coetzee, Gerhard A and Demerath, Ellen and Deming-Halverson, Sandra L and Driver, Ryan W and Dubbert, Patricia and Feitosa, Mary F and Feng, Ye and Freedman, Barry I and Gillanders, Elizabeth M and Gottesman, Omri and Guo, Xiuqing and Haritunians, Talin and Harris, Tamara and Harris, Curtis C and Hennis, Anselm J M and Hernandez, Dena G and McNeill, Lorna H and Howard, Timothy D and Howard, Barbara V and Howard, Virginia J and Johnson, Karen C and Kang, Sun J and Keating, Brendan J and Kolb, Suzanne and Kuller, Lewis H and Kutlar, Abdullah and Langefeld, Carl D and Lettre, Guillaume and Lohman, Kurt and Lotay, Vaneet and Lyon, Helen and Manson, JoAnn E and Maixner, William and Meng, Yan A and Monroe, Kristine R and Morhason-Bello, Imran and Murphy, Adam B and Mychaleckyj, Josyf C and Nadukuru, Rajiv and Nathanson, Katherine L and Nayak, Uma and N{\textquoteright}diaye, Amidou and Nemesure, Barbara and Wu, Suh-Yuh and Leske, M Cristina and Neslund-Dudas, Christine and Neuhouser, Marian and Nyante, Sarah and Ochs-Balcom, Heather and Ogunniyi, Adesola and Ogundiran, Temidayo O and Ojengbede, Oladosu and Olopade, Olufunmilayo I and Palmer, Julie R and Ruiz-Narvaez, Edward A and Palmer, Nicholette D and Press, Michael F and Rampersaud, Evandine and Rasmussen-Torvik, Laura J and Rodriguez-Gil, Jorge L and Salako, Babatunde and Schadt, Eric E and Schwartz, Ann G and Shriner, Daniel A and Siscovick, David and Smith, Shad B and Wassertheil-Smoller, Sylvia and Speliotes, Elizabeth K and Spitz, Margaret R and Sucheston, Lara and Taylor, Herman and Tayo, Bamidele O and Tucker, Margaret A and Van Den Berg, David J and Edwards, Digna R Velez and Wang, Zhaoming and Wiencke, John K and Winkler, Thomas W and Witte, John S and Wrensch, Margaret and Wu, Xifeng and Yang, James J and Levin, Albert M and Young, Taylor R and Zakai, Neil A and Cushman, Mary and Zanetti, Krista A and Zhao, Jing Hua and Zhao, Wei and Zheng, Yonglan and Zhou, Jie and Ziegler, Regina G and Zmuda, Joseph M and Fernandes, Jyotika K and Gilkeson, Gary S and Kamen, Diane L and Hunt, Kelly J and Spruill, Ida J and Ambrosone, Christine B and Ambs, Stefan and Arnett, Donna K and Atwood, Larry and Becker, Diane M and Berndt, Sonja I and Bernstein, Leslie and Blot, William J and Borecki, Ingrid B and Bottinger, Erwin P and Bowden, Donald W and Burke, Gregory and Chanock, Stephen J and Cooper, Richard S and Ding, Jingzhong and Duggan, David and Evans, Michele K and Fox, Caroline and Garvey, W Timothy and Bradfield, Jonathan P and Hakonarson, Hakon and Grant, Struan F A and Hsing, Ann and Chu, Lisa and Hu, Jennifer J and Huo, Dezheng and Ingles, Sue A and John, Esther M and Jordan, Joanne M and Kabagambe, Edmond K and Kardia, Sharon L R and Kittles, Rick A and Goodman, Phyllis J and Klein, Eric A and Kolonel, Laurence N and Le Marchand, Lo{\"\i}c and Liu, Simin and McKnight, Barbara and Millikan, Robert C and Mosley, Thomas H and Padhukasahasram, Badri and Williams, L Keoki and Patel, Sanjay R and Peters, Ulrike and Pettaway, Curtis A and Peyser, Patricia A and Psaty, Bruce M and Redline, Susan and Rotimi, Charles N and Rybicki, Benjamin A and Sale, Mich{\`e}le M and Schreiner, Pamela J and Signorello, Lisa B and Singleton, Andrew B and Stanford, Janet L and Strom, Sara S and Thun, Michael J and Vitolins, Mara and Zheng, Wei and Moore, Jason H and Williams, Scott M and Ketkar, Shamika and Zhu, Xiaofeng and Zonderman, Alan B and Kooperberg, Charles and Papanicolaou, George J and Henderson, Brian E and Reiner, Alex P and Hirschhorn, Joel N and Loos, Ruth J F and North, Kari E and Haiman, Christopher A} } @article {6155, title = {Multiethnic meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies in >100 000 subjects identifies 23 fibrinogen-associated Loci but no strong evidence of a causal association between circulating fibrinogen and cardiovascular disease.}, journal = {Circulation}, volume = {128}, year = {2013}, month = {2013 Sep 17}, pages = {1310-24}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Estimates of the heritability of plasma fibrinogen concentration, an established predictor of cardiovascular disease, range from 34\% to 50\%. Genetic variants so far identified by genome-wide association studies explain only a small proportion (<2\%) of its variation.

METHODS AND RESULTS: We conducted a meta-analysis of 28 genome-wide association studies including >90 000 subjects of European ancestry, the first genome-wide association meta-analysis of fibrinogen levels in 7 studies in blacks totaling 8289 samples, and a genome-wide association study in Hispanics totaling 1366 samples. Evaluation for association of single-nucleotide polymorphisms with clinical outcomes included a total of 40 695 cases and 85 582 controls for coronary artery disease, 4752 cases and 24 030 controls for stroke, and 3208 cases and 46 167 controls for venous thromboembolism. Overall, we identified 24 genome-wide significant (P<5{\texttimes}10(-8)) independent signals in 23 loci, including 15 novel associations, together accounting for 3.7\% of plasma fibrinogen variation. Gene-set enrichment analysis highlighted key roles in fibrinogen regulation for the 3 structural fibrinogen genes and pathways related to inflammation, adipocytokines, and thyrotrophin-releasing hormone signaling. Whereas lead single-nucleotide polymorphisms in a few loci were significantly associated with coronary artery disease, the combined effect of all 24 fibrinogen-associated lead single-nucleotide polymorphisms was not significant for coronary artery disease, stroke, or venous thromboembolism.

CONCLUSIONS: We identify 23 robustly associated fibrinogen loci, 15 of which are new. Clinical outcome analysis of these loci does not support a causal relationship between circulating levels of fibrinogen and coronary artery disease, stroke, or venous thromboembolism.

}, keywords = {Adolescent, Adult, African Continental Ancestry Group, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Cardiovascular Diseases, Coronary Artery Disease, European Continental Ancestry Group, Female, Fibrinogen, Genetic Loci, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Hispanic Americans, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Myocardial Infarction, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Risk Factors, Stroke, Venous Thromboembolism, Young Adult}, issn = {1524-4539}, doi = {10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.113.002251}, author = {Sabater-Lleal, Maria and Huang, Jie and Chasman, Daniel and Naitza, Silvia and Dehghan, Abbas and Johnson, Andrew D and Teumer, Alexander and Reiner, Alex P and Folkersen, Lasse and Basu, Saonli and Rudnicka, Alicja R and Trompet, Stella and M{\"a}larstig, Anders and Baumert, Jens and Bis, Joshua C and Guo, Xiuqing and Hottenga, Jouke J and Shin, So-Youn and Lopez, Lorna M and Lahti, Jari and Tanaka, Toshiko and Yanek, Lisa R and Oudot-Mellakh, Tiphaine and Wilson, James F and Navarro, Pau and Huffman, Jennifer E and Zemunik, Tatijana and Redline, Susan and Mehra, Reena and Pulanic, Drazen and Rudan, Igor and Wright, Alan F and Kolcic, Ivana and Polasek, Ozren and Wild, Sarah H and Campbell, Harry and Curb, J David and Wallace, Robert and Liu, Simin and Eaton, Charles B and Becker, Diane M and Becker, Lewis C and Bandinelli, Stefania and R{\"a}ikk{\"o}nen, Katri and Widen, Elisabeth and Palotie, Aarno and Fornage, Myriam and Green, David and Gross, Myron and Davies, Gail and Harris, Sarah E and Liewald, David C and Starr, John M and Williams, Frances M K and Grant, Peter J and Spector, Timothy D and Strawbridge, Rona J and Silveira, Angela and Sennblad, Bengt and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Franco, Oscar H and Hofman, Albert and van Dongen, Jenny and Willemsen, Gonneke and Boomsma, Dorret I and Yao, Jie and Swords Jenny, Nancy and Haritunians, Talin and McKnight, Barbara and Lumley, Thomas and Taylor, Kent D and Rotter, Jerome I and Psaty, Bruce M and Peters, Annette and Gieger, Christian and Illig, Thomas and Grotevendt, Anne and Homuth, Georg and V{\"o}lzke, Henry and Kocher, Thomas and Goel, Anuj and Franzosi, Maria Grazia and Seedorf, Udo and Clarke, Robert and Steri, Maristella and Tarasov, Kirill V and Sanna, Serena and Schlessinger, David and Stott, David J and Sattar, Naveed and Buckley, Brendan M and Rumley, Ann and Lowe, Gordon D and McArdle, Wendy L and Chen, Ming-Huei and Tofler, Geoffrey H and Song, Jaejoon and Boerwinkle, Eric and Folsom, Aaron R and Rose, Lynda M and Franco-Cereceda, Anders and Teichert, Martina and Ikram, M Arfan and Mosley, Thomas H and Bevan, Steve and Dichgans, Martin and Rothwell, Peter M and Sudlow, Cathie L M and Hopewell, Jemma C and Chambers, John C and Saleheen, Danish and Kooner, Jaspal S and Danesh, John and Nelson, Christopher P and Erdmann, Jeanette and Reilly, Muredach P and Kathiresan, Sekar and Schunkert, Heribert and Morange, Pierre-Emmanuel and Ferrucci, Luigi and Eriksson, Johan G and Jacobs, David and Deary, Ian J and Soranzo, Nicole and Witteman, Jacqueline C M and de Geus, Eco J C and Tracy, Russell P and Hayward, Caroline and Koenig, Wolfgang and Cucca, Francesco and Jukema, J Wouter and Eriksson, Per and Seshadri, Sudha and Markus, Hugh S and Watkins, Hugh and Samani, Nilesh J and Wallaschofski, Henri and Smith, Nicholas L and Tregouet, David and Ridker, Paul M and Tang, Weihong and Strachan, David P and Hamsten, Anders and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J} } @article {6555, title = {Association of levels of fasting glucose and insulin with rare variants at the chromosome 11p11.2-MADD locus: Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) Consortium Targeted Sequencing Study.}, journal = {Circ Cardiovasc Genet}, volume = {7}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Jun}, pages = {374-382}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Common variation at the 11p11.2 locus, encompassing MADD, ACP2, NR1H3, MYBPC3, and SPI1, has been associated in genome-wide association studies with fasting glucose and insulin (FI). In the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology Targeted Sequencing Study, we sequenced 5 gene regions at 11p11.2 to identify rare, potentially functional variants influencing fasting glucose or FI levels.

METHODS AND RESULTS: Sequencing (mean depth, 38{\texttimes}) across 16.1 kb in 3566 individuals without diabetes mellitus identified 653 variants, 79.9\% of which were rare (minor allele frequency <1\%) and novel. We analyzed rare variants in 5 gene regions with FI or fasting glucose using the sequence kernel association test. At NR1H3, 53 rare variants were jointly associated with FI (P=2.73{\texttimes}10(-3)); of these, 7 were predicted to have regulatory function and showed association with FI (P=1.28{\texttimes}10(-3)). Conditioning on 2 previously associated variants at MADD (rs7944584, rs10838687) did not attenuate this association, suggesting that there are >2 independent signals at 11p11.2. One predicted regulatory variant, chr11:47227430 (hg18; minor allele frequency=0.00068), contributed 20.6\% to the overall sequence kernel association test score at NR1H3, lies in intron 2 of NR1H3, and is a predicted binding site for forkhead box A1 (FOXA1), a transcription factor associated with insulin regulation. In human HepG2 hepatoma cells, the rare chr11:47227430 A allele disrupted FOXA1 binding and reduced FOXA1-dependent transcriptional activity.

CONCLUSIONS: Sequencing at 11p11.2-NR1H3 identified rare variation associated with FI. One variant, chr11:47227430, seems to be functional, with the rare A allele reducing transcription factor FOXA1 binding and FOXA1-dependent transcriptional activity.

}, keywords = {Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Aging, Blood Glucose, Chromosomes, Human, Pair 11, Cohort Studies, Death Domain Receptor Signaling Adaptor Proteins, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Fasting, Female, Gene Frequency, Genetic Variation, Genome-Wide Association Study, Genomics, Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factors, Heart Diseases, Humans, Insulin, Male, Middle Aged, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Sequence Analysis, DNA}, issn = {1942-3268}, doi = {10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.113.000169}, author = {Cornes, Belinda K and Brody, Jennifer A and Nikpoor, Naghmeh and Morrison, Alanna C and Chu, Huan and Ahn, Byung Soo and Wang, Shuai and Dauriz, Marco and Barzilay, Joshua I and Dupuis, Jos{\'e}e and Florez, Jose C and Coresh, Josef and Gibbs, Richard A and Kao, W H Linda and Liu, Ching-Ti and McKnight, Barbara and Muzny, Donna and Pankow, James S and Reid, Jeffrey G and White, Charles C and Johnson, Andrew D and Wong, Tien Y and Psaty, Bruce M and Boerwinkle, Eric and Rotter, Jerome I and Siscovick, David S and Sladek, Robert and Meigs, James B} } @article {6325, title = {Common variation in fatty acid metabolic genes and risk of incident sudden cardiac arrest.}, journal = {Heart Rhythm}, volume = {11}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Mar}, pages = {471-7}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: There is limited information on genetic factors associated with sudden cardiac arrest (SCA).

OBJECTIVE: To assess the association of common variation in genes in fatty acid pathways with SCA risk.

METHODS: We selected 85 candidate genes and 1155 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) tagging common variation in each gene. We investigated the SNP associations with SCA in a population-based case-control study. Cases (n = 2160) were from a repository of SCA in the greater Seattle area. Controls (n = 2615), frequency-matched on age and sex, were from the same area. We used linear logistic regression to examine SNP associations with SCA. We performed permutation-based p-min tests to account for multiple comparisons within each gene. The SNP associations with a corrected P value of <.05 were then examined in a meta-analysis of these SNP associations in 9 replication studies totaling 2129 SCA cases and 23,833 noncases.

RESULTS: Eight SNPs in or near 8 genes were associated with SCA risk in the discovery study, one of which was nominally significant in the replication phase (rs7737692, minor allele frequency 36\%, near the LPCAT1 gene). For each copy of the minor allele, rs7737692 was associated with 13\% lower SCA risk (95\% confidence interval -21\% to -5\%) in the discovery phase and 9\% lower SCA risk (95\% confidence interval -16\% to -1\%) in the replication phase.

CONCLUSIONS: While none of the associations reached significance with Bonferroni correction, a common genetic variant near LPCAT1, a gene involved in the remodeling of phospholipids, was nominally associated with incident SCA risk. Further study is needed to validate this observation.

}, keywords = {1-Acylglycerophosphocholine O-Acyltransferase, Aged, Algorithms, Alleles, Case-Control Studies, Death, Sudden, Cardiac, Fatty Acids, Female, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genetic Variation, Genotype, Humans, Male, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Risk Factors}, issn = {1556-3871}, doi = {10.1016/j.hrthm.2014.01.008}, author = {Lemaitre, Rozenn N and Johnson, Catherine O and Hesselson, Stephanie and Sotoodehnia, Nona and Sotoodhenia, Nona and McKnight, Barbara and Sitlani, Colleen M and Rea, Thomas D and King, Irena B and Kwok, Pui-Yan and Mak, Angel and Li, Guo and Brody, Jennifer and Larson, Eric and Mozaffarian, Dariush and Psaty, Bruce M and Huertas-Vazquez, Adriana and Tardif, Jean-Claude and Albert, Christine M and Lyytik{\"a}inen, Leo-Pekka and Arking, Dan E and K{\"a}{\"a}b, Stefan and Huikuri, Heikki V and Krijthe, Bouwe P and Eijgelsheim, Mark and Wang, Ying A and Reinier, Kyndaron and Lehtim{\"a}ki, Terho and Pulit, Sara L and Brugada, Ramon and M{\"u}ller-Nurasyid, Martina and Newton-Cheh, Chris H and Karhunen, Pekka J and Stricker, Bruno H and Goyette, Philippe and Rotter, Jerome I and Chugh, Sumeet S and Chakravarti, Aravinda and Jouven, Xavier and Siscovick, David S} } @article {6603, title = {Gene expression in thiazide diuretic or statin users in relation to incident type 2 diabetes.}, journal = {Int J Mol Epidemiol Genet}, volume = {5}, year = {2014}, month = {2014}, pages = {22-30}, abstract = {Thiazide diuretics and statins are used to improve cardiovascular outcomes, but may also cause type 2 diabetes (T2DM), although mechanisms are unknown. Gene expression studies may facilitate understanding of these associations. Participants from ongoing population-based studies were sampled for these longitudinal studies of peripheral blood microarray gene expression, and followed to incident diabetes. All sampled subjects were statin or thiazide users. Those who developed diabetes during follow-up comprised cases (44 thiazide users; 19 statin users), and were matched to drug-using controls who did not develop diabetes on several factors. Supervised normalization, surrogate variable analyses removed technical bias and confounding. Differentially-expressed genes were those with a false discovery rate Q-value<0.05. Among thiazide users, diabetes cases had significantly different expression of CCL14 (down-regulated 6\%, Q-value=0.0257), compared with controls. Among statin users, diabetes cases had marginal but insignificantly different expression of ZNF532 (up-regulated 15\%, Q-value=0.0584), CXORF21 (up-regulated 11\%, Q-value=0.0584), and ZNHIT3 (up-regulated 19\%, Q-value=0.0959), compared with controls. These genes comprise potential targets for future expression or mechanistic research on medication-related diabetes development.}, issn = {1948-1756}, author = {Suchy-Dicey, Astrid and Heckbert, Susan R and Smith, Nicholas L and McKnight, Barbara and Rotter, Jerome I and Chen, Yd Ida and Psaty, Bruce M and Enquobahrie, Daniel A} } @article {6367, title = {Genome-wide association study for circulating tissue plasminogen activator levels and functional follow-up implicates endothelial STXBP5 and STX2.}, journal = {Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol}, volume = {34}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 May}, pages = {1093-101}, abstract = {

OBJECTIVE: Tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), a serine protease, catalyzes the conversion of plasminogen to plasmin, the major enzyme responsible for endogenous fibrinolysis. In some populations, elevated plasma levels of tPA have been associated with myocardial infarction and other cardiovascular diseases. We conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies to identify novel correlates of circulating levels of tPA.

APPROACH AND RESULTS: Fourteen cohort studies with tPA measures (N=26 929) contributed to the meta-analysis. Three loci were significantly associated with circulating tPA levels (P<5.0{\texttimes}10(-8)). The first locus is on 6q24.3, with the lead single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP; rs9399599; P=2.9{\texttimes}10(-14)) within STXBP5. The second locus is on 8p11.21. The lead SNP (rs3136739; P=1.3{\texttimes}10(-9)) is intronic to POLB and <200 kb away from the tPA encoding the gene PLAT. We identified a nonsynonymous SNP (rs2020921) in modest linkage disequilibrium with rs3136739 (r(2)=0.50) within exon 5 of PLAT (P=2.0{\texttimes}10(-8)). The third locus is on 12q24.33, with the lead SNP (rs7301826; P=1.0{\texttimes}10(-9)) within intron 7 of STX2. We further found evidence for the association of lead SNPs in STXBP5 and STX2 with expression levels of the respective transcripts. In in vitro cell studies, silencing STXBP5 decreased the release of tPA from vascular endothelial cells, whereas silencing STX2 increased the tPA release. Through an in silico lookup, we found no associations of the 3 lead SNPs with coronary artery disease or stroke.

CONCLUSIONS: We identified 3 loci associated with circulating tPA levels, the PLAT region, STXBP5, and STX2. Our functional studies implicate a novel role for STXBP5 and STX2 in regulating tPA release.

}, keywords = {Aged, Cells, Cultured, Coronary Artery Disease, Endothelial Cells, Europe, Female, Gene Expression Regulation, Gene Silencing, Genetic Loci, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Nerve Tissue Proteins, Phenotype, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, R-SNARE Proteins, Risk Factors, Stroke, Syntaxin 1, Tissue Plasminogen Activator, Transfection, United States, Up-Regulation}, issn = {1524-4636}, doi = {10.1161/ATVBAHA.113.302088}, author = {Huang, Jie and Huffman, Jennifer E and Yamakuchi, Munekazu and Yamkauchi, Munekazu and Trompet, Stella and Asselbergs, Folkert W and Sabater-Lleal, Maria and Tr{\'e}gou{\"e}t, David-Alexandre and Chen, Wei-Min and Smith, Nicholas L and Kleber, Marcus E and Shin, So-Youn and Becker, Diane M and Tang, Weihong and Dehghan, Abbas and Johnson, Andrew D and Truong, Vinh and Folkersen, Lasse and Yang, Qiong and Oudot-Mellkah, Tiphaine and Buckley, Brendan M and Moore, Jason H and Williams, Frances M K and Campbell, Harry and Silbernagel, G{\"u}nther and Vitart, Veronique and Rudan, Igor and Tofler, Geoffrey H and Navis, Gerjan J and DeStefano, Anita and Wright, Alan F and Chen, Ming-Huei and de Craen, Anton J M and Worrall, Bradford B and Rudnicka, Alicja R and Rumley, Ann and Bookman, Ebony B and Psaty, Bruce M and Chen, Fang and Keene, Keith L and Franco, Oscar H and B{\"o}hm, Bernhard O and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Carter, Angela M and Jukema, J Wouter and Sattar, Naveed and Bis, Joshua C and Ikram, Mohammad A and Sale, Mich{\`e}le M and McKnight, Barbara and Fornage, Myriam and Ford, Ian and Taylor, Kent and Slagboom, P Eline and McArdle, Wendy L and Hsu, Fang-Chi and Franco-Cereceda, Anders and Goodall, Alison H and Yanek, Lisa R and Furie, Karen L and Cushman, Mary and Hofman, Albert and Witteman, Jacqueline C M and Folsom, Aaron R and Basu, Saonli and Matijevic, Nena and van Gilst, Wiek H and Wilson, James F and Westendorp, Rudi G J and Kathiresan, Sekar and Reilly, Muredach P and Tracy, Russell P and Polasek, Ozren and Winkelmann, Bernhard R and Grant, Peter J and Hillege, Hans L and Cambien, Francois and Stott, David J and Lowe, Gordon D and Spector, Timothy D and Meigs, James B and M{\"a}rz, Winfried and Eriksson, Per and Becker, Lewis C and Morange, Pierre-Emmanuel and Soranzo, Nicole and Williams, Scott M and Hayward, Caroline and van der Harst, Pim and Hamsten, Anders and Lowenstein, Charles J and Strachan, David P and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J} } @article {6567, title = {Genome-wide association study of plasma N6 polyunsaturated fatty acids within the cohorts for heart and aging research in genomic epidemiology consortium.}, journal = {Circ Cardiovasc Genet}, volume = {7}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Jun}, pages = {321-331}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Omega6 (n6) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and their metabolites are involved in cell signaling, inflammation, clot formation, and other crucial biological processes. Genetic components, such as variants of fatty acid desaturase (FADS) genes, determine the composition of n6 PUFAs.

METHODS AND RESULTS: To elucidate undiscovered biological pathways that may influence n6 PUFA composition, we conducted genome-wide association studies and meta-analyses of associations of common genetic variants with 6 plasma n6 PUFAs in 8631 white adults (55\% women) across 5 prospective studies. Plasma phospholipid or total plasma fatty acids were analyzed by similar gas chromatography techniques. The n6 fatty acids linoleic acid (LA), γ-linolenic acid (GLA), dihomo-GLA, arachidonic acid, and adrenic acid were expressed as percentage of total fatty acids. We performed linear regression with robust SEs to test for single-nucleotide polymorphism-fatty acid associations, with pooling using inverse-variance-weighted meta-analysis. Novel regions were identified on chromosome 10 associated with LA (rs10740118; P=8.1{\texttimes}10(-9); near NRBF2), on chromosome 16 with LA, GLA, dihomo-GLA, and arachidonic acid (rs16966952; P=1.2{\texttimes}10(-15), 5.0{\texttimes}10(-11), 7.6{\texttimes}10(-65), and 2.4{\texttimes}10(-10), respectively; NTAN1), and on chromosome 6 with adrenic acid after adjustment for arachidonic acid (rs3134950; P=2.1{\texttimes}10(-10); AGPAT1). We confirmed previous findings of the FADS cluster on chromosome 11 with LA and arachidonic acid, and further observed novel genome-wide significant association of this cluster with GLA, dihomo-GLA, and adrenic acid (P=2.3{\texttimes}10(-72), 2.6{\texttimes}10(-151), and 6.3{\texttimes}10(-140), respectively).

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that along with the FADS gene cluster, additional genes may influence n6 PUFA composition.

