@article {5877, title = {A meta-analysis of thyroid-related traits reveals novel loci and gender-specific differences in the regulation of thyroid function.}, journal = {PLoS Genet}, volume = {9}, year = {2013}, month = {2013}, pages = {e1003266}, abstract = {

Thyroid hormone is essential for normal metabolism and development, and overt abnormalities in thyroid function lead to common endocrine disorders affecting approximately 10\% of individuals over their life span. In addition, even mild alterations in thyroid function are associated with weight changes, atrial fibrillation, osteoporosis, and psychiatric disorders. To identify novel variants underlying thyroid function, we performed a large meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for serum levels of the highly heritable thyroid function markers TSH and FT4, in up to 26,420 and 17,520 euthyroid subjects, respectively. Here we report 26 independent associations, including several novel loci for TSH (PDE10A, VEGFA, IGFBP5, NFIA, SOX9, PRDM11, FGF7, INSR, ABO, MIR1179, NRG1, MBIP, ITPK1, SASH1, GLIS3) and FT4 (LHX3, FOXE1, AADAT, NETO1/FBXO15, LPCAT2/CAPNS2). Notably, only limited overlap was detected between TSH and FT4 associated signals, in spite of the feedback regulation of their circulating levels by the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis. Five of the reported loci (PDE8B, PDE10A, MAF/LOC440389, NETO1/FBXO15, and LPCAT2/CAPNS2) show strong gender-specific differences, which offer clues for the known sexual dimorphism in thyroid function and related pathologies. Importantly, the TSH-associated loci contribute not only to variation within the normal range, but also to TSH values outside the reference range, suggesting that they may be involved in thyroid dysfunction. Overall, our findings explain, respectively, 5.64\% and 2.30\% of total TSH and FT4 trait variance, and they improve the current knowledge of the regulation of hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis function and the consequences of genetic variation for hypo- or hyperthyroidism.

}, keywords = {Female, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Hyperthyroidism, Hypothyroidism, Male, Phenotype, Polymorphism, Genetic, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Sex Characteristics, Signal Transduction, Thyroid Gland, Thyrotropin, Thyroxine}, issn = {1553-7404}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pgen.1003266}, author = {Porcu, Eleonora and Medici, Marco and Pistis, Giorgio and Volpato, Claudia B and Wilson, Scott G and Cappola, Anne R and Bos, Steffan D and Deelen, Joris and den Heijer, Martin and Freathy, Rachel M and Lahti, Jari and Liu, Chunyu and Lopez, Lorna M and Nolte, Ilja M and O{\textquoteright}Connell, Jeffrey R and Tanaka, Toshiko and Trompet, Stella and Arnold, Alice and Bandinelli, Stefania and Beekman, Marian and B{\"o}hringer, Stefan and Brown, Suzanne J and Buckley, Brendan M and Camaschella, Clara and de Craen, Anton J M and Davies, Gail and de Visser, Marieke C H and Ford, Ian and Forsen, Tom and Frayling, Timothy M and Fugazzola, Laura and G{\"o}gele, Martin and Hattersley, Andrew T and Hermus, Ad R and Hofman, Albert and Houwing-Duistermaat, Jeanine J and Jensen, Richard A and Kajantie, Eero and Kloppenburg, Margreet and Lim, Ee M and Masciullo, Corrado and Mariotti, Stefano and Minelli, Cosetta and Mitchell, Braxton D and Nagaraja, Ramaiah and Netea-Maier, Romana T and Palotie, Aarno and Persani, Luca and Piras, Maria G and Psaty, Bruce M and R{\"a}ikk{\"o}nen, Katri and Richards, J Brent and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Sala, Cinzia and Sabra, Mona M and Sattar, Naveed and Shields, Beverley M and Soranzo, Nicole and Starr, John M and Stott, David J and Sweep, Fred C G J and Usala, Gianluca and van der Klauw, Melanie M and van Heemst, Diana and van Mullem, Alies and Vermeulen, Sita H and Visser, W Edward and Walsh, John P and Westendorp, Rudi G J and Widen, Elisabeth and Zhai, Guangju and Cucca, Francesco and Deary, Ian J and Eriksson, Johan G and Ferrucci, Luigi and Fox, Caroline S and Jukema, J Wouter and Kiemeney, Lambertus A and Pramstaller, Peter P and Schlessinger, David and Shuldiner, Alan R and Slagboom, Eline P and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Vaidya, Bijay and Visser, Theo J and Wolffenbuttel, Bruce H R and Meulenbelt, Ingrid and Rotter, Jerome I and Spector, Tim D and Hicks, Andrew A and Toniolo, Daniela and Sanna, Serena and Peeters, Robin P and Naitza, Silvia} } @article {6682, title = {Genome of The Netherlands population-specific imputations identify an ABCA6 variant associated with cholesterol levels.}, journal = {Nat Commun}, volume = {6}, year = {2015}, month = {2015}, pages = {6065}, abstract = {

