%0 Journal Article %J Nat Genet %D 2009 %T Genome-wide association study of blood pressure and hypertension. %A Levy, Daniel %A Ehret, Georg B %A Rice, Kenneth %A Verwoert, Germaine C %A Launer, Lenore J %A Dehghan, Abbas %A Glazer, Nicole L %A Morrison, Alanna C %A Johnson, Andrew D %A Aspelund, Thor %A Aulchenko, Yurii %A Lumley, Thomas %A Köttgen, Anna %A Vasan, Ramachandran S %A Rivadeneira, Fernando %A Eiriksdottir, Gudny %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Arking, Dan E %A Mitchell, Gary F %A Mattace-Raso, Francesco U S %A Smith, Albert V %A Taylor, Kent %A Scharpf, Robert B %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Sijbrands, Eric J G %A Bis, Joshua %A Harris, Tamara B %A Ganesh, Santhi K %A O'Donnell, Christopher J %A Hofman, Albert %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Coresh, Josef %A Benjamin, Emelia J %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Heiss, Gerardo %A Fox, Caroline S %A Witteman, Jacqueline C M %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Wang, Thomas J %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Larson, Martin G %A Chakravarti, Aravinda %A Psaty, Bruce M %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %K Blood Pressure %K Cell Line %K Chromosome Mapping %K Chromosomes, Human %K Diastole %K Gene Expression Regulation %K Genetic Association Studies %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Humans %K Hypertension %K Liver %K Lymphocytes %K Meta-Analysis as Topic %K Odds Ratio %K Phenotype %K Prevalence %K Risk Assessment %K Systole %X

Blood pressure is a major cardiovascular disease risk factor. To date, few variants associated with interindividual blood pressure variation have been identified and replicated. Here we report results of a genome-wide association study of systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure and hypertension in the CHARGE Consortium (n = 29,136), identifying 13 SNPs for SBP, 20 for DBP and 10 for hypertension at P < 4 × 10(-7). The top ten loci for SBP and DBP were incorporated into a risk score; mean BP and prevalence of hypertension increased in relation to the number of risk alleles carried. When ten CHARGE SNPs for each trait were included in a joint meta-analysis with the Global BPgen Consortium (n = 34,433), four CHARGE loci attained genome-wide significance (P < 5 × 10(-8)) for SBP (ATP2B1, CYP17A1, PLEKHA7, SH2B3), six for DBP (ATP2B1, CACNB2, CSK-ULK3, SH2B3, TBX3-TBX5, ULK4) and one for hypertension (ATP2B1). Identifying genes associated with blood pressure advances our understanding of blood pressure regulation and highlights potential drug targets for the prevention or treatment of hypertension.

%B Nat Genet %V 41 %P 677-87 %8 2009 Jun %G eng %N 6 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19430479?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1038/ng.384 %0 Journal Article %J Nat Genet %D 2009 %T Multiple loci associated with indices of renal function and chronic kidney disease. %A Köttgen, Anna %A Glazer, Nicole L %A Dehghan, Abbas %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Katz, Ronit %A Li, Man %A Yang, Qiong %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Launer, Lenore J %A Harris, Tamara B %A Smith, Albert V %A Arking, Dan E %A Astor, Brad C %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Ehret, Georg B %A Ruczinski, Ingo %A Scharpf, Robert B %A Chen, Yii-Der Ida %A de Boer, Ian H %A Haritunians, Talin %A Lumley, Thomas %A Sarnak, Mark %A Siscovick, David %A Benjamin, Emelia J %A Levy, Daniel %A Upadhyay, Ashish %A Aulchenko, Yurii S %A Hofman, Albert %A Rivadeneira, Fernando %A Uitterlinden, André G %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Paré, Guillaume %A Ridker, Paul M %A Kao, W H Linda %A Witteman, Jacqueline C %A Coresh, Josef %A Shlipak, Michael G %A Fox, Caroline S %K Chromosome Mapping %K Cohort Studies %K Genetic Variation %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Glomerular Filtration Rate %K Humans %K Kidney %K Kidney Failure, Chronic %K Meta-Analysis as Topic %K Mucoproteins %K Netherlands %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Prevalence %K Uromodulin %X

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) has a heritable component and is an important global public health problem because of its high prevalence and morbidity. We conducted genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to identify susceptibility loci for glomerular filtration rate, estimated by serum creatinine (eGFRcrea) and cystatin C (eGFRcys), and CKD (eGFRcrea < 60 ml/min/1.73 m(2)) in European-ancestry participants of four population-based cohorts (ARIC, CHS, FHS, RS; n = 19,877; 2,388 CKD cases), and tested for replication in 21,466 participants (1,932 CKD cases). We identified significant SNP associations (P < 5 × 10(-8)) with CKD at the UMOD locus, with eGFRcrea at UMOD, SHROOM3 and GATM-SPATA5L1, and with eGFRcys at CST and STC1. UMOD encodes the most common protein in human urine, Tamm-Horsfall protein, and rare mutations in UMOD cause mendelian forms of kidney disease. Our findings provide new insights into CKD pathogenesis and underscore the importance of common genetic variants influencing renal function and disease.

%B Nat Genet %V 41 %P 712-7 %8 2009 Jun %G eng %N 6 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19430482?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1038/ng.377 %0 Journal Article %J J Am Soc Nephrol %D 2010 %T Common genetic variants associate with serum phosphorus concentration. %A Kestenbaum, Bryan %A Glazer, Nicole L %A Köttgen, Anna %A Felix, Janine F %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Liu, Yongmei %A Lohman, Kurt %A Kritchevsky, Stephen B %A Hausman, Dorothy B %A Petersen, Ann-Kristin %A Gieger, Christian %A Ried, Janina S %A Meitinger, Thomas %A Strom, Tim M %A Wichmann, H Erich %A Campbell, Harry %A Hayward, Caroline %A Rudan, Igor %A de Boer, Ian H %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Rice, Kenneth M %A Chen, Yii-Der Ida %A Li, Man %A Arking, Dan E %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Coresh, Josef %A Yang, Qiong %A Levy, Daniel %A van Rooij, Frank J A %A Dehghan, Abbas %A Rivadeneira, Fernando %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Hofman, Albert %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Shlipak, Michael G %A Kao, W H Linda %A Witteman, Jacqueline C M %A Siscovick, David S %A Fox, Caroline S %K Adult %K Aged %K European Continental Ancestry Group %K Female %K Fibroblast Growth Factors %K Gene Frequency %K Genetic Loci %K Genetic Variation %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Humans %K Kidney %K Male %K Middle Aged %K Phosphorus %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Receptors, Calcium-Sensing %K Sex Factors %K Sodium-Phosphate Cotransporter Proteins, Type IIa %X

