@article {6617, title = {Gene-wide analysis detects two new susceptibility genes for Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s disease.}, journal = {PLoS One}, volume = {9}, year = {2014}, month = {2014}, pages = {e94661}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s disease is a common debilitating dementia with known heritability, for which 20 late onset susceptibility loci have been identified, but more remain to be discovered. This study sought to identify new susceptibility genes, using an alternative gene-wide analytical approach which tests for patterns of association within genes, in the powerful genome-wide association dataset of the International Genomics of Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s Project Consortium, comprising over 7 m genotypes from 25,580 Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s cases and 48,466 controls.

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In addition to earlier reported genes, we detected genome-wide significant loci on chromosomes 8 (TP53INP1, pā€Š=ā€Š1.4{\texttimes}10-6) and 14 (IGHV1-67 pā€Š=ā€Š7.9{\texttimes}10-8) which indexed novel susceptibility loci.

SIGNIFICANCE: The additional genes identified in this study, have an array of functions previously implicated in Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s disease, including aspects of energy metabolism, protein degradation and the immune system and add further weight to these pathways as potential therapeutic targets in Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s disease.

}, keywords = {Alzheimer Disease, Carrier Proteins, Case-Control Studies, Genome-Wide Association Study, Heat-Shock Proteins, Humans, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Receptors, Antigen, B-Cell}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0094661}, author = {Escott-Price, Valentina and Bellenguez, C{\'e}line and Wang, Li-San and Choi, Seung-Hoan and Harold, Denise and Jones, Lesley and Holmans, Peter and Gerrish, Amy and Vedernikov, Alexey and Richards, Alexander and DeStefano, Anita L and Lambert, Jean-Charles and Ibrahim-Verbaas, Carla A and Naj, Adam C and Sims, Rebecca and Jun, Gyungah and Bis, Joshua C and Beecham, Gary W and Grenier-Boley, Benjamin and Russo, Giancarlo and Thornton-Wells, Tricia A and Denning, Nicola and Smith, Albert V and Chouraki, Vincent and Thomas, Charlene and Ikram, M Arfan and Zelenika, Diana and Vardarajan, Badri N and Kamatani, Yoichiro and Lin, Chiao-Feng and Schmidt, Helena and Kunkle, Brian and Dunstan, Melanie L and Vronskaya, Maria and Johnson, Andrew D and Ruiz, Agustin and Bihoreau, Marie-Th{\'e}r{\`e}se and Reitz, Christiane and Pasquier, Florence and Hollingworth, Paul and Hanon, Olivier and Fitzpatrick, Annette L and Buxbaum, Joseph D and Campion, Dominique and Crane, Paul K and Baldwin, Clinton and Becker, Tim and Gudnason, Vilmundur and Cruchaga, Carlos and Craig, David and Amin, Najaf and Berr, Claudine and Lopez, Oscar L and De Jager, Philip L and Deramecourt, Vincent and Johnston, Janet A and Evans, Denis and Lovestone, Simon and Letenneur, Luc and Hernandez, Isabel and Rubinsztein, David C and Eiriksdottir, Gudny and Sleegers, Kristel and Goate, Alison M and Fi{\'e}vet, Nathalie and Huentelman, Matthew J and Gill, Michael and Brown, Kristelle and Kamboh, M Ilyas and Keller, Lina and Barberger-Gateau, Pascale and McGuinness, Bernadette and Larson, Eric B and Myers, Amanda J and Dufouil, Carole and Todd, Stephen and Wallon, David and Love, Seth and Rogaeva, Ekaterina and Gallacher, John and George-Hyslop, Peter St and Clarimon, Jordi and Lleo, Alberto and Bayer, Anthony and Tsuang, Debby W and Yu, Lei and Tsolaki, Magda and Boss{\`u}, Paola and Spalletta, Gianfranco and Proitsi, Petra and Collinge, John and Sorbi, Sandro and Garcia, Florentino Sanchez and Fox, Nick C and Hardy, John and Naranjo, Maria Candida Deniz and Bosco, Paolo and Clarke, Robert and Brayne, Carol and Galimberti, Daniela and Scarpini, Elio and Bonuccelli, Ubaldo and Mancuso, Michelangelo and Siciliano, Gabriele and Moebus, Susanne and Mecocci, Patrizia and Zompo, Maria Del and Maier, Wolfgang and Hampel, Harald and Pilotto, Alberto and Frank-Garc{\'\i}a, Ana and Panza, Francesco and Solfrizzi, Vincenzo and Caffarra, Paolo and Nacmias, Benedetta and Perry, William and Mayhaus, Manuel and Lannfelt, Lars and Hakonarson, Hakon and Pichler, Sabrina and Carrasquillo, Minerva M and Ingelsson, Martin and Beekly, Duane and Alvarez, Victoria and Zou, Fanggeng and Valladares, Otto and Younkin, Steven G and Coto, Eliecer and Hamilton-Nelson, Kara L and Gu, Wei and Razquin, Cristina and Pastor, Pau and Mateo, Ignacio and Owen, Michael J and Faber, Kelley M and Jonsson, Palmi V and Combarros, Onofre and O{\textquoteright}Donovan, Michael C and Cantwell, Laura B and Soininen, Hilkka and Blacker, Deborah and Mead, Simon and Mosley, Thomas H and Bennett, David A and Harris, Tamara B and Fratiglioni, Laura and Holmes, Clive and de Bruijn, Renee F A G and Passmore, Peter and Montine, Thomas J and Bettens, Karolien and Rotter, Jerome I and Brice, Alexis and Morgan, Kevin and Foroud, Tatiana M and Kukull, Walter A and Hannequin, Didier and Powell, John F and Nalls, Michael A and Ritchie, Karen and Lunetta, Kathryn L and Kauwe, John S K and Boerwinkle, Eric and Riemenschneider, Matthias and Boada, Merce and Hiltunen, Mikko and Martin, Eden R and Schmidt, Reinhold and Rujescu, Dan and Dartigues, Jean-Fran{\c c}ois and Mayeux, Richard and Tzourio, Christophe and Hofman, Albert and N{\"o}then, Markus M and Graff, Caroline and Psaty, Bruce M and Haines, Jonathan L and Lathrop, Mark and Pericak-Vance, Margaret A and Launer, Lenore J and Van Broeckhoven, Christine and Farrer, Lindsay A and van Duijn, Cornelia M and Ramirez, Alfredo and Seshadri, Sudha and Schellenberg, Gerard D and Amouyel, Philippe and Williams, Julie} } @article {6817, title = {DCAF4, a novel gene associated with leucocyte telomere length.}, journal = {J Med Genet}, volume = {52}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 Mar}, pages = {157-62}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Leucocyte telomere length (LTL), which is fashioned by multiple genes, has been linked to a host of human diseases, including sporadic melanoma. A number of genes associated with LTL have already been identified through genome-wide association studies. The main aim of this study was to establish whether DCAF4 (DDB1 and CUL4-associated factor 4) is associated with LTL. In addition, using ingenuity pathway analysis (IPA), we examined whether LTL-associated genes in the general population might partially explain the inherently longer LTL in patients with sporadic melanoma, the risk for which is increased with ultraviolet radiation (UVR).

