@article {5863, title = {Genetic risk factors for ischaemic stroke and its subtypes (the METASTROKE collaboration): a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies.}, journal = {Lancet Neurol}, volume = {11}, year = {2012}, month = {2012 Nov}, pages = {951-62}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Various genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been done in ischaemic stroke, identifying a few loci associated with the disease, but sample sizes have been 3500 cases or less. We established the METASTROKE collaboration with the aim of validating associations from previous GWAS and identifying novel genetic associations through meta-analysis of GWAS datasets for ischaemic stroke and its subtypes.

METHODS: We meta-analysed data from 15 ischaemic stroke cohorts with a total of 12 389 individuals with ischaemic stroke and 62 004 controls, all of European ancestry. For the associations reaching genome-wide significance in METASTROKE, we did a further analysis, conditioning on the lead single nucleotide polymorphism in every associated region. Replication of novel suggestive signals was done in 13 347 cases and 29 083 controls.

FINDINGS: We verified previous associations for cardioembolic stroke near PITX2 (p=2{\textperiodcentered}8{\texttimes}10(-16)) and ZFHX3 (p=2{\textperiodcentered}28{\texttimes}10(-8)), and for large-vessel stroke at a 9p21 locus (p=3{\textperiodcentered}32{\texttimes}10(-5)) and HDAC9 (p=2{\textperiodcentered}03{\texttimes}10(-12)). Additionally, we verified that all associations were subtype specific. Conditional analysis in the three regions for which the associations reached genome-wide significance (PITX2, ZFHX3, and HDAC9) indicated that all the signal in each region could be attributed to one risk haplotype. We also identified 12 potentially novel loci at p<5{\texttimes}10(-6). However, we were unable to replicate any of these novel associations in the replication cohort.

INTERPRETATION: Our results show that, although genetic variants can be detected in patients with ischaemic stroke when compared with controls, all associations we were able to confirm are specific to a stroke subtype. This finding has two implications. First, to maximise success of genetic studies in ischaemic stroke, detailed stroke subtyping is required. Second, different genetic pathophysiological mechanisms seem to be associated with different stroke subtypes.

FUNDING: Wellcome Trust, UK Medical Research Council (MRC), Australian National and Medical Health Research Council, National Institutes of Health (NIH) including National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the National Institute on Aging (NIA), the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).

}, keywords = {Brain Ischemia, Databases, Genetic, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Risk Factors, Stroke}, issn = {1474-4465}, doi = {10.1016/S1474-4422(12)70234-X}, author = {Traylor, Matthew and Farrall, Martin and Holliday, Elizabeth G and Sudlow, Cathie and Hopewell, Jemma C and Cheng, Yu-Ching and Fornage, Myriam and Ikram, M Arfan and Malik, Rainer and Bevan, Steve and Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur and Nalls, Mike A and Longstreth, Wt and Wiggins, Kerri L and Yadav, Sunaina and Parati, Eugenio A and DeStefano, Anita L and Worrall, Bradford B and Kittner, Steven J and Khan, Muhammad Saleem and Reiner, Alex P and Helgadottir, Anna and Achterberg, Sefanja and Fernandez-Cadenas, Israel and Abboud, Sherine and Schmidt, Reinhold and Walters, Matthew and Chen, Wei-Min and Ringelstein, E Bernd and O{\textquoteright}Donnell, Martin and Ho, Weang Kee and Pera, Joanna and Lemmens, Robin and Norrving, Bo and Higgins, Peter and Benn, Marianne and Sale, Michele and Kuhlenb{\"a}umer, Gregor and Doney, Alexander S F and Vicente, Astrid M and Delavaran, Hossein and Algra, Ale and Davies, Gail and Oliveira, Sofia A and Palmer, Colin N A and Deary, Ian and Schmidt, Helena and Pandolfo, Massimo and Montaner, Joan and Carty, Cara and de Bakker, Paul I W and Kostulas, Konstantinos and Ferro, Jose M and van Zuydam, Natalie R and Valdimarsson, Einar and Nordestgaard, B{\o}rge G and Lindgren, Arne and Thijs, Vincent and Slowik, Agnieszka and Saleheen, Danish and Par{\'e}, Guillaume and Berger, Klaus and Thorleifsson, Gudmar and Hofman, Albert and Mosley, Thomas H and Mitchell, Braxton D and Furie, Karen and Clarke, Robert and Levi, Christopher and Seshadri, Sudha and Gschwendtner, Andreas and Boncoraglio, Giorgio B and Sharma, Pankaj and Bis, Joshua C and Gretarsdottir, Solveig and Psaty, Bruce M and Rothwell, Peter M and Rosand, Jonathan and Meschia, James F and Stefansson, Kari and Dichgans, Martin and Markus, Hugh S} } @article {6246, title = {Gender and telomere length: systematic review and meta-analysis.}, journal = {Exp Gerontol}, volume = {51}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Mar}, pages = {15-27}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: It is widely believed that females have longer telomeres than males, although results from studies have been contradictory.