Phosphorus is an essential mineral that maintains cellular energy and mineralizes the skeleton. Because complex actions of ion transporters and regulatory hormones regulate serum phosphorus concentrations, genetic variation may determine interindividual variation in phosphorus metabolism. Here, we report a comprehensive genome-wide association study of serum phosphorus concentration. We evaluated 16,264 participants of European ancestry from the Cardiovascular Heath Study, Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study, Framingham Offspring Study, and the Rotterdam Study. We excluded participants with an estimated GFR <45 ml/min per 1.73 m(2) to focus on phosphorus metabolism under normal conditions. We imputed genotypes to approximately 2.5 million single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the HapMap and combined study-specific findings using meta-analysis. We tested top polymorphisms from discovery cohorts in a 5444-person replication sample. Polymorphisms in seven loci with minor allele frequencies 0.08 to 0.49 associate with serum phosphorus concentration (P = 3.5 x 10(-16) to 3.6 x 10(-7)). Three loci were near genes encoding the kidney-specific type IIa sodium phosphate co-transporter (SLC34A1), the calcium-sensing receptor (CASR), and fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23), proteins that contribute to phosphorus metabolism. We also identified genes encoding phosphatases, kinases, and phosphodiesterases that have yet-undetermined roles in phosphorus homeostasis. In the replication sample, five of seven top polymorphisms associate with serum phosphorous concentrations (P < 0.05 for each). In conclusion, common genetic variants associate with serum phosphorus in the general population. Further study of the loci identified in this study may help elucidate mechanisms of phosphorus regulation.

%B J Am Soc Nephrol %V 21 %P 1223-32 %8 2010 Jul %G eng %N 7 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20558539?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1681/ASN.2009111104 %0 Journal Article %J Hum Mol Genet %D 2010 %T Common variants in the calcium-sensing receptor gene are associated with total serum calcium levels. %A O'Seaghdha, Conall M %A Yang, Qiong %A Glazer, Nicole L %A Leak, Tennille S %A Dehghan, Abbas %A Smith, Albert V %A Kao, W H Linda %A Lohman, Kurt %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Johnson, Andrew D %A Hofman, Albert %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Chen, Yii-Der Ida %A Brown, Edward M %A Siscovick, David S %A Harris, Tamara B %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Coresh, Josef %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Witteman, Jacqueline C %A Liu, Yong Mei %A Kestenbaum, Bryan R %A Fox, Caroline S %A Köttgen, Anna %K Adult %K Calcium %K Female %K Humans %K Male %K Middle Aged %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Receptors, Calcium-Sensing %X

Serum calcium levels are tightly regulated. We performed genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in population-based studies participating in the CHARGE Consortium to uncover common genetic variations associated with total serum calcium levels. GWAS of serum calcium concentrations was performed in 20 611 individuals of European ancestry for ∼2.5 million genotyped and imputed single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). The SNP with the lowest P-value was rs17251221 (P = 2.4 * 10(-22), minor allele frequency 14%) in the calcium-sensing receptor gene (CASR). This lead SNP was associated with higher serum calcium levels [0.06 mg/dl (0.015 mmol/l) per copy of the minor G allele] and accounted for 0.54% of the variance in serum calcium concentrations. The identification of variation in CASR that influences serum calcium concentration confirms the results of earlier candidate gene studies. The G allele of rs17251221 was also associated with higher serum magnesium levels (P = 1.2 * 10(-3)), lower serum phosphate levels (P = 2.8 * 10(-7)) and lower bone mineral density at the lumbar spine (P = 0.038), but not the femoral neck. No additional genomic loci contained SNPs associated at genome-wide significance (P < 5 * 10(-8)). These associations resemble clinical characteristics of patients with familial hypocalciuric hypercalcemia, an autosomal-dominant disease arising from rare inactivating mutations in the CASR gene. We conclude that common genetic variation in the CASR gene is associated with similar but milder features in the general population.

%B Hum Mol Genet %V 19 %P 4296-303 %8 2010 Nov 01 %G eng %N 21 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20705733?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1093/hmg/ddq342 %0 Journal Article %J Hum Mol Genet %D 2010 %T Genome-wide association analysis identifies multiple loci related to resting heart rate. %A Eijgelsheim, Mark %A Newton-Cheh, Christopher %A Sotoodehnia, Nona %A de Bakker, Paul I W %A Müller, Martina %A Morrison, Alanna C %A Smith, Albert V %A Isaacs, Aaron %A Sanna, Serena %A Dörr, Marcus %A Navarro, Pau %A Fuchsberger, Christian %A Nolte, Ilja M %A de Geus, Eco J C %A Estrada, Karol %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Bis, Joshua C %A Rückert, Ina-Maria %A Alonso, Alvaro %A Launer, Lenore J %A Hottenga, Jouke Jan %A Rivadeneira, Fernando %A Noseworthy, Peter A %A Rice, Kenneth M %A Perz, Siegfried %A Arking, Dan E %A Spector, Tim D %A Kors, Jan A %A Aulchenko, Yurii S %A Tarasov, Kirill V %A Homuth, Georg %A Wild, Sarah H %A Marroni, Fabio %A Gieger, Christian %A Licht, Carmilla M %A Prineas, Ronald J %A Hofman, Albert %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Hicks, Andrew A %A Ernst, Florian %A Najjar, Samer S %A Wright, Alan F %A Peters, Annette %A Fox, Ervin R %A Oostra, Ben A %A Kroemer, Heyo K %A Couper, David %A Völzke, Henry %A Campbell, Harry %A Meitinger, Thomas %A Uda, Manuela %A Witteman, Jacqueline C M %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Wichmann, H-Erich %A Harris, Tamara B %A Kääb, Stefan %A Siscovick, David S %A Jamshidi, Yalda %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Folsom, Aaron R %A Larson, Martin G %A Wilson, James F %A Penninx, Brenda W %A Snieder, Harold %A Pramstaller, Peter P %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Lakatta, Edward G %A Felix, Stephan B %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Pfeufer, Arne %A Heckbert, Susan R %A Stricker, Bruno H Ch %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A O'Donnell, Christopher J %K Adult %K Aged %K Base Pairing %K Cohort Studies %K Female %K Genetic Loci %K Genome, Human %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Heart Rate %K Humans %K Male %K Middle Aged %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Rest %X