Variants associated with blood lipid levels may be population-specific. To identify low-frequency variants associated with this phenotype, population-specific reference panels may be used. Here we impute nine large Dutch biobanks (~35,000 samples) with the population-specific reference panel created by the Genome of The Netherlands Project and perform association testing with blood lipid levels. We report the discovery of five novel associations at four loci (P value <6.61 {\texttimes} 10(-4)), including a rare missense variant in ABCA6 (rs77542162, p.Cys1359Arg, frequency 0.034), which is predicted to be deleterious. The frequency of this ABCA6 variant is 3.65-fold increased in the Dutch and its effect (βLDL-C=0.135, βTC=0.140) is estimated to be very similar to those observed for single variants in well-known lipid genes, such as LDLR.

}, keywords = {ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters, Cholesterol, Gene Frequency, Genetic Association Studies, Humans, Mutation, Missense, Netherlands}, issn = {2041-1723}, doi = {10.1038/ncomms7065}, author = {van Leeuwen, Elisabeth M and Karssen, Lennart C and Deelen, Joris and Isaacs, Aaron and Medina-G{\'o}mez, Carolina and Mbarek, Hamdi and Kanterakis, Alexandros and Trompet, Stella and Postmus, Iris and Verweij, Niek and van Enckevort, David J and Huffman, Jennifer E and White, Charles C and Feitosa, Mary F and Bartz, Traci M and Manichaikul, Ani and Joshi, Peter K and Peloso, Gina M and Deelen, Patrick and van Dijk, Freerk and Willemsen, Gonneke and de Geus, Eco J and Milaneschi, Yuri and Penninx, Brenda W J H and Francioli, Laurent C and Menelaou, Androniki and Pulit, Sara L and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Hofman, Albert and Oostra, Ben A and Franco, Oscar H and Mateo Leach, Irene and Beekman, Marian and de Craen, Anton J M and Uh, Hae-Won and Trochet, Holly and Hocking, Lynne J and Porteous, David J and Sattar, Naveed and Packard, Chris J and Buckley, Brendan M and Brody, Jennifer A and Bis, Joshua C and Rotter, Jerome I and Mychaleckyj, Josyf C and Campbell, Harry and Duan, Qing and Lange, Leslie A and Wilson, James F and Hayward, Caroline and Polasek, Ozren and Vitart, Veronique and Rudan, Igor and Wright, Alan F and Rich, Stephen S and Psaty, Bruce M and Borecki, Ingrid B and Kearney, Patricia M and Stott, David J and Adrienne Cupples, L and Jukema, J Wouter and van der Harst, Pim and Sijbrands, Eric J and Hottenga, Jouke-Jan and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Swertz, Morris A and van Ommen, Gert-Jan B and de Bakker, Paul I W and Eline Slagboom, P and Boomsma, Dorret I and Wijmenga, Cisca and van Duijn, Cornelia M} } @article {6550, title = {GWAS of longevity in CHARGE consortium confirms APOE and FOXO3 candidacy.}, journal = {J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci}, volume = {70}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Jan}, pages = {110-8}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: The genetic contribution to longevity in humans has been estimated to range from 15\% to 25\%. Only two genes, APOE and FOXO3, have shown association with longevity in multiple independent studies.