}, keywords = {Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Aging, Chromosomes, Human, Pair 10, Chromosomes, Human, Pair 16, Chromosomes, Human, Pair 6, Fatty Acid Desaturases, Fatty Acids, Omega-6, Female, Genome-Wide Association Study, Genomics, Heart Diseases, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Prospective Studies, Sequence Analysis, DNA}, issn = {1942-3268}, doi = {10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.113.000208}, author = {Guan, Weihua and Steffen, Brian T and Lemaitre, Rozenn N and Wu, Jason H Y and Tanaka, Toshiko and Manichaikul, Ani and Foy, Millennia and Rich, Stephen S and Wang, Lu and Nettleton, Jennifer A and Tang, Weihong and Gu, Xiangjun and Bandinelli, Stafania and King, Irena B and McKnight, Barbara and Psaty, Bruce M and Siscovick, David and Djouss{\'e}, Luc and Chen, Yii-Der Ida and Ferrucci, Luigi and Fornage, Myriam and Mozafarrian, Dariush and Tsai, Michael Y and Steffen, Lyn M} } @article {6585, title = {Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies in African Americans provides insights into the genetic architecture of type 2 diabetes.}, journal = {PLoS Genet}, volume = {10}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Aug}, pages = {e1004517}, abstract = {

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is more prevalent in African Americans than in Europeans. However, little is known about the genetic risk in African Americans despite the recent identification of more than 70 T2D loci primarily by genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in individuals of European ancestry. In order to investigate the genetic architecture of T2D in African Americans, the MEta-analysis of type 2 DIabetes in African Americans (MEDIA) Consortium examined 17 GWAS on T2D comprising 8,284 cases and 15,543 controls in African Americans in stage 1 analysis. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) association analysis was conducted in each study under the additive model after adjustment for age, sex, study site, and principal components. Meta-analysis of approximately 2.6 million genotyped and imputed SNPs in all studies was conducted using an inverse variance-weighted fixed effect model. Replications were performed to follow up 21 loci in up to 6,061 cases and 5,483 controls in African Americans, and 8,130 cases and 38,987 controls of European ancestry. We identified three known loci (TCF7L2, HMGA2 and KCNQ1) and two novel loci (HLA-B and INS-IGF2) at genome-wide significance (4.15 {\texttimes} 10(-94)}, keywords = {African Americans, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Genome-Wide Association Study, HLA-B27 Antigen, HMGA2 Protein, Humans, KCNQ1 Potassium Channel, Mutant Chimeric Proteins, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Transcription Factor 7-Like 2 Protein}, issn = {1553-7404}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pgen.1004517}, author = {Ng, Maggie C Y and Shriner, Daniel and Chen, Brian H and Li, Jiang and Chen, Wei-Min and Guo, Xiuqing and Liu, Jiankang and Bielinski, Suzette J and Yanek, Lisa R and Nalls, Michael A and Comeau, Mary E and Rasmussen-Torvik, Laura J and Jensen, Richard A and Evans, Daniel S and Sun, Yan V and An, Ping and Patel, Sanjay R and Lu, Yingchang and Long, Jirong and Armstrong, Loren L and Wagenknecht, Lynne and Yang, Lingyao and Snively, Beverly M and Palmer, Nicholette D and Mudgal, Poorva and Langefeld, Carl D and Keene, Keith L and Freedman, Barry I and Mychaleckyj, Josyf C and Nayak, Uma and Raffel, Leslie J and Goodarzi, Mark O and Chen, Y-D Ida and Taylor, Herman A and Correa, Adolfo and Sims, Mario and Couper, David and Pankow, James S and Boerwinkle, Eric and Adeyemo, Adebowale and Doumatey, Ayo and Chen, Guanjie and Mathias, Rasika A and Vaidya, Dhananjay and Singleton, Andrew B and Zonderman, Alan B and Igo, Robert P and Sedor, John R and Kabagambe, Edmond K and Siscovick, David S and McKnight, Barbara and Rice, Kenneth and Liu, Yongmei and Hsueh, Wen-Chi and Zhao, Wei and Bielak, Lawrence F and Kraja, Aldi and Province, Michael A and Bottinger, Erwin P and Gottesman, Omri and Cai, Qiuyin and Zheng, Wei and Blot, William J and Lowe, William L and Pacheco, Jennifer A and Crawford, Dana C and Grundberg, Elin and Rich, Stephen S and Hayes, M Geoffrey and Shu, Xiao-Ou and Loos, Ruth J F and Borecki, Ingrid B and Peyser, Patricia A and Cummings, Steven R and Psaty, Bruce M and Fornage, Myriam and Iyengar, Sudha K and Evans, Michele K and Becker, Diane M and Kao, W H Linda and Wilson, James G and Rotter, Jerome I and Sale, Mich{\`e}le M and Liu, Simin and Rotimi, Charles N and Bowden, Donald W} } @article {6552, title = {Meta-analysis of loci associated with age at natural menopause in African-American women.}, journal = {Hum Mol Genet}, volume = {23}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Jun 15}, pages = {3327-42}, abstract = {

Age at menopause marks the end of a woman{\textquoteright}s reproductive life and its timing associates with risks for cancer, cardiovascular and bone disorders. GWAS and candidate gene studies conducted in women of European ancestry have identified 27 loci associated with age at menopause. The relevance of these loci to women of African ancestry has not been previously studied. We therefore sought to uncover additional menopause loci and investigate the relevance of European menopause loci by performing a GWAS meta-analysis in 6510 women with African ancestry derived from 11 studies across the USA. We did not identify any additional loci significantly associated with age at menopause in African Americans. We replicated the associations between six loci and age at menopause (P-value < 0.05): AMHR2, RHBLD2, PRIM1, HK3/UMC1, BRSK1/TMEM150B and MCM8. In addition, associations of 14 loci are directionally consistent with previous reports. We provide evidence that genetic variants influencing reproductive traits identified in European populations are also important in women of African ancestry residing in USA.

}, keywords = {African Americans, Age Factors, Chromosomes, Human, European Continental Ancestry Group, Female, Genetic Loci, Genetic Variation, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Menopause, United States}, issn = {1460-2083}, doi = {10.1093/hmg/ddu041}, author = {Chen, Christina T L and Liu, Ching-Ti and Chen, Gary K and Andrews, Jeanette S and Arnold, Alice M and Dreyfus, Jill and Franceschini, Nora and Garcia, Melissa E and Kerr, Kathleen F and Li, Guo and Lohman, Kurt K and Musani, Solomon K and Nalls, Michael A and Raffel, Leslie J and Smith, Jennifer and Ambrosone, Christine B and Bandera, Elisa V and Bernstein, Leslie and Britton, Angela and Brzyski, Robert G and Cappola, Anne and Carlson, Christopher S and Couper, David and Deming, Sandra L and Goodarzi, Mark O and Heiss, Gerardo and John, Esther M and Lu, Xiaoning and Le Marchand, Lo{\"\i}c and Marciante, Kristin and McKnight, Barbara and Millikan, Robert and Nock, Nora L and Olshan, Andrew F and Press, Michael F and Vaiyda, Dhananjay and Woods, Nancy F and Taylor, Herman A and Zhao, Wei and Zheng, Wei and Evans, Michele K and Harris, Tamara B and Henderson, Brian E and Kardia, Sharon L R and Kooperberg, Charles and Liu, Yongmei and Mosley, Thomas H and Psaty, Bruce and Wellons, Melissa and Windham, Beverly G and Zonderman, Alan B and Cupples, L Adrienne and Demerath, Ellen W and Haiman, Christopher and Murabito, Joanne M and Rajkovic, Aleksandar} } @article {6667, title = {No evidence for genome-wide interactions on plasma fibrinogen by smoking, alcohol consumption and body mass index: results from meta-analyses of 80,607 subjects.}, journal = {PLoS One}, volume = {9}, year = {2014}, month = {2014}, pages = {e111156}, abstract = {

Plasma fibrinogen is an acute phase protein playing an important role in the blood coagulation cascade having strong associations with smoking, alcohol consumption and body mass index (BMI). Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified a variety of gene regions associated with elevated plasma fibrinogen concentrations. However, little is yet known about how associations between environmental factors and fibrinogen might be modified by genetic variation. Therefore, we conducted large-scale meta-analyses of genome-wide interaction studies to identify possible interactions of genetic variants and smoking status, alcohol consumption or BMI on fibrinogen concentration. The present study included 80,607 subjects of European ancestry from 22 studies. Genome-wide interaction analyses were performed separately in each study for about 2.6 million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) across the 22 autosomal chromosomes. For each SNP and risk factor, we performed a linear regression under an additive genetic model including an interaction term between SNP and risk factor. Interaction estimates were meta-analysed using a fixed-effects model. No genome-wide significant interaction with smoking status, alcohol consumption or BMI was observed in the meta-analyses. The most suggestive interaction was found for smoking and rs10519203, located in the LOC123688 region on chromosome 15, with a p value of 6.2 {\texttimes} 10(-8). This large genome-wide interaction study including 80,607 participants found no strong evidence of interaction between genetic variants and smoking status, alcohol consumption or BMI on fibrinogen concentrations. Further studies are needed to yield deeper insight in the interplay between environmental factors and gene variants on the regulation of fibrinogen concentrations.

}, keywords = {Alcohol Drinking, Body Mass Index, Fibrinogen, Gene-Environment Interaction, Genomics, Humans, Smoking}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0111156}, author = {Baumert, Jens and Huang, Jie and McKnight, Barbara and Sabater-Lleal, Maria and Steri, Maristella and Chu, Audrey Y and Trompet, Stella and Lopez, Lorna M and Fornage, Myriam and Teumer, Alexander and Tang, Weihong and Rudnicka, Alicja R and M{\"a}larstig, Anders and Hottenga, Jouke-Jan and Kavousi, Maryam and Lahti, Jari and Tanaka, Toshiko and Hayward, Caroline and Huffman, Jennifer E and Morange, Pierre-Emmanuel and Rose, Lynda M and Basu, Saonli and Rumley, Ann and Stott, David J and Buckley, Brendan M and de Craen, Anton J M and Sanna, Serena and Masala, Marco and Biffar, Reiner and Homuth, Georg and Silveira, Angela and Sennblad, Bengt and Goel, Anuj and Watkins, Hugh and M{\"u}ller-Nurasyid, Martina and R{\"u}ckerl, Regina and Taylor, Kent and Chen, Ming-Huei and de Geus, Eco J C and Hofman, Albert and Witteman, Jacqueline C M and de Maat, Moniek P M and Palotie, Aarno and Davies, Gail and Siscovick, David S and Kolcic, Ivana and Wild, Sarah H and Song, Jaejoon and McArdle, Wendy L and Ford, Ian and Sattar, Naveed and Schlessinger, David and Grotevendt, Anne and Franzosi, Maria Grazia and Illig, Thomas and Waldenberger, Melanie and Lumley, Thomas and Tofler, Geoffrey H and Willemsen, Gonneke and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Rivadeneira, Fernando and R{\"a}ikk{\"o}nen, Katri and Chasman, Daniel I and Folsom, Aaron R and Lowe, Gordon D and Westendorp, Rudi G J and Slagboom, P Eline and Cucca, Francesco and Wallaschofski, Henri and Strawbridge, Rona J and Seedorf, Udo and Koenig, Wolfgang and Bis, Joshua C and Mukamal, Kenneth J and van Dongen, Jenny and Widen, Elisabeth and Franco, Oscar H and Starr, John M and Liu, Kiang and Ferrucci, Luigi and Polasek, Ozren and Wilson, James F and Oudot-Mellakh, Tiphaine and Campbell, Harry and Navarro, Pau and Bandinelli, Stefania and Eriksson, Johan and Boomsma, Dorret I and Dehghan, Abbas and Clarke, Robert and Hamsten, Anders and Boerwinkle, Eric and Jukema, J Wouter and Naitza, Silvia and Ridker, Paul M and V{\"o}lzke, Henry and Deary, Ian J and Reiner, Alexander P and Tr{\'e}gou{\"e}t, David-Alexandre and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J and Strachan, David P and Peters, Annette and Smith, Nicholas L} } @article {6820, title = {Novel genetic markers associate with atrial fibrillation risk in Europeans and Japanese.}, journal = {J Am Coll Cardiol}, volume = {63}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Apr 1}, pages = {1200-10}, abstract = {

OBJECTIVES: This study sought to identify nonredundant atrial fibrillation (AF) genetic susceptibility signals and examine their cumulative relations with AF risk.

BACKGROUND: AF-associated loci span broad genomic regions that may contain multiple susceptibility signals. Whether multiple signals exist at AF loci has not been systematically explored.

METHODS: We performed association testing conditioned on the most significant, independently associated genetic markers at 9 established AF loci using 2 complementary techniques in 64,683 individuals of European ancestry (3,869 incident and 3,302 prevalent AF cases). Genetic risk scores were created and tested for association with AF in Europeans and an independent sample of 11,309 individuals of Japanese ancestry (7,916 prevalent AF cases).

RESULTS: We observed at least 4 distinct AF susceptibility signals on chromosome 4q25 upstream of PITX2, but not at the remaining 8 AF loci. A multilocus score comprised 12 genetic markers demonstrated an estimated 5-fold gradient in AF risk. We observed a similar spectrum of risk associated with these markers in Japanese. Regions containing AF signals on chromosome 4q25 displayed a greater degree of evolutionary conservation than the remainder of the locus, suggesting that they may tag regulatory elements.

CONCLUSIONS: The chromosome 4q25 AF locus is architecturally complex and harbors at least 4 AF susceptibility signals in individuals of European ancestry. Similar polygenic AF susceptibility exists between Europeans and Japanese. Future work is necessary to identify causal variants, determine mechanisms by which associated loci predispose to AF, and explore whether AF susceptibility signals classify individuals at risk for AF and related morbidity.

}, keywords = {Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Asian Continental Ancestry Group, Atrial Fibrillation, Chromosome Mapping, Chromosomes, Human, Pair 4, Europe, European Continental Ancestry Group, Female, Genetic Markers, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Homeodomain Proteins, Humans, Japan, Male, Middle Aged, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Transcription Factors}, issn = {1558-3597}, doi = {10.1016/j.jacc.2013.12.015}, author = {Lubitz, Steven A and Lunetta, Kathryn L and Lin, Honghuang and Arking, Dan E and Trompet, Stella and Li, Guo and Krijthe, Bouwe P and Chasman, Daniel I and Barnard, John and Kleber, Marcus E and D{\"o}rr, Marcus and Ozaki, Kouichi and Smith, Albert V and M{\"u}ller-Nurasyid, Martina and Walter, Stefan and Agarwal, Sunil K and Bis, Joshua C and Brody, Jennifer A and Chen, Lin Y and Everett, Brendan M and Ford, Ian and Franco, Oscar H and Harris, Tamara B and Hofman, Albert and K{\"a}{\"a}b, Stefan and Mahida, Saagar and Kathiresan, Sekar and Kubo, Michiaki and Launer, Lenore J and Macfarlane, Peter W and Magnani, Jared W and McKnight, Barbara and McManus, David D and Peters, Annette and Psaty, Bruce M and Rose, Lynda M and Rotter, Jerome I and Silbernagel, Guenther and Smith, Jonathan D and Sotoodehnia, Nona and Stott, David J and Taylor, Kent D and Tomaschitz, Andreas and Tsunoda, Tatsuhiko and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Van Wagoner, David R and V{\"o}lker, Uwe and V{\"o}lzke, Henry and Murabito, Joanne M and Sinner, Moritz F and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Felix, Stephan B and M{\"a}rz, Winfried and Chung, Mina and Albert, Christine M and Stricker, Bruno H and Tanaka, Toshihiro and Heckbert, Susan R and Jukema, J Wouter and Alonso, Alvaro and Benjamin, Emelia J and Ellinor, Patrick T} } @article {6562, title = {Plasma phospholipid and dietary α-linolenic acid, mortality, CHD and stroke: the Cardiovascular Health Study.}, journal = {Br J Nutr}, volume = {112}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Oct 14}, pages = {1206-13}, abstract = {

Previous studies have suggested that long-chain n-3 fatty acids derived from seafood are associated with a lower risk of mortality, CHD and stroke. Whether α-linolenic acid (ALA, 18~:~3n-3), a plant-derived long-chain essential n-3 fatty acid, is associated with a lower risk of these outcomes is unclear. The aim of the present study was to examine the associations of plasma phospholipid and dietary ALA with the risk of mortality, CHD and stroke among older adults who participated in the Cardiovascular Health Study, a cohort study of adults aged >=~65 years. A total of 2709 participants were included in the plasma phospholipid ALA analysis and 2583 participants were included in the dietary ALA analysis. Cox regression was used to assess the associations of plasma phospholipid and dietary ALA with the risk of mortality, incident CHD and stroke. In minimally and multivariable-adjusted models, plasma phospholipid ALA was found to be not associated with the risk of mortality, incident CHD or stroke. After adjustment for age, sex, race, enrolment site, education, smoking status, diabetes, BMI, alcohol consumption, treated hypertension and total energy intake, higher dietary ALA intake was found to be associated with a lower risk of total and non-cardiovascular mortality; on comparing the highest quintiles of dietary ALA with the lowest quintiles, the HR for total mortality and non-cardiovascular mortality were found to be 0{\textperiodcentered}73 (95~\% CI 0{\textperiodcentered}61, 0{\textperiodcentered}88) and 0{\textperiodcentered}64 (95~\% CI 0{\textperiodcentered}52, 0{\textperiodcentered}80), respectively. Dietary ALA was found to be not associated with the risk of cardiovascular mortality, incident CHD or stroke. In conclusion, the results of the present suggest study that dietary ALA, but not plasma phospholipid ALA, is associated with a lower risk of total and non-cardiovascular mortality in older adults.

}, keywords = {Aged, alpha-Linolenic Acid, Cardiovascular Diseases, Cohort Studies, Coronary Disease, Diet, Female, Humans, Male, Mortality, Phospholipids, Proportional Hazards Models, Prospective Studies, Risk Factors, Stroke, United States}, issn = {1475-2662}, doi = {10.1017/S0007114514001925}, author = {Fretts, Amanda M and Mozaffarian, Dariush and Siscovick, David S and Sitlani, Colleen and Psaty, Bruce M and Rimm, Eric B and Song, Xiaoling and McKnight, Barbara and Spiegelman, Donna and King, Irena B and Lemaitre, Rozenn N} } @article {6397, title = {Plasma phospholipid saturated fatty acids and incident atrial fibrillation: the Cardiovascular Health Study.}, journal = {J Am Heart Assoc}, volume = {3}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Jun 26}, pages = {e000889}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Prior studies suggest that circulating fatty acids may influence the risk of atrial fibrillation (AF), but little is known about the associations of circulating saturated fatty acids with risk of AF.

METHODS AND RESULTS: The study population included 2899 participants from the Cardiovascular Health Study, a community-based longitudinal cohort of adults aged 65 years or older in the United States who were free of prevalent coronary heart disease and AF in 1992. Cox regression was used to assess the association of all the long-chain saturated fatty acids-palmitic acid (16:0), stearic acid (18:0), arachidic acid (20:0), behenic acid (22:0), and lignoceric acid (24:0)-with incident AF. During a median of 11.2 years of follow-up, 707 cases of incident AF occurred. After adjustment for other AF risk factors, higher levels of circulating 16:0 were associated with a higher risk of AF (hazard ratio comparing highest and lowest quartiles: 1.48; 95\% CI: 1.18, 1.86). In contrast, higher levels of circulating 18:0, 20:0, 22:0, and 24:0 were each associated with a lower risk of AF. The hazard ratios (95\% CI) for AF in the top and bottom quartiles were 0.76 (95\% CI: 0.61, 0.95) for 18:0; 0.78 (95\% CI: 0.63, 0.97) for 20:0; 0.62 (95\% CI: 0.50, 0.78) for 22:0; and 0.68 (95\% CI: 0.55, 0.85) for 24:0.

CONCLUSIONS: Results from this prospective cohort study of older adults demonstrate divergent associations of circulating 16:0 versus longer-chain saturated fatty acids with incident AF, highlighting the need to investigate both determinants of these levels and potential pathways of the observed differential risk.

}, keywords = {Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Atrial Fibrillation, Eicosanoic Acids, Fatty Acids, Female, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Palmitic Acid, Phospholipids, Proportional Hazards Models, Prospective Studies, Risk Factors, Stearic Acids, United States}, issn = {2047-9980}, doi = {10.1161/JAHA.114.000889}, author = {Fretts, Amanda M and Mozaffarian, Dariush and Siscovick, David S and Djouss{\'e}, Luc and Heckbert, Susan R and King, Irena B and McKnight, Barbara and Sitlani, Colleen and Sacks, Frank M and Song, Xiaoling and Sotoodehnia, Nona and Spiegelman, Donna and Wallace, Erin R and Lemaitre, Rozenn N} } @article {6579, title = {Sequence variation in TMEM18 in association with body mass index: Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) Consortium Targeted Sequencing Study.}, journal = {Circ Cardiovasc Genet}, volume = {7}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Jun}, pages = {344-9}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Genome-wide association studies for body mass index (BMI) previously identified a locus near TMEM18. We conducted targeted sequencing of this region to investigate the role of common, low-frequency, and rare variants influencing BMI.

METHODS AND RESULTS: We sequenced TMEM18 and regions downstream of TMEM18 on chromosome 2 in 3976 individuals of European ancestry from 3 community-based cohorts (Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities, Cardiovascular Health Study, and Framingham Heart Study), including 200 adults selected for high BMI. We examined the association between BMI and variants identified in the region from nucleotide position 586 432 to 677 539 (hg18). Rare variants (minor allele frequency, <1\%) were analyzed using a burden test and the sequence kernel association test. Results from the 3 cohort studies were meta-analyzed. We estimate that mean BMI is 0.43 kg/m(2) higher for each copy of the G allele of single-nucleotide polymorphism rs7596758 (minor allele frequency, 29\%; P=3.46{\texttimes}10(-4)) using a Bonferroni threshold of P<4.6{\texttimes}10(-4). Analyses conditional on previous genome-wide association study single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with BMI in the region led to attenuation of this signal and uncovered another independent (r(2)<0.2), statistically significant association, rs186019316 (P=2.11{\texttimes}10(-4)). Both rs186019316 and rs7596758 or proxies are located in transcription factor binding regions. No significant association with rare variants was found in either the exons of TMEM18 or the 3{\textquoteright} genome-wide association study region.

CONCLUSIONS: Targeted sequencing around TMEM18 identified 2 novel BMI variants with possible regulatory function.

}, keywords = {Adult, Aged, Aging, Body Mass Index, Cohort Studies, Female, Genetic Association Studies, Genetic Variation, Genome-Wide Association Study, Genomics, Heart Diseases, Humans, Male, Membrane Proteins, Middle Aged, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Young Adult}, issn = {1942-3268}, doi = {10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.13.000067}, author = {Liu, Ching-Ti and Young, Kristin L and Brody, Jennifer A and Olden, Matthias and Wojczynski, Mary K and Heard-Costa, Nancy and Li, Guo and Morrison, Alanna C and Muzny, Donna and Gibbs, Richard A and Reid, Jeffrey G and Shao, Yaming and Zhou, Yanhua and Boerwinkle, Eric and Heiss, Gerardo and Wagenknecht, Lynne and McKnight, Barbara and Borecki, Ingrid B and Fox, Caroline S and North, Kari E and Cupples, L Adrienne} } @article {6578, title = {Strategies to design and analyze targeted sequencing data: cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) Consortium Targeted Sequencing Study.}, journal = {Circ Cardiovasc Genet}, volume = {7}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Jun}, pages = {335-43}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Genome-wide association studies have identified thousands of genetic variants that influence a variety of diseases and health-related quantitative traits. However, the causal variants underlying the majority of genetic associations remain unknown. Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) Consortium Targeted Sequencing Study aims to follow up genome-wide association study signals and identify novel associations of the allelic spectrum of identified variants with cardiovascular-related traits.

METHODS AND RESULTS: The study included 4231 participants from 3 CHARGE cohorts: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study, the Cardiovascular Health Study, and the Framingham Heart Study. We used a case-cohort design in which we selected both a random sample of participants and participants with extreme phenotypes for each of 14 traits. We sequenced and analyzed 77 genomic loci, which had previously been associated with >=1 of 14 phenotypes. A total of 52 736 variants were characterized by sequencing and passed our stringent quality control criteria. For common variants (minor allele frequency >=1\%), we performed unweighted regression analyses to obtain P values for associations and weighted regression analyses to obtain effect estimates that accounted for the sampling design. For rare variants, we applied 2 approaches: collapsed aggregate statistics and joint analysis of variants using the sequence kernel association test.

CONCLUSIONS: We sequenced 77 genomic loci in participants from 3 cohorts. We established a set of filters to identify high-quality variants and implemented statistical and bioinformatics strategies to analyze the sequence data and identify potentially functional variants within genome-wide association study loci.

}, keywords = {Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Aging, Cohort Studies, Female, Genetic Variation, Genome-Wide Association Study, Genomics, Heart Diseases, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Research Design, Sequence Analysis, DNA}, issn = {1942-3268}, doi = {10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.113.000350}, author = {Lin, Honghuang and Wang, Min and Brody, Jennifer A and Bis, Joshua C and Dupuis, Jos{\'e}e and Lumley, Thomas and McKnight, Barbara and Rice, Kenneth M and Sitlani, Colleen M and Reid, Jeffrey G and Bressler, Jan and Liu, Xiaoming and Davis, Brian C and Johnson, Andrew D and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J and Kovar, Christie L and Dinh, Huyen and Wu, Yuanqing and Newsham, Irene and Chen, Han and Broka, Andi and DeStefano, Anita L and Gupta, Mayetri and Lunetta, Kathryn L and Liu, Ching-Ti and White, Charles C and Xing, Chuanhua and Zhou, Yanhua and Benjamin, Emelia J and Schnabel, Renate B and Heckbert, Susan R and Psaty, Bruce M and Muzny, Donna M and Cupples, L Adrienne and Morrison, Alanna C and Boerwinkle, Eric} } @article {6149, title = {Targeted sequencing in candidate genes for atrial fibrillation: the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) Targeted Sequencing Study.}, journal = {Heart Rhythm}, volume = {11}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Mar}, pages = {452-7}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified common genetic variants that predispose to atrial fibrillation (AF). It is unclear whether rare and low-frequency variants in genes implicated by such GWAS confer additional risk of AF.

OBJECTIVE: To study the association of genetic variants with AF at GWAS top loci.

METHODS: In the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) Targeted Sequencing Study, we selected and sequenced 77 target gene regions from GWAS loci of complex diseases or traits, including 4 genes hypothesized to be related to AF (PRRX1, CAV1, CAV2, and ZFHX3). Sequencing was performed in participants with (n = 948) and without (n = 3330) AF from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study, the Cardiovascular Health Study, the Framingham Heart Study, and the Massachusetts General Hospital.

RESULTS: One common variant (rs11265611; P = 1.70 {\texttimes} 10(-6)) intronic to IL6R (interleukin-6 receptor gene) was significantly associated with AF after Bonferroni correction (odds ratio 0.70; 95\% confidence interval 0.58-0.85). The variant was not genotyped or imputed by prior GWAS, but it is in linkage disequilibrium (r(2) = .69) with the single-nucleotide polymorphism, with the strongest association with AF so far at this locus (rs4845625). In the rare variant joint analysis, damaging variants within the PRRX1 region showed significant association with AF after Bonferroni correction (P = .01).

CONCLUSIONS: We identified 1 common single-nucleotide polymorphism and 1 gene region that were significantly associated with AF. Future sequencing efforts with larger sample sizes and more comprehensive genome coverage are anticipated to identify additional AF-related variants.

}, keywords = {Aged, Atrial Fibrillation, Female, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genetic Variation, Genome-Wide Association Study, Homeodomain Proteins, Humans, Linkage Disequilibrium, Male, Middle Aged, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Receptors, Interleukin-6}, issn = {1556-3871}, doi = {10.1016/j.hrthm.2013.11.012}, author = {Lin, Honghuang and Sinner, Moritz F and Brody, Jennifer A and Arking, Dan E and Lunetta, Kathryn L and Rienstra, Michiel and Lubitz, Steven A and Magnani, Jared W and Sotoodehnia, Nona and McKnight, Barbara and McManus, David D and Boerwinkle, Eric and Psaty, Bruce M and Rotter, Jerome I and Bis, Joshua C and Gibbs, Richard A and Muzny, Donna and Kovar, Christie L and Morrison, Alanna C and Gupta, Mayetri and Folsom, Aaron R and K{\"a}{\"a}b, Stefan and Heckbert, Susan R and Alonso, Alvaro and Ellinor, Patrick T and Benjamin, Emelia J} } @article {6687, title = {Dietary fatty acids modulate associations between genetic variants and circulating fatty acids in plasma and erythrocyte membranes: Meta-analysis of nine studies in the CHARGE consortium.}, journal = {Mol Nutr Food Res}, volume = {59}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Jul}, pages = {1373-83}, abstract = {

SCOPE: Tissue concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids may reduce cardiovascular disease risk, and genetic variants are associated with circulating fatty acids concentrations. Whether dietary fatty acids interact with genetic variants to modify circulating omega-3 fatty acids is unclear. We evaluated interactions between genetic variants and fatty acid intakes for circulating alpha-linoleic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid, docosahexaenoic acid, and docosapentaenoic acid.

METHODS AND RESULTS: We conducted meta-analyses (N = 11~668) evaluating interactions between dietary fatty acids and genetic variants (rs174538 and rs174548 in FADS1 (fatty acid desaturase 1), rs7435 in AGPAT3 (1-acyl-sn-glycerol-3-phosphate), rs4985167 in PDXDC1 (pyridoxal-dependent decarboxylase domain-containing 1), rs780094 in GCKR (glucokinase regulatory protein), and rs3734398 in ELOVL2 (fatty acid elongase 2)). Stratification by measurement compartment (plasma versus erthyrocyte) revealed compartment-specific interactions between FADS1 rs174538 and rs174548 and dietary alpha-linolenic acid and linoleic acid for docosahexaenoic acid and docosapentaenoic acid.

CONCLUSION: Our findings reinforce earlier reports that genetically based differences in circulating fatty acids may be partially due to differences in the conversion of fatty acid precursors. Further, fatty acids measurement compartment may modify gene-diet relationships, and considering compartment may improve the detection of gene-fatty acids interactions for circulating fatty acid outcomes.

