@article {1340, title = {Association of polymorphisms in the hepatocyte growth factor gene promoter with keratoconus.}, journal = {Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci}, volume = {52}, year = {2011}, month = {2011 Oct 31}, pages = {8514-9}, abstract = {

PURPOSE: Keratoconus is a progressive disorder of the cornea that can lead to severe visual impairment or blindness. Although several genomic regions have been linked to rare familial forms of keratoconus, no genes have yet been definitively identified for common forms of the disease.

METHODS: Two genome-wide association scans were undertaken in parallel. The first used pooled DNA from an Australian cohort, followed by typing of top-ranked single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in individual DNA samples. The second was conducted in individually genotyped patients, and controls from the USA. Tag SNPs around the hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) gene were typed in three additional replication cohorts. Serum levels of HGF protein in normal individuals were assessed with ELISA and correlated with genotype.

RESULTS: The only SNP observed to be associated in both the pooled discovery and primary replication cohort was rs1014091, located upstream of the HGF gene. The nearby SNP rs3735520 was found to be associated in the individually typed discovery cohort (P = 6.1 {\texttimes} 10(-7)). Genotyping of tag SNPs around HGF revealed association at rs3735520 and rs17501108/rs1014091 in four of the five cohorts. Meta-analysis of all five datasets together yielded suggestive P values for rs3735520 (P = 9.9 {\texttimes} 10(-7)) and rs17501108 (P = 9.9 {\texttimes} 10(-5)). In addition, SNP rs3735520 was found to be associated with serum HGF level in normal individuals (P = 0.036).

CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, these results implicate genetic variation at the HGF locus with keratoconus susceptibility.

}, keywords = {Adult, Aged, Chromosomes, Human, Pair 7, Corneal Topography, Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Genotype, Hepatocyte Growth Factor, Humans, Keratoconus, Middle Aged, Nucleic Acid Hybridization, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Promoter Regions, Genetic, Sequence Tagged Sites}, issn = {1552-5783}, doi = {10.1167/iovs.11-8261}, author = {Burdon, Kathryn P and Macgregor, Stuart and Bykhovskaya, Yelena and Javadiyan, Sharhbanou and Li, Xiaohui and Laurie, Kate J and Muszynska, Dorota and Lindsay, Richard and Lechner, Judith and Haritunians, Talin and Henders, Anjali K and Dash, Durga and Siscovick, David and Anand, Seema and Aldave, Anthony and Coster, Douglas J and Szczotka-Flynn, Loretta and Mills, Richard A and Iyengar, Sudha K and Taylor, Kent D and Phillips, Tony and Montgomery, Grant W and Rotter, Jerome I and Hewitt, Alex W and Sharma, Shiwani and Rabinowitz, Yaron S and Willoughby, Colin and Craig, Jamie E} } @article {7590, title = {Genetically Determined Plasma Lipid Levels and Risk of Diabetic Retinopathy: A Mendelian Randomization Study.}, journal = {Diabetes}, volume = {66}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 12}, pages = {3130-3141}, abstract = {

Results from observational studies examining dyslipidemia as a risk factor for diabetic retinopathy (DR) have been inconsistent. We evaluated the causal relationship between plasma lipids and DR using a Mendelian randomization approach. We pooled genome-wide association studies summary statistics from 18 studies for two DR phenotypes: any DR (N = 2,969 case and 4,096 control subjects) and severe DR (N = 1,277 case and 3,980 control subjects). Previously identified lipid-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms served as instrumental variables. Meta-analysis to combine the Mendelian randomization estimates from different cohorts was conducted. There was no statistically significant change in odds ratios of having any DR or severe DR for any of the lipid fractions in the primary analysis that used single nucleotide polymorphisms that did not have a pleiotropic effect on another lipid fraction. Similarly, there was no significant association in the Caucasian and Chinese subgroup analyses. This study did not show evidence of a causal role of the four lipid fractions on DR. However, the study had limited power to detect odds ratios less than 1.23 per SD in genetically induced increase in plasma lipid levels, thus we cannot exclude that causal relationships with more modest effect sizes exist.