METHODS: We conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies including 6,036 longevity cases, age >=90 years, and 3,757 controls that died between ages 55 and 80 years. We additionally attempted to replicate earlier identified single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) associations with longevity.

RESULTS: In our meta-analysis, we found suggestive evidence for the association of SNPs near CADM2 (odds ratio [OR] = 0.81; p value = 9.66 {\texttimes} 10(-7)) and GRIK2 (odds ratio = 1.24; p value = 5.09 {\texttimes} 10(-8)) with longevity. When attempting to replicate findings earlier identified in genome-wide association studies, only the APOE locus consistently replicated. In an additional look-up of the candidate gene FOXO3, we found that an earlier identified variant shows a highly significant association with longevity when including published data with our meta-analysis (odds ratio = 1.17; p value = 1.85{\texttimes}10(-10)).

CONCLUSIONS: We did not identify new genome-wide significant associations with longevity and did not replicate earlier findings except for APOE and FOXO3. Our inability to find new associations with survival to ages >=90 years because longevity represents multiple complex traits with heterogeneous genetic underpinnings, or alternatively, that longevity may be regulated by rare variants that are not captured by standard genome-wide genotyping and imputation of common variants.

}, keywords = {Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Apolipoproteins E, Cell Adhesion Molecules, Cohort Studies, Female, Forkhead Box Protein O3, Forkhead Transcription Factors, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Longevity, Male, Middle Aged, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Receptors, Kainic Acid}, issn = {1758-535X}, doi = {10.1093/gerona/glu166}, author = {Broer, Linda and Buchman, Aron S and Deelen, Joris and Evans, Daniel S and Faul, Jessica D and Lunetta, Kathryn L and Sebastiani, Paola and Smith, Jennifer A and Smith, Albert V and Tanaka, Toshiko and Yu, Lei and Arnold, Alice M and Aspelund, Thor and Benjamin, Emelia J and De Jager, Philip L and Eirkisdottir, Gudny and Evans, Denis A and Garcia, Melissa E and Hofman, Albert and Kaplan, Robert C and Kardia, Sharon L R and Kiel, Douglas P and Oostra, Ben A and Orwoll, Eric S and Parimi, Neeta and Psaty, Bruce M and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Rotter, Jerome I and Seshadri, Sudha and Singleton, Andrew and Tiemeier, Henning and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Zhao, Wei and Bandinelli, Stefania and Bennett, David A and Ferrucci, Luigi and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Harris, Tamara B and Karasik, David and Launer, Lenore J and Perls, Thomas T and Slagboom, P Eline and Tranah, Gregory J and Weir, David R and Newman, Anne B and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Murabito, Joanne M} } @article {6683, title = {Multiethnic genome-wide association study of cerebral white matter hyperintensities on MRI.}, journal = {Circ Cardiovasc Genet}, volume = {8}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Apr}, pages = {398-409}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: The burden of cerebral white matter hyperintensities (WMH) is associated with an increased risk of stroke, dementia, and death. WMH are highly heritable, but their genetic underpinnings are incompletely characterized. To identify novel genetic variants influencing WMH burden, we conducted a meta-analysis of multiethnic genome-wide association studies.