}, keywords = {Acetyltransferases, Acyltransferases, Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing, Carboxy-Lyases, Diet, Docosahexaenoic Acids, Eicosapentaenoic Acid, Erythrocyte Membrane, Fatty Acid Desaturases, Fatty Acids, Fatty Acids, Omega-3, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide}, issn = {1613-4133}, doi = {10.1002/mnfr.201400734}, author = {Smith, Caren E and Follis, Jack L and Nettleton, Jennifer A and Foy, Millennia and Wu, Jason H Y and Ma, Yiyi and Tanaka, Toshiko and Manichakul, Ani W and Wu, Hongyu and Chu, Audrey Y and Steffen, Lyn M and Fornage, Myriam and Mozaffarian, Dariush and Kabagambe, Edmond K and Ferruci, Luigi and Chen, Yii-Der Ida and Rich, Stephen S and Djouss{\'e}, Luc and Ridker, Paul M and Tang, Weihong and McKnight, Barbara and Tsai, Michael Y and Bandinelli, Stefania and Rotter, Jerome I and Hu, Frank B and Chasman, Daniel I and Psaty, Bruce M and Arnett, Donna K and King, Irena B and Sun, Qi and Wang, Lu and Lumley, Thomas and Chiuve, Stephanie E and Siscovick, David S and Ordovas, Jose M and Lemaitre, Rozenn N} } @article {6602, title = {Generalized estimating equations for genome-wide association studies using longitudinal phenotype data.}, journal = {Stat Med}, volume = {34}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Jan 15}, pages = {118-30}, abstract = {

Many longitudinal cohort studies have both genome-wide measures of genetic variation and repeated measures of phenotypes and environmental exposures. Genome-wide association study analyses have typically used only cross-sectional data to evaluate quantitative phenotypes and binary traits. Incorporation of repeated measures may increase power to detect associations, but also requires specialized analysis methods. Here, we discuss one such method-generalized estimating equations (GEE)-in the contexts of analysis of main effects of rare genetic variants and analysis of gene-environment interactions. We illustrate the potential for increased power using GEE analyses instead of cross-sectional analyses. We also address challenges that arise, such as the need for small-sample corrections when the minor allele frequency of a genetic variant and/or the prevalence of an environmental exposure is low. To illustrate methods for detection of gene-drug interactions on a genome-wide scale, using repeated measures data, we conduct single-study analyses and meta-analyses across studies in three large cohort studies participating in the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology consortium-the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study, the Cardiovascular Health Study, and the Rotterdam Study.

}, keywords = {Aged, Aging, Cardiovascular Diseases, Cohort Studies, Computer Simulation, Cross-Sectional Studies, Epidemiologic Research Design, Gene-Environment Interaction, Genetic Variation, Genome, Human, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Meta-Analysis as Topic, Models, Genetic, Pharmacogenetics, Risk Assessment, United States}, issn = {1097-0258}, doi = {10.1002/sim.6323}, author = {Sitlani, Colleen M and Rice, Kenneth M and Lumley, Thomas and McKnight, Barbara and Cupples, L Adrienne and Avery, Christy L and Noordam, Raymond and Stricker, Bruno H C and Whitsel, Eric A and Psaty, Bruce M} } @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 {6685, title = {Genetic loci associated with circulating phospholipid trans fatty acids: a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies from the CHARGE Consortium.}, journal = {Am J Clin Nutr}, volume = {101}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Feb}, pages = {398-406}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Circulating trans fatty acids (TFAs), which cannot be synthesized by humans, are linked to adverse health outcomes. Although TFAs are obtained from diet, little is known about subsequent influences (e.g., relating to incorporation, metabolism, or intercompetition with other fatty acids) that could alter circulating concentrations and possibly modulate or mediate impacts on health.

OBJECTIVE: The objective was to elucidate novel biologic pathways that may influence circulating TFAs by evaluating associations between common genetic variation and TFA biomarkers.

DESIGN: We performed meta-analyses using 7 cohorts of European-ancestry participants (n = 8013) having measured genome-wide variation in single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and circulating TFA biomarkers (erythrocyte or plasma phospholipids), including trans-16:1n-7, total trans-18:1, trans/cis-18:2, cis/trans-18:2, and trans/trans-18:2. We further evaluated SNPs with genome-wide significant associations among African Americans (n = 1082), Chinese Americans (n = 669), and Hispanic Americans (n = 657) from 2 of these cohorts.

RESULTS: Among European-ancestry participants, 31 SNPs in or near the fatty acid desaturase (FADS) 1 and 2 cluster were associated with cis/trans-18:2; a top hit was rs174548 (β = 0.0035, P = 4.90 {\texttimes} 10(-15)), an SNP previously associated with circulating n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid concentrations. No significant association was identified for other TFAs. rs174548 in FADS1/2 was also associated with cis/trans-18:2 in Hispanic Americans (β = 0.0053, P = 1.05 {\texttimes} 10(-6)) and Chinese Americans (β = 0.0028, P = 0.002) but not African Americans (β = 0.0009, P = 0.34); however, in African Americans, fine mapping identified a top hit in FADS2 associated with cis/trans-18:2 (rs174579: β = 0.0118, P = 4.05 {\texttimes} 10(-5)). The association between rs174548 and cis/trans-18:2 remained significant after further adjustment for individual circulating n-3 and n-6 fatty acids, except arachidonic acid. After adjustment for arachidonic acid concentrations, the association between rs174548 and cis/trans-18:2 was nearly eliminated in European-ancestry participants (β-coefficient reduced by 86\%), with similar reductions in Hispanic Americans and Chinese Americans.

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide novel evidence for genetic regulation of cis/trans-18:2 by the FADS1/2 cluster and suggest that this regulation may be influenced/mediated by concentrations of arachidonic acid, an n-6 polyunsaturated fat.

}, keywords = {African Americans, Arachidonic Acid, Asian Americans, Biomarkers, European Continental Ancestry Group, Fatty Acids, Omega-6, Gene Frequency, Genetic Association Studies, Genetic Loci, Genotyping Techniques, Humans, Phospholipids, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Trans Fatty Acids}, issn = {1938-3207}, doi = {10.3945/ajcn.114.094557}, author = {Mozaffarian, Dariush and Kabagambe, Edmond K and Johnson, Catherine O and Lemaitre, Rozenn N and Manichaikul, Ani and Sun, Qi and Foy, Millennia and Wang, Lu and Wiener, Howard and Irvin, Marguerite R and Rich, Stephen S and Wu, Hongyu and Jensen, Majken K and Chasman, Daniel I and Chu, Audrey Y and Fornage, Myriam and Steffen, Lyn and King, Irena B and McKnight, Barbara and Psaty, Bruce M and Djouss{\'e}, Luc and Chen, Ida Y-D and Wu, Jason H Y and Siscovick, David S and Ridker, Paul M and Tsai, Michael Y and Rimm, Eric B and Hu, Frank B and Arnett, Donna K} } @article {6663, title = {Plasma phospholipid very-long-chain saturated fatty acids and incident diabetes in older adults: the Cardiovascular Health Study.}, journal = {Am J Clin Nutr}, volume = {101}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 May}, pages = {1047-54}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Circulating saturated fatty acids (SFAs) are integrated biomarkers of diet and metabolism that may influence the pathogenesis of diabetes. In epidemiologic studies, circulating levels of palmitic acid (16:0) are associated with diabetes; however, very-long-chain SFAs (VLSFAs), with 20 or more carbons, differ from palmitic acid in their biological activities, and little is known of the association of circulating VLSFA with diabetes.

OBJECTIVE: By using data from the Cardiovascular Health Study, we examined the associations of plasma phospholipid VLSFA levels measured at baseline with subsequent incident diabetes.

DESIGN: A total of 3179 older adults, with a mean age of 75 y at study baseline (1992-1993), were followed through 2011. We used multiple proportional hazards regression to examine the associations of arachidic acid (20:0), behenic acid (22:0), and lignoceric acid (24:0) with diabetes.

RESULTS: Baseline levels of each VLSFA were cross-sectionally associated with lower triglyceride levels and lower circulating palmitic acid. We identified 284 incident diabetes cases during follow-up. Compared with the lowest quartile, levels of arachidic acid in the highest quartile of the fatty acid distribution were associated with a 47\% lower risk of diabetes (95\% CI: 23\%, 63\%; P-trend: <0.001), after adjustment for demographics, lifestyle factors, and clinical conditions. In analogous comparisons, levels of behenic and lignoceric acid were similarly associated with 33\% (95\% CI: 6\%, 53\%; P-trend: 0.02) and 37\% (95\% CI: 11\%, 55\%; P-trend: 0.01) lower diabetes risk, respectively. Adjustment for triglycerides and palmitic acid attenuated the associations toward the null, and only the association of arachidic acid remained statistically significant (32\% lower risk for fourth vs. first quartile; P-trend: 0.04).

CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that circulating VLSFAs are associated with a lower risk of diabetes, and these associations may be mediated by lower triglycerides and palmitic acid. The study highlights the need to distinguish the effects of different SFAs and to explore determinants of circulating VLSFAs. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00005133.

}, keywords = {Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Biomarkers, Cross-Sectional Studies, Diabetes Mellitus, Diet, Eicosanoic Acids, Fatty Acids, Fatty Acids, Nonesterified, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Incidence, Male, Observational Studies as Topic, Palmitic Acid, Phospholipids, Prospective Studies, Risk Factors, Triglycerides}, issn = {1938-3207}, doi = {10.3945/ajcn.114.101857}, author = {Lemaitre, Rozenn N and Fretts, Amanda M and Sitlani, Colleen M and Biggs, Mary L and Mukamal, Kenneth and King, Irena B and Song, Xiaoling and Djouss{\'e}, Luc and Siscovick, David S and McKnight, Barbara and Sotoodehnia, Nona and Kizer, Jorge R and Mozaffarian, Dariush} } @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 {6561, title = {Variation in resting heart rate over 4 years and the risks of myocardial infarction and death among older adults.}, journal = {Heart}, volume = {101}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Jan}, pages = {132-8}, abstract = {

OBJECTIVE: Resting heart rate (RHR) is an established predictor of myocardial infarction (MI) and mortality, but the relationship between variation in RHR over a period of several years and health outcomes is unclear. We evaluated the relationship between long-term variation in RHR and the risks of incident MI and mortality among older adults.

METHODS: 1991 subjects without cardiovascular disease from the Cardiovascular Health Study were included. RHR was taken from resting ECGs at the first five annual study visits. RHR mean, trend and variation were estimated with linear regression. Subjects were followed for incident MI and death until December 2010. HRs for RHR mean, trend and variation are reported for differences of 10 bpm, 2 bpm/year and 2 bpm, respectively.

RESULTS: 262 subjects had an incident MI event (13\%) and 1326 died (67\%) during 12 years of median follow-up. In primary analyses adjusted for cardiovascular risk factors, RHR mean (HR 1.12; 95\% CI 1.05 to 1.20) and variation (HR 1.08; 95\% CI 1.03 to 1.13) were associated with the risk of death while trend was not. None of the RHR variables were significantly associated with the risk of incident MI events; however, CIs were wide and the MI associations with RHR variables were not significantly different from the mortality associations. Adjusting for additional variables did not affect estimates, and there were no significant interactions with sex.

CONCLUSIONS: Variation in RHR over a period of several years represents a potential predictor of long-term mortality among older persons free of cardiovascular disease.

}, keywords = {Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Cause of Death, Electrocardiography, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Heart Rate, Humans, Incidence, Linear Models, Male, Myocardial Infarction, Outcome Assessment (Health Care), Prognosis, Proportional Hazards Models, Prospective Studies, Rest, Risk Factors, Time, Washington}, issn = {1468-201X}, doi = {10.1136/heartjnl-2014-306046}, author = {Floyd, James S and Sitlani, Colleen M and Wiggins, Kerri L and Wallace, Erin and Suchy-Dicey, Astrid and Abbasi, Siddique A and Carnethon, Mercedes R and Siscovick, David S and Sotoodehnia, Nona and Heckbert, Susan R and McKnight, Barbara and Rice, Kenneth M and Psaty, Bruce M} } @article {6929, title = {Associations of Plasma Phospholipid SFAs with Total and Cause-Specific Mortality in Older Adults Differ According to SFA Chain Length.}, journal = {J Nutr}, volume = {146}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Feb}, pages = {298-305}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Not much is known about the relations of circulating saturated fatty acids (SFAs), which are influenced by both metabolic and dietary determinants, with total and cause-specific mortality.

OBJECTIVE: We examined the associations of plasma phospholipid SFAs with total and cause-specific mortality among 3941 older adults from the Cardiovascular Health Study, a population-based prospective study of adults aged >=65 y who were followed from 1992 through 2011.

METHODS: The relations of total and cause-specific mortality with plasma phospholipid palmitic acid (16:0), stearic acid (18:0), arachidic acid (20:0), behenic acid (22:0), and lignoceric acid (24:0) were assessed using Cox proportional hazards models.

RESULTS: During 45,450 person-years of follow-up, 3134 deaths occurred. Higher concentrations of the plasma phospholipid SFAs 18:0, 22:0, and 24:0 were associated with a lower risk of total mortality [multivariable-adjusted HRs (95\% CIs)] for the top compared with the bottom quintile: 0.85 (0.75, 0.95) for 18:0; 0.85 (0.75, 0.95) for 22:0; and 0.80 (0.71, 0.90) for 24:0. In contrast, plasma 16:0 concentrations in the highest quintile were associated with a higher risk of total mortality compared with concentrations in the lowest quintile [1.25 (1.11, 1.41)]. We also found no association of plasma phospholipid 20:0 with total mortality.

CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that the associations of plasma phospholipid SFAs with the risk of death differ according to SFA chain length and support future studies to better characterize the determinants of circulating SFAs and to explore the mechanisms underlying these relations.

}, keywords = {Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Cause of Death, Diet, Dietary Fats, Eicosanoic Acids, Fatty Acids, Female, Humans, Male, Mortality, Palmitic Acid, Phospholipids, Prospective Studies, Risk Factors, Stearic Acids}, issn = {1541-6100}, doi = {10.3945/jn.115.222117}, author = {Fretts, Amanda M and Mozaffarian, Dariush and Siscovick, David S and King, Irena B and McKnight, Barbara and Psaty, Bruce M and Rimm, Eric B and Sitlani, Colleen and Sacks, Frank M and Song, Xiaoling and Sotoodehnia, Nona and Spiegelman, Donna and Lemaitre, Rozenn N} } @article {6951, title = {Interaction of methylation-related genetic variants with circulating fatty acids on plasma lipids: a meta-analysis of 7 studies and methylation analysis of 3 studies in the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology consortium.}, journal = {Am J Clin Nutr}, volume = {103}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Feb}, pages = {567-78}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: DNA methylation is influenced by diet and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and methylation modulates gene expression.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to explore whether the gene-by-diet interactions on blood lipids act through DNA methylation.

DESIGN: We selected 7 SNPs on the basis of predicted relations in fatty acids, methylation, and lipids. We conducted a meta-analysis and a methylation and mediation analysis with the use of data from the CHARGE (Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology) consortium and the ENCODE (Encyclopedia of DNA Elements) consortium.

RESULTS: On the basis of the meta-analysis of 7 cohorts in the CHARGE consortium, higher plasma HDL cholesterol was associated with fewer C alleles at ATP-binding cassette subfamily A member 1 (ABCA1) rs2246293 (β = -0.6 mg/dL, P = 0.015) and higher circulating eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) (β = 3.87 mg/dL, P = 5.62 {\texttimes} 10(21)). The difference in HDL cholesterol associated with higher circulating EPA was dependent on genotypes at rs2246293, and it was greater for each additional C allele (β = 1.69 mg/dL, P = 0.006). In the GOLDN (Genetics of Lipid Lowering Drugs and Diet Network) study, higher ABCA1 promoter cg14019050 methylation was associated with more C alleles at rs2246293 (β = 8.84\%, P = 3.51 {\texttimes} 10(18)) and lower circulating EPA (β = -1.46\%, P = 0.009), and the mean difference in methylation of cg14019050 that was associated with higher EPA was smaller with each additional C allele of rs2246293 (β = -2.83\%, P = 0.007). Higher ABCA1 cg14019050 methylation was correlated with lower ABCA1 expression (r = -0.61, P = 0.009) in the ENCODE consortium and lower plasma HDL cholesterol in the GOLDN study (r = -0.12, P = 0.0002). An additional mediation analysis was meta-analyzed across the GOLDN study, Cardiovascular Health Study, and the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. Compared with the model without the adjustment of cg14019050 methylation, the model with such adjustment provided smaller estimates of the mean plasma HDL cholesterol concentration in association with both the rs2246293 C allele and EPA and a smaller difference by rs2246293 genotypes in the EPA-associated HDL cholesterol. However, the differences between 2 nested models were NS (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSION: We obtained little evidence that the gene-by-fatty acid interactions on blood lipids act through DNA methylation.

}, keywords = {Apolipoproteins E, ATP Binding Cassette Transporter 1, Cholesterol, HDL, Cohort Studies, Diet, DNA Methylation, Eicosapentaenoic Acid, Epigenesis, Genetic, Fatty Acids, Gene Expression Regulation, Humans, Lipids, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Promoter Regions, Genetic, Triglycerides}, issn = {1938-3207}, doi = {10.3945/ajcn.115.112987}, author = {Ma, Yiyi and Follis, Jack L and Smith, Caren E and Tanaka, Toshiko and Manichaikul, Ani W and Chu, Audrey Y and Samieri, Cecilia and Zhou, Xia and Guan, Weihua and Wang, Lu and Biggs, Mary L and Chen, Yii-der I and Hernandez, Dena G and Borecki, Ingrid and Chasman, Daniel I and Rich, Stephen S and Ferrucci, Luigi and Irvin, Marguerite Ryan and Aslibekyan, Stella and Zhi, Degui and Tiwari, Hemant K and Claas, Steven A and Sha, Jin and Kabagambe, Edmond K and Lai, Chao-Qiang and Parnell, Laurence D and Lee, Yu-Chi and Amouyel, Philippe and Lambert, Jean-Charles and Psaty, Bruce M and King, Irena B and Mozaffarian, Dariush and McKnight, Barbara and Bandinelli, Stefania and Tsai, Michael Y and Ridker, Paul M and Ding, Jingzhong and Mstat, Kurt Lohmant and Liu, Yongmei and Sotoodehnia, Nona and Barberger-Gateau, Pascale and Steffen, Lyn M and Siscovick, David S and Absher, Devin and Arnett, Donna K and Ordovas, Jose M and Lemaitre, Rozenn N} } @article {6936, title = {A meta-analysis of 120 246 individuals identifies 18 new loci for fibrinogen concentration.}, journal = {Hum Mol Genet}, volume = {25}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Jan 15}, pages = {358-70}, abstract = {

Genome-wide association studies have previously identified 23 genetic loci associated with circulating fibrinogen concentration. These studies used HapMap imputation and did not examine the X-chromosome. 1000 Genomes imputation provides better coverage of uncommon variants, and includes indels. We conducted a genome-wide association analysis of 34 studies imputed to the 1000 Genomes Project reference panel and including \~{}120 000 participants of European ancestry (95 806 participants with data on the X-chromosome). Approximately 10.7 million single-nucleotide polymorphisms and 1.2 million indels were examined. We identified 41 genome-wide significant fibrinogen loci; of which, 18 were newly identified. There were no genome-wide significant signals on the X-chromosome. The lead variants of five significant loci were indels. We further identified six additional independent signals, including three rare variants, at two previously characterized loci: FGB and IRF1. Together the 41 loci explain 3\% of the variance in plasma fibrinogen concentration.

}, issn = {1460-2083}, doi = {10.1093/hmg/ddv454}, author = {de Vries, Paul S and Chasman, Daniel I and Sabater-Lleal, Maria and Chen, Ming-Huei and Huffman, Jennifer E and Steri, Maristella and Tang, Weihong and Teumer, Alexander and Marioni, Riccardo E and Grossmann, Vera and Hottenga, Jouke J and Trompet, Stella and M{\"u}ller-Nurasyid, Martina and Zhao, Jing Hua and Brody, Jennifer A and Kleber, Marcus E and Guo, Xiuqing and Wang, Jie Jin and Auer, Paul L and Attia, John R and Yanek, Lisa R and Ahluwalia, Tarunveer S and Lahti, Jari and Venturini, Cristina and Tanaka, Toshiko and Bielak, Lawrence F and Joshi, Peter K and Rocanin-Arjo, Ares and Kolcic, Ivana and Navarro, Pau and Rose, Lynda M and Oldmeadow, Christopher and Riess, Helene and Mazur, Johanna and Basu, Saonli and Goel, Anuj and Yang, Qiong and Ghanbari, Mohsen and Willemsen, Gonneke and Rumley, Ann and Fiorillo, Edoardo and de Craen, Anton J M and Grotevendt, Anne and Scott, Robert and Taylor, Kent D and Delgado, Graciela E and Yao, Jie and Kifley, Annette and Kooperberg, Charles and Qayyum, Rehan and Lopez, Lorna M and Berentzen, Tina L and R{\"a}ikk{\"o}nen, Katri and Mangino, Massimo and Bandinelli, Stefania and Peyser, Patricia A and Wild, Sarah and Tr{\'e}gou{\"e}t, David-Alexandre and Wright, Alan F and Marten, Jonathan and Zemunik, Tatijana and Morrison, Alanna C and Sennblad, Bengt and Tofler, Geoffrey and de Maat, Moniek P M and de Geus, Eco J C and Lowe, Gordon D and Zoledziewska, Magdalena and Sattar, Naveed and Binder, Harald and V{\"o}lker, Uwe and Waldenberger, Melanie and Khaw, Kay-Tee and McKnight, Barbara and Huang, Jie and Jenny, Nancy S and Holliday, Elizabeth G and Qi, Lihong and Mcevoy, Mark G and Becker, Diane M and Starr, John M and Sarin, Antti-Pekka and Hysi, Pirro G and Hernandez, Dena G and Jhun, Min A and Campbell, Harry and Hamsten, Anders and Rivadeneira, Fernando and McArdle, Wendy L and Slagboom, P Eline and Zeller, Tanja and Koenig, Wolfgang and Psaty, Bruce M and Haritunians, Talin and Liu, Jingmin and Palotie, Aarno and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Stott, David J and Hofman, Albert and Franco, Oscar H and Polasek, Ozren and Rudan, Igor and Morange, Pierre-Emmanuel and Wilson, James F and Kardia, Sharon L R and Ferrucci, Luigi and Spector, Tim D and Eriksson, Johan G and Hansen, Torben and Deary, Ian J and Becker, Lewis C and Scott, Rodney J and Mitchell, Paul and M{\"a}rz, Winfried and Wareham, Nick J and Peters, Annette and Greinacher, Andreas and Wild, Philipp S and Jukema, J Wouter and Boomsma, Dorret I and Hayward, Caroline and Cucca, Francesco and Tracy, Russell and Watkins, Hugh and Reiner, Alex P and Folsom, Aaron R and Ridker, Paul M and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J and Smith, Nicholas L and Strachan, David P and Dehghan, Abbas} } @article {6900, title = {Novel Genetic Loci Associated With Retinal Microvascular Diameter.}, journal = {Circ Cardiovasc Genet}, volume = {9}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Feb}, pages = {45-54}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: There is increasing evidence that retinal microvascular diameters are associated with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular conditions. The shared genetic effects of these associations are currently unknown. The aim of this study was to increase our understanding of the genetic factors that mediate retinal vessel size.

METHODS AND RESULTS: This study extends previous genome-wide association study results using 24 000+ multiethnic participants from 7 discovery cohorts and 5000+ subjects of European ancestry from 2 replication cohorts. Using the Illumina HumanExome BeadChip, we investigate the association of single-nucleotide polymorphisms and variants collectively across genes with summary measures of retinal vessel diameters, referred to as the central retinal venule equivalent and the central retinal arteriole equivalent. We report 4 new loci associated with central retinal venule equivalent, one of which is also associated with central retinal arteriole equivalent. The 4 single-nucleotide polymorphisms are rs7926971 in TEAD1 (P=3.1{\texttimes}10(-) (11); minor allele frequency=0.43), rs201259422 in TSPAN10 (P=4.4{\texttimes}10(-9); minor allele frequency=0.27), rs5442 in GNB3 (P=7.0{\texttimes}10(-10); minor allele frequency=0.05), and rs1800407 in OCA2 (P=3.4{\texttimes}10(-8); minor allele frequency=0.05). The latter single-nucleotide polymorphism, rs1800407, was also associated with central retinal arteriole equivalent (P=6.5{\texttimes}10(-12)). Results from the gene-based burden tests were null. In phenotype look-ups, single-nucleotide polymorphism rs201255422 was associated with both systolic (P=0.001) and diastolic blood pressures (P=8.3{\texttimes}10(-04)).

CONCLUSIONS: Our study expands the understanding of genetic factors influencing the size of the retinal microvasculature. These findings may also provide insight into the relationship between retinal and systemic microvascular disease.

}, issn = {1942-3268}, doi = {10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.115.001142}, author = {Jensen, Richard A and Sim, Xueling and Smith, Albert Vernon and Li, Xiaohui and Jakobsdottir, Johanna and Cheng, Ching-Yu and Brody, Jennifer A and Cotch, Mary Frances and McKnight, Barbara and Klein, Ronald and Wang, Jie Jin and Kifley, Annette and Harris, Tamara B and Launer, Lenore J and Taylor, Kent D and Klein, Barbara E K and Raffel, Leslie J and Li, Xiang and Ikram, M Arfan and Klaver, Caroline C and van der Lee, Sven J and Mutlu, Unal and Hofman, Albert and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Liu, Chunyu and Kraja, Aldi T and Mitchell, Paul and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Rotter, Jerome I and Boerwinkle, Eric and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Psaty, Bruce M and Wong, Tien Y} } @article {8570, title = {A principal component meta-analysis on multiple anthropometric traits identifies novel loci for body shape.}, journal = {Nat Commun}, volume = {7}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 11 23}, pages = {13357}, abstract = {

Large consortia have revealed hundreds of genetic loci associated with anthropometric traits, one trait at a time. We examined whether genetic variants affect body shape as a composite phenotype that is represented by a combination of anthropometric traits. We developed an approach that calculates averaged PCs (AvPCs) representing body shape derived from six anthropometric traits (body mass index, height, weight, waist and hip circumference, waist-to-hip ratio). The first four AvPCs explain >99\% of the variability, are heritable, and associate with cardiometabolic outcomes. We performed genome-wide association analyses for each body shape composite phenotype across 65 studies and meta-analysed summary statistics. We identify six novel loci: LEMD2 and CD47 for AvPC1, RPS6KA5/C14orf159 and GANAB for AvPC3, and ARL15 and ANP32 for AvPC4. Our findings highlight the value of using multiple traits to define complex phenotypes for discovery, which are not captured by single-trait analyses, and may shed light onto new pathways.