}, keywords = {Aged, Diabetic Retinopathy, Female, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Lipids, Male, Mendelian Randomization Analysis, Middle Aged, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Risk}, issn = {1939-327X}, doi = {10.2337/db17-0398}, author = {Sobrin, Lucia and Chong, Yong He and Fan, Qiao and Gan, Alfred and Stanwyck, Lynn K and Kaidonis, Georgia and Craig, Jamie E and Kim, Jihye and Liao, Wen-Ling and Huang, Yu-Chuen and Lee, Wen-Jane and Hung, Yi-Jen and Guo, Xiuqing and Hai, Yang and Ipp, Eli and Pollack, Samuela and Hancock, Heather and Price, Alkes and Penman, Alan and Mitchell, Paul and Liew, Gerald and Smith, Albert V and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Tan, Gavin and Klein, Barbara E K and Kuo, Jane and Li, Xiaohui and Christiansen, Mark W and Psaty, Bruce M and Sandow, Kevin and Jensen, Richard A and Klein, Ronald and Cotch, Mary Frances and Wang, Jie Jin and Jia, Yucheng and Chen, Ching J and Chen, Yii-Der Ida and Rotter, Jerome I and Tsai, Fuu-Jen and Hanis, Craig L and Burdon, Kathryn P and Wong, Tien Yin and Cheng, Ching-Yu} } @article {7990, title = {Multiethnic Genome-Wide Association Study of Diabetic Retinopathy Using Liability Threshold Modeling of Duration of Diabetes and Glycemic Control.}, journal = {Diabetes}, volume = {68}, year = {2019}, month = {2019 Feb}, pages = {441-456}, abstract = {

To identify genetic variants associated with diabetic retinopathy (DR), we performed a large multiethnic genome-wide association study. Discovery included eight European cohorts ( = 3,246) and seven African American cohorts ( = 2,611). We meta-analyzed across cohorts using inverse-variance weighting, with and without liability threshold modeling of glycemic control and duration of diabetes. Variants with a value <1 {\texttimes} 10 were investigated in replication cohorts that included 18,545 European, 16,453 Asian, and 2,710 Hispanic subjects. After correction for multiple testing, the C allele of rs142293996 in an intron of nuclear VCP-like () was associated with DR in European discovery cohorts ( = 2.1 {\texttimes} 10), but did not reach genome-wide significance after meta-analysis with replication cohorts. We applied the Disease Association Protein-Protein Link Evaluator (DAPPLE) to our discovery results to test for evidence of risk being spread across underlying molecular pathways. One protein-protein interaction network built from genes in regions associated with proliferative DR was found to have significant connectivity ( = 0.0009) and corroborated with gene set enrichment analyses. These findings suggest that genetic variation in as well as variation within a protein-protein interaction network that includes genes implicated in inflammation, may influence risk for DR.

}, issn = {1939-327X}, doi = {10.2337/db18-0567}, author = {Pollack, Samuela and Igo, Robert P and Jensen, Richard A and Christiansen, Mark and Li, Xiaohui and Cheng, Ching-Yu and Ng, Maggie C Y and Smith, Albert V and Rossin, Elizabeth J and Segr{\`e}, Ayellet V and Davoudi, Samaneh and Tan, Gavin S and Chen, Yii-Der Ida and Kuo, Jane Z and Dimitrov, Latchezar M and Stanwyck, Lynn K and Meng, Weihua and Hosseini, S Mohsen and Imamura, Minako and Nousome, Darryl and Kim, Jihye and Hai, Yang and Jia, Yucheng and Ahn, Jeeyun and Leong, Aaron and Shah, Kaanan and Park, Kyu Hyung and Guo, Xiuqing and Ipp, Eli and Taylor, Kent D and Adler, Sharon G and Sedor, John R and Freedman, Barry I and Lee, I-Te and Sheu, Wayne H-H and Kubo, Michiaki and Takahashi, Atsushi and Hadjadj, Samy and Marre, Michel and Tr{\'e}gou{\"e}t, David-Alexandre and McKean-Cowdin, Roberta and Varma, Rohit and McCarthy, Mark I and Groop, Leif and Ahlqvist, Emma and Lyssenko, Valeriya and Agardh, Elisabet and Morris, Andrew and Doney, Alex S F and Colhoun, Helen M and Toppila, Iiro and Sandholm, Niina and Groop, Per-Henrik and Maeda, Shiro and Hanis, Craig L and Penman, Alan and Chen, Ching J and Hancock, Heather and Mitchell, Paul and Craig, Jamie E and Chew, Emily Y and Paterson, Andrew D and Grassi, Michael A and Palmer, Colin and Bowden, Donald W and Yaspan, Brian L and Siscovick, David and Cotch, Mary Frances and Wang, Jie Jin and Burdon, Kathryn P and Wong, Tien Y and Klein, Barbara E K and Klein, Ronald and Rotter, Jerome I and Iyengar, Sudha K and Price, Alkes L and Sobrin, Lucia} } @article {8631, title = {Association of Genetic Variation With Keratoconus.}, journal = {JAMA Ophthalmol}, volume = {138}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 02 01}, pages = {174-181}, abstract = {