METHODS: We carried out a systematic review and meta-analyses to test the hypothesis that in humans, females have longer telomeres than males and that this association becomes stronger with increasing age. Searches were conducted in EMBASE and MEDLINE (by November 2009) and additional datasets were obtained from study investigators. Eligible observational studies measured telomeres for both females and males of any age, had a minimum sample size of 100 and included participants not part of a diseased group. We calculated summary estimates using random-effects meta-analyses. Heterogeneity between studies was investigated using sub-group analysis and meta-regression.

RESULTS: Meta-analyses from 36 cohorts (36,230 participants) showed that on average females had longer telomeres than males (standardised difference in telomere length between females and males 0.090, 95\% CI 0.015, 0.166; age-adjusted). There was little evidence that these associations varied by age group (p=1.00) or cell type (p=0.29). However, the size of this difference did vary by measurement methods, with only Southern blot but neither real-time PCR nor Flow-FISH showing a significant difference. This difference was not associated with random measurement error.

CONCLUSIONS: Telomere length is longer in females than males, although this difference was not universally found in studies that did not use Southern blot methods. Further research on explanations for the methodological differences is required.

}, keywords = {Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Aging, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Sex Factors, Telomere}, issn = {1873-6815}, doi = {10.1016/j.exger.2013.12.004}, author = {Gardner, Michael and Bann, David and Wiley, Laura and Cooper, Rachel and Hardy, Rebecca and Nitsch, Dorothea and Martin-Ruiz, Carmen and Shiels, Paul and Sayer, Avan Aihie and Barbieri, Michelangela and Bekaert, Sofie and Bischoff, Claus and Brooks-Wilson, Angela and Chen, Wei and Cooper, Cyrus and Christensen, Kaare and De Meyer, Tim and Deary, Ian and Der, Geoff and Diez Roux, Ana and Fitzpatrick, Annette and Hajat, Anjum and Halaschek-Wiener, Julius and Harris, Sarah and Hunt, Steven C and Jagger, Carol and Jeon, Hyo-Sung and Kaplan, Robert and Kimura, Masayuki and Lansdorp, Peter and Li, Changyong and Maeda, Toyoki and Mangino, Massimo and Nawrot, Tim S and Nilsson, Peter and Nordfjall, Katarina and Paolisso, Giuseppe and Ren, Fu and Riabowol, Karl and Robertson, Tony and Roos, Goran and Staessen, Jan A and Spector, Tim and Tang, Nelson and Unryn, Brad and van der Harst, Pim and Woo, Jean and Xing, Chao and Yadegarfar, Mohammad E and Park, Jae Yong and Young, Neal and Kuh, Diana and von Zglinicki, Thomas and Ben-Shlomo, Yoav} } @article {7256, title = {KLB is associated with alcohol drinking, and its gene product β-Klotho is necessary for FGF21 regulation of alcohol preference.}, journal = {Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A}, volume = {113}, year = {2016}, month = {2016 Dec 13}, pages = {14372-14377}, abstract = {