}, keywords = {Anthropometry, Body Size, Genome-Wide Association Study, Genotype, Humans, Models, Genetic, Principal Component Analysis}, issn = {2041-1723}, doi = {10.1038/ncomms13357}, author = {Ried, Janina S and Jeff M, Janina and Chu, Audrey Y and Bragg-Gresham, Jennifer L and van Dongen, Jenny and Huffman, Jennifer E and Ahluwalia, Tarunveer S and Cadby, Gemma and Eklund, Niina and Eriksson, Joel and Esko, T{\~o}nu and Feitosa, Mary F and Goel, Anuj and Gorski, Mathias and Hayward, Caroline and Heard-Costa, Nancy L and Jackson, Anne U and Jokinen, Eero and Kanoni, Stavroula and Kristiansson, Kati and Kutalik, Zolt{\'a}n and Lahti, Jari and Luan, Jian{\textquoteright}an and M{\"a}gi, Reedik and Mahajan, Anubha and Mangino, Massimo and Medina-G{\'o}mez, Carolina and Monda, Keri L and Nolte, Ilja M and Perusse, Louis and Prokopenko, Inga and Qi, Lu and Rose, Lynda M and Salvi, Erika and Smith, Megan T and Snieder, Harold and Stan{\v c}{\'a}kov{\'a}, Alena and Ju Sung, Yun and Tachmazidou, Ioanna and Teumer, Alexander and Thorleifsson, Gudmar and van der Harst, Pim and Walker, Ryan W and Wang, Sophie R and Wild, Sarah H and Willems, Sara M and Wong, Andrew and Zhang, Weihua and Albrecht, Eva and Couto Alves, Alexessander and Bakker, Stephan J L and Barlassina, Cristina and Bartz, Traci M and Beilby, John and Bellis, Claire and Bergman, Richard N and Bergmann, Sven and Blangero, John and Bl{\"u}her, Matthias and Boerwinkle, Eric and Bonnycastle, Lori L and Bornstein, Stefan R and Bruinenberg, Marcel and Campbell, Harry and Chen, Yii-Der Ida and Chiang, Charleston W K and Chines, Peter S and Collins, Francis S and Cucca, Fracensco and Cupples, L Adrienne and D{\textquoteright}Avila, Francesca and de Geus, Eco J C and Dedoussis, George and Dimitriou, Maria and D{\"o}ring, Angela and Eriksson, Johan G and Farmaki, Aliki-Eleni and Farrall, Martin and Ferreira, Teresa and Fischer, Krista and Forouhi, Nita G and Friedrich, Nele and Gjesing, Anette Prior and Glorioso, Nicola and Graff, Mariaelisa and Grallert, Harald and Grarup, Niels and Gr{\"a}{\ss}ler, J{\"u}rgen and Grewal, Jagvir and Hamsten, Anders and Harder, Marie Neergaard and Hartman, Catharina A and Hassinen, Maija and Hastie, Nicholas and Hattersley, Andrew Tym and Havulinna, Aki S and Heli{\"o}vaara, Markku and Hillege, Hans and Hofman, Albert and Holmen, Oddgeir and Homuth, Georg and Hottenga, Jouke-Jan and Hui, Jennie and Husemoen, Lise Lotte and Hysi, Pirro G and Isaacs, Aaron and Ittermann, Till and Jalilzadeh, Shapour and James, Alan L and J{\o}rgensen, Torben and Jousilahti, Pekka and Jula, Antti and Marie Justesen, Johanne and Justice, Anne E and K{\"a}h{\"o}nen, Mika and Karaleftheri, Maria and Tee Khaw, Kay and Keinanen-Kiukaanniemi, Sirkka M and Kinnunen, Leena and Knekt, Paul B and Koistinen, Heikki A and Kolcic, Ivana and Kooner, Ishminder K and Koskinen, Seppo and Kovacs, Peter and Kyriakou, Theodosios and Laitinen, Tomi and Langenberg, Claudia and Lewin, Alexandra M and Lichtner, Peter and Lindgren, Cecilia M and Lindstr{\"o}m, Jaana and Linneberg, Allan and Lorbeer, Roberto and Lorentzon, Mattias and Luben, Robert and Lyssenko, Valeriya and M{\"a}nnist{\"o}, Satu and Manunta, Paolo and Leach, Irene Mateo and McArdle, Wendy L and McKnight, Barbara and Mohlke, Karen L and Mihailov, Evelin and Milani, Lili and Mills, Rebecca and Montasser, May E and Morris, Andrew P and M{\"u}ller, Gabriele and Musk, Arthur W and Narisu, Narisu and Ong, Ken K and Oostra, Ben A and Osmond, Clive and Palotie, Aarno and Pankow, James S and Paternoster, Lavinia and Penninx, Brenda W and Pichler, Irene and Pilia, Maria G and Polasek, Ozren and Pramstaller, Peter P and Raitakari, Olli T and Rankinen, Tuomo and Rao, D C and Rayner, Nigel W and Ribel-Madsen, Rasmus and Rice, Treva K and Richards, Marcus and Ridker, Paul M and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Ryan, Kathy A and Sanna, Serena and Sarzynski, Mark A and Scholtens, Salome and Scott, Robert A and Sebert, Sylvain and Southam, Lorraine and Spars{\o}, Thomas Hempel and Steinthorsdottir, Valgerdur and Stirrups, Kathleen and Stolk, Ronald P and Strauch, Konstantin and Stringham, Heather M and Swertz, Morris A and Swift, Amy J and T{\"o}njes, Anke and Tsafantakis, Emmanouil and van der Most, Peter J and van Vliet-Ostaptchouk, Jana V and Vandenput, Liesbeth and Vartiainen, Erkki and Venturini, Cristina and Verweij, Niek and Viikari, Jorma S and Vitart, Veronique and Vohl, Marie-Claude and Vonk, Judith M and Waeber, G{\'e}rard and Widen, Elisabeth and Willemsen, Gonneke and Wilsgaard, Tom and Winkler, Thomas W and Wright, Alan F and Yerges-Armstrong, Laura M and Hua Zhao, Jing and Zillikens, M Carola and Boomsma, Dorret I and Bouchard, Claude and Chambers, John C and Chasman, Daniel I and Cusi, Daniele and Gansevoort, Ron T and Gieger, Christian and Hansen, Torben and Hicks, Andrew A and Hu, Frank and Hveem, Kristian and Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta and Kajantie, Eero and Kooner, Jaspal S and Kuh, Diana and Kuusisto, Johanna and Laakso, Markku and Lakka, Timo A and Lehtim{\"a}ki, Terho and Metspalu, Andres and Nj{\o}lstad, Inger and Ohlsson, Claes and Oldehinkel, Albertine J and Palmer, Lyle J and Pedersen, Oluf and Perola, Markus and Peters, Annette and Psaty, Bruce M and Puolijoki, Hannu and Rauramaa, Rainer and Rudan, Igor and Salomaa, Veikko and Schwarz, Peter E H and Shudiner, Alan R and Smit, Jan H and S{\o}rensen, Thorkild I A and Spector, Timothy D and Stefansson, Kari and Stumvoll, Michael and Tremblay, Angelo and Tuomilehto, Jaakko and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Uusitupa, Matti and V{\"o}lker, Uwe and Vollenweider, Peter and Wareham, Nicholas J and Watkins, Hugh and Wilson, James F and Zeggini, Eleftheria and Abecasis, Goncalo R and Boehnke, Michael and Borecki, Ingrid B and Deloukas, Panos and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Fox, Caroline and Groop, Leif C and Heid, Iris M and Hunter, David J and Kaplan, Robert C and McCarthy, Mark I and North, Kari E and O{\textquoteright}Connell, Jeffrey R and Schlessinger, David and Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur and Strachan, David P and Frayling, Timothy and Hirschhorn, Joel N and M{\"u}ller-Nurasyid, Martina and Loos, Ruth J F} } @article {6932, title = {Study of Cardiovascular Health Outcomes in the Era of Claims Data: The Cardiovascular Health Study.}, journal = {Circulation}, volume = {133}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Jan 12}, pages = {156-64}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Increasingly, the diagnostic codes from administrative claims data are being used as clinical outcomes.

METHODS AND RESULTS: Data from the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS) were used to compare event rates and risk factor associations between adjudicated hospitalized cardiovascular events and claims-based methods of defining events. The outcomes of myocardial infarction (MI), stroke, and heart failure were defined in 3 ways: the CHS adjudicated event (CHS[adj]), selected International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Edition diagnostic codes only in the primary position for Medicare claims data from the Center for Medicare \& Medicaid Services (CMS[1st]), and the same selected diagnostic codes in any position (CMS[any]). Conventional claims-based methods of defining events had high positive predictive values but low sensitivities. For instance, the positive predictive value of International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Edition code 410.x1 for a new acute MI in the first position was 90.6\%, but this code identified only 53.8\% of incident MIs. The observed event rates for CMS[1st] were low. For MI, the incidence was 14.9 events per 1000 person-years for CHS[adj] MI, 8.6 for CMS[1st] MI, and 12.2 for CMS[any] MI. In general, cardiovascular disease risk factor associations were similar across the 3 methods of defining events. Indeed, traditional cardiovascular disease risk factors were also associated with all first hospitalizations not resulting from an MI.

CONCLUSIONS: The use of diagnostic codes from claims data as clinical events, especially when restricted to primary diagnoses, leads to an underestimation of event rates. Additionally, claims-based events data represent a composite end point that includes the outcome of interest and selected (misclassified) nonevent hospitalizations.

}, keywords = {Blood Glucose, Cardiovascular Diseases, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Health Surveys, Hospitalization, Hospitals, Veterans, Humans, Insurance Claim Review, International Classification of Diseases, Lipids, Male, Managed Care Programs, Medicare, Risk Factors, Sampling Studies, Treatment Outcome, United States}, issn = {1524-4539}, doi = {10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.115.018610}, author = {Psaty, Bruce M and Delaney, Joseph A and Arnold, Alice M and Curtis, Lesley H and Fitzpatrick, Annette L and Heckbert, Susan R and McKnight, Barbara and Ives, Diane and Gottdiener, John S and Kuller, Lewis H and Longstreth, W T} } @article {7343, title = {Comparison of HapMap and 1000 Genomes Reference Panels in a Large-Scale Genome-Wide Association Study.}, journal = {PLoS One}, volume = {12}, year = {2017}, month = {2017}, pages = {e0167742}, abstract = {

An increasing number of genome-wide association (GWA) studies are now using the higher resolution 1000 Genomes Project reference panel (1000G) for imputation, with the expectation that 1000G imputation will lead to the discovery of additional associated loci when compared to HapMap imputation. In order to assess the improvement of 1000G over HapMap imputation in identifying associated loci, we compared the results of GWA studies of circulating fibrinogen based on the two reference panels. Using both HapMap and 1000G imputation we performed a meta-analysis of 22 studies comprising the same 91,953 individuals. We identified six additional signals using 1000G imputation, while 29 loci were associated using both HapMap and 1000G imputation. One locus identified using HapMap imputation was not significant using 1000G imputation. The genome-wide significance threshold of 5{\texttimes}10-8 is based on the number of independent statistical tests using HapMap imputation, and 1000G imputation may lead to further independent tests that should be corrected for. When using a stricter Bonferroni correction for the 1000G GWA study (P-value < 2.5{\texttimes}10-8), the number of loci significant only using HapMap imputation increased to 4 while the number of loci significant only using 1000G decreased to 5. In conclusion, 1000G imputation enabled the identification of 20\% more loci than HapMap imputation, although the advantage of 1000G imputation became less clear when a stricter Bonferroni correction was used. More generally, our results provide insights that are applicable to the implementation of other dense reference panels that are under development.

}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0167742}, author = {de Vries, Paul S and Sabater-Lleal, Maria and Chasman, Daniel I and Trompet, Stella and Ahluwalia, Tarunveer S and Teumer, Alexander and Kleber, Marcus E and Chen, Ming-Huei and Wang, Jie Jin and Attia, John R and Marioni, Riccardo E and Steri, Maristella and Weng, Lu-Chen and Pool, Rene and Grossmann, Vera and Brody, Jennifer A and Venturini, Cristina and Tanaka, Toshiko and Rose, Lynda M and Oldmeadow, Christopher and Mazur, Johanna and Basu, Saonli and Fr{\r a}nberg, Mattias and Yang, Qiong and Ligthart, Symen and Hottenga, Jouke J and Rumley, Ann and Mulas, Antonella and de Craen, Anton J M and Grotevendt, Anne and Taylor, Kent D and Delgado, Graciela E and Kifley, Annette and Lopez, Lorna M and Berentzen, Tina L and Mangino, Massimo and Bandinelli, Stefania and Morrison, Alanna C and Hamsten, Anders and Tofler, Geoffrey and de Maat, Moniek P M and Draisma, Harmen H M and Lowe, Gordon D and Zoledziewska, Magdalena and Sattar, Naveed and Lackner, Karl J and V{\"o}lker, Uwe and McKnight, Barbara and Huang, Jie and Holliday, Elizabeth G and McEvoy, Mark A and Starr, John M and Hysi, Pirro G and Hernandez, Dena G and Guan, Weihua and Rivadeneira, Fernando and McArdle, Wendy L and Slagboom, P Eline and Zeller, Tanja and Psaty, Bruce M and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and de Geus, Eco J C and Stott, David J and Binder, Harald and Hofman, Albert and Franco, Oscar H and Rotter, Jerome I and Ferrucci, Luigi and Spector, Tim D and Deary, Ian J and M{\"a}rz, Winfried and Greinacher, Andreas and Wild, Philipp S and Cucca, Francesco and Boomsma, Dorret I and Watkins, Hugh and Tang, Weihong and Ridker, Paul M and Jukema, Jan W and Scott, Rodney J and Mitchell, Paul and Hansen, Torben and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J and Smith, Nicholas L and Strachan, David P and Dehghan, Abbas} } @article {7352, title = {Discovery and fine-mapping of adiposity loci using high density imputation of genome-wide association studies in individuals of African ancestry: African ancestry anthropometry genetics consortium.}, journal = {PLoS Genet}, volume = {13}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 Apr 21}, pages = {e1006719}, abstract = {

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified >300 loci associated with measures of adiposity including body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio (adjusted for BMI, WHRadjBMI), but few have been identified through screening of the African ancestry genomes. We performed large scale meta-analyses and replications in up to 52,895 individuals for BMI and up to 23,095 individuals for WHRadjBMI from the African Ancestry Anthropometry Genetics Consortium (AAAGC) using 1000 Genomes phase 1 imputed GWAS to improve coverage of both common and low frequency variants in the low linkage disequilibrium African ancestry genomes. In the sex-combined analyses, we identified one novel locus (TCF7L2/HABP2) for WHRadjBMI and eight previously established loci at P < 5{\texttimes}10-8: seven for BMI, and one for WHRadjBMI in African ancestry individuals. An additional novel locus (SPRYD7/DLEU2) was identified for WHRadjBMI when combined with European GWAS. In the sex-stratified analyses, we identified three novel loci for BMI (INTS10/LPL and MLC1 in men, IRX4/IRX2 in women) and four for WHRadjBMI (SSX2IP, CASC8, PDE3B and ZDHHC1/HSD11B2 in women) in individuals of African ancestry or both African and European ancestry. For four of the novel variants, the minor allele frequency was low (<5\%). In the trans-ethnic fine mapping of 47 BMI loci and 27 WHRadjBMI loci that were locus-wide significant (P < 0.05 adjusted for effective number of variants per locus) from the African ancestry sex-combined and sex-stratified analyses, 26 BMI loci and 17 WHRadjBMI loci contained <= 20 variants in the credible sets that jointly account for 99\% posterior probability of driving the associations. The lead variants in 13 of these loci had a high probability of being causal. As compared to our previous HapMap imputed GWAS for BMI and WHRadjBMI including up to 71,412 and 27,350 African ancestry individuals, respectively, our results suggest that 1000 Genomes imputation showed modest improvement in identifying GWAS loci including low frequency variants. Trans-ethnic meta-analyses further improved fine mapping of putative causal variants in loci shared between the African and European ancestry populations.

}, issn = {1553-7404}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pgen.1006719}, author = {Ng, Maggie C Y and Graff, Mariaelisa and Lu, Yingchang and Justice, Anne E and Mudgal, Poorva and Liu, Ching-Ti and Young, Kristin and Yanek, Lisa R and Feitosa, Mary F and Wojczynski, Mary K and Rand, Kristin and Brody, Jennifer A and Cade, Brian E and Dimitrov, Latchezar and Duan, Qing and Guo, Xiuqing and Lange, Leslie A and Nalls, Michael A and Okut, Hayrettin and Tajuddin, Salman M and Tayo, Bamidele O and Vedantam, Sailaja and Bradfield, Jonathan P and Chen, Guanjie and Chen, Wei-Min and Chesi, Alessandra and Irvin, Marguerite R and Padhukasahasram, Badri and Smith, Jennifer A and Zheng, Wei and Allison, Matthew A and Ambrosone, Christine B and Bandera, Elisa V and Bartz, Traci M and Berndt, Sonja I and Bernstein, Leslie and Blot, William J and Bottinger, Erwin P and Carpten, John and Chanock, Stephen J and Chen, Yii-Der Ida and Conti, David V and Cooper, Richard S and Fornage, Myriam and Freedman, Barry I and Garcia, Melissa and Goodman, Phyllis J and Hsu, Yu-Han H and Hu, Jennifer and Huff, Chad D and Ingles, Sue A and John, Esther M and Kittles, Rick and Klein, Eric and Li, Jin and McKnight, Barbara and Nayak, Uma and Nemesure, Barbara and Ogunniyi, Adesola and Olshan, Andrew and Press, Michael F and Rohde, Rebecca and Rybicki, Benjamin A and Salako, Babatunde and Sanderson, Maureen and Shao, Yaming and Siscovick, David S and Stanford, Janet L and Stevens, Victoria L and Stram, Alex and Strom, Sara S and Vaidya, Dhananjay and Witte, John S and Yao, Jie and Zhu, Xiaofeng and Ziegler, Regina G and Zonderman, Alan B and Adeyemo, Adebowale and Ambs, Stefan and Cushman, Mary and Faul, Jessica D and Hakonarson, Hakon and Levin, Albert M and Nathanson, Katherine L and Ware, Erin B and Weir, David R and Zhao, Wei and Zhi, Degui and Arnett, Donna K and Grant, Struan F A and Kardia, Sharon L R and Oloapde, Olufunmilayo I and Rao, D C and Rotimi, Charles N and Sale, Mich{\`e}le M and Williams, L Keoki and Zemel, Babette S and Becker, Diane M and Borecki, Ingrid B and Evans, Michele K and Harris, Tamara B and Hirschhorn, Joel N and Li, Yun and Patel, Sanjay R and Psaty, Bruce M and Rotter, Jerome I and Wilson, James G and Bowden, Donald W and Cupples, L Adrienne and Haiman, Christopher A and Loos, Ruth J F and North, Kari E} } @article {7346, title = {Discovery and fine-mapping of loci associated with monounsaturated fatty acids through trans-ethnic meta-analysis in Chinese and European populations.}, journal = {J Lipid Res}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 Mar 15}, abstract = {

Monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) are unsaturated fatty acids with one double bond and are derived from endogenous synthesis and dietary intake. Accumulating evidence has suggested that plasma and erythrocyte MUFA levels were associated with cardiometabolic disorders including cardiovascular disease (CVD), type 2 diabetes (T2D) and metabolic syndrome (MS). Previous genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified seven loci for plasma and erythrocyte palmitoleic acid and oleic acid levels in populations of European origin. To identify additional MUFA-associated loci and the potential causal variant at each locus, we performed ethnic-specific GWAS meta-analyses and trans-ethnic meta-analyses in over 15,000 participants of Chinese- and European-ancestry. We identified novel genome-wide significant associations for vaccenic acid at FADS1/2 and PKD2L1 [log10(Bayes factor)>=8.07] and for gondoic acid at FADS1/2 and GCKR [log10(Bayes factor)>=61619;6.22], and also observed improved fine-mapping resolutions at FADS1/2 and GCKR loci. The greatest improvement was observed at GCKR, where the number of variants in the 99\% credible set was reduced from 16 (covering ~95kb) to five (covering ~20kb, including a missense variant rs1260326) after trans-ethnic meta-analysis. We also confirmed the previously reported associations of PKD2L1, FADS1/2, GCKR and HIF1AN with palmitoleic acid and of FADS1/2 and LPCAT3 with oleic acid in the Chinese-specific GWAS and trans-ethnic meta-analyses. Pathway-based analyses suggested that the identified loci were enriched in unsaturated fatty acids metabolism and signaling pathways. Our findings provided novel insight into the genetic basis relevant to MUFA metabolism and biology.

}, issn = {1539-7262}, doi = {10.1194/jlr.P071860}, author = {Hu, Yao and Tanaka, Toshiko and Zhu, Jingwen and Guan, Weihua and Wu, Jason H Y and Psaty, Bruce M and McKnight, Barbara and King, Irena B and Sun, Qi and Richard, Melissa and Manichaikul, Ani and Frazier-Wood, Alexis C and Kabagambe, Edmond K and Hopkins, Paul N and Ordovas, Jose M and Ferrucci, Luigi and Bandinelli, Stefania and Arnett, Donna K and Chen, Yii-der I and Liang, Shuang and Siscovick, David S and Tsai, Michael Y and Rich, Stephen S and Fornage, Myriam and Hu, Frank B and Rimm, Eric B and Jensen, Majken K and Lemaitre, Rozenn N and Mozaffarian, Dariush and Steffen, Lyn M and Morris, Andrew P and Li, Huaixing and Lin, Xu} } @article {7579, title = {Genetic loci associated with heart rate variability and their effects on cardiac disease risk.}, journal = {Nat Commun}, volume = {8}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 Jun 14}, pages = {15805}, abstract = {

Reduced cardiac vagal control reflected in low heart rate variability (HRV) is associated with greater risks for cardiac morbidity and mortality. In two-stage meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies for three HRV traits in up to 53,174 individuals of European ancestry, we detect 17 genome-wide significant SNPs in eight loci. HRV SNPs tag non-synonymous SNPs (in NDUFA11 and KIAA1755), expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) (influencing GNG11, RGS6 and NEO1), or are located in genes preferentially expressed in the sinoatrial node (GNG11, RGS6 and HCN4). Genetic risk scores account for 0.9 to 2.6\% of the HRV variance. Significant genetic correlation is found for HRV with heart rate (-0.74}, issn = {2041-1723}, doi = {10.1038/ncomms15805}, author = {Nolte, Ilja M and Munoz, M Loretto and Tragante, Vinicius and Amare, Azmeraw T and Jansen, Rick and Vaez, Ahmad and von der Heyde, Benedikt and Avery, Christy L and Bis, Joshua C and Dierckx, Bram and van Dongen, Jenny and Gogarten, Stephanie M and Goyette, Philippe and Hernesniemi, Jussi and Huikari, Ville and Hwang, Shih-Jen and Jaju, Deepali and Kerr, Kathleen F and Kluttig, Alexander and Krijthe, Bouwe P and Kumar, Jitender and van der Laan, Sander W and Lyytik{\"a}inen, Leo-Pekka and Maihofer, Adam X and Minassian, Arpi and van der Most, Peter J and M{\"u}ller-Nurasyid, Martina and Nivard, Michel and Salvi, Erika and Stewart, James D and Thayer, Julian F and Verweij, Niek and Wong, Andrew and Zabaneh, Delilah and Zafarmand, Mohammad H and Abdellaoui, Abdel and Albarwani, Sulayma and Albert, Christine and Alonso, Alvaro and Ashar, Foram and Auvinen, Juha and Axelsson, Tomas and Baker, Dewleen G and de Bakker, Paul I W and Barcella, Matteo and Bayoumi, Riad and Bieringa, Rob J and Boomsma, Dorret and Boucher, Gabrielle and Britton, Annie R and Christophersen, Ingrid and Dietrich, Andrea and Ehret, George B and Ellinor, Patrick T and Eskola, Markku and Felix, Janine F and Floras, John S and Franco, Oscar H and Friberg, Peter and Gademan, Maaike G J and Geyer, Mark A and Giedraitis, Vilmantas and Hartman, Catharina A and Hemerich, Daiane and Hofman, Albert and Hottenga, Jouke-Jan and Huikuri, Heikki and Hutri-K{\"a}h{\"o}nen, Nina and Jouven, Xavier and Junttila, Juhani and Juonala, Markus and Kiviniemi, Antti M and Kors, Jan A and Kumari, Meena and Kuznetsova, Tatiana and Laurie, Cathy C and Lefrandt, Joop D and Li, Yong and Li, Yun and Liao, Duanping and Limacher, Marian C and Lin, Henry J and Lindgren, Cecilia M and Lubitz, Steven A and Mahajan, Anubha and McKnight, Barbara and Zu Schwabedissen, Henriette Meyer and Milaneschi, Yuri and Mononen, Nina and Morris, Andrew P and Nalls, Mike A and Navis, Gerjan and Neijts, Melanie and Nikus, Kjell and North, Kari E and O{\textquoteright}Connor, Daniel T and Ormel, Johan and Perz, Siegfried and Peters, Annette and Psaty, Bruce M and Raitakari, Olli T and Risbrough, Victoria B and Sinner, Moritz F and Siscovick, David and Smit, Johannes H and Smith, Nicholas L and Soliman, Elsayed Z and Sotoodehnia, Nona and Staessen, Jan A and Stein, Phyllis K and Stilp, Adrienne M and Stolarz-Skrzypek, Katarzyna and Strauch, Konstantin and Sundstr{\"o}m, Johan and Swenne, Cees A and Syv{\"a}nen, Ann-Christine and Tardif, Jean-Claude and Taylor, Kent D and Teumer, Alexander and Thornton, Timothy A and Tinker, Lesley E and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and van Setten, Jessica and Voss, Andreas and Waldenberger, Melanie and Wilhelmsen, Kirk C and Willemsen, Gonneke and Wong, Quenna and Zhang, Zhu-Ming and Zonderman, Alan B and Cusi, Daniele and Evans, Michele K and Greiser, Halina K and van der Harst, Pim and Hassan, Mohammad and Ingelsson, Erik and Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta and K{\"a}{\"a}b, Stefan and K{\"a}h{\"o}nen, Mika and Kivimaki, Mika and Kooperberg, Charles and Kuh, Diana and Lehtim{\"a}ki, Terho and Lind, Lars and Nievergelt, Caroline M and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Chris J and Oldehinkel, Albertine J and Penninx, Brenda and Reiner, Alexander P and Riese, Harri{\"e}tte and van Roon, Arie M and Rioux, John D and Rotter, Jerome I and Sofer, Tamar and Stricker, Bruno H and Tiemeier, Henning and Vrijkotte, Tanja G M and Asselbergs, Folkert W and Brundel, Bianca J J M and Heckbert, Susan R and Whitsel, Eric A and den Hoed, Marcel and Snieder, Harold and de Geus, Eco J C} } @article {7919, title = {Circulating Very Long-Chain Saturated Fatty Acids and Heart Failure: The Cardiovascular Health Study.}, journal = {J Am Heart Assoc}, volume = {7}, year = {2018}, month = {2018 Nov 06}, pages = {e010019}, abstract = {

Background Circulating very-long-chain saturated fatty acids ( VLSFAs ) are integrated biomarkers of diet and metabolism that may point to new risk pathways and potential targets for heart failure ( HF ) prevention. The associations of VLSFA to HF in humans are not known. Methods and Results Using a cohort study design, we studied the associations of serially measured plasma phospholipid VLSFA with incident HF in the Cardiovascular Health Study. We investigated the associations of time-varying levels of the 3 major circulating VLSFAs , lignoceric acid (24:0), behenic acid (22:0), and arachidic acid (20:0), with the risk of incident HF using Cox regression. During 45030 person-years among 4249 participants, we identified 1304 cases of incident HF , including 489 with preserved and 310 with reduced ejection fraction. Adjusting for major HF risk factors and other circulating fatty acids, higher levels of each VLSFAs were associated with lower risk of incident HF ( P trend<=0.0007 each). The hazard ratio comparing the highest quintile to the lowest quintile was 0.67 (95\% confidence interval, 0.55-0.81) for 24:0, 0.72 (95\% confidence interval, 0.60-0.87) for 22:0 and 0.72 (95\% confidence interval, 0.59-0.88) for 20:0. The associations were similar in subgroups defined by sex, age, body mass index, coronary heart disease, and diabetes mellitus. Among those with ejection fraction data, the associations appeared similar for those with preserved and with reduced ejection fraction. Conclusions Higher levels of circulating VLSFAs are associated with lower risk of incident HF in older adults. These novel associations should prompt further research on the role of VLSFA in HF , including relevant new risk pathways. Clinical Trial Registration URL : https://www.clinicaltrials.gov . Unique identifier: NCT 00005133.