Higher resting heart rate is associated with increased cardiovascular disease and mortality risk. Though heritable factors play a substantial role in population variation, little is known about specific genetic determinants. This knowledge can impact clinical care by identifying novel factors that influence pathologic heart rate states, modulate heart rate through cardiac structure and function or by improving our understanding of the physiology of heart rate regulation. To identify common genetic variants associated with heart rate, we performed a meta-analysis of 15 genome-wide association studies (GWAS), including 38,991 subjects of European ancestry, estimating the association between age-, sex- and body mass-adjusted RR interval (inverse heart rate) and approximately 2.5 million markers. Results with P < 5 × 10(-8) were considered genome-wide significant. We constructed regression models with multiple markers to assess whether results at less stringent thresholds were likely to be truly associated with RR interval. We identified six novel associations with resting heart rate at six loci: 6q22 near GJA1; 14q12 near MYH7; 12p12 near SOX5, c12orf67, BCAT1, LRMP and CASC1; 6q22 near SLC35F1, PLN and c6orf204; 7q22 near SLC12A9 and UfSp1; and 11q12 near FADS1. Associations at 6q22 400 kb away from GJA1, at 14q12 MYH6 and at 1q32 near CD34 identified in previously published GWAS were confirmed. In aggregate, these variants explain approximately 0.7% of RR interval variance. A multivariant regression model including 20 variants with P < 10(-5) increased the explained variance to 1.6%, suggesting that some loci falling short of genome-wide significance are likely truly associated. Future research is warranted to elucidate underlying mechanisms that may impact clinical care.

%B Hum Mol Genet %V 19 %P 3885-94 %8 2010 Oct 01 %G eng %N 19 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20639392?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1093/hmg/ddq303 %0 Journal Article %J Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A %D 2010 %T Genome-wide association identifies OBFC1 as a locus involved in human leukocyte telomere biology. %A Levy, Daniel %A Neuhausen, Susan L %A Hunt, Steven C %A Kimura, Masayuki %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Chen, Wei %A Bis, Joshua C %A Fitzpatrick, Annette L %A Smith, Erin %A Johnson, Andrew D %A Gardner, Jeffrey P %A Srinivasan, Sathanur R %A Schork, Nicholas %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Herbig, Utz %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Sastrasinh, Malinee %A Murray, Sarah S %A Vasan, Ramachandran S %A Province, Michael A %A Glazer, Nicole L %A Lu, Xiaobin %A Cao, Xiaojian %A Kronmal, Richard %A Mangino, Massimo %A Soranzo, Nicole %A Spector, Tim D %A Berenson, Gerald S %A Aviv, Abraham %K Cohort Studies %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Genotype %K Humans %K Leukocytes %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Receptors, CXCR4 %K Telomere %K Telomere-Binding Proteins %X

Telomeres are engaged in a host of cellular functions, and their length is regulated by multiple genes. Telomere shortening, in the course of somatic cell replication, ultimately leads to replicative senescence. In humans, rare mutations in genes that regulate telomere length have been identified in monogenic diseases such as dyskeratosis congenita and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, which are associated with shortened leukocyte telomere length (LTL) and increased risk for aplastic anemia. Shortened LTL is observed in a host of aging-related complex genetic diseases and is associated with diminished survival in the elderly. We report results of a genome-wide association study of LTL in a consortium of four observational studies (n = 3,417 participants with LTL and genome-wide genotyping). SNPs in the regions of the oligonucleotide/oligosaccharide-binding folds containing one gene (OBFC1; rs4387287; P = 3.9 x 10(-9)) and chemokine (C-X-C motif) receptor 4 gene (CXCR4; rs4452212; P = 2.9 x 10(-8)) were associated with LTL at a genome-wide significance level (P < 5 x 10(-8)). We attempted replication of the top SNPs at these loci through de novo genotyping of 1,893 additional individuals and in silico lookup in another observational study (n = 2,876), and we confirmed the association findings for OBFC1 but not CXCR4. In addition, we confirmed the telomerase RNA component (TERC) as a gene associated with LTL (P = 1.1 x 10(-5)). The identification of OBFC1 through genome-wide association as a locus for interindividual variation in LTL in the general population advances the understanding of telomere biology in humans and may provide insights into aging-related disorders linked to altered LTL dynamics.

%B Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A %V 107 %P 9293-8 %8 2010 May 18 %G eng %N 20 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20421499?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1073/pnas.0911494107 %0 Journal Article %J PLoS Genet %D 2010 %T Genome-wide association studies of serum magnesium, potassium, and sodium concentrations identify six Loci influencing serum magnesium levels. %A Meyer, Tamra E %A Verwoert, Germaine C %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Glazer, Nicole L %A Smith, Albert V %A van Rooij, Frank J A %A Ehret, Georg B %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Felix, Janine F %A Leak, Tennille S %A Harris, Tamara B %A Yang, Qiong %A Dehghan, Abbas %A Aspelund, Thor %A Katz, Ronit %A Homuth, Georg %A Kocher, Thomas %A Rettig, Rainer %A Ried, Janina S %A Gieger, Christian %A Prucha, Hanna %A Pfeufer, Arne %A Meitinger, Thomas %A Coresh, Josef %A Hofman, Albert %A Sarnak, Mark J %A Chen, Yii-Der Ida %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Chakravarti, Aravinda %A Psaty, Bruce M %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Kao, W H Linda %A Witteman, Jacqueline C M %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Siscovick, David S %A Fox, Caroline S %A Köttgen, Anna %K Adult %K Aged %K European Continental Ancestry Group %K Female %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Humans %K Magnesium %K Male %K Middle Aged %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Potassium %K Sodium %X