Importance: Keratoconus is a condition in which the cornea progressively thins and protrudes in a conical shape, severely affecting refraction and vision. It is a major indication for corneal transplant. To discover new genetic loci associated with keratoconus and better understand the causative mechanism of this disease, we performed a genome-wide association study on patients with keratoconus.

Objective: To identify genetic susceptibility regions for keratoconus in the human genome.

Design, Setting, and Participants: This study was conducted with data from eye clinics in Australia, the United States, and Northern Ireland. The discovery cohort of individuals with keratoconus and control participants from Australia was genotyped using the Illumina HumanCoreExome single-nucleotide polymorphism array. After quality control and data cleaning, genotypes were imputed against the 1000 Genomes Project reference panel (phase III; version 5), and association analyses were completed using PLINK version 1.90. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms with P < 1.00 {\texttimes} 10-6 were assessed for replication in 3 additional cohorts. Control participants were drawn from the cohorts of the Blue Mountains Eye Study and a previous study of glaucoma. Replication cohorts were from a previous keratoconus genome-wide association study data set from the United States, a cohort of affected and control participants from Australia and Northern Ireland, and a case-control cohort from Victoria, Australia. Data were collected from January 2006 to March 2019.

Main Outcomes and Measures: Associations between keratoconus and 6 252 612 genetic variants were estimated using logistic regression after adjusting for ancestry using the first 3 principal components.

Results: The discovery cohort included 522 affected individuals and 655 control participants, while the replication cohorts included 818 affected individuals (222 from the United States, 331 from Australia and Northern Ireland, and 265 from Victoria, Australia) and 3858 control participants (2927 from the United States, 229 from Australia and Northern Ireland, and 702 from Victoria, Australia). Two novel loci reached genome-wide significance (defined as P < 5.00 {\texttimes} 10-8), with a P value of 7.46 {\texttimes} 10-9 at rs61876744 in patatin-like phospholipase domain-containing 2 gene (PNPLA2) on chromosome 11 and a P value of 6.35 {\texttimes} 10-12 at rs138380, 2.2 kb upstream of casein kinase I isoform epsilon gene (CSNK1E) on chromosome 22. One additional locus was identified with a P value less than 1.00 {\texttimes} 10-6 in mastermind-like transcriptional coactivator 2 (MAML2) on chromosome 11 (P = 3.91 {\texttimes} 10-7). The novel locus in PNPLA2 reached genome-wide significance in an analysis of all 4 cohorts (P = 2.45 {\texttimes} 10-8).

Conclusions and Relevance: In this relatively large keratoconus genome-wide association study, we identified a genome-wide significant locus for keratoconus in the region of PNPLA2 on chromosome 11.

}, keywords = {Adult, Female, Fuchs{\textquoteright} Endothelial Dystrophy, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Keratoconus, Lipase, Logistic Models, Male, Middle Aged, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide}, issn = {2168-6173}, doi = {10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2019.5293}, author = {McComish, Bennet J and Sahebjada, Srujana and Bykhovskaya, Yelena and Willoughby, Colin E and Richardson, Andrea J and Tenen, Abi and Charlesworth, Jac C and Macgregor, Stuart and Mitchell, Paul and Lucas, Sionne E M and Mills, Richard A and Mackey, David A and Li, Xiaohui and Wang, Jie Jin and Jensen, Richard A and Rotter, Jerome I and Taylor, Kent D and Hewitt, Alex W and Rabinowitz, Yaron S and Baird, Paul N and Craig, Jamie E and Burdon, Kathryn P} }