}, issn = {2047-9980}, doi = {10.1161/JAHA.118.010019}, author = {Lemaitre, Rozenn N and McKnight, Barbara and Sotoodehnia, Nona and Fretts, Amanda M and Qureshi, Waqas T and Song, Xiaoling and King, Irena B and Sitlani, Colleen M and Siscovick, David S and Psaty, Bruce M and Mozaffarian, Dariush} } @article {7778, title = {A comprehensive evaluation of the genetic architecture of sudden cardiac arrest.}, journal = {Eur Heart J}, year = {2018}, month = {2018 Aug 28}, abstract = {

Aims: Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) accounts for 10\% of adult mortality in Western populations. We aim to identify potential loci associated with SCA and to identify risk factors causally associated with SCA.

Methods and results: We carried out a large genome-wide association study (GWAS) for SCA (n = 3939 cases, 25~989 non-cases) to examine common variation genome-wide and in candidate arrhythmia genes. We also exploited Mendelian randomization (MR) methods using cross-trait multi-variant genetic risk score associations (GRSA) to assess causal relationships of 18 risk factors with SCA. No variants were associated with SCA at genome-wide significance, nor were common variants in candidate arrhythmia genes associated with SCA at nominal significance. Using cross-trait GRSA, we established genetic correlation between SCA and (i) coronary artery disease (CAD) and traditional CAD risk factors (blood pressure, lipids, and diabetes), (ii) height and BMI, and (iii) electrical instability traits (QT and atrial fibrillation), suggesting aetiologic roles for these traits in SCA risk.

Conclusions: Our findings show that a comprehensive approach to the genetic architecture of SCA can shed light on the determinants of a complex life-threatening condition with multiple influencing factors in the general population. The results of this genetic analysis, both positive and negative findings, have implications for evaluating the genetic architecture of patients with a family history of SCA, and for efforts to prevent SCA in high-risk populations and the general community.

}, issn = {1522-9645}, doi = {10.1093/eurheartj/ehy474}, author = {Ashar, Foram N and Mitchell, Rebecca N and Albert, Christine M and Newton-Cheh, Christopher and Brody, Jennifer A and M{\"u}ller-Nurasyid, Martina and Moes, Anna and Meitinger, Thomas and Mak, Angel and Huikuri, Heikki and Junttila, M Juhani and Goyette, Philippe and Pulit, Sara L and Pazoki, Raha and Tanck, Michael W and Blom, Marieke T and Zhao, XiaoQing and Havulinna, Aki S and Jabbari, Reza and Glinge, Charlotte and Tragante, Vinicius and Escher, Stefan A and Chakravarti, Aravinda and Ehret, Georg and Coresh, Josef and Li, Man and Prineas, Ronald J and Franco, Oscar H and Kwok, Pui-Yan and Lumley, Thomas and Dumas, Florence and McKnight, Barbara and Rotter, Jerome I and Lemaitre, Rozenn N and Heckbert, Susan R and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J and Hwang, Shih-Jen and Tardif, Jean-Claude and VanDenburgh, Martin and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Hofman, Albert and Stricker, Bruno H C and de Bakker, Paul I W and Franks, Paul W and Jansson, Jan-H{\r a}kan and Asselbergs, Folkert W and Halushka, Marc K and Maleszewski, Joseph J and Tfelt-Hansen, Jacob and Engstr{\o}m, Thomas and Salomaa, Veikko and Virmani, Renu and Kolodgie, Frank and Wilde, Arthur A M and Tan, Hanno L and Bezzina, Connie R and Eijgelsheim, Mark and Rioux, John D and Jouven, Xavier and K{\"a}{\"a}b, Stefan and Psaty, Bruce M and Siscovick, David S and Arking, Dan E and Sotoodehnia, Nona} } @article {7816, title = {DNA methylation age is associated with an altered hemostatic profile in a multi-ethnic meta-analysis.}, journal = {Blood}, year = {2018}, month = {2018 Jul 24}, abstract = {

Many hemostatic factors are associated with age and age-related diseases, however much remains unknown about the biological mechanisms linking aging and hemostatic factors. DNA methylation is a novel means by which to assess epigenetic aging, which is a measure of age and the aging processes as determined by altered epigenetic states. We used a meta-analysis approach to examine the association between measures of epigenetic aging and hemostatic factors, as well as a clotting time measure. For fibrinogen, we used European and African-ancestry participants who were meta-analyzed separately and combined via a random effects meta-analysis. All other measures only included participants of European-ancestry. We found that 1-year higher extrinsic epigenetic age as compared to chronological age was associated with higher fibrinogen (0.004 g/L per year; 95\% CI: 0.001, 0.007; P = 0.01) and plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1; 0.13 U/mL per year; 95\% CI: 0.07, 0.20; P = 6.6x10-5) concentrations as well as lower activated partial thromboplastin time, a measure of clotting time. We replicated PAI-1 associations using an independent cohort. To further elucidate potential functional mechanisms we associated epigenetic aging with expression levels of the PAI-1 protein encoding gene (SERPINE1) and the three fibrinogen subunit-encoding genes (FGA, FGG, and FGB), in both peripheral blood and aorta intima-media samples. We observed associations between accelerated epigenetic aging and transcription of FGG in both tissues. Collectively, our results indicate that accelerated epigenetic aging is associated with a pro-coagulation hemostatic profile, and that epigenetic aging may regulate hemostasis in part via gene transcription.

}, issn = {1528-0020}, doi = {10.1182/blood-2018-02-831347}, author = {Ward-Caviness, Cavin K and Huffman, Jennifer E and Evertt, Karl and Germain, Marine and van Dongen, Jenny and Hill, W David and Jhun, Min A and Brody, Jennifer A and Ghanbari, Mohsen and Du, Lei and Roetker, Nicholas S and de Vries, Paul S and Waldenberger, Melanie and Gieger, Christian and Wolf, Petra and Prokisch, Holger and Koenig, Wolfgang and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J and Levy, Daniel and Liu, Chunyu and Truong, Vinh and Wells, Philip S and Tr{\'e}gou{\"e}t, David-Alexandre and Tang, Weihong and Morrison, Alanna C and Boerwinkle, Eric and Wiggins, Kerri L and McKnight, Barbara and Guo, Xiuqing and Psaty, Bruce M and Sotoodenia, Nona and Boomsa, Dorret I and Willemsen, Gonneke and Ligthart, Lannie and Deary, Ian J and Zhao, Wei and Ware, Erin B and Kardia, Sharon L R and van Meurs, Joyce B J and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Franco, Oscar H and Eriksson, Per and Franco-Cereceda, Anders and Pankow, James S and Johnson, Andrew D and Gagnon, France and Morange, Pierre-Emmanuel and de Geus, Eco J C and Starr, John M and Smith, Jennifer A and Dehghan, Abbas and Bj{\"o}rck, Hanna M and Smith, Nicholas L and Peters, Annette} } @article {8041, title = {Fatty acid biomarkers of dairy fat consumption and incidence of type 2 diabetes: A pooled analysis of prospective cohort studies.}, journal = {PLoS Med}, volume = {15}, year = {2018}, month = {2018 10}, pages = {e1002670}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: We aimed to investigate prospective associations of circulating or adipose tissue odd-chain fatty acids 15:0 and 17:0 and trans-palmitoleic acid, t16:1n-7, as potential biomarkers of dairy fat intake, with incident type 2 diabetes (T2D).

METHODS AND FINDINGS: Sixteen prospective cohorts from 12 countries (7 from the United States, 7 from Europe, 1 from Australia, 1 from Taiwan) performed new harmonised individual-level analysis for the prospective associations according to a standardised plan. In total, 63,682 participants with a broad range of baseline ages and BMIs and 15,180 incident cases of T2D over the average of 9 years of follow-up were evaluated. Study-specific results were pooled using inverse-variance-weighted meta-analysis. Prespecified interactions by age, sex, BMI, and race/ethnicity were explored in each cohort and were meta-analysed. Potential heterogeneity by cohort-specific characteristics (regions, lipid compartments used for fatty acid assays) was assessed with metaregression. After adjustment for potential confounders, including measures of adiposity (BMI, waist circumference) and lipogenesis (levels of palmitate, triglycerides), higher levels of 15:0, 17:0, and t16:1n-7 were associated with lower incidence of T2D. In the most adjusted model, the hazard ratio (95\% CI) for incident T2D per cohort-specific 10th to 90th percentile range of 15:0 was 0.80 (0.73-0.87); of 17:0, 0.65 (0.59-0.72); of t16:1n7, 0.82 (0.70-0.96); and of their sum, 0.71 (0.63-0.79). In exploratory analyses, similar associations for 15:0, 17:0, and the sum of all three fatty acids were present in both genders but stronger in women than in men (pinteraction < 0.001). Whereas studying associations with biomarkers has several advantages, as limitations, the biomarkers do not distinguish between different food sources of dairy fat (e.g., cheese, yogurt, milk), and residual confounding by unmeasured or imprecisely measured confounders may exist.

CONCLUSIONS: In a large meta-analysis that pooled the findings from 16 prospective cohort studies, higher levels of 15:0, 17:0, and t16:1n-7 were associated with a lower risk of T2D.

}, keywords = {Aged, Australia, Biomarkers, Dairy Products, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Dietary Fats, Europe, Fatty Acids, Fatty Acids, Monounsaturated, Female, Humans, Incidence, Male, Middle Aged, Prospective Studies, Sex Factors, Taiwan, United States}, issn = {1549-1676}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pmed.1002670}, author = {Imamura, Fumiaki and Fretts, Amanda and Marklund, Matti and Ardisson Korat, Andres V and Yang, Wei-Sin and Lankinen, Maria and Qureshi, Waqas and Helmer, Catherine and Chen, Tzu-An and Wong, Kerry and Bassett, Julie K and Murphy, Rachel and Tintle, Nathan and Yu, Chaoyu Ian and Brouwer, Ingeborg A and Chien, Kuo-Liong and Frazier-Wood, Alexis C and Del Gobbo, Liana C and Djouss{\'e}, Luc and Geleijnse, Johanna M and Giles, Graham G and de Goede, Janette and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Harris, William S and Hodge, Allison and Hu, Frank and Koulman, Albert and Laakso, Markku and Lind, Lars and Lin, Hung-Ju and McKnight, Barbara and Rajaobelina, Kalina and Riserus, Ulf and Robinson, Jennifer G and Samieri, Cecilia and Siscovick, David S and Soedamah-Muthu, Sabita S and Sotoodehnia, Nona and Sun, Qi and Tsai, Michael Y and Uusitupa, Matti and Wagenknecht, Lynne E and Wareham, Nick J and Wu, Jason HY and Micha, Renata and Forouhi, Nita G and Lemaitre, Rozenn N and Mozaffarian, Dariush} } @article {7791, title = {Genome-wide association meta-analysis of circulating odd-numbered chain saturated fatty acids: Results from the CHARGE Consortium.}, journal = {PLoS One}, volume = {13}, year = {2018}, month = {2018}, pages = {e0196951}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Odd-numbered chain saturated fatty acids (OCSFA) have been associated with potential health benefits. Although some OCSFA (e.g., C15:0 and C17:0) are found in meats and dairy products, sources and metabolism of C19:0 and C23:0 are relatively unknown, and the influence of non-dietary determinants, including genetic factors, on circulating levels of OCSFA is not established.

OBJECTIVE: To elucidate the biological processes that influence circulating levels of OCSFA by investigating associations between genetic variation and OCSFA.

DESIGN: We performed a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of plasma phospholipid/erythrocyte levels of C15:0, C17:0, C19:0, and C23:0 among 11,494 individuals of European descent. We also investigated relationships between specific single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the lactase (LCT) gene, associated with adult-onset lactase intolerance, with circulating levels of dairy-derived OCSFA, and evaluated associations of candidate sphingolipid genes with C23:0 levels.

RESULTS: We found no genome-wide significant evidence that common genetic variation is associated with circulating levels of C15:0 or C23:0. In two cohorts with available data, we identified one intronic SNP (rs13361131) in myosin X gene (MYO10) associated with C17:0 level (P = 1.37{\texttimes}10-8), and two intronic SNP (rs12874278 and rs17363566) in deleted in lymphocytic leukemia 1 (DLEU1) region associated with C19:0 level (P = 7.07{\texttimes}10-9). In contrast, when using a candidate-gene approach, we found evidence that three SNPs in LCT (rs11884924, rs16832067, and rs3816088) are associated with circulating C17:0 level (adjusted P = 4{\texttimes}10-2). In addition, nine SNPs in the ceramide synthase 4 (CERS4) region were associated with circulating C23:0 levels (adjusted P<5{\texttimes}10-2).

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that circulating levels of OCSFA may be predominantly influenced by non-genetic factors. SNPs associated with C17:0 level in the LCT gene may reflect genetic influence in dairy consumption or in metabolism of dairy foods. SNPs associated with C23:0 may reflect a role of genetic factors in the synthesis of sphingomyelin.

}, keywords = {Fatty Acids, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Introns, Lactase, Myosins, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Sphingomyelins, Sphingosine N-Acyltransferase, Tumor Suppressor Proteins}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0196951}, author = {de Oliveira Otto, Marcia C and Lemaitre, Rozenn N and Sun, Qi and King, Irena B and Wu, Jason H Y and Manichaikul, Ani and Rich, Stephen S and Tsai, Michael Y and Chen, Y D and Fornage, Myriam and Weihua, Guan and Aslibekyan, Stella and Irvin, Marguerite R and Kabagambe, Edmond K and Arnett, Donna K and Jensen, Majken K and McKnight, Barbara and Psaty, Bruce M and Steffen, Lyn M and Smith, Caren E and Riserus, Ulf and Lind, Lars and Hu, Frank B and Rimm, Eric B and Siscovick, David S and Mozaffarian, Dariush} } @article {7924, title = {Genome-Wide Association Trans-Ethnic Meta-Analyses Identifies Novel Associations Regulating Coagulation Factor VIII and von Willebrand Factor Plasma Levels.}, journal = {Circulation}, year = {2018}, month = {2018 Nov 20}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Factor VIII (FVIII) and its carrier protein von Willebrand factor (VWF) are associated with risk of arterial and venous thrombosis and with hemorrhagic disorders. We aimed to identify and functionally test novel genetic associations regulating plasma FVIII and VWF.

METHODS: We meta-analyzed genome-wide association results from 46,354 individuals of European, African, East Asian, and Hispanic ancestry. All studies performed linear regression analysis using an additive genetic model and associated approximately 35 million imputed variants with natural-log transformed phenotype levels. In vitro gene silencing in cultured endothelial cells was performed for candidate genes to provide additional evidence on association and function. Two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses were applied to test the causal role of FVIII and VWF plasma levels on the risk of arterial and venous thrombotic events.

RESULTS: We identified 13 novel genome-wide significant (p<=2.5x10) associations; 7 with FVIII levels ( FCHO2/TMEM171/TNPO1, HLA, SOX17/RP1, LINC00583/NFIB, RAB5C-KAT2A, RPL3/TAB1/SYNGR1, and ARSA) and 11 with VWF levels ( PDHB/PXK/KCTD6, SLC39A8, FCHO2/TMEM171/TNPO1, HLA, GIMAP7/GIMAP4, OR13C5/NIPSNAP, DAB2IP, C2CD4B, RAB5C-KAT2A, TAB1/SYNGR1, and ARSA), beyond 10 previously reported associations with these phenotypes. Functional validation provided further evidence of association for all loci on VWF except ARSA and DAB2IP. MR suggested causal effects of plasma FVIII activity levels on venous thrombosis and coronary artery disease risk and plasma VWF levels on ischemic stroke risk.

CONCLUSIONS: The meta-analysis identified 13 novel genetic loci regulating FVIII and VWF plasma levels, 10 of which we validated functionally. We provide some evidence for a causal role of these proteins in thrombotic events.

}, issn = {1524-4539}, doi = {10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.118.034532}, author = {Sabater-Lleal, Maria and Huffman, Jennifer E and de Vries, Paul S and Marten, Jonathan and Mastrangelo, Michael A and Song, Ci and Pankratz, Nathan and Ward-Caviness, Cavin K and Yanek, Lisa R and Trompet, Stella and Delgado, Graciela E and Guo, Xiuqing and Bartz, Traci M and Martinez-Perez, Angel and Germain, Marine and de Haan, Hugoline G and Ozel, Ayse B and Polasek, Ozren and Smith, Albert V and Eicher, John D and Reiner, Alex P and Tang, Weihong and Davies, Neil M and Stott, David J and Rotter, Jerome I and Tofler, Geoffrey H and Boerwinkle, Eric and de Maat, Moniek P M and Kleber, Marcus E and Welsh, Paul and Brody, Jennifer A and Chen, Ming-Huei and Vaidya, Dhananjay and Soria, Jos{\'e} Manuel and Suchon, Pierre and van Hylckama Vlieg, Astrid and Desch, Karl C and Kolcic, Ivana and Joshi, Peter K and Launer, Lenore J and Harris, Tamara B and Campbell, Harry and Rudan, Igor and Becker, Diane M and Li, Jun Z and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Hofman, Albert and Franco, Oscar H and Cushman, Mary and Psaty, Bruce M and Morange, Pierre-Emmanuel and McKnight, Barbara and Chong, Michael R and Fernandez-Cadenas, Israel and Rosand, Jonathan and Lindgren, Arne and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Wilson, James F and Hayward, Caroline and Ginsburg, David and Fornage, Myriam and Rosendaal, Frits R and Souto, Juan Carlos and Becker, Lewis C and Jenny, Nancy S and M{\"a}rz, Winfried and Jukema, J Wouter and Dehghan, Abbas and Tr{\'e}gou{\"e}t, David-Alexandre and Morrison, Alanna C and Johnson, Andrew D and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J and Strachan, David P and Lowenstein, Charles J and Smith, Nicholas L} } @article {7928, title = {Large-scale whole-exome sequencing association studies identify rare functional variants influencing serum urate levels.}, journal = {Nat Commun}, volume = {9}, year = {2018}, month = {2018 10 12}, pages = {4228}, abstract = {

Elevated serum urate levels can cause gout, an excruciating disease with suboptimal treatment. Previous GWAS identified common variants with modest effects on serum urate. Here we report large-scale whole-exome sequencing association studies of serum urate and kidney function among <=19,517 European ancestry and African-American individuals. We identify aggregate associations of low-frequency damaging variants in the urate transporters SLC22A12 (URAT1; p = 1.3 {\texttimes} 10) and SLC2A9 (p = 4.5 {\texttimes} 10). Gout risk in rare SLC22A12 variant carriers is halved (OR = 0.5, p = 4.9 {\texttimes} 10). Selected rare variants in SLC22A12 are validated in transport studies, confirming three as loss-of-function (R325W, R405C, and T467M) and illustrating the therapeutic potential of the new URAT1-blocker lesinurad. In SLC2A9, mapping of rare variants of large effects onto the predicted protein structure reveals new residues that may affect urate binding. These findings provide new insights into the genetic architecture of serum urate, and highlight molecular targets in SLC22A12 and SLC2A9 for lowering serum urate and preventing gout.

}, keywords = {Exome, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Glucose Transport Proteins, Facilitative, Humans, Kidney Function Tests, Meta-Analysis as Topic, Organic Anion Transporters, Organic Cation Transport Proteins, Protein Structure, Secondary, Uric Acid}, issn = {2041-1723}, doi = {10.1038/s41467-018-06620-4}, author = {Tin, Adrienne and Li, Yong and Brody, Jennifer A and Nutile, Teresa and Chu, Audrey Y and Huffman, Jennifer E and Yang, Qiong and Chen, Ming-Huei and Robinson-Cohen, Cassianne and Mace, Aurelien and Liu, Jun and Demirkan, Ayse and Sorice, Rossella and Sedaghat, Sanaz and Swen, Melody and Yu, Bing and Ghasemi, Sahar and Teumer, Alexanda and Vollenweider, Peter and Ciullo, Marina and Li, Meng and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Kraaij, Robert and Amin, Najaf and van Rooij, Jeroen and Kutalik, Zolt{\'a}n and Dehghan, Abbas and McKnight, Barbara and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Morrison, Alanna and Psaty, Bruce M and Boerwinkle, Eric and Fox, Caroline S and Woodward, Owen M and K{\"o}ttgen, Anna} } @article {7918, title = {Serial circulating omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and healthy ageing among older adults in the Cardiovascular Health Study: prospective cohort study.}, journal = {BMJ}, volume = {363}, year = {2018}, month = {2018 Oct 17}, pages = {k4067}, abstract = {

OBJECTIVE: To determine the longitudinal association between serial biomarker measures of circulating omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (n3-PUFA) levels and healthy ageing.

DESIGN: Prospective cohort study.

SETTING: Four communities in the United States (Cardiovascular Health Study) from 1992 to 2015.

PARTICIPANTS: 2622 adults with a mean (SD) age of 74.4 (4.8) and with successful healthy ageing at baseline in 1992-93.

EXPOSURE: Cumulative levels of plasma phospholipid n3-PUFAs were measured using gas chromatography in 1992-93, 1998-99, and 2005-06, expressed as percentage of total fatty acids, including α-linolenic acid from plants and eicosapentaenoic acid, docosapentaenoic acid, and docosahexaenoic acid from seafoood.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Healthy ageing defined as survival without chronic diseases (ie, cardiovascular disease, cancer, lung disease, and severe chronic kidney disease), the absence of cognitive and physical dysfunction, or death from other causes not part of the healthy ageing outcome after age 65. Events were centrally adjudicated or determined from medical records and diagnostic tests.

RESULTS: Higher levels of long chain n3-PUFAs were associated with an 18\% lower risk (95\% confidence interval 7\% to 28\%) of unhealthy ageing per interquintile range after multivariable adjustments with time-varying exposure and covariates. Individually, higher eicosapentaenoic acid and docosapentaenoic acid (but not docosahexaenoic acid) levels were associated with a lower risk: 15\% (6\% to 23\%) and 16\% (6\% to 25\%), respectively. α-linolenic acid from plants was not noticeably associated with unhealthy ageing (hazard ratio 0.92, 95\% confidence interval 0.83 to 1.02).

CONCLUSIONS: In older adults, a higher cumulative level of serially measured circulating n3-PUFAs from seafood (eicosapentaenoic acid, docosapentaenoic acid, and docosahexaenoic acid), eicosapentaenoic acid, and docosapentaenoic acid (but not docosahexaenoic acid from seafood or α-linolenic acid from plants) was associated with a higher likelihood of healthy ageing. These findings support guidelines for increased dietary consumption of n3-PUFAs in older adults.

}, issn = {1756-1833}, doi = {10.1136/bmj.k4067}, author = {Lai, Heidi Tm and de Oliveira Otto, Marcia C and Lemaitre, Rozenn N and McKnight, Barbara and Song, Xiaoling and King, Irena B and Chaves, Paulo Hm and Odden, Michelle C and Newman, Anne B and Siscovick, David S and Mozaffarian, Dariush} } @article {8047, title = {Biomarkers of Dietary Omega-6 Fatty Acids and Incident Cardiovascular Disease and Mortality.}, journal = {Circulation}, volume = {139}, year = {2019}, month = {2019 May 21}, pages = {2422-2436}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Global dietary recommendations for and cardiovascular effects of linoleic acid, the major dietary omega-6 fatty acid, and its major metabolite, arachidonic acid, remain controversial. To address this uncertainty and inform international recommendations, we evaluated how in vivo circulating and tissue levels of linoleic acid (LA) and arachidonic acid (AA) relate to incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) across multiple international studies.

METHODS: We performed harmonized, de novo, individual-level analyses in a global consortium of 30 prospective observational studies from 13 countries. Multivariable-adjusted associations of circulating and adipose tissue LA and AA biomarkers with incident total CVD and subtypes (coronary heart disease, ischemic stroke, cardiovascular mortality) were investigated according to a prespecified analytic plan. Levels of LA and AA, measured as the percentage of total fatty acids, were evaluated linearly according to their interquintile range (ie, the range between the midpoint of the first and fifth quintiles), and categorically by quintiles. Study-specific results were pooled using inverse-variance-weighted meta-analysis. Heterogeneity was explored by age, sex, race, diabetes mellitus, statin use, aspirin use, omega-3 levels, and fatty acid desaturase 1 genotype (when available).

RESULTS: In 30 prospective studies with medians of follow-up ranging 2.5 to 31.9 years, 15 198 incident cardiovascular events occurred among 68 659 participants. Higher levels of LA were significantly associated with lower risks of total CVD, cardiovascular mortality, and ischemic stroke, with hazard ratios per interquintile range of 0.93 (95\% CI, 0.88-0.99), 0.78 (0.70-0.85), and 0.88 (0.79-0.98), respectively, and nonsignificantly with lower coronary heart disease risk (0.94; 0.88-1.00). Relationships were similar for LA evaluated across quintiles. AA levels were not associated with higher risk of cardiovascular outcomes; in a comparison of extreme quintiles, higher levels were associated with lower risk of total CVD (0.92; 0.86-0.99). No consistent heterogeneity by population subgroups was identified in the observed relationships.

CONCLUSIONS: In pooled global analyses, higher in vivo circulating and tissue levels of LA and possibly AA were associated with lower risk of major cardiovascular events. These results support a favorable role for LA in CVD prevention.