Magnesium, potassium, and sodium, cations commonly measured in serum, are involved in many physiological processes including energy metabolism, nerve and muscle function, signal transduction, and fluid and blood pressure regulation. To evaluate the contribution of common genetic variation to normal physiologic variation in serum concentrations of these cations, we conducted genome-wide association studies of serum magnesium, potassium, and sodium concentrations using approximately 2.5 million genotyped and imputed common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 15,366 participants of European descent from the international CHARGE Consortium. Study-specific results were combined using fixed-effects inverse-variance weighted meta-analysis. SNPs demonstrating genome-wide significant (p<5 x 10(-8)) or suggestive associations (p<4 x 10(-7)) were evaluated for replication in an additional 8,463 subjects of European descent. The association of common variants at six genomic regions (in or near MUC1, ATP2B1, DCDC5, TRPM6, SHROOM3, and MDS1) with serum magnesium levels was genome-wide significant when meta-analyzed with the replication dataset. All initially significant SNPs from the CHARGE Consortium showed nominal association with clinically defined hypomagnesemia, two showed association with kidney function, two with bone mineral density, and one of these also associated with fasting glucose levels. Common variants in CNNM2, a magnesium transporter studied only in model systems to date, as well as in CNNM3 and CNNM4, were also associated with magnesium concentrations in this study. We observed no associations with serum sodium or potassium levels exceeding p<4 x 10(-7). Follow-up studies of newly implicated genomic loci may provide additional insights into the regulation and homeostasis of human serum magnesium levels.

%B PLoS Genet %V 6 %8 2010 Aug 05 %G eng %N 8 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20700443?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1371/journal.pgen.1001045 %0 Journal Article %J Circ Cardiovasc Genet %D 2010 %T Multiple genetic loci influence serum urate levels and their relationship with gout and cardiovascular disease risk factors. %A Yang, Qiong %A Köttgen, Anna %A Dehghan, Abbas %A Smith, Albert V %A Glazer, Nicole L %A Chen, Ming-Huei %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Aspelund, Thor %A Eiriksdottir, Gudny %A Harris, Tamara B %A Launer, Lenore %A Nalls, Michael %A Hernandez, Dena %A Arking, Dan E %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Grove, Megan L %A Li, Man %A Linda Kao, W H %A Chonchol, Michel %A Haritunians, Talin %A Li, Guo %A Lumley, Thomas %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Shlipak, Michael %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Larson, Martin G %A O'Donnell, Christopher J %A Upadhyay, Ashish %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Hofman, Albert %A Rivadeneira, Fernando %A Stricker, Bruno %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Paré, Guillaume %A Parker, Alex N %A Ridker, Paul M %A Siscovick, David S %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Witteman, Jacqueline C %A Fox, Caroline S %A Coresh, Josef %K Cardiovascular Diseases %K Coronary Disease %K Female %K Genetic Loci %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Gout %K Humans %K Male %K Risk Factors %K Uric Acid %X

BACKGROUND: Elevated serum urate levels can lead to gout and are associated with cardiovascular risk factors. We performed a genome-wide association study to search for genetic susceptibility loci for serum urate and gout and investigated the causal nature of the associations of serum urate with gout and selected cardiovascular risk factors and coronary heart disease (CHD).

METHODS AND RESULTS: Meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) were performed in 5 population-based cohorts of the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genome Epidemiology consortium for serum urate and gout in 28 283 white participants. The effect of the most significant single-nucleotide polymorphism at all genome-wide significant loci on serum urate was added to create a genetic urate score. Findings were replicated in the Women's Genome Health Study (n=22 054). Single-nucleotide polymorphisms at 8 genetic loci achieved genome-wide significance with serum urate levels (P=4×10(-8) to 2×10(-242) in SLC22A11, GCKR, R3HDM2-INHBC region, RREB1, PDZK1, SLC2A9, ABCG2, and SLC17A1). Only 2 loci (SLC2A9, ABCG2) showed genome-wide significant association with gout. The genetic urate score was strongly associated with serum urate and gout (odds ratio, 12.4 per 100 μmol/L; P=3×10(-39)) but not with blood pressure, glucose, estimated glomerular filtration rate, chronic kidney disease, or CHD. The lack of association between the genetic score and the latter phenotypes also was observed in the Women's Genome Health Study.

CONCLUSIONS: The genetic urate score analysis suggested a causal relationship between serum urate and gout but did not provide evidence for one between serum urate and cardiovascular risk factors and CHD.