METHODS AND RESULTS: We included 21 079 middle-aged to elderly individuals from 29 population-based cohorts, who were free of dementia and stroke and were of European (n=17 936), African (n=1943), Hispanic (n=795), and Asian (n=405) descent. WMH burden was quantified on MRI either by a validated automated segmentation method or a validated visual grading scale. Genotype data in each study were imputed to the 1000 Genomes reference. Within each ethnic group, we investigated the relationship between each single-nucleotide polymorphism and WMH burden using a linear regression model adjusted for age, sex, intracranial volume, and principal components of ancestry. A meta-analysis was conducted for each ethnicity separately and for the combined sample. In the European descent samples, we confirmed a previously known locus on chr17q25 (P=2.7{\texttimes}10(-19)) and identified novel loci on chr10q24 (P=1.6{\texttimes}10(-9)) and chr2p21 (P=4.4{\texttimes}10(-8)). In the multiethnic meta-analysis, we identified 2 additional loci, on chr1q22 (P=2.0{\texttimes}10(-8)) and chr2p16 (P=1.5{\texttimes}10(-8)). The novel loci contained genes that have been implicated in Alzheimer disease (chr2p21 and chr10q24), intracerebral hemorrhage (chr1q22), neuroinflammatory diseases (chr2p21), and glioma (chr10q24 and chr2p16).

CONCLUSIONS: We identified 4 novel genetic loci that implicate inflammatory and glial proliferative pathways in the development of WMH in addition to previously proposed ischemic mechanisms.

}, keywords = {Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Chromosomes, Human, Continental Population Groups, Female, Genetic Loci, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Male, Meta-Analysis as Topic, Middle Aged, Models, Genetic, Stroke, White Matter}, issn = {1942-3268}, doi = {10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.114.000858}, author = {Verhaaren, Benjamin F J and Debette, Stephanie and Bis, Joshua C and Smith, Jennifer A and Ikram, M Kamran and Adams, Hieab H and Beecham, Ashley H and Rajan, Kumar B and Lopez, Lorna M and Barral, Sandra and van Buchem, Mark A and van der Grond, Jeroen and Smith, Albert V and Hegenscheid, Katrin and Aggarwal, Neelum T and de Andrade, Mariza and Atkinson, Elizabeth J and Beekman, Marian and Beiser, Alexa S and Blanton, Susan H and Boerwinkle, Eric and Brickman, Adam M and Bryan, R Nick and Chauhan, Ganesh and Chen, Christopher P L H and Chouraki, Vincent and de Craen, Anton J M and Crivello, Fabrice and Deary, Ian J and Deelen, Joris and De Jager, Philip L and Dufouil, Carole and Elkind, Mitchell S V and Evans, Denis A and Freudenberger, Paul and Gottesman, Rebecca F and Gu{\dh}nason, Vilmundur and Habes, Mohamad and Heckbert, Susan R and Heiss, Gerardo and Hilal, Saima and Hofer, Edith and Hofman, Albert and Ibrahim-Verbaas, Carla A and Knopman, David S and Lewis, Cora E and Liao, Jiemin and Liewald, David C M and Luciano, Michelle and van der Lugt, Aad and Martinez, Oliver O and Mayeux, Richard and Mazoyer, Bernard and Nalls, Mike and Nauck, Matthias and Niessen, Wiro J and Oostra, Ben A and Psaty, Bruce M and Rice, Kenneth M and Rotter, Jerome I and von Sarnowski, Bettina and Schmidt, Helena and Schreiner, Pamela J and Schuur, Maaike and Sidney, Stephen S and Sigurdsson, Sigurdur and Slagboom, P Eline and Stott, David J M and van Swieten, John C and Teumer, Alexander and T{\"o}glhofer, Anna Maria and Traylor, Matthew and Trompet, Stella and Turner, Stephen T and Tzourio, Christophe and Uh, Hae-Won and Uitterlinden, Andr{\'e} G and Vernooij, Meike W and Wang, Jing J and Wong, Tien Y and Wardlaw, Joanna M and Windham, B Gwen and Wittfeld, Katharina and Wolf, Christiane and Wright, Clinton B and Yang, Qiong and Zhao, Wei and Zijdenbos, Alex and Jukema, J Wouter and Sacco, Ralph L and Kardia, Sharon L R and Amouyel, Philippe and Mosley, Thomas H and Longstreth, W T and DeCarli, Charles C and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Schmidt, Reinhold and Launer, Lenore J and Grabe, Hans J and Seshadri, Sudha S and Ikram, M Arfan and Fornage, Myriam} }