}, issn = {1524-4539}, doi = {10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.118.038908}, author = {Marklund, Matti and Wu, Jason H Y and Imamura, Fumiaki and Del Gobbo, Liana C and Fretts, Amanda and de Goede, Janette and Shi, Peilin and Tintle, Nathan and Wennberg, Maria and Aslibekyan, Stella and Chen, Tzu-An and de Oliveira Otto, Marcia C and Hirakawa, Yoichiro and Eriksen, Helle H{\o}jmark and Kr{\"o}ger, Janine and Laguzzi, Federica and Lankinen, Maria and Murphy, Rachel A and Prem, Kiesha and Samieri, Cecilia and Virtanen, Jyrki and Wood, Alexis C and Wong, Kerry and Yang, Wei-Sin and Zhou, Xia and Baylin, Ana and Boer, Jolanda M A and Brouwer, Ingeborg A and Campos, Hannia and Chaves, Paulo H M and Chien, Kuo-Liong and de Faire, Ulf and Djouss{\'e}, Luc and Eiriksdottir, Gudny and El-Abbadi, Naglaa and Forouhi, Nita G and Michael Gaziano, J and Geleijnse, Johanna M and Gigante, Bruna and Giles, Graham and Guallar, Eliseo and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Harris, Tamara and Harris, William S and Helmer, Catherine and Hellenius, Mai-Lis and Hodge, Allison and Hu, Frank B and Jacques, Paul F and Jansson, Jan-H{\r a}kan and Kalsbeek, Anya and Khaw, Kay-Tee and Koh, Woon-Puay and Laakso, Markku and Leander, Karin and Lin, Hung-Ju and Lind, Lars and Luben, Robert and Luo, Juhua and McKnight, Barbara and Mursu, Jaakko and Ninomiya, Toshiharu and Overvad, Kim and Psaty, Bruce M and Rimm, Eric and Schulze, Matthias B and Siscovick, David and Skjelbo Nielsen, Michael and Smith, Albert V and Steffen, Brian T and Steffen, Lyn and Sun, Qi and Sundstr{\"o}m, Johan and Tsai, Michael Y and Tunstall-Pedoe, Hugh and Uusitupa, Matti I J and van Dam, Rob M and Veenstra, Jenna and Monique Verschuren, W M and Wareham, Nick and Willett, Walter and Woodward, Mark and Yuan, Jian-Min and Micha, Renata and Lemaitre, Rozenn N and Mozaffarian, Dariush and Riserus, Ulf} } @article {7972, title = {Common Genetic Variation in Relation to Brachial Vascular Dimensions and Flow-Mediated Vasodilation.}, journal = {Circ Genom Precis Med}, volume = {12}, year = {2019}, month = {2019 Feb}, pages = {e002409}, issn = {2574-8300}, doi = {10.1161/CIRCGEN.118.002409}, author = {D{\"o}rr, Marcus and Hamburg, Naomi M and M{\"u}ller, Christian and Smith, Nicholas L and Gustafsson, Stefan and Lehtim{\"a}ki, Terho and Teumer, Alexander and Zeller, Tanja and Li, Xiaohui and Lind, Lars and Raitakari, Olli T and V{\"o}lker, Uwe and Blankenberg, Stefan and McKnight, Barbara and Morris, Andrew P and K{\"a}h{\"o}nen, Mika and Lemaitre, Rozenn N and Wild, Philipp S and Nauck, Matthias and V{\"o}lzke, Henry and M{\"u}nzel, Thomas and Mitchell, Gary F and Psaty, Bruce M and Lindgren, Cecilia M and Larson, Martin G and Felix, Stephan B and Ingelsson, Erik and Lyytik{\"a}inen, Leo-Pekka and Herrington, David and Benjamin, Emelia J and Schnabel, Renate B} } @article {7988, title = {A genome-wide association study identifies new loci for factor VII and implicates factor VII in ischemic stroke etiology.}, journal = {Blood}, volume = {133}, year = {2019}, month = {2019 Feb 28}, pages = {967-977}, abstract = {

Factor VII (FVII) is an important component of the coagulation cascade. Few genetic loci regulating FVII activity and/or levels have been discovered to date. We conducted a meta-analysis of 9 genome-wide association studies of plasma FVII levels (7 FVII activity and 2 FVII antigen) among 27 495 participants of European and African ancestry. Each study performed ancestry-specific association analyses. Inverse variance weighted meta-analysis was performed within each ancestry group and then combined for a -ancestry meta-analysis. Our primary analysis included the 7 studies that measured FVII activity, and a secondary analysis included all 9 studies. We provided functional genomic validation for newly identified significant loci by silencing candidate genes in a human liver cell line (HuH7) using small-interfering RNA and then measuring messenger RNA and FVII protein expression. Lastly, we used meta-analysis results to perform Mendelian randomization analysis to estimate the causal effect of FVII activity on coronary artery disease, ischemic stroke (IS), and venous thromboembolism. We identified 2 novel ( and ) and 6 known loci associated with FVII activity, explaining 19.0\% of the phenotypic variance. Adding FVII antigen data to the meta-analysis did not result in the discovery of further loci. Silencing in HuH7 cells upregulated FVII, whereas silencing downregulated FVII. Mendelian randomization analyses suggest that FVII activity has a positive causal effect on the risk of IS. Variants at and contribute to FVII activity by regulating expression levels. FVII activity appears to contribute to the etiology of IS in the general population.

}, issn = {1528-0020}, doi = {10.1182/blood-2018-05-849240}, author = {de Vries, Paul S and Sabater-Lleal, Maria and Huffman, Jennifer E and Marten, Jonathan and Song, Ci and Pankratz, Nathan and Bartz, Traci M and de Haan, Hugoline G and Delgado, Graciela E and Eicher, John D and Martinez-Perez, Angel and Ward-Caviness, Cavin K and Brody, Jennifer A and Chen, Ming-Huei and de Maat, Moniek P M and Fr{\r a}nberg, Mattias and Gill, Dipender and Kleber, Marcus E and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Soria, Jos{\'e} Manuel and Tang, Weihong and Tofler, Geoffrey H and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and van Hylckama Vlieg, Astrid and Seshadri, Sudha and Boerwinkle, Eric and Davies, Neil M and Giese, Anne-Katrin and Ikram, M Kamran and Kittner, Steven J and McKnight, Barbara and Psaty, Bruce M and Reiner, Alex P and Sargurupremraj, Muralidharan and Taylor, Kent D and Fornage, Myriam and Hamsten, Anders and M{\"a}rz, Winfried and Rosendaal, Frits R and Souto, Juan Carlos and Dehghan, Abbas and Johnson, Andrew D and Morrison, Alanna C and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J and Smith, Nicholas L} } @article {8200, title = {Genomic and transcriptomic association studies identify 16 novel susceptibility loci for venous thromboembolism.}, journal = {Blood}, volume = {134}, year = {2019}, month = {2019 Nov 07}, pages = {1645-1657}, abstract = {

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a significant contributor to morbidity and mortality. To advance our understanding of the biology contributing to VTE, we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of VTE and a transcriptome-wide association study (TWAS) based on imputed gene expression from whole blood and liver. We meta-analyzed GWAS data from 18 studies for 30 234 VTE cases and 172 122 controls and assessed the association between 12 923 718 genetic variants and VTE. We generated variant prediction scores of gene expression from whole blood and liver tissue and assessed them for association with VTE. Mendelian randomization analyses were conducted for traits genetically associated with novel VTE loci. We identified 34 independent genetic signals for VTE risk from GWAS meta-analysis, of which 14 are newly reported associations. This included 11 newly associated genetic loci (C1orf198, PLEK, OSMR-AS1, NUGGC/SCARA5, GRK5, MPHOSPH9, ARID4A, PLCG2, SMG6, EIF5A, and STX10) of which 6 replicated, and 3 new independent signals in 3 known genes. Further, TWAS identified 5 additional genetic loci with imputed gene expression levels differing between cases and controls in whole blood (SH2B3, SPSB1, RP11-747H7.3, RP4-737E23.2) and in liver (ERAP1). At some GWAS loci, we found suggestive evidence that the VTE association signal for novel and previously known regions colocalized with expression quantitative trait locus signals. Mendelian randomization analyses suggested that blood traits may contribute to the underlying risk of VTE. To conclude, we identified 16 novel susceptibility loci for VTE; for some loci, the association signals are likely mediated through gene expression of nearby genes.

}, issn = {1528-0020}, doi = {10.1182/blood.2019000435}, author = {Lindstr{\"o}m, Sara and Wang, Lu and Smith, Erin N and Gordon, William and van Hylckama Vlieg, Astrid and de Andrade, Mariza and Brody, Jennifer A and Pattee, Jack W and Haessler, Jeffrey and Brumpton, Ben M and Chasman, Daniel I and Suchon, Pierre and Chen, Ming-Huei and Turman, Constance and Germain, Marine and Wiggins, Kerri L and MacDonald, James and Braekkan, Sigrid K and Armasu, Sebastian M and Pankratz, Nathan and Jackson, Rebecca D and Nielsen, Jonas B and Giulianini, Franco and Puurunen, Marja K and Ibrahim, Manal and Heckbert, Susan R and Damrauer, Scott M and Natarajan, Pradeep and Klarin, Derek and de Vries, Paul S and Sabater-Lleal, Maria and Huffman, Jennifer E and Bammler, Theo K and Frazer, Kelly A and McCauley, Bryan M and Taylor, Kent and Pankow, James S and Reiner, Alexander P and Gabrielsen, Maiken E and Deleuze, Jean-Francois and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Chris J and Kim, Jihye and McKnight, Barbara and Kraft, Peter and Hansen, John-Bjarne and Rosendaal, Frits R and Heit, John A and Psaty, Bruce M and Tang, Weihong and Kooperberg, Charles and Hveem, Kristian and Ridker, Paul M and Morange, Pierre-Emmanuel and Johnson, Andrew D and Kabrhel, Christopher and Tr{\'e}gou{\"e}t, David-Alexandre and Smith, Nicholas L} } @article {7979, title = {A large-scale exome array analysis of venous thromboembolism.}, journal = {Genet Epidemiol}, year = {2019}, month = {2019 Jan 19}, abstract = {

Although recent Genome-Wide Association Studies have identified novel associations for common variants, there has been no comprehensive exome-wide search for low-frequency variants that affect the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE). We conducted a meta-analysis of 11 studies comprising 8,332 cases and 16,087 controls of European ancestry and 382 cases and 1,476 controls of African American ancestry genotyped with the Illumina HumanExome BeadChip. We used the seqMeta package in R to conduct single variant and gene-based rare variant tests. In the single variant analysis, we limited our analysis to the 64,794 variants with at least 40 minor alleles across studies (minor allele frequency [MAF] ~0.08\%). We confirmed associations with previously identified VTE loci, including ABO, F5, F11, and FGA. After adjusting for multiple testing, we observed no novel significant findings in single variant or gene-based analysis. Given our sample size, we had greater than 80\% power to detect minimum odds ratios greater than 1.5 and 1.8 for a single variant with MAF of 0.01 and 0.005, respectively. Larger studies and sequence data may be needed to identify novel low-frequency and rare variants associated with VTE risk.

}, issn = {1098-2272}, doi = {10.1002/gepi.22187}, author = {Lindstr{\"o}m, Sara and Brody, Jennifer A and Turman, Constance and Germain, Marine and Bartz, Traci M and Smith, Erin N and Chen, Ming-Huei and Puurunen, Marja and Chasman, Daniel and Hassler, Jeffrey and Pankratz, Nathan and Basu, Saonli and Guan, Weihua and Gyorgy, Beata and Ibrahim, Manal and Empana, Jean-Philippe and Olaso, Robert and Jackson, Rebecca and Braekkan, Sigrid K and McKnight, Barbara and Deleuze, Jean-Francois and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Cristopher J and Jouven, Xavier and Frazer, Kelly A and Psaty, Bruce M and Wiggins, Kerri L and Taylor, Kent and Reiner, Alexander P and Heckbert, Susan R and Kooperberg, Charles and Ridker, Paul and Hansen, John-Bjarne and Tang, Weihong and Johnson, Andrew D and Morange, Pierre-Emmanuel and Tr{\'e}gou{\"e}t, David A and Kraft, Peter and Smith, Nicholas L and Kabrhel, Christopher} } @article {8050, title = {Mendelian randomization evaluation of causal effects of fibrinogen on incident coronary heart disease.}, journal = {PLoS One}, volume = {14}, year = {2019}, month = {2019}, pages = {e0216222}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Fibrinogen is an essential hemostatic factor and cardiovascular disease risk factor. Early attempts at evaluating the causal effect of fibrinogen on coronary heart disease (CHD) and myocardial infraction (MI) using Mendelian randomization (MR) used single variant approaches, and did not take advantage of recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) or multi-variant, pleiotropy robust MR methodologies.

METHODS AND FINDINGS: We evaluated evidence for a causal effect of fibrinogen on both CHD and MI using MR. We used both an allele score approach and pleiotropy robust MR models. The allele score was composed of 38 fibrinogen-associated variants from recent GWAS. Initial analyses using the allele score used a meta-analysis of 11 European-ancestry prospective cohorts, free of CHD and MI at baseline, to examine incidence CHD and MI. We also applied 2 sample MR methods with data from a prevalent CHD and MI GWAS. Results are given in terms of the hazard ratio (HR) or odds ratio (OR), depending on the study design, and associated 95\% confidence interval (CI). In single variant analyses no causal effect of fibrinogen on CHD or MI was observed. In multi-variant analyses using incidence CHD cases and the allele score approach, the estimated causal effect (HR) of a 1 g/L higher fibrinogen concentration was 1.62 (CI = 1.12, 2.36) when using incident cases and the allele score approach. In 2 sample MR analyses that accounted for pleiotropy, the causal estimate (OR) was reduced to 1.18 (CI = 0.98, 1.42) and 1.09 (CI = 0.89, 1.33) in the 2 most precise (smallest CI) models, out of 4 models evaluated. In the 2 sample MR analyses for MI, there was only very weak evidence of a causal effect in only 1 out of 4 models.

CONCLUSIONS: A small causal effect of fibrinogen on CHD is observed using multi-variant MR approaches which account for pleiotropy, but not single variant MR approaches. Taken together, results indicate that even with large sample sizes and multi-variant approaches MR analyses still cannot exclude the null when estimating the causal effect of fibrinogen on CHD, but that any potential causal effect is likely to be much smaller than observed in epidemiological studies.

}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0216222}, author = {Ward-Caviness, Cavin K and de Vries, Paul S and Wiggins, Kerri L and Huffman, Jennifer E and Yanek, Lisa R and Bielak, Lawrence F and Giulianini, Franco and Guo, Xiuqing and Kleber, Marcus E and Kacprowski, Tim and Gro{\ss}, Stefan and Petersman, Astrid and Davey Smith, George and Hartwig, Fernando P and Bowden, Jack and Hemani, Gibran and M{\"u}ller-Nuraysid, Martina and Strauch, Konstantin and Koenig, Wolfgang and Waldenberger, Melanie and Meitinger, Thomas and Pankratz, Nathan and Boerwinkle, Eric and Tang, Weihong and Fu, Yi-Ping and Johnson, Andrew D and Song, Ci and de Maat, Moniek P M and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Franco, Oscar H and Brody, Jennifer A and McKnight, Barbara and Chen, Yii-Der Ida and Psaty, Bruce M and Mathias, Rasika A and Becker, Diane M and Peyser, Patricia A and Smith, Jennifer A and Bielinski, Suzette J and Ridker, Paul M and Taylor, Kent D and Yao, Jie and Tracy, Russell and Delgado, Graciela and Trompet, Stella and Sattar, Naveed and Jukema, J Wouter and Becker, Lewis C and Kardia, Sharon L R and Rotter, Jerome I and M{\"a}rz, Winfried and D{\"o}rr, Marcus and Chasman, Daniel I and Dehghan, Abbas and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J and Smith, Nicholas L and Peters, Annette and Morrison, Alanna C} } @article {8105, title = {Plasma Ceramides and Sphingomyelins in Relation to Heart Failure Risk.}, journal = {Circ Heart Fail}, volume = {12}, year = {2019}, month = {2019 Jul}, pages = {e005708}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Ceramides exhibit multiple biological activities that may influence the pathophysiology of heart failure. These activities may be influenced by the saturated fatty acid carried by the ceramide (Cer). However, the associations of different circulating Cer species, and their sphingomyelin (SM) precursors, with heart failure have received limited attention.

METHODS AND RESULTS: We studied the associations of plasma Cer and SM species with incident heart failure in the Cardiovascular Health Study. We examined 8 species: Cer and SM with palmitic acid (Cer-16 and SM-16), species with arachidic acid (Cer-20 and SM-20), species with behenic acid (Cer-22 and SM-22), and species with lignoceric acid (Cer-24 and SM-24). During a median follow-up of 9.4 years, we identified 1179 cases of incident heart failure among 4249 study participants. In Cox regression analyses adjusted for risk factors, higher levels of Cer-16 and SM-16 were associated with higher risk of incident heart failure (hazard ratio for one SD increase:1.25 [95\% CI, 1.16-1.36] and 1.28 [1.18-1.40], respectively). In contrast, higher levels of Cer-22 were associated with lower risk of heart failure in multivariable analyses further adjusted for Cer-16 (hazard ratio, 0.85 [0.78-0.92]); and higher levels of SM-20, SM-22 and SM-24 were associated with lower risk of heart failure in analyses further adjusted for SM-16 (hazard ratios, 0.83 [0.77-0.90], 0.81 [0.75-0.88], and 0.83 [0.77-0.90], respectively). No statistically significant interactions with age, sex, black race, body mass index, or baseline coronary heart disease were detected. Similar associations were observed for heart failure with preserved (n=529) or reduced (n=348) ejection fraction.

CONCLUSIONS: This study shows associations of higher plasma levels of Cer-16 and SM-16 with increased risk of heart failure and higher levels of Cer-22, SM-20, SM-22, and SM-24 with decreased risk of heart failure.

CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov . Unique identifier: NCT00005133.

}, issn = {1941-3297}, doi = {10.1161/CIRCHEARTFAILURE.118.005708}, author = {Lemaitre, Rozenn N and Jensen, Paul N and Hoofnagle, Andrew and McKnight, Barbara and Fretts, Amanda M and King, Irena B and Siscovick, David S and Psaty, Bruce M and Heckbert, Susan R and Mozaffarian, Dariush and Sotoodehnia, Nona} } @article {8275, title = {Serial Plasma Phospholipid Fatty Acids in the De Novo Lipogenesis Pathway and Total Mortality, Cause-Specific Mortality, and Cardiovascular Diseases in the Cardiovascular Health Study.}, journal = {J Am Heart Assoc}, volume = {8}, year = {2019}, month = {2019 Nov 19}, pages = {e012881}, abstract = {

Background Synthesized fatty acids (FAs) from de novo lipogenesis may affect cardiometabolic health, but longitudinal associations between serially measured de novo lipogenesis-related fatty acid biomarkers and mortality or cardiovascular disease (CVD) are not well established. Methods and Results We investigated longitudinal associations between de novo lipogenesis-related fatty acids with all-cause mortality, cause-specific mortality, and incident CVD among 3869 older US adults, mean (SD) age 75 (5) years and free of prevalent CVD at baseline. Levels of plasma phospholipid palmitic (16:0), palmitoleic (16:1n-7), stearic (18:0), oleic acid (18:1n-9), and other risk factors were serially measured at baseline, 6~years, and 13~years. All-cause mortality, cause-specific mortality, and incident fatal and nonfatal CVD were centrally adjudicated. Risk was assessed in multivariable-adjusted Cox models with time-varying FAs and covariates. During 13~years, median follow-up (maximum 22.4~years), participants experienced 3227 deaths (1131 CVD, 2096 non-CVD) and 1753 incident CVD events. After multivariable adjustment, higher cumulative levels of 16:0, 16:1n-7, and 18:1n-9 were associated with higher all-cause mortality, with extreme-quintile hazard ratios (95\% CIs) of 1.35 (1.17-1.56), 1.40 (1.21-1.62), and 1.56 (1.35-1.80), respectively, whereas higher levels of 18:0 were associated with lower mortality (hazard ratio=0.76; 95\% CI=0.66-0.88). Associations were generally similar for CVD mortality versus non-CVD mortality, as well as total incident CVD. Changes in levels of 16:0 were positively, and 18:0 inversely, associated with all-cause mortality (hazard ratio=1.23, 95\% CI=1.08-1.41; and hazard ratio=0.78, 95\% CI=0.68-0.90). Conclusions Higher long-term levels of 16:0, 16:1n-7, and 18:1n-9 and changes in 16:0 were positively, whereas long-term levels and changes in 18:0 were inversely, associated with all-cause mortality in older adults.

}, issn = {2047-9980}, doi = {10.1161/JAHA.119.012881}, author = {Lai, Heidi T M and de Oliveira Otto, Marcia C and Lee, Yujin and Wu, Jason H Y and Song, Xiaoling and King, Irena B and Psaty, Bruce M and Lemaitre, Rozenn N and McKnight, Barbara and Siscovick, David S and Mozaffarian, Dariush} } @article {8491, title = {Genetic Studies of Leptin Concentrations Implicate Leptin in the Regulation of Early Adiposity.}, journal = {Diabetes}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 Sep 11}, abstract = {

Leptin influences food intake by informing the brain about the status of body fat stores. Rare mutations associated with congenital leptin deficiency cause severe early-onset obesity that can be mitigated by administering leptin. However, the role of genetic regulation of leptin in polygenic obesity remains poorly understood. We performed an exome-based analysis in up to 57,232 individuals of diverse ancestries to identify genetic variants that influence adiposity-adjusted leptin concentrations. We identify five novel variants, including four missense variants, in , and , and one intergenic variant near The missense variant Val94Met (rs17151919) in was common in individuals of African ancestry only and its association with lower leptin concentrations was specific to this ancestry (P=2x10, n=3,901). Using analyses, we show that the Met94 allele decreases leptin secretion. We also show that the Met94 allele is associated with higher BMI in young African-ancestry children but not in adults, suggesting leptin regulates early adiposity.

}, issn = {1939-327X}, doi = {10.2337/db20-0070}, author = {Yaghootkar, Hanieh and Zhang, Yiying and Spracklen, Cassandra N and Karaderi, Tugce and Huang, Lam Opal and Bradfield, Jonathan and Schurmann, Claudia and Fine, Rebecca S and Preuss, Michael H and Kutalik, Zolt{\'a}n and Wittemans, Laura Bl and Lu, Yingchang and Metz, Sophia and Willems, Sara M and Li-Gao, Ruifang and Grarup, Niels and Wang, Shuai and Molnos, Sophie and Sandoval-Z{\'a}rate, Am{\'e}rica A and Nalls, Mike A and Lange, Leslie A and Haesser, Jeffrey and Guo, Xiuqing and Lyytik{\"a}inen, Leo-Pekka and Feitosa, Mary F and Sitlani, Colleen M and Venturini, Cristina and Mahajan, Anubha and Kacprowski, Tim and Wang, Carol A and Chasman, Daniel I and Amin, Najaf and Broer, Linda and Robertson, Neil and Young, Kristin L and Allison, Matthew and Auer, Paul L and Bl{\"u}her, Matthias and Borja, Judith B and Bork-Jensen, Jette and Carrasquilla, Germ{\'a}n D and Christofidou, Paraskevi and Demirkan, Ayse and Doege, Claudia A and Garcia, Melissa E and Graff, Mariaelisa and Guo, Kaiying and Hakonarson, Hakon and Hong, Jaeyoung and Ida Chen, Yii-Der and Jackson, Rebecca and Jakupovi{\'c}, Hermina and Jousilahti, Pekka and Justice, Anne E and K{\"a}h{\"o}nen, Mika and Kizer, Jorge R and Kriebel, Jennifer and LeDuc, Charles A and Li, Jin and Lind, Lars and Luan, Jian{\textquoteright}an and Mackey, David and Mangino, Massimo and M{\"a}nnist{\"o}, Satu and Martin Carli, Jayne F and Medina-G{\'o}mez, Carolina and Mook-Kanamori, Dennis O and Morris, Andrew P and de Mutsert, Ren{\'e}e and Nauck, Matthias and Nedeljkovic, Ivana and Pennell, Craig E and Pradhan, Arund D and Psaty, Bruce M and Raitakari, Olli T and Scott, Robert A and Skaaby, Tea and Strauch, Konstantin and Taylor, Kent D and Teumer, Alexander and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Wu, Ying and Yao, Jie and Walker, Mark and North, Kari E and Kovacs, Peter and Ikram, M Arfan and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Ridker, Paul M and Lye, Stephen and Homuth, Georg and Ingelsson, Erik and Spector, Tim D and McKnight, Barbara and Province, Michael A and Lehtim{\"a}ki, Terho and Adair, Linda S and Rotter, Jerome I and Reiner, Alexander P and Wilson, James G and Harris, Tamara B and Ripatti, Samuli and Grallert, Harald and Meigs, James B and Salomaa, Veikko and Hansen, Torben and Willems van Dijk, Ko and Wareham, Nicholas J and Grant, Struan Fa and Langenberg, Claudia and Frayling, Timothy M and Lindgren, Cecilia M and Mohlke, Karen L and Leibel, Rudolph L and Loos, Ruth Jf and Kilpel{\"a}inen, Tuomas O} } @article {8405, title = {Incorporating sampling weights into robust estimation of Cox proportional hazards regression model, with illustration in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.}, journal = {BMC Med Res Methodol}, volume = {20}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 03 14}, pages = {62}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Cox proportional hazards regression models are used to evaluate associations between exposures of interest and time-to-event outcomes in observational data. When exposures are measured on only a sample of participants, as they are in a case-cohort design, the sampling weights must be incorporated into the regression model to obtain unbiased estimating equations.

METHODS: Robust Cox methods have been developed to better estimate associations when there are influential outliers in the exposure of interest, but these robust methods do not incorporate sampling weights. In this paper, we extend these robust methods, which already incorporate influence weights, so that they also accommodate sampling weights.

RESULTS: Simulations illustrate that in the presence of influential outliers, the association estimate from the weighted robust method is closer to the true value than the estimate from traditional weighted Cox regression. As expected, in the absence of outliers, the use of robust methods yields a small loss of efficiency. Using data from a case-cohort study that is nested within the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) longitudinal cohort study, we illustrate differences between traditional and robust weighted Cox association estimates for the relationships between immune cell traits and risk of stroke.

CONCLUSIONS: Robust weighted Cox regression methods are a new tool to analyze time-to-event data with sampling, e.g. case-cohort data, when exposures of interest contain outliers.

}, issn = {1471-2288}, doi = {10.1186/s12874-020-00945-9}, author = {Sitlani, Colleen M and Lumley, Thomas and McKnight, Barbara and Rice, Kenneth M and Olson, Nels C and Doyle, Margaret F and Huber, Sally A and Tracy, Russell P and Psaty, Bruce M and C Delaney, Joseph A} } @article {8284, title = {Plasma Ceramides and Sphingomyelins in Relation to Atrial Fibrillation Risk: The Cardiovascular Health Study.}, journal = {J Am Heart Assoc}, volume = {9}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 Feb 18}, pages = {e012853}, abstract = {

Background Ceramides exhibit multiple biological activities that may influence the pathophysiological characteristics of atrial fibrillation (AF). Whether the length of the saturated fatty acid carried by the ceramide or their sphingomyelin precursors are associated with AF risk is not known. Methods and Results Among 4206 CHS (Cardiovascular Health Study) participants (mean age, 76~years; 40\% men) who were free of prevalent AF at baseline, we identified 1198 incident AF cases over a median 8.7~years of follow-up. We examined 8 sphingolipid species: ceramide and sphingomyelin species with palmitic acid and species with very-long-chain saturated fatty acids: arachidic; behenic; and lignoceric. In adjusted Cox regression analyses, ceramides and sphingomyelins with very-long-chain saturated fatty acids were associated with reduced AF risk (ie, per 2-fold higher ceramide with behenic acid hazard ratio, 0.71; 95\% CI, 0.59-0.86; sphingomyelin with behenic acid hazard ratio, 0.60; 95\% CI, 0.46-0.77). In contrast, ceramides and sphingomyelins with palmitic acid were associated with increased AF risk (ceramide with palmitic acid hazard ratio, 1.31; 95\% CI, 1.03-1.66; sphingomyelin with palmitic acid hazard ratio, 1.73; 95\% CI, 1.18-2.55). Associations were attenuated with adjustment for NT-proBNP (N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide), but did not differ significantly by age, sex, race, body mass index, or history of coronary heart disease. Conclusions Our findings suggest that several ceramide and sphingomyelin species are associated with incident AF, and that these associations differ on the basis of the fatty acid. Ceramides and sphingomyelins with palmitic acid were associated with increased AF risk, whereas ceramides and sphingomyelins with very-long-chain saturated fatty acids were associated with reduced AF risk.

}, issn = {2047-9980}, doi = {10.1161/JAHA.119.012853}, author = {Jensen, Paul N and Fretts, Amanda M and Hoofnagle, Andrew N and Sitlani, Colleen M and McKnight, Barbara and King, Irena B and Siscovick, David S and Psaty, Bruce M and Heckbert, Susan R and Mozaffarian, Dariush and Sotoodehnia, Nona and Lemaitre, Rozenn N} } @article {8241, title = {Serial Biomarkers of De Novo Lipogenesis Fatty Acids and Incident Heart Failure in Older Adults: The Cardiovascular Health Study.}, journal = {J Am Heart Assoc}, volume = {9}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 Feb 18}, pages = {e014119}, abstract = {

Background De novo lipogenesis (DNL) is an endogenous pathway that converts excess dietary starch, sugar, protein, and alcohol into specific fatty acids (FAs). Although elevated DNL is linked to several metabolic abnormalities, little is known about how long-term habitual levels and changes in levels of FAs in the DNL pathway relate to incident heart failure (HF). Methods and Results We investigated whether habitual levels and changes in serial measures of FAs in the DNL pathway were associated with incident HF among 4249 participants free of HF at baseline. Plasma phospholipid FAs were measured at baseline, 6~years, and 13~years using gas chromatography, and risk factors for HF were measured using standardized methods. Incident HF was centrally adjudicated using medical records. We prospectively evaluated associations with HF risk of (1) habitual FA levels, using cumulative updating to assess long-term exposure, and (2) changes in FA levels over time. During 22.1~years of follow-up, 1304 HF cases occurred. After multivariable adjustment, habitual levels and changes in levels of palmitic acid (16:0) were positively associated with incident HF (interquintile hazard ratio [95\% CI]=1.17 [1.00-1.36] and 1.26 [1.03-1.55], respectively). Changes in levels of 7-hexadecenoic acid (16:1n-9) and vaccenic acid (18:1n-7) were each positively associated with risk of HF (1.36 [1.13-1.62], and 1.43 [1.18-1.72], respectively). Habitual levels and changes in levels of myristic acid (14:0), palmitoleic acid (16:1n-7), stearic acid (18:0), and oleic acid (18:1n-9) were not associated with incident HF. Conclusions Both habitual levels and changes in levels of 16:0 were positively associated with incident HF in older adults. Changes in 16:1n-9 and 18:1n-7 were also positively associated with incident HF. These findings support a potential role of DNL or these DNL-related FAs in the development of HF.