%B Circ Cardiovasc Genet %V 3 %P 523-30 %8 2010 Dec %G eng %N 6 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20884846?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.109.934455 %0 Journal Article %J Nat Genet %D 2010 %T New loci associated with kidney function and chronic kidney disease. %A Köttgen, Anna %A Pattaro, Cristian %A Böger, Carsten A %A Fuchsberger, Christian %A Olden, Matthias %A Glazer, Nicole L %A Parsa, Afshin %A Gao, Xiaoyi %A Yang, Qiong %A Smith, Albert V %A O'Connell, Jeffrey R %A Li, Man %A Schmidt, Helena %A Tanaka, Toshiko %A Isaacs, Aaron %A Ketkar, Shamika %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Johnson, Andrew D %A Dehghan, Abbas %A Teumer, Alexander %A Paré, Guillaume %A Atkinson, Elizabeth J %A Zeller, Tanja %A Lohman, Kurt %A Cornelis, Marilyn C %A Probst-Hensch, Nicole M %A Kronenberg, Florian %A Tönjes, Anke %A Hayward, Caroline %A Aspelund, Thor %A Eiriksdottir, Gudny %A Launer, Lenore J %A Harris, Tamara B %A Rampersaud, Evadnie %A Mitchell, Braxton D %A Arking, Dan E %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Struchalin, Maksim %A Cavalieri, Margherita %A Singleton, Andrew %A Giallauria, Francesco %A Metter, Jeffrey %A de Boer, Ian H %A Haritunians, Talin %A Lumley, Thomas %A Siscovick, David %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Zillikens, M Carola %A Oostra, Ben A %A Feitosa, Mary %A Province, Michael %A de Andrade, Mariza %A Turner, Stephen T %A Schillert, Arne %A Ziegler, Andreas %A Wild, Philipp S %A Schnabel, Renate B %A Wilde, Sandra %A Munzel, Thomas F %A Leak, Tennille S %A Illig, Thomas %A Klopp, Norman %A Meisinger, Christa %A Wichmann, H-Erich %A Koenig, Wolfgang %A Zgaga, Lina %A Zemunik, Tatijana %A Kolcic, Ivana %A Minelli, Cosetta %A Hu, Frank B %A Johansson, Asa %A Igl, Wilmar %A Zaboli, Ghazal %A Wild, Sarah H %A Wright, Alan F %A Campbell, Harry %A Ellinghaus, David %A Schreiber, Stefan %A Aulchenko, Yurii S %A Felix, Janine F %A Rivadeneira, Fernando %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Hofman, Albert %A Imboden, Medea %A Nitsch, Dorothea %A Brandstätter, Anita %A Kollerits, Barbara %A Kedenko, Lyudmyla %A Mägi, Reedik %A Stumvoll, Michael %A Kovacs, Peter %A Boban, Mladen %A Campbell, Susan %A Endlich, Karlhans %A Völzke, Henry %A Kroemer, Heyo K %A Nauck, Matthias %A Völker, Uwe %A Polasek, Ozren %A Vitart, Veronique %A Badola, Sunita %A Parker, Alexander N %A Ridker, Paul M %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Blankenberg, Stefan %A Liu, Yongmei %A Curhan, Gary C %A Franke, Andre %A Rochat, Thierry %A Paulweber, Bernhard %A Prokopenko, Inga %A Wang, Wei %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Shuldiner, Alan R %A Coresh, Josef %A Schmidt, Reinhold %A Ferrucci, Luigi %A Shlipak, Michael G %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Borecki, Ingrid %A Krämer, Bernhard K %A Rudan, Igor %A Gyllensten, Ulf %A Wilson, James F %A Witteman, Jacqueline C %A Pramstaller, Peter P %A Rettig, Rainer %A Hastie, Nick %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Kao, W H %A Heid, Iris M %A Fox, Caroline S %K Cohort Studies %K Creatinine %K Cystatin C %K Diet %K Europe %K Genetic Markers %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Glomerular Filtration Rate %K Humans %K Kidney %K Kidney Failure, Chronic %K Models, Genetic %K Risk Factors %X

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a significant public health problem, and recent genetic studies have identified common CKD susceptibility variants. The CKDGen consortium performed a meta-analysis of genome-wide association data in 67,093 individuals of European ancestry from 20 predominantly population-based studies in order to identify new susceptibility loci for reduced renal function as estimated by serum creatinine (eGFRcrea), serum cystatin c (eGFRcys) and CKD (eGFRcrea < 60 ml/min/1.73 m(2); n = 5,807 individuals with CKD (cases)). Follow-up of the 23 new genome-wide-significant loci (P < 5 x 10(-8)) in 22,982 replication samples identified 13 new loci affecting renal function and CKD (in or near LASS2, GCKR, ALMS1, TFDP2, DAB2, SLC34A1, VEGFA, PRKAG2, PIP5K1B, ATXN2, DACH1, UBE2Q2 and SLC7A9) and 7 loci suspected to affect creatinine production and secretion (CPS1, SLC22A2, TMEM60, WDR37, SLC6A13, WDR72 and BCAS3). These results further our understanding of the biologic mechanisms of kidney function by identifying loci that potentially influence nephrogenesis, podocyte function, angiogenesis, solute transport and metabolic functions of the kidney.

%B Nat Genet %V 42 %P 376-84 %8 2010 May %G eng %N 5 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20383146?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1038/ng.568 %0 Journal Article %J PLoS Genet %D 2011 %T Association of eGFR-Related Loci Identified by GWAS with Incident CKD and ESRD. %A Böger, Carsten A %A Gorski, Mathias %A Li, Man %A Hoffmann, Michael M %A Huang, Chunmei %A Yang, Qiong %A Teumer, Alexander %A Krane, Vera %A O'Seaghdha, Conall M %A Kutalik, Zoltán %A Wichmann, H-Erich %A Haak, Thomas %A Boes, Eva %A Coassin, Stefan %A Coresh, Josef %A Kollerits, Barbara %A Haun, Margot %A Paulweber, Bernhard %A Köttgen, Anna %A Li, Guo %A Shlipak, Michael G %A Powe, Neil %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Dehghan, Abbas %A Rivadeneira, Fernando %A Uitterlinden, Andre %A Hofman, Albert %A Beckmann, Jacques S %A Krämer, Bernhard K %A Witteman, Jacqueline %A Bochud, Murielle %A Siscovick, David %A Rettig, Rainer %A Kronenberg, Florian %A Wanner, Christoph %A Thadhani, Ravi I %A Heid, Iris M %A Fox, Caroline S %A Kao, W H %K Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing %K Adult %K Aged %K Chronic Disease %K Creatinine %K European Continental Ancestry Group %K Female %K Follow-Up Studies %K Genetic Association Studies %K Humans %K Kidney Diseases %K Kidney Failure, Chronic %K Male %K Middle Aged %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Receptor, Epidermal Growth Factor %K Uromodulin %X