Excessive alcohol consumption is a major public health problem worldwide. Although drinking habits are known to be inherited, few genes have been identified that are robustly linked to alcohol drinking. We conducted a genome-wide association metaanalysis and replication study among >105,000 individuals of European ancestry and identified β-Klotho (KLB) as a locus associated with alcohol consumption (rs11940694; P = 9.2 {\texttimes} 10(-12)). β-Klotho is an obligate coreceptor for the hormone FGF21, which is secreted from the liver and implicated in macronutrient preference in humans. We show that brain-specific β-Klotho KO mice have an increased alcohol preference and that FGF21 inhibits alcohol drinking by acting on the brain. These data suggest that a liver-brain endocrine axis may play an important role in the regulation of alcohol drinking behavior and provide a unique pharmacologic target for reducing alcohol consumption.

}, issn = {1091-6490}, doi = {10.1073/pnas.1611243113}, author = {Schumann, Gunter and Liu, Chunyu and O{\textquoteright}Reilly, Paul and Gao, He and Song, Parkyong and Xu, Bing and Ruggeri, Barbara and Amin, Najaf and Jia, Tianye and Preis, Sarah and Segura Lepe, Marcelo and Akira, Shizuo and Barbieri, Caterina and Baumeister, Sebastian and Cauchi, Stephane and Clarke, Toni-Kim and Enroth, Stefan and Fischer, Krista and H{\"a}llfors, Jenni and Harris, Sarah E and Hieber, Saskia and Hofer, Edith and Hottenga, Jouke-Jan and Johansson, Asa and Joshi, Peter K and Kaartinen, Niina and Laitinen, Jaana and Lemaitre, Rozenn and Loukola, Anu and Luan, Jian{\textquoteright}an and Lyytik{\"a}inen, Leo-Pekka and Mangino, Massimo and Manichaikul, Ani and Mbarek, Hamdi and Milaneschi, Yuri and Moayyeri, Alireza and Mukamal, Kenneth and Nelson, Christopher and Nettleton, Jennifer and Partinen, Eemil and Rawal, Rajesh and Robino, Antonietta and Rose, Lynda and Sala, Cinzia and Satoh, Takashi and Schmidt, Reinhold and Schraut, Katharina and Scott, Robert and Smith, Albert Vernon and Starr, John M and Teumer, Alexander and Trompet, Stella and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Venturini, Cristina and Vergnaud, Anne-Claire and Verweij, Niek and Vitart, Veronique and Vuckovic, Dragana and Wedenoja, Juho and Yengo, Loic and Yu, Bing and Zhang, Weihua and Zhao, Jing Hua and Boomsma, Dorret I and Chambers, John and Chasman, Daniel I and Daniela, Toniolo and de Geus, Eco and Deary, Ian and Eriksson, Johan G and Esko, T{\~o}nu and Eulenburg, Volker and Franco, Oscar H and Froguel, Philippe and Gieger, Christian and Grabe, Hans J and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Gyllensten, Ulf and Harris, Tamara B and Hartikainen, Anna-Liisa and Heath, Andrew C and Hocking, Lynne and Hofman, Albert and Huth, Cornelia and Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta and Jukema, J Wouter and Kaprio, Jaakko and Kooner, Jaspal S and Kutalik, Zolt{\'a}n and Lahti, Jari and Langenberg, Claudia and Lehtim{\"a}ki, Terho and Liu, Yongmei and Madden, Pamela A F and Martin, Nicholas and Morrison, Alanna and Penninx, Brenda and Pirastu, Nicola and Psaty, Bruce and Raitakari, Olli and Ridker, Paul and Rose, Richard and Rotter, Jerome I and Samani, Nilesh J and Schmidt, Helena and Spector, Tim D and Stott, David and Strachan, David and Tzoulaki, Ioanna and van der Harst, Pim and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Marques-Vidal, Pedro and Vollenweider, Peter and Wareham, Nicholas J and Whitfield, John B and Wilson, James and Wolffenbuttel, Bruce and Bakalkin, Georgy and Evangelou, Evangelos and Liu, Yun and Rice, Kenneth M and Desrivi{\`e}res, Sylvane and Kliewer, Steven A and Mangelsdorf, David J and M{\"u}ller, Christian P and Levy, Daniel and Elliott, Paul} }