}, issn = {2047-9980}, doi = {10.1161/JAHA.119.014119}, author = {Lee, Yujin and Lai, Heidi T M and de Oliveira Otto, Marcia C and Lemaitre, Rozenn N and McKnight, Barbara and King, Irena B and Song, Xiaoling and Huggins, Gordon S and Vest, Amanda R and Siscovick, David S and Mozaffarian, Dariush} } @article {8826, title = {Assessment of Plasma Phospholipid Very-Long-Chain Saturated Fatty Acid Levels and Healthy Aging.}, journal = {JAMA Netw Open}, volume = {4}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 Aug 02}, pages = {e2120616}, abstract = {

Importance: Identifying novel factors that protect against age-related diseases and promote healthy aging is critical to public health. Higher levels of circulating very-long-chain saturated fatty acids (VLSFAs) are integrated biomarkers of diet and metabolism shown to have beneficial associations in cardiovascular disease and total mortality, but whether they are associated with overall healthy aging is unknown.

Objective: To examine the association of circulating levels of 3 VLSFAs with unhealthy aging events, including incident chronic disease (cardiovascular disease, cancer, lung disease or severe kidney disease), physical dysfunction, and cognitive decline.

Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohort study used 1992 to 2014 data from the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS). The CHS is a multicenter, population-based study of cardiovascular disease among older adults. Among the 4559 CHS participants with available fatty acid data, 1879 participants who had an age-related event before their first measurement were excluded. Data analysis was performed in 2020.

Main Outcomes and Measures: Plasma phospholipid VLSFA levels were measured by thin-layer chromatography followed by gas chromatography. The main outcome was the hazard ratio (HR) of an incident unhealthy aging event associated with serial measures of plasma arachidic acid, behenic acid, and lignoceric acid.

Results: Among the 2680 study participants (976 men [36.4\%]), the mean (SD) age was 74.7 (4.8) years old at entry. During a median (interquartile range) of 6.4 (2.9-12.9) years of follow-up, 2484 participants experienced an unhealthy event. Compared with the lowest quintile, levels of behenic acid in the highest quintile of the fatty acid distribution were associated with 15\% lower risk of an unhealthy event (HR, 0.85; 95\% CI, 0.74-0.97; P for trend = .01) after adjustment for demographic characteristics, lifestyle factors, and clinical conditions. In analogous comparisons, levels of lignoceric acid were similarly associated with 16\% lower risk of an unhealthy event (HR, 0.84; 95\% CI, 0.73-0.95; P for trend = .001).

Conclusions and Relevance: These findings suggest that higher levels of circulating behenic acid and lignoceric acid are associated with lower risk of unhealthy aging events. These results highlight the need to explore determinants of circulating VLSFAs for potential novel efforts to promote healthy aging.

}, issn = {2574-3805}, doi = {10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.20616}, author = {Bockus, Lee B and Biggs, Mary L and Lai, Heidi T M and de Olivera Otto, Marcia C and Fretts, Amanda M and McKnight, Barbara and Sotoodehnia, Nona and King, Irena B and Song, Xiaoling and Siscovick, David S and Mozaffarian, Dariush and Lemaitre, Rozenn N} } @article {8922, title = {Association of Trimethylamine N-Oxide and Related Metabolites in Plasma and Incident Type 2 Diabetes: The Cardiovascular Health Study.}, journal = {JAMA Netw Open}, volume = {4}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 Aug 02}, pages = {e2122844}, abstract = {

Importance: Although rodent studies suggest that trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) influences glucose homeostasis and risk of type 2 diabetes, evidence in humans is limited.

Objective: To examine the associations of serial measures of plasma TMAO and related metabolite concentrations with incident type 2 diabetes, fasting plasma insulin and glucose levels, and the Gutt insulin sensitivity index (ISI).

Design, Setting, and Participants: This prospective cohort design assessed the association of plasma TMAO and related metabolite concentrations with diabetes outcome, whereas a cross-sectional design assessed the association with insulin and glucose levels and Gutt ISI. The participants were a cohort of older US adults from the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS). Data from June 1989 to May 1990, from November 1992 to June 1993, and from June 1995 to June 1997 were included, with follow-up through June 2010. Levels of TMAO and related metabolites were measured in CHS plasma samples. Data were analyzed from July 2019 to September 2020.

Exposures: Plasma concentrations of TMAO, carnitine, betaine, choline, crotonobetaine, and γ-butyrobetaine, measured by high-performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry.

Main Outcomes and Measures: Linear regression for associations of TMAO and related metabolites with insulin and glucose levels and Gutt ISI, and proportional hazards regression for associations with diabetes.

Results: The study included 4442 participants without diabetes at baseline (mean [SD] age, 73 [6] years at entry; 2710 [61\%] women). In multivariable analyses, plasma TMAO, carnitine, crotonobetaine, and γ-butyrobetaine concentrations were positively associated with fasting insulin level (insulin mean geometric ratio comparing fifth with first quintiles of metabolite concentration: 1.07 [95\% CI, 1.04-1.10] for TMAO; 1.07 [95\% CI, 1.03-1.10] for carnitine; 1.05 [95\% CI, 1.02-1.08] for crotonobetaine; and 1.06 [95\% CI, 1.02-1.09] for γ-butyrobetaine). In contrast, betaine and choline concentrations were associated with greater insulin sensitivity (mean difference in Gutt ISI comparing fifth with first quintiles: 6.46 [95\% CI, 4.32-8.60] and 2.27 [95\% CI, 0.16-4.38], respectively). Incident diabetes was identified in 661 participants during a median 12.1 (interquartile range, 6.9-17.1) years of follow-up. In multivariable analyses, TMAO and metabolites were not significantly associated with type 2 diabetes risk (hazard ratios of diabetes comparing fifth with first quintile: 1.20 [95\% CI, 0.94-1.55] for TMAO; 0.96 [95\% CI, 0.74-1.24] for choline; 0.88 [95\% CI, 0.67-1.15] for betaine; 1.07 [95\% CI, 0.83-1.37] for carnitine; 0.79 [95\% CI, 0.60-1.04] for γ-butyrobetaine; and 1.06 [95\% CI, 0.83-1.35] for crotonobetaine).

Conclusions and Relevance: Plasma TMAO and related metabolites were not significantly associated with type 2 diabetes among older adults. The metabolites TMAO, carnitine, γ-butyrobetaine, and crotonobetaine may be associated with insulin resistance, and betaine and choline may be associated with greater insulin sensitivity, but temporality of the associations was not established.

}, issn = {2574-3805}, doi = {10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.22844}, author = {Lemaitre, Rozenn N and Jensen, Paul N and Wang, Zeneng and Fretts, Amanda M and McKnight, Barbara and Nemet, Ina and Biggs, Mary L and Sotoodehnia, Nona and de Oliveira Otto, Marcia C and Psaty, Bruce M and Siscovick, David S and Hazen, Stanley L and Mozaffarian, Dariush} } @article {8910, title = {Circulating Ceramides and Sphingomyelins and Risk of Mortality: The Cardiovascular Health Study.}, journal = {Clin Chem}, volume = {67}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 Nov 26}, pages = {1650-1659}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Recent studies suggest that associations of ceramides (Cer) and sphingomyelins (SM) with health outcomes differ according to the fatty acid acylated to the sphingoid backbone. The purpose of this study was to assess associations of Cer and SM species with mortality.

METHODS: The study population included participants from the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS), a community-based cohort of adults aged >=65 years who were followed from 1992-2015 (n = 4612). Associations of plasma Cer and SM species carrying long-chain (i.e., 16:0) and very-long-chain (i.e., 20:0, 22:0, 24:0) saturated fatty acids with mortality were assessed using Cox proportional hazards models.

RESULTS: During a median follow-up of 10.2 years, 4099 deaths occurred. High concentrations of Cer and SM carrying fatty acid 16:0 were each associated with an increased risk of mortality. Conversely, high concentrations of several ceramide and sphingomyelin species carrying longer fatty acids were each associated with a decreased risk of mortality. The hazard ratios for total mortality per 2-fold difference in each Cer and SM species were: 1.89 (95\% CI), 1.65-2.17 for Cer-16, 0.79 (95\% CI, 0.70-0.88) for Cer-22, 0.74 (95\% CI, 0.65-0.84) for Cer-24, 2.51 (95\% CI, 2.01-3.14) for SM-16, 0.68 (95\% CI, 0.58-0.79) for SM-20, 0.57 (95\% CI, 0.49-0.67) for SM-22, and 0.66 (0.57-0.75) for SM-24. We found no association of Cer-20 with risk of death.

CONCLUSIONS: Associations of Cer and SM with the risk of death differ according to the length of their acylated saturated fatty acid. Future studies are needed to explore mechanisms underlying these relationships.

}, issn = {1530-8561}, doi = {10.1093/clinchem/hvab182}, author = {Fretts, Amanda M and Jensen, Paul N and Hoofnagle, Andrew N and McKnight, Barbara and Sitlani, Colleen M and Siscovick, David S and King, Irena B and Psaty, Bruce M and Sotoodehnia, Nona and Lemaitre, Rozenn N} } @article {8705, title = {Discovery and fine-mapping of height loci via high-density imputation of GWASs in individuals of African ancestry.}, journal = {Am J Hum Genet}, volume = {108}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 Apr 01}, pages = {564-582}, abstract = {

Although many loci have been associated with height in European ancestry populations, very few have been identified in African ancestry individuals. Furthermore, many of the known loci have yet to be generalized to and fine-mapped within a large-scale African ancestry sample. We performed sex-combined and sex-stratified meta-analyses in up to 52,764 individuals with height and genome-wide genotyping data from the African Ancestry Anthropometry Genetics Consortium (AAAGC). We additionally combined our African ancestry meta-analysis results with published European genome-wide association study (GWAS) data. In the African ancestry analyses, we identified three novel loci (SLC4A3, NCOA2, ECD/FAM149B1) in sex-combined results and two loci (CRB1, KLF6) in women only. In the African plus European sex-combined GWAS, we identified an additional three novel loci (RCCD1, G6PC3, CEP95) which were equally driven by AAAGC and European results. Among 39 genome-wide significant signals at known loci, conditioning index SNPs from European studies identified 20 secondary signals. Two of the 20 new secondary signals and none of the 8 novel loci had minor allele frequencies (MAF) < 5\%. Of 802 known European height signals, 643 displayed directionally consistent associations with height, of which 205 were nominally significant (p < 0.05) in the African ancestry sex-combined sample. Furthermore, 148 of 241 loci contained <=20 variants in the credible sets that jointly account for 99\% of the posterior probability of driving the associations. In summary, trans-ethnic meta-analyses revealed novel signals and further improved fine-mapping of putative causal variants in loci shared between African and European ancestry populations.

}, issn = {1537-6605}, doi = {10.1016/j.ajhg.2021.02.011}, author = {Graff, Mariaelisa and Justice, Anne E and Young, Kristin L and Marouli, Eirini and Zhang, Xinruo and Fine, Rebecca S and Lim, Elise and Buchanan, Victoria and Rand, Kristin and Feitosa, Mary F and Wojczynski, Mary K and Yanek, Lisa R and Shao, Yaming and Rohde, Rebecca and Adeyemo, Adebowale A and Aldrich, Melinda C and Allison, Matthew A and Ambrosone, Christine B and Ambs, Stefan and Amos, Christopher and Arnett, Donna K and Atwood, Larry and Bandera, Elisa V and Bartz, Traci and Becker, Diane M and Berndt, Sonja I and Bernstein, Leslie and Bielak, Lawrence F and Blot, William J and Bottinger, Erwin P and Bowden, Donald W and Bradfield, Jonathan P and Brody, Jennifer A and Broeckel, Ulrich and Burke, Gregory and Cade, Brian E and Cai, Qiuyin and Caporaso, Neil and Carlson, Chris and Carpten, John and Casey, Graham and Chanock, Stephen J and Chen, Guanjie and Chen, Minhui and Chen, Yii-der I and Chen, Wei-Min and Chesi, Alessandra and Chiang, Charleston W K and Chu, Lisa and Coetzee, Gerry A and Conti, David V and Cooper, Richard S and Cushman, Mary and Demerath, Ellen and Deming, Sandra L and Dimitrov, Latchezar and Ding, Jingzhong and Diver, W Ryan and Duan, Qing and Evans, Michele K and Falusi, Adeyinka G and Faul, Jessica D and Fornage, Myriam and Fox, Caroline and Freedman, Barry I and Garcia, Melissa and Gillanders, Elizabeth M and Goodman, Phyllis and Gottesman, Omri and Grant, Struan F A and Guo, Xiuqing and Hakonarson, Hakon and Haritunians, Talin and Harris, Tamara B and Harris, Curtis C and Henderson, Brian E and Hennis, Anselm and Hernandez, Dena G and Hirschhorn, Joel N and McNeill, Lorna Haughton and Howard, Timothy D and Howard, Barbara and Hsing, Ann W and Hsu, Yu-Han H and Hu, Jennifer J and Huff, Chad D and Huo, Dezheng and Ingles, Sue A and Irvin, Marguerite R and John, Esther M and Johnson, Karen C and Jordan, Joanne M and Kabagambe, Edmond K and Kang, Sun J and Kardia, Sharon L and Keating, Brendan J and Kittles, Rick A and Klein, Eric A and Kolb, Suzanne and Kolonel, Laurence N and Kooperberg, Charles and Kuller, Lewis and Kutlar, Abdullah and Lange, Leslie and Langefeld, Carl D and Le Marchand, Lo{\"\i}c and Leonard, Hampton and Lettre, Guillaume and Levin, Albert M and Li, Yun and Li, Jin and Liu, Yongmei and Liu, Youfang and Liu, Simin and Lohman, Kurt and Lotay, Vaneet and Lu, Yingchang and Maixner, William and Manson, JoAnn E and McKnight, Barbara and Meng, Yan and Monda, Keri L and Monroe, Kris and Moore, Jason H and Mosley, Thomas H and Mudgal, Poorva and Murphy, Adam B and Nadukuru, Rajiv and Nalls, Mike A and Nathanson, Katherine L and Nayak, Uma and N{\textquoteright}diaye, Amidou and Nemesure, Barbara and Neslund-Dudas, Christine and Neuhouser, Marian L and Nyante, Sarah and Ochs-Balcom, Heather and Ogundiran, Temidayo O and Ogunniyi, Adesola and Ojengbede, Oladosu and Okut, Hayrettin and Olopade, Olufunmilayo I and Olshan, Andrew and Padhukasahasram, Badri and Palmer, Julie and Palmer, Cameron D and Palmer, Nicholette D and Papanicolaou, George and Patel, Sanjay R and Pettaway, Curtis A and Peyser, Patricia A and Press, Michael F and Rao, D C and Rasmussen-Torvik, Laura J and Redline, Susan and Reiner, Alex P and Rhie, Suhn K and Rodriguez-Gil, Jorge L and Rotimi, Charles N and Rotter, Jerome I and Ruiz-Narvaez, Edward A and Rybicki, Benjamin A and Salako, Babatunde and Sale, Mich{\`e}le M and Sanderson, Maureen and Schadt, Eric and Schreiner, Pamela J and Schurmann, Claudia and Schwartz, Ann G and Shriner, Daniel A and Signorello, Lisa B and Singleton, Andrew B and Siscovick, David S and Smith, Jennifer A and Smith, Shad and Speliotes, Elizabeth and Spitz, Margaret and Stanford, Janet L and Stevens, Victoria L and Stram, Alex and Strom, Sara S and Sucheston, Lara and Sun, Yan V and Tajuddin, Salman M and Taylor, Herman and Taylor, Kira and Tayo, Bamidele O and Thun, Michael J and Tucker, Margaret A and Vaidya, Dhananjay and Van Den Berg, David J and Vedantam, Sailaja and Vitolins, Mara and Wang, Zhaoming and Ware, Erin B and Wassertheil-Smoller, Sylvia and Weir, David R and Wiencke, John K and Williams, Scott M and Williams, L Keoki and Wilson, James G and Witte, John S and Wrensch, Margaret and Wu, Xifeng and Yao, Jie and Zakai, Neil and Zanetti, Krista and Zemel, Babette S and Zhao, Wei and Zhao, Jing Hua and Zheng, Wei and Zhi, Degui and Zhou, Jie and Zhu, Xiaofeng and Ziegler, Regina G and Zmuda, Joe and Zonderman, Alan B and Psaty, Bruce M and Borecki, Ingrid B and Cupples, L Adrienne and Liu, Ching-Ti and Haiman, Christopher A and Loos, Ruth and Ng, Maggie C Y and North, Kari E} } @article {8791, title = {FGL1 as a modulator of plasma D-dimer levels: Exome-wide marker analysis of plasma tPA, PAI-1, and D-dimer.}, journal = {J Thromb Haemost}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 Apr 20}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Use of targeted exome-arrays with common, rare variants and functionally enriched variation has led to discovery of new genes contributing to population variation in risk factors. Plasminogen activator-inhibitor 1 (PAI-1), tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), and the plasma product D-dimer are important components of the fibrinolytic system. There have been few large-scale genome-wide or exome-wide studies of PAI-1, tPA, and D-dimer.

OBJECTIVES: We sought to discover new genetic loci contributing to variation in these traits using an exome-array approach.

METHODS: Cohort-level analyses and fixed effects meta-analyses of PAI-1 (n~=~15~603), tPA (n~=~6876,) and D-dimer (n~=~19~306) from 12 cohorts of European ancestry with diverse study design were conducted, including single-variant analyses and gene-based burden testing.

RESULTS: Five variants located in NME7, FGL1, and the fibrinogen locus, all associated with D-dimer levels, achieved genome-wide significance (P~<~5~{\texttimes}~10 ). Replication was sought for these 5 variants, as well as 45 well-imputed variants with P~<~1~{\texttimes}~10 in the discovery using an independent cohort. Replication was observed for three out of the five significant associations, including a novel and uncommon (0.013 allele frequency) coding variant p.Trp256Leu in FGL1 (fibrinogen-like-1) with increased plasma D-dimer levels. Additionally, a candidate-gene approach revealed a suggestive association for a coding variant (rs143202684-C) in SERPINB2, and suggestive associations with consistent effect in the replication analysis include an intronic variant (rs11057830-A) in SCARB1 associated with increased D-dimer levels.

CONCLUSION: This work provides new evidence for a role of FGL1 in hemostasis.

}, issn = {1538-7836}, doi = {10.1111/jth.15345}, author = {Thibord, Florian and Song, Ci and Pattee, Jack and Rodriguez, Benjamin A T and Chen, Ming-Huei and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J and Kleber, Marcus E and Delgado, Graciela E and Guo, Xiuqing and Yao, Jie and Taylor, Kent D and Ozel, Ayse Bilge and Brody, Jennifer A and McKnight, Barbara and Gyorgy, Beata and Simonsick, Eleanor and Leonard, Hampton L and Carrasquilla, Germ{\'a}n D and Guindo-Martinez, Marta and Silveira, Angela and Temprano-Sagrera, Gerard and Yanek, Lisa R and Becker, Diane M and Mathias, Rasika A and Becker, Lewis C and Raffield, Laura M and Kilpel{\"a}inen, Tuomas O and Grarup, Niels and Pedersen, Oluf and Hansen, Torben and Linneberg, Allan and Hamsten, Anders and Watkins, Hugh and Sabater-Lleal, Maria and Nalls, Mike A and Tr{\'e}gou{\"e}t, David-Alexandre and Morange, Pierre-Emmanuel and Psaty, Bruce M and Tracy, Russel P and Smith, Nicholas L and Desch, Karl C and Cushman, Mary and Rotter, Jerome I and de Vries, Paul S and Pankratz, Nathan D and Folsom, Aaron R and Morrison, Alanna C and M{\"a}rz, Winfried and Tang, Weihong and Johnson, Andrew D} } @article {8835, title = {Genetic insights into biological mechanisms governing human ovarian ageing.}, journal = {Nature}, volume = {596}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 Aug}, pages = {393-397}, abstract = {

Reproductive longevity is essential for fertility and influences healthy ageing in women, but insights into its underlying biological mechanisms and treatments to preserve it are limited. Here we identify 290 genetic determinants of ovarian ageing, assessed using normal variation in age at natural menopause (ANM) in about 200,000 women of European ancestry. These common alleles were associated with clinical extremes of ANM; women in the top 1\% of genetic susceptibility have an equivalent risk of premature ovarian insufficiency to those carrying monogenic FMR1 premutations. The identified loci implicate a broad range of DNA damage response (DDR) processes and include loss-of-function variants in key DDR-associated genes. Integration with experimental models demonstrates that these DDR processes act across the life-course to shape the ovarian reserve and its rate of depletion. Furthermore, we demonstrate that experimental manipulation of DDR pathways highlighted by human genetics increases fertility and extends reproductive life in mice. Causal inference analyses using the identified genetic variants indicate that extending reproductive life in women improves bone health and reduces risk of type 2 diabetes, but increases the risk of hormone-sensitive cancers. These findings provide insight into the mechanisms that govern ovarian ageing, when they act, and how they might be targeted by therapeutic approaches to extend fertility and prevent disease.

}, issn = {1476-4687}, doi = {10.1038/s41586-021-03779-7}, author = {Ruth, Katherine S and Day, Felix R and Hussain, Jazib and Mart{\'\i}nez-Marchal, Ana and Aiken, Catherine E and Azad, Ajuna and Thompson, Deborah J and Knoblochova, Lucie and Abe, Hironori and Tarry-Adkins, Jane L and Gonzalez, Javier Martin and Fontanillas, Pierre and Claringbould, Annique and Bakker, Olivier B and Sulem, Patrick and Walters, Robin G and Terao, Chikashi and Turon, Sandra and Horikoshi, Momoko and Lin, Kuang and Onland-Moret, N Charlotte and Sankar, Aditya and Hertz, Emil Peter Thrane and Timshel, Pascal N and Shukla, Vallari and Borup, Rehannah and Olsen, Kristina W and Aguilera, Paula and Ferrer-Roda, M{\`o}nica and Huang, Yan and Stankovic, Stasa and Timmers, Paul R H J and Ahearn, Thomas U and Alizadeh, Behrooz Z and Naderi, Elnaz and Andrulis, Irene L and Arnold, Alice M and Aronson, Kristan J and Augustinsson, Annelie and Bandinelli, Stefania and Barbieri, Caterina M and Beaumont, Robin N and Becher, Heiko and Beckmann, Matthias W and Benonisdottir, Stefania and Bergmann, Sven and Bochud, Murielle and Boerwinkle, Eric and Bojesen, Stig E and Bolla, Manjeet K and Boomsma, Dorret I and Bowker, Nicholas and Brody, Jennifer A and Broer, Linda and Buring, Julie E and Campbell, Archie and Campbell, Harry and Castelao, Jose E and Catamo, Eulalia and Chanock, Stephen J and Chenevix-Trench, Georgia and Ciullo, Marina and Corre, Tanguy and Couch, Fergus J and Cox, Angela and Crisponi, Laura and Cross, Simon S and Cucca, Francesco and Czene, Kamila and Smith, George Davey and de Geus, Eco J C N and de Mutsert, Ren{\'e}e and De Vivo, Immaculata and Demerath, Ellen W and Dennis, Joe and Dunning, Alison M and Dwek, Miriam and Eriksson, Mikael and Esko, T{\~o}nu and Fasching, Peter A and Faul, Jessica D and Ferrucci, Luigi and Franceschini, Nora and Frayling, Timothy M and Gago-Dominguez, Manuela and Mezzavilla, Massimo and Garc{\'\i}a-Closas, Montserrat and Gieger, Christian and Giles, Graham G and Grallert, Harald and Gudbjartsson, Daniel F and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Gu{\'e}nel, Pascal and Haiman, Christopher A and H{\r a}kansson, Niclas and Hall, Per and Hayward, Caroline and He, Chunyan and He, Wei and Heiss, Gerardo and H{\o}ffding, Miya K and Hopper, John L and Hottenga, Jouke J and Hu, Frank and Hunter, David and Ikram, Mohammad A and Jackson, Rebecca D and Joaquim, Micaella D R and John, Esther M and Joshi, Peter K and Karasik, David and Kardia, Sharon L R and Kartsonaki, Christiana and Karlsson, Robert and Kitahara, Cari M and Kolcic, Ivana and Kooperberg, Charles and Kraft, Peter and Kurian, Allison W and Kutalik, Zolt{\'a}n and La Bianca, Martina and Lachance, Genevieve and Langenberg, Claudia and Launer, Lenore J and Laven, Joop S E and Lawlor, Deborah A and Le Marchand, Lo{\"\i}c and Li, Jingmei and Lindblom, Annika and Lindstr{\"o}m, Sara and Lindstrom, Tricia and Linet, Martha and Liu, Yongmei and Liu, Simin and Luan, Jian{\textquoteright}an and M{\"a}gi, Reedik and Magnusson, Patrik K E and Mangino, Massimo and Mannermaa, Arto and Marco, Brumat and Marten, Jonathan and Martin, Nicholas G and Mbarek, Hamdi and McKnight, Barbara and Medland, Sarah E and Meisinger, Christa and Meitinger, Thomas and Menni, Cristina and Metspalu, Andres and Milani, Lili and Milne, Roger L and Montgomery, Grant W and Mook-Kanamori, Dennis O and Mulas, Antonella and Mulligan, Anna M and Murray, Alison and Nalls, Mike A and Newman, Anne and Noordam, Raymond and Nutile, Teresa and Nyholt, Dale R and Olshan, Andrew F and Olsson, H{\r a}kan and Painter, Jodie N and Patel, Alpa V and Pedersen, Nancy L and Perjakova, Natalia and Peters, Annette and Peters, Ulrike and Pharoah, Paul D P and Polasek, Ozren and Porcu, Eleonora and Psaty, Bruce M and Rahman, Iffat and Rennert, Gad and Rennert, Hedy S and Ridker, Paul M and Ring, Susan M and Robino, Antonietta and Rose, Lynda M and Rosendaal, Frits R and Rossouw, Jacques and Rudan, Igor and Rueedi, Rico and Ruggiero, Daniela and Sala, Cinzia F and Saloustros, Emmanouil and Sandler, Dale P and Sanna, Serena and Sawyer, Elinor J and Sarnowski, Chloe and Schlessinger, David and Schmidt, Marjanka K and Schoemaker, Minouk J and Schraut, Katharina E and Scott, Christopher and Shekari, Saleh and Shrikhande, Amruta and Smith, Albert V and Smith, Blair H and Smith, Jennifer A and Sorice, Rossella and Southey, Melissa C and Spector, Tim D and Spinelli, John J and Stampfer, Meir and St{\"o}ckl, Doris and van Meurs, Joyce B J and Strauch, Konstantin and Styrkarsdottir, Unnur and Swerdlow, Anthony J and Tanaka, Toshiko and Teras, Lauren R and Teumer, Alexander and {\TH}orsteinsdottir, Unnur and Timpson, Nicholas J and Toniolo, Daniela and Traglia, Michela and Troester, Melissa A and Truong, Th{\'e}r{\`e}se and Tyrrell, Jessica and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Ulivi, Sheila and Vachon, Celine M and Vitart, Veronique and V{\"o}lker, Uwe and Vollenweider, Peter and V{\"o}lzke, Henry and Wang, Qin and Wareham, Nicholas J and Weinberg, Clarice R and Weir, David R and Wilcox, Amber N and van Dijk, Ko Willems and Willemsen, Gonneke and Wilson, James F and Wolffenbuttel, Bruce H R and Wolk, Alicja and Wood, Andrew R and Zhao, Wei and Zygmunt, Marek and Chen, Zhengming and Li, Liming and Franke, Lude and Burgess, Stephen and Deelen, Patrick and Pers, Tune H and Gr{\o}ndahl, Marie Louise and Andersen, Claus Yding and Pujol, Anna and Lopez-Contreras, Andres J and Daniel, Jeremy A and Stefansson, Kari and Chang-Claude, Jenny and van der Schouw, Yvonne T and Lunetta, Kathryn L and Chasman, Daniel I and Easton, Douglas F and Visser, Jenny A and Ozanne, Susan E and Namekawa, Satoshi H and Solc, Petr and Murabito, Joanne M and Ong, Ken K and Hoffmann, Eva R and Murray, Anna and Roig, Ignasi and Perry, John R B} } @article {8831, title = {Longitudinal Plasma Measures of Trimethylamine N-Oxide and Risk of Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Events in Community-Based Older Adults.}, journal = {J Am Heart Assoc}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 Aug 16}, pages = {e020646}, abstract = {

Background Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) is a gut microbiota-dependent metabolite of dietary choline, L-carnitine, and phosphatidylcholine-rich foods. On the basis of experimental studies and patients with prevalent disease, elevated plasma TMAO may increase risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). TMAO is also renally cleared and may interact with and causally contribute to renal dysfunction. Yet, how serial TMAO levels relate to incident and recurrent ASCVD in community-based populations and the potential mediating or modifying role of renal function are not established. Methods and Results We investigated associations of serial measures of plasma TMAO, assessed at baseline and 7~years, with incident and recurrent ASCVD in a community-based cohort of 4131 (incident) and 1449 (recurrent) older US adults. TMAO was measured using stable isotope dilution liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (laboratory coefficient of variation, <6\%). Incident ASCVD (myocardial infarction, fatal coronary heart disease, stroke, sudden cardiac death, or other atherosclerotic death) was centrally adjudicated using medical records. Risk was assessed by multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression, including time-varying demographics, lifestyle factors, medical history, laboratory measures, and dietary habits. Potential mediating effects and interaction by estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) were assessed. During prospective follow-up, 1766 incident and 897 recurrent ASCVD events occurred. After multivariable adjustment, higher levels of TMAO were associated with a higher risk of incident ASCVD, with extreme quintile hazard ratio (HR) compared with the lowest quintile=1.21 (95\% CI, 1.02-1.42; -trend=0.029). This relationship appeared mediated or confounded by eGFR (eGFR-adjusted HR, 1.07; 95\% CI, 0.90-1.27), as well as modified by eGFR (-interaction <0.001). High levels of TMAO were associated with higher incidence of ASCVD in the presence of impaired renal function (eGFR <60~mL/min per 1.73~m: HR, 1.56 [95\% CI, 1.13-2.14]; -trend=0.007), but not normal or mildly reduced renal function (eGFR >=60~mL/min per 1.73~m: HR, 1.03 [95\% CI, 0.85-1.25]; -trend=0.668). Among individuals with prior ASCVD, TMAO associated with higher risk of recurrent ASCVD (HR, 1.25 [95\% CI, 1.01-1.56]; -trend=0.009), without significant modification by eGFR. Conclusions In this large community-based cohort of older US adults, serial measures of TMAO were associated with higher risk of incident ASCVD, with apparent modification by presence of impaired renal function and with higher risk of recurrent ASCVD.