Family studies suggest a genetic component to the etiology of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end stage renal disease (ESRD). Previously, we identified 16 loci for eGFR in genome-wide association studies, but the associations of these single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for incident CKD or ESRD are unknown. We thus investigated the association of these loci with incident CKD in 26,308 individuals of European ancestry free of CKD at baseline drawn from eight population-based cohorts followed for a median of 7.2 years (including 2,122 incident CKD cases defined as eGFR <60ml/min/1.73m(2) at follow-up) and with ESRD in four case-control studies in subjects of European ancestry (3,775 cases, 4,577 controls). SNPs at 11 of the 16 loci (UMOD, PRKAG2, ANXA9, DAB2, SHROOM3, DACH1, STC1, SLC34A1, ALMS1/NAT8, UBE2Q2, and GCKR) were associated with incident CKD; p-values ranged from p = 4.1e-9 in UMOD to p = 0.03 in GCKR. After adjusting for baseline eGFR, six of these loci remained significantly associated with incident CKD (UMOD, PRKAG2, ANXA9, DAB2, DACH1, and STC1). SNPs in UMOD (OR = 0.92, p = 0.04) and GCKR (OR = 0.93, p = 0.03) were nominally associated with ESRD. In summary, the majority of eGFR-related loci are either associated or show a strong trend towards association with incident CKD, but have modest associations with ESRD in individuals of European descent. Additional work is required to characterize the association of genetic determinants of CKD and ESRD at different stages of disease progression.

%B PLoS Genet %V 7 %P e1002292 %8 2011 Sep %G eng %N 9 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21980298?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1371/journal.pgen.1002292 %0 Journal Article %J J Am Soc Nephrol %D 2011 %T CUBN is a gene locus for albuminuria. %A Böger, Carsten A %A Chen, Ming-Huei %A Tin, Adrienne %A Olden, Matthias %A Köttgen, Anna %A de Boer, Ian H %A Fuchsberger, Christian %A O'Seaghdha, Conall M %A Pattaro, Cristian %A Teumer, Alexander %A Liu, Ching-Ti %A Glazer, Nicole L %A Li, Man %A O'Connell, Jeffrey R %A Tanaka, Toshiko %A Peralta, Carmen A %A Kutalik, Zoltán %A Luan, Jian'an %A Zhao, Jing Hua %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Akylbekova, Ermeg %A Kramer, Holly %A van der Harst, Pim %A Smith, Albert V %A Lohman, Kurt %A de Andrade, Mariza %A Hayward, Caroline %A Kollerits, Barbara %A Tönjes, Anke %A Aspelund, Thor %A Ingelsson, Erik %A Eiriksdottir, Gudny %A Launer, Lenore J %A Harris, Tamara B %A Shuldiner, Alan R %A Mitchell, Braxton D %A Arking, Dan E %A Franceschini, Nora %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Egan, Josephine %A Hernandez, Dena %A Reilly, Muredach %A Townsend, Raymond R %A Lumley, Thomas %A Siscovick, David S %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Kestenbaum, Bryan %A Haritunians, Talin %A Bergmann, Sven %A Vollenweider, Peter %A Waeber, Gérard %A Mooser, Vincent %A Waterworth, Dawn %A Johnson, Andrew D %A Florez, Jose C %A Meigs, James B %A Lu, Xiaoning %A Turner, Stephen T %A Atkinson, Elizabeth J %A Leak, Tennille S %A Aasarød, Knut %A Skorpen, Frank %A Syvänen, Ann-Christine %A Illig, Thomas %A Baumert, Jens %A Koenig, Wolfgang %A Krämer, Bernhard K %A Devuyst, Olivier %A Mychaleckyj, Josyf C %A Minelli, Cosetta %A Bakker, Stephan J L %A Kedenko, Lyudmyla %A Paulweber, Bernhard %A Coassin, Stefan %A Endlich, Karlhans %A Kroemer, Heyo K %A Biffar, Reiner %A Stracke, Sylvia %A Völzke, Henry %A Stumvoll, Michael %A Mägi, Reedik %A Campbell, Harry %A Vitart, Veronique %A Hastie, Nicholas D %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Liu, Yongmei %A Polasek, Ozren %A Curhan, Gary %A Kronenberg, Florian %A Prokopenko, Inga %A Rudan, Igor %A Arnlöv, Johan %A Hallan, Stein %A Navis, Gerjan %A Parsa, Afshin %A Ferrucci, Luigi %A Coresh, Josef %A Shlipak, Michael G %A Bull, Shelley B %A Paterson, Nicholas J %A Wichmann, H-Erich %A Wareham, Nicholas J %A Loos, Ruth J F %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Pramstaller, Peter P %A Cupples, L Adrienne %A Beckmann, Jacques S %A Yang, Qiong %A Heid, Iris M %A Rettig, Rainer %A Dreisbach, Albert W %A Bochud, Murielle %A Fox, Caroline S %A Kao, W H L %K African Continental Ancestry Group %K Albuminuria %K European Continental Ancestry Group %K Genetic Loci %K Genetic Predisposition to Disease %K Humans %K Mutation, Missense %K Receptors, Cell Surface %X

Identification of genetic risk factors for albuminuria may alter strategies for early prevention of CKD progression, particularly among patients with diabetes. Little is known about the influence of common genetic variants on albuminuria in both general and diabetic populations. We performed a meta-analysis of data from 63,153 individuals of European ancestry with genotype information from genome-wide association studies (CKDGen Consortium) and from a large candidate gene study (CARe Consortium) to identify susceptibility loci for the quantitative trait urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) and the clinical diagnosis microalbuminuria. We identified an association between a missense variant (I2984V) in the CUBN gene, which encodes cubilin, and both UACR (P = 1.1 × 10(-11)) and microalbuminuria (P = 0.001). We observed similar associations among 6981 African Americans in the CARe Consortium. The associations between this variant and both UACR and microalbuminuria were significant in individuals of European ancestry regardless of diabetes status. Finally, this variant associated with a 41% increased risk for the development of persistent microalbuminuria during 20 years of follow-up among 1304 participants with type 1 diabetes in the prospective DCCT/EDIC Study. In summary, we identified a missense CUBN variant that associates with levels of albuminuria in both the general population and in individuals with diabetes.