RESULTS: Genome-wide association (GWA) meta-analysis and de novo genotyping of 20 022 individuals revealed a novel association (p=6.4{\texttimes}10(-10)) between LTL and rs2535913, which lies within DCAF4. Notably, eQTL analysis showed that rs2535913 is associated with decline in DCAF4 expressions in both lymphoblastoid cells and sun-exposed skin (p=4.1{\texttimes}10(-3) and 2{\texttimes}10(-3), respectively). Moreover, IPA revealed that LTL-associated genes, derived from GWA meta-analysis (N=9190), are over-represented among genes engaged in melanoma pathways. Meeting increasingly stringent p value thresholds (p<0.05, <0.01, <0.005, <0.001) in the LTL-GWA meta-analysis, these genes were jointly over-represented for melanoma at p values ranging from 1.97{\texttimes}10(-169) to 3.42{\texttimes}10(-24).

CONCLUSIONS: We uncovered a new locus associated with LTL in the general population. We also provided preliminary findings that suggest a link of LTL through genetic mechanisms with UVR and melanoma in the general population.

}, keywords = {Alleles, Carrier Proteins, Gene Expression Regulation, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Leukocytes, Melanoma, Risk Factors, Telomere, Telomere Homeostasis}, issn = {1468-6244}, doi = {10.1136/jmedgenet-2014-102681}, author = {Mangino, Massimo and Christiansen, Lene and Stone, Rivka and Hunt, Steven C and Horvath, Kent and Eisenberg, Dan T A and Kimura, Masayuki and Petersen, Inge and Kark, Jeremy D and Herbig, Utz and Reiner, Alex P and Benetos, Athanase and Codd, Veryan and Nyholt, Dale R and Sinnreich, Ronit and Christensen, Kaare and Nassar, Hisham and Hwang, Shih-Jen and Levy, Daniel and Bataille, Veronique and Fitzpatrick, Annette L and Chen, Wei and Berenson, Gerald S and Samani, Nilesh J and Martin, Nicholas G and Tishkoff, Sarah and Schork, Nicholas J and Kyvik, Kirsten Ohm and Dalg{\r a}rd, Christine and Spector, Timothy D and Aviv, Abraham} }