}, issn = {2047-9980}, doi = {10.1161/JAHA.120.020646}, author = {Lee, Yujin and Nemet, Ina and Wang, Zeneng and Lai, Heidi T M and de Oliveira Otto, Marcia C and Lemaitre, Rozenn N and Fretts, Amanda M and Sotoodehnia, Nona and Budoff, Matthew and DiDonato, Joseph A and McKnight, Barbara and Tang, W H Wilson and Psaty, Bruce M and Siscovick, David S and Hazen, Stanley L and Mozaffarian, Dariush} } @article {8909, title = {Plasma Ceramides containing Saturated Fatty Acids are Associated with Risk of Type 2 Diabetes.}, journal = {J Lipid Res}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 Sep 20}, pages = {100119}, abstract = {

Recent studies suggest that the type of saturated fatty acid bound to sphingolipids influences the biological activity of those sphingolipids. However, it is unknown whether associations of sphingolipids with diabetes may differ by the identity of bound lipid species. Here we investigated associations of 15 ceramide and sphingomyelin species (i.e., all sphingolipids, measured with coefficient of variation less than 20\%) with incident type 2 diabetes in the Cardiovascular Health Study (n = 3,645), a large cohort study of cardiovascular disease (CVD) among elderly adults who were followed from 1989-2015. Diabetes incidence was defined as fasting glucose >=126 mg/dL or non-fasting glucose >=200 mg/dL; reported use of insulin or oral hypoglycemic medication; or documentation of diabetes diagnosis through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services records. Associations of each sphingolipid with incident diabetes were assessed using a Cox proportional hazards regression model. We found that higher circulating levels of ceramide with acylated palmitic acid (Cer-16), stearic acid containing ceramide (Cer-18), arachidic acid containing ceramide (Cer-20), and behenic acid containing ceramide (Cer-22) were each associated with a higher risk of diabetes. The hazard ratios for incident diabetes per 1 SD higher log levels of each ceramide species were: 1.21 (95\% CI 1.09-1.34) for Cer-16, 1.23 (95\% CI 1.10-1.37) for Cer-18, 1.14 (95\% CI 1.02-1.26) for Cer-20, and 1.18 (95\% CI 1.06-1.32) for Cer-22. In conclusion, higher levels of Cer-16, Cer-18, Cer-20, and Cer-22 were associated with a higher risk of diabetes.

}, issn = {1539-7262}, doi = {10.1016/j.jlr.2021.100119}, author = {Fretts, Amanda M and Jensen, Paul N and Hoofnagle, Andrew N and McKnight, Barbara and Howard, Barbara V and Umans, Jason and Sitlani, Colleen M and Siscovick, David S and King, Irena B and Djouss{\'e}, Luc and Sotoodehnia, Nona and Lemaitre, Rozenn N} } @article {8704, title = {Serum Individual Nonesterified Fatty Acids and Risk of Heart Failure in Older Adults.}, journal = {Cardiology}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 Feb 25}, pages = {1-8}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Heart failure (HF) is highly prevalent among older adults and is associated with high costs. Although serum total nonesterified fatty acids (NEFAs) have been positively associated with HF risk, the contribution of each individual NEFA to HF risk has not been examined.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine the association of individual fasting NEFAs with HF risk in older adults.

METHODS: In this prospective cohort study of older adults, we measured 35 individual NEFAs in 2,140 participants of the Cardiovascular Health Study using gas chromatography. HF was ascertained using review of medical records by an endpoint committee.

RESULTS: The mean age was 77.7 {\textpm} 4.4 years, and 38.8\% were male. During a median follow-up of 9.7 (maximum 19.0) years, 655 new cases of HF occurred. In a multivariable Cox regression model controlling for demographic and anthropometric variables, field center, education, serum albumin, glomerular filtration rate, physical activity, alcohol consumption, smoking, hormone replacement therapy, unintentional weight loss, and all other measured NEFAs, we observed inverse associations (HR [95\% CI] per standard deviation) of nonesterified pentadecanoic (15:0) (0.73 [0.57-0.94]), γ-linolenic acid (GLA) (0.87 [0.75-1.00]), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) (0.73 [0.61-0.88]) acids with HF, and positive associations of nonesterified stearic (18:0) (1.30 [1.04-1.63]) and nervonic (24:1n-9) (1.17 [1.06-1.29]) acids with HF.

CONCLUSION: Our data are consistent with a higher risk of HF with nonesterified stearic and nervonic acids and a lower risk with nonesterified 15:0, GLA, and DHA in older adults. If confirmed in other studies, specific NEFAs may provide new targets for HF prevention.

}, issn = {1421-9751}, doi = {10.1159/000513917}, author = {Djouss{\'e}, Luc and Biggs, Mary L and Matthan, Nirupa R and Ix, Joachim H and Fitzpatrick, Annette L and King, Irena and Lemaitre, Rozenn N and McKnight, Barbara and Kizer, Jorge R and Lichtenstein, Alice H and Mukamal, Kenneth J and Siscovick, David S} } @article {9042, title = {Assessing the contribution of rare variants to complex trait heritability from whole-genome sequence data.}, journal = {Nat Genet}, volume = {54}, year = {2022}, month = {2022 Mar}, pages = {263-273}, abstract = {

Analyses of data from genome-wide association studies on unrelated individuals have shown that, for human traits and diseases, approximately one-third to two-thirds of heritability is captured by common SNPs. However, it is not known whether the remaining heritability is due to the imperfect tagging of causal variants by common SNPs, in particular whether the causal variants are rare, or whether it is overestimated due to bias in inference from pedigree data. Here we estimated heritability for height and body mass index (BMI) from whole-genome sequence data on 25,465 unrelated individuals of European ancestry. The estimated heritability was 0.68 (standard error 0.10) for height and 0.30 (standard error 0.10) for body mass index. Low minor allele frequency variants in low linkage disequilibrium (LD) with neighboring variants were enriched for heritability, to a greater extent for protein-altering variants, consistent with negative selection. Our results imply that rare variants, in particular those in regions of low linkage disequilibrium, are a major source of the still missing heritability of complex traits and disease.

}, issn = {1546-1718}, doi = {10.1038/s41588-021-00997-7}, author = {Wainschtein, Pierrick and Jain, Deepti and Zheng, Zhili and Cupples, L Adrienne and Shadyab, Aladdin H and McKnight, Barbara and Shoemaker, Benjamin M and Mitchell, Braxton D and Psaty, Bruce M and Kooperberg, Charles and Liu, Ching-Ti and Albert, Christine M and Roden, Dan and Chasman, Daniel I and Darbar, Dawood and Lloyd-Jones, Donald M and Arnett, Donna K and Regan, Elizabeth A and Boerwinkle, Eric and Rotter, Jerome I and O{\textquoteright}Connell, Jeffrey R and Yanek, Lisa R and de Andrade, Mariza and Allison, Matthew A and McDonald, Merry-Lynn N and Chung, Mina K and Fornage, Myriam and Chami, Nathalie and Smith, Nicholas L and Ellinor, Patrick T and Vasan, Ramachandran S and Mathias, Rasika A and Loos, Ruth J F and Rich, Stephen S and Lubitz, Steven A and Heckbert, Susan R and Redline, Susan and Guo, Xiuqing and Chen, Y -D Ida and Laurie, Cecelia A and Hernandez, Ryan D and McGarvey, Stephen T and Goddard, Michael E and Laurie, Cathy C and North, Kari E and Lange, Leslie A and Weir, Bruce S and Yengo, Loic and Yang, Jian and Visscher, Peter M} } @article {9182, title = {Dietary Meat, Trimethylamine N-Oxide-Related Metabolites, and Incident Cardiovascular Disease Among Older Adults: The Cardiovascular Health Study.}, journal = {Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol}, volume = {42}, year = {2022}, month = {2022 09}, pages = {e273-e288}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Effects of animal source foods (ASF) on atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) and underlying mechanisms remain controversial. We investigated prospective associations of different ASF with incident ASCVD and potential mediation by gut microbiota-generated trimethylamine N-oxide, its L-carnitine-derived intermediates γ-butyrobetaine and crotonobetaine, and traditional ASCVD risk pathways.

METHODS: Among 3931 participants from a community-based US cohort aged 65+ years, ASF intakes and trimethylamine N-oxide-related metabolites were measured serially over time. Incident ASCVD (myocardial infarction, fatal coronary heart disease, stroke, other atherosclerotic death) was adjudicated over 12.5 years median follow-up. Cox proportional hazards models with time-varying exposures and covariates examined ASF-ASCVD associations; and additive hazard models, mediation proportions by different risk pathways.

RESULTS: After multivariable-adjustment, higher intakes of unprocessed red meat, total meat, and total ASF associated with higher ASCVD risk, with hazard ratios (95\% CI) per interquintile range of 1.15 (1.01-1.30), 1.22 (1.07-1.39), and 1.18 (1.03-1.34), respectively. Trimethylamine N-oxide-related metabolites together significantly mediated these associations, with mediation proportions (95\% CI) of 10.6\% (1.0-114.5), 7.8\% (1.0-32.7), and 9.2\% (2.2-44.5), respectively. Processed meat intake associated with a nonsignificant trend toward higher ASCVD (1.11 [0.98-1.25]); intakes of fish, poultry, and eggs were not significantly associated. Among other risk pathways, blood glucose, insulin, and C-reactive protein, but not blood pressure or blood cholesterol, each significantly mediated the total meat-ASCVD association.

CONCLUSIONS: In this large, community-based cohort, higher meat intake associated with incident ASCVD, partly mediated by microbiota-derived metabolites of L-carnitine, abundant in red meat. These novel findings support biochemical links between dietary meat, gut microbiome pathways, and ASCVD.

}, keywords = {Animals, Atherosclerosis, Cardiovascular Diseases, Carnitine, Humans, Meat, Methylamines, Risk Factors}, issn = {1524-4636}, doi = {10.1161/ATVBAHA.121.316533}, author = {Wang, Meng and Wang, Zeneng and Lee, Yujin and Lai, Heidi T M and de Oliveira Otto, Marcia C and Lemaitre, Rozenn N and Fretts, Amanda and Sotoodehnia, Nona and Budoff, Matthew and DiDonato, Joseph A and McKnight, Barbara and Tang, W H Wilson and Psaty, Bruce M and Siscovick, David S and Hazen, Stanley L and Mozaffarian, Dariush} } @article {9171, title = {Plasma epoxyeicosatrienoic acids and diabetes-related cardiovascular disease: The cardiovascular health study.}, journal = {EBioMedicine}, volume = {83}, year = {2022}, month = {2022 Sep}, pages = {104189}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs) are metabolites of arachidonic acid that may impact atherosclerosis, and animal experimental studies suggest EETs protect cardiac function. Plasma EETs are mostly esterified to phospholipids and part of an active pool. To address the limited information about EETs and CVD in humans, we conducted a prospective study of total plasma EETs (free~+~esterified) and diabetes-related CVD in the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS).

METHODS: We measured 4 EET species and their metabolites, dihydroxyepoxyeicosatrienoic acids (DHETs), in plasma samples from 892 CHS participants with type 2 diabetes. We determined the association of EETs and DHETs with incident myocardial infarction (MI) and ischemic stroke using Cox regression.

FINDINGS: During follow-up (median 7.5 years), we identified 150 MI and 134 ischemic strokes. In primary, multivariable analyses, elevated levels of each EET species were associated with non-significant lower risk of incident MI (for example, hazard ratio for 1 SD higher 14,15-EET: 0.86, 95\% CI: 0.72-1.02; p=0.08). The EETs-MI associations became significant in analyses further adjusted for DHETs (hazard ratio for 1 SD higher 14,15-EET adjusted for 14,15-DHET: 0.76, 95\% CI: 0.63-0.91; p=0.004). Elevated EET levels were associated with higher risk of ischemic stroke in primary but not secondary analyses. Three DHET species were associated with higher risk of ischemic stroke in all analyses.

INTERPRETATION: Findings from this prospective study complement the extensive studies in animal models showing EETs protect cardiac function and provide new information in humans. Replication is needed to confirm the associations.

FUNDING: US National Institutes of Health.

}, keywords = {Animals, Arachidonic Acids, Cardiovascular Diseases, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Eicosanoids, Humans, Ischemic Stroke, Prospective Studies}, issn = {2352-3964}, doi = {10.1016/j.ebiom.2022.104189}, author = {Lemaitre, Rozenn N and Jensen, Paul N and Zeigler, Maxwell and Fretts, Amanda M and Umans, Jason G and Howard, Barbara V and Sitlani, Colleen M and McKnight, Barbara and Gharib, Sina A and King, Irena B and Siscovick, David S and Psaty, Bruce M and Sotoodehnia, Nona and Totah, Rheem A} } @article {9086, title = {Proteomics and Population Biology in the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS): design of a study with mentored access and active data sharing.}, journal = {Eur J Epidemiol}, year = {2022}, month = {2022 Jul 05}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: In the last decade, genomic studies have identified and replicated thousands of genetic associations with measures of health and disease and contributed to the understanding of the etiology of a variety of health conditions. Proteins are key biomarkers in clinical medicine and often drug-therapy targets. Like genomics, proteomics can advance our understanding of biology.

METHODS AND RESULTS: In the setting of the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS), a cohort study of older adults, an aptamer-based method that has high sensitivity for low-abundance proteins was used to assay 4979 proteins in frozen, stored plasma from 3188 participants (61\% women, mean age 74~years). CHS provides active support, including central analysis, for seven phenotype-specific working groups (WGs). Each CHS WG is led by one or two senior investigators and includes 10 to 20 early or mid-career scientists. In this setting of mentored access, the proteomic data and analytic methods are widely shared with the WGs and investigators so that they may evaluate associations between baseline levels of circulating proteins and the incidence of a variety of health outcomes in prospective cohort analyses. We describe the design of CHS, the CHS Proteomics Study, characteristics of participants, quality control measures, and structural characteristics of the data provided to CHS WGs. We additionally highlight plans for validation and replication of novel proteomic associations.

CONCLUSION: The CHS Proteomics Study offers an opportunity for collaborative data sharing to improve our understanding of the etiology of a variety of health conditions in older adults.

}, issn = {1573-7284}, doi = {10.1007/s10654-022-00888-z}, author = {Austin, Thomas R and McHugh, Caitlin P and Brody, Jennifer A and Bis, Joshua C and Sitlani, Colleen M and Bartz, Traci M and Biggs, Mary L and Bansal, Nisha and B{\r u}zkov{\'a}, Petra and Carr, Steven A and deFilippi, Christopher R and Elkind, Mitchell S V and Fink, Howard A and Floyd, James S and Fohner, Alison E and Gerszten, Robert E and Heckbert, Susan R and Katz, Daniel H and Kizer, Jorge R and Lemaitre, Rozenn N and Longstreth, W T and McKnight, Barbara and Mei, Hao and Mukamal, Kenneth J and Newman, Anne B and Ngo, Debby and Odden, Michelle C and Vasan, Ramachandran S and Shojaie, Ali and Simon, Noah and Smith, George Davey and Davies, Neil M and Siscovick, David S and Sotoodehnia, Nona and Tracy, Russell P and Wiggins, Kerri L and Zheng, Jie and Psaty, Bruce M} } @article {9107, title = {Whole exome sequencing of 14 389 individuals from the ESP and CHARGE consortia identifies novel rare variation associated with hemostatic factors.}, journal = {Hum Mol Genet}, year = {2022}, month = {2022 May 12}, abstract = {

Plasma levels of fibrinogen, coagulation factors VII and VIII, and von Willebrand factor (vWF) are four intermediate phenotypes that are heritable and have been associated with the risk of clinical thrombotic events. To identify rare and low-frequency variants associated with these hemostatic factors, we conducted whole exome sequencing in 10 860 individuals of European ancestry (EA) and 3529 African Americans (AAs) from the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) Consortium and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute{\textquoteright}s Exome Sequencing Project (ESP). Gene-based tests demonstrated significant associations with rare variation (minor allele frequency < 5\%) in FGG (with fibrinogen, p = 9.1x10-13), F7 (with factor VII, p = 1.3x10-72; seven novel variants), and VWF (with factor VIII and vWF; p = 3.2x10-14; one novel variant). These eight novel rare variant associations were independent of the known common variants at these loci and tended to have much larger effect sizes. In addition, one of the rare novel variants in F7 was significantly associated with an increased risk of venous thromboembolism in AAs (Ile200Ser; rs141219108; p = 4.2x10-5). After restricting gene-based analyses to only loss-of-function variants, a novel significant association was detected and replicated between factor VIII levels and a stop-gain mutation exclusive to African Americans (rs3211938) in CD36. This variant has previously been linked to dyslipidemia but not with levels of a hemostatic factor. These efforts represent the largest integration of whole exome sequence data from two national projects to identify genetic variation associated with plasma hemostatic factors.

}, issn = {1460-2083}, doi = {10.1093/hmg/ddac100}, author = {Pankratz, Nathan and Wei, Peng and Brody, Jennifer A and Chen, Ming-Huei and Vries, Paul S and Huffman, Jennifer E and Stimson, Mary Rachel and Auer, Paul L and Boerwinkle, Eric and Cushman, Mary and Maat, Moniek P M and Folsom, Aaron R and Franco, Oscar H and Gibbs, Richard A and Haagenson, Kelly K and Hofman, Albert and Johnsen, Jill M and Kovar, Christie L and Kraaij, Robert and McKnight, Barbara and Metcalf, Ginger A and Muzny, Donna and Psaty, Bruce M and Tang, Weihong and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Rooij, Jeroen G J and Dehghan, Abbas and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Christopher J and Reiner, Alex P and Morrison, Alanna C and Smith, Nicholas L} } @article {9533, title = {Plasma Ceramides and Sphingomyelins and Sudden Cardiac Death in the Cardiovascular Health Study.}, journal = {JAMA Netw Open}, volume = {6}, year = {2023}, month = {2023 Nov 01}, pages = {e2343854}, abstract = {

IMPORTANCE: Sphingolipids, including ceramides and sphingomyelins, may influence the pathophysiology and risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD) through multiple biological activities. Whether the length of the fatty acid acylated to plasma sphingolipid species is associated with SCD risk is not known.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the saturated fatty acid length of plasma ceramides and sphingomyelins influences the association with SCD risk.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: In this cohort study, multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to examine the association of sphingolipid species with SCD risk. The study population included 4612 participants in the Cardiovascular Health Study followed up prospectively for a median of 10.2 (IQR, 5.5-11.6) years. Baseline data were collected from January 1992 to December 1995 during annual examinations. Data were analyzed from February 11, 2020, to September 9, 2023.

EXPOSURES: Eight plasma sphingolipid species (4 ceramides and 4 sphingomyelins) with saturated fatty acids of 16, 20, 22, and 24 carbons.

MAIN OUTCOME AND MEASURE: Association of plasma ceramides and sphingomyelins with saturated fatty acids of different lengths with SCD risk.

RESULTS: Among the 4612 CHS participants included in the analysis (mean [SD] age, 77 [5] years; 2724 [59.1\%] women; 6 [0.1\%] American Indian; 4 [0.1\%] Asian; 718 [15.6\%] Black; 3869 [83.9\%] White, and 15 [0.3\%] Other), 215 SCD cases were identified. In adjusted Cox proportional hazards regression analyses, plasma ceramides and sphingomyelins with palmitic acid (Cer-16 and SM-16) were associated with higher SCD risk per higher SD of log sphingolipid levels (hazard ratio [HR] for Cer-16, 1.34 [95\% CI, 1.12-1.59]; HR for SM-16, 1.37 [95\% CI, 1.12-1.67]). Associations did not differ by baseline age, sex, race, or body mass index. No significant association of SCD with sphingolipids with very-long-chain saturated fatty acids was observed after correction for multiple testing (HR for ceramide with arachidic acid, 1.06 [95\% CI, 0.90-1.24]; HR for ceramide with behenic acid, 0.92 [95\% CI, 0.77-1.10]; HR for ceramide with lignoceric acid, 0.92 [95\% CI, 0.77-1.09]; HR for sphingomyelin with arachidic acid, 0.83 [95\% CI, 0.71-0.98]; HR for sphingomyelin with behenic acid, 0.84 [95\% CI, 0.70-1.00]; HR for sphingomyelin with lignoceric acid, 0.86 [95\% CI, 0.72-1.03]).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: The findings of this large, population-based cohort study of SCD identified that higher plasma levels of Cer-16 and SM-16 were associated with higher risk of SCD. Future studies are needed to examine the underlying mechanism of these associations.

}, keywords = {Aged, Ceramides, Cohort Studies, Death, Sudden, Cardiac, Eicosanoic Acids, Fatty Acids, Female, Humans, Male, Sphingolipids, Sphingomyelins}, issn = {2574-3805}, doi = {10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.43854}, author = {Bockus, Lee B and Jensen, Paul N and Fretts, Amanda M and Hoofnagle, Andrew N and McKnight, Barbara and Sitlani, Colleen M and Siscovick, David S and King, Irena B and Psaty, Bruce M and Sotoodehnia, Nona and Lemaitre, Rozenn N} } @article {9321, title = {Whole Genome Analysis of Venous Thromboembolism: the Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine Program.}, journal = {Circ Genom Precis Med}, year = {2023}, month = {2023 Mar 24}, pages = {e003532}, abstract = {

Background Risk for venous thromboembolism has a strong genetic component. Whole genome sequencingfrom the Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine program allowed us to look for new associations, particularly rare variants missed by standard genome-wide association studies. Methods The 3793 cases and 7834 controls (11.6\% of cases were Black, Hispanic/Latino, or Asian American) were analyzed using a single variant approach and an aggregate gene-based approach using our primary filter (included only loss-of-function and missense variants predicted to be deleterious) and our secondary filter (included all missense variants). Results Single variant analyses identified associations at 5 known loci. Aggregate gene-based analyses identified only (odds ratio, 6.2 for carriers of rare variants; =7.4{\texttimes}10) when using our primary filter. Employing our secondary variant filter led to a smaller effect size at (odds ratio, 3.8; =1.6{\texttimes}10), while excluding variants found only in rare isoforms led to a larger one (odds ratio, 7.5). Different filtering strategies improved the signal for 2 other known genes: became significant (minimum =1.8{\texttimes}10 with the secondary filter), while did not (minimum =4.4{\texttimes}10 with minor allele frequency <0.0005). Results were largely the same when restricting the analyses to include only unprovoked cases; however, one novel gene, , became significant (=4.4{\texttimes}10 using all missense variants with minor allele frequency <0.0005). Conclusions Here, we have demonstrated the importance of using multiple variant filtering strategies, as we detected additional genes when filtering variants based on their predicted deleteriousness, frequency, and presence on the most expressed isoforms. Our primary analyses did not identify new candidate loci; thus larger follow-up studies are needed to replicate the novel locus and to identify additional rare variation associated with venous thromboembolism.

}, issn = {2574-8300}, doi = {10.1161/CIRCGEN.121.003532}, author = {Seyerle, Amanda A and Laurie, Cecelia A and Coombes, Brandon J and Jain, Deepti and Conomos, Matthew P and Brody, Jennifer and Chen, Ming-Huei and Gogarten, Stephanie M and Beutel, Kathleen M and Gupta, Namrata and Heckbert, Susan R and Jackson, Rebecca D and Johnson, Andrew D and Ko, Darae and Manson, JoAnn E and McKnight, Barbara and Metcalf, Ginger A and Morrison, Alanna C and Reiner, Alexander P and Sofer, Tamar and Tang, Weihong and Wiggins, Kerri L and Boerwinkle, Eric and Andrade, Mariza de and Gabriel, Stacey B and Gibbs, Richard A and Laurie, Cathy C and Psaty, Bruce M and Vasan, Ramachandran S and Rice, Ken and Kooperberg, Charles and Pankow, James S and Smith, Nicholas L and Pankratz, Nathan} }