%B J Am Soc Nephrol %V 22 %P 555-70 %8 2011 Mar %G eng %N 3 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21355061?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1681/ASN.2010060598 %0 Journal Article %J Nature %D 2011 %T Genetic variants in novel pathways influence blood pressure and cardiovascular disease risk. %A Ehret, Georg B %A Munroe, Patricia B %A Rice, Kenneth M %A Bochud, Murielle %A Johnson, Andrew D %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Smith, Albert V %A Tobin, Martin D %A Verwoert, Germaine C %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Pihur, Vasyl %A Vollenweider, Peter %A O'Reilly, Paul F %A Amin, Najaf %A Bragg-Gresham, Jennifer L %A Teumer, Alexander %A Glazer, Nicole L %A Launer, Lenore %A Zhao, Jing Hua %A Aulchenko, Yurii %A Heath, Simon %A Sõber, Siim %A Parsa, Afshin %A Luan, Jian'an %A Arora, Pankaj %A Dehghan, Abbas %A Zhang, Feng %A Lucas, Gavin %A Hicks, Andrew A %A Jackson, Anne U %A Peden, John F %A Tanaka, Toshiko %A Wild, Sarah H %A Rudan, Igor %A Igl, Wilmar %A Milaneschi, Yuri %A Parker, Alex N %A Fava, Cristiano %A Chambers, John C %A Fox, Ervin R %A Kumari, Meena %A Go, Min Jin %A van der Harst, Pim %A Kao, Wen Hong Linda %A Sjögren, Marketa %A Vinay, D G %A Alexander, Myriam %A Tabara, Yasuharu %A Shaw-Hawkins, Sue %A Whincup, Peter H %A Liu, Yongmei %A Shi, Gang %A Kuusisto, Johanna %A Tayo, Bamidele %A Seielstad, Mark %A Sim, Xueling %A Nguyen, Khanh-Dung Hoang %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Matullo, Giuseppe %A Wu, Ying %A Gaunt, Tom R %A Onland-Moret, N Charlotte %A Cooper, Matthew N %A Platou, Carl G P %A Org, Elin %A Hardy, Rebecca %A Dahgam, Santosh %A Palmen, Jutta %A Vitart, Veronique %A Braund, Peter S %A Kuznetsova, Tatiana %A Uiterwaal, Cuno S P M %A Adeyemo, Adebowale %A Palmas, Walter %A Campbell, Harry %A Ludwig, Barbara %A Tomaszewski, Maciej %A Tzoulaki, Ioanna %A Palmer, Nicholette D %A Aspelund, Thor %A Garcia, Melissa %A Chang, Yen-Pei C %A O'Connell, Jeffrey R %A Steinle, Nanette I %A Grobbee, Diederick E %A Arking, Dan E %A Kardia, Sharon L %A Morrison, Alanna C %A Hernandez, Dena %A Najjar, Samer %A McArdle, Wendy L %A Hadley, David %A Brown, Morris J %A Connell, John M %A Hingorani, Aroon D %A Day, Ian N M %A Lawlor, Debbie A %A Beilby, John P %A Lawrence, Robert W %A Clarke, Robert %A Hopewell, Jemma C %A Ongen, Halit %A Dreisbach, Albert W %A Li, Yali %A Young, J Hunter %A Bis, Joshua C %A Kähönen, Mika %A Viikari, Jorma %A Adair, Linda S %A Lee, Nanette R %A Chen, Ming-Huei %A Olden, Matthias %A Pattaro, Cristian %A Bolton, Judith A Hoffman %A Köttgen, Anna %A Bergmann, Sven %A Mooser, Vincent %A Chaturvedi, Nish %A Frayling, Timothy M %A Islam, Muhammad %A Jafar, Tazeen H %A Erdmann, Jeanette %A Kulkarni, Smita R %A Bornstein, Stefan R %A Grässler, Jürgen %A Groop, Leif %A Voight, Benjamin F %A Kettunen, Johannes %A Howard, Philip %A Taylor, Andrew %A Guarrera, Simonetta %A Ricceri, Fulvio %A Emilsson, Valur %A Plump, Andrew %A Barroso, Inês %A Khaw, Kay-Tee %A Weder, Alan B %A Hunt, Steven C %A Sun, Yan V %A Bergman, Richard N %A Collins, Francis S %A Bonnycastle, Lori L %A Scott, Laura J %A Stringham, Heather M %A Peltonen, Leena %A Perola, Markus %A Vartiainen, Erkki %A Brand, Stefan-Martin %A Staessen, Jan A %A Wang, Thomas J %A Burton, Paul R %A Soler Artigas, Maria %A Dong, Yanbin %A Snieder, Harold %A Wang, Xiaoling %A Zhu, Haidong %A Lohman, Kurt K %A Rudock, Megan E %A Heckbert, Susan R %A Smith, Nicholas L %A Wiggins, Kerri L %A Doumatey, Ayo %A Shriner, Daniel %A Veldre, Gudrun %A Viigimaa, Margus %A Kinra, Sanjay %A Prabhakaran, Dorairaj %A Tripathy, Vikal %A Langefeld, Carl D %A Rosengren, Annika %A Thelle, Dag S %A Corsi, Anna Maria %A Singleton, Andrew %A Forrester, Terrence %A Hilton, Gina %A McKenzie, Colin A %A Salako, Tunde %A Iwai, Naoharu %A Kita, Yoshikuni %A Ogihara, Toshio %A Ohkubo, Takayoshi %A Okamura, Tomonori %A Ueshima, Hirotsugu %A Umemura, Satoshi %A Eyheramendy, Susana %A Meitinger, Thomas %A Wichmann, H-Erich %A Cho, Yoon Shin %A Kim, Hyung-Lae %A Lee, Jong-Young %A Scott, James %A Sehmi, Joban S %A Zhang, Weihua %A Hedblad, Bo %A Nilsson, Peter %A Smith, George Davey %A Wong, Andrew %A Narisu, Narisu %A Stančáková, Alena %A Raffel, Leslie J %A Yao, Jie %A Kathiresan, Sekar %A O'Donnell, Christopher J %A Schwartz, Stephen M %A Ikram, M Arfan %A Longstreth, W T %A Mosley, Thomas H %A Seshadri, Sudha %A Shrine, Nick R G %A Wain, Louise V %A Morken, Mario A %A Swift, Amy J %A Laitinen, Jaana %A Prokopenko, Inga %A Zitting, Paavo %A Cooper, Jackie A %A Humphries, Steve E %A Danesh, John %A Rasheed, Asif %A Goel, Anuj %A Hamsten, Anders %A Watkins, Hugh %A Bakker, Stephan J L %A van Gilst, Wiek H %A Janipalli, Charles S %A Mani, K Radha %A Yajnik, Chittaranjan S %A Hofman, Albert %A Mattace-Raso, Francesco U S %A Oostra, Ben A %A Demirkan, Ayse %A Isaacs, Aaron %A Rivadeneira, Fernando %A Lakatta, Edward G %A Orrù, Marco %A Scuteri, Angelo %A Ala-Korpela, Mika %A Kangas, Antti J %A Lyytikäinen, Leo-Pekka %A Soininen, Pasi %A Tukiainen, Taru %A Würtz, Peter %A Ong, Rick Twee-Hee %A Dörr, Marcus %A Kroemer, Heyo K %A Völker, Uwe %A Völzke, Henry %A Galan, Pilar %A Hercberg, Serge %A Lathrop, Mark %A Zelenika, Diana %A Deloukas, Panos %A Mangino, Massimo %A Spector, Tim D %A Zhai, Guangju %A Meschia, James F %A Nalls, Michael A %A Sharma, Pankaj %A Terzic, Janos %A Kumar, M V Kranthi %A Denniff, Matthew %A Zukowska-Szczechowska, Ewa %A Wagenknecht, Lynne E %A Fowkes, F Gerald R %A Charchar, Fadi J %A Schwarz, Peter E H %A Hayward, Caroline %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Rotimi, Charles %A Bots, Michiel L %A Brand, Eva %A Samani, Nilesh J %A Polasek, Ozren %A Talmud, Philippa J %A Nyberg, Fredrik %A Kuh, Diana %A Laan, Maris %A Hveem, Kristian %A Palmer, Lyle J %A van der Schouw, Yvonne T %A Casas, Juan P %A Mohlke, Karen L %A Vineis, Paolo %A Raitakari, Olli %A Ganesh, Santhi K %A Wong, Tien Y %A Tai, E Shyong %A Cooper, Richard S %A Laakso, Markku %A Rao, Dabeeru C %A Harris, Tamara B %A Morris, Richard W %A Dominiczak, Anna F %A Kivimaki, Mika %A Marmot, Michael G %A Miki, Tetsuro %A Saleheen, Danish %A Chandak, Giriraj R %A Coresh, Josef %A Navis, Gerjan %A Salomaa, Veikko %A Han, Bok-Ghee %A Zhu, Xiaofeng %A Kooner, Jaspal S %A Melander, Olle %A Ridker, Paul M %A Bandinelli, Stefania %A Gyllensten, Ulf B %A Wright, Alan F %A Wilson, James F %A Ferrucci, Luigi %A Farrall, Martin %A Tuomilehto, Jaakko %A Pramstaller, Peter P %A Elosua, Roberto %A Soranzo, Nicole %A Sijbrands, Eric J G %A Altshuler, David %A Loos, Ruth J F %A Shuldiner, Alan R %A Gieger, Christian %A Meneton, Pierre %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Wareham, Nicholas J %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Rettig, Rainer %A Uda, Manuela %A Strachan, David P %A Witteman, Jacqueline C M %A Hartikainen, Anna-Liisa %A Beckmann, Jacques S %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Vasan, Ramachandran S %A Boehnke, Michael %A Larson, Martin G %A Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Abecasis, Goncalo R %A Chakravarti, Aravinda %A Elliott, Paul %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Newton-Cheh, Christopher %A Levy, Daniel %A Caulfield, Mark J %A Johnson, Toby %K Africa %K Asia %K Blood Pressure %K Cardiovascular Diseases %K Coronary Artery Disease %K Europe %K Genetic Predisposition to Disease %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Humans %K Hypertension %K Kidney Diseases %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Stroke %X

Blood pressure is a heritable trait influenced by several biological pathways and responsive to environmental stimuli. Over one billion people worldwide have hypertension (≥140 mm Hg systolic blood pressure or  ≥90 mm Hg diastolic blood pressure). Even small increments in blood pressure are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events. This genome-wide association study of systolic and diastolic blood pressure, which used a multi-stage design in 200,000 individuals of European descent, identified sixteen novel loci: six of these loci contain genes previously known or suspected to regulate blood pressure (GUCY1A3-GUCY1B3, NPR3-C5orf23, ADM, FURIN-FES, GOSR2, GNAS-EDN3); the other ten provide new clues to blood pressure physiology. A genetic risk score based on 29 genome-wide significant variants was associated with hypertension, left ventricular wall thickness, stroke and coronary artery disease, but not kidney disease or kidney function. We also observed associations with blood pressure in East Asian, South Asian and African ancestry individuals. Our findings provide new insights into the genetics and biology of blood pressure, and suggest potential novel therapeutic pathways for cardiovascular disease prevention.

%B Nature %V 478 %P 103-9 %8 2011 Sep 11 %G eng %N 7367 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21909115?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1038/nature10405 %0 Journal Article %J Hum Mol Genet %D 2011 %T Genome-wide association study for serum urate concentrations and gout among African Americans identifies genomic risk loci and a novel URAT1 loss-of-function allele. %A Tin, Adrienne %A Woodward, Owen M %A Kao, Wen Hong Linda %A Liu, Ching-Ti %A Lu, Xiaoning %A Nalls, Michael A %A Shriner, Daniel %A Semmo, Mariam %A Akylbekova, Ermeg L %A Wyatt, Sharon B %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Yang, Qiong %A Zonderman, Alan B %A Adeyemo, Adebowale A %A Palmer, Cameron %A Meng, Yan %A Reilly, Muredach %A Shlipak, Michael G %A Siscovick, David %A Evans, Michele K %A Rotimi, Charles N %A Flessner, Michael F %A Köttgen, Michael %A Cupples, L Adrienne %A Fox, Caroline S %A Köttgen, Anna %K Adult %K African Americans %K Aged %K Animals %K CHO Cells %K Cricetinae %K European Continental Ancestry Group %K Female %K Genetic Loci %K Genetic Predisposition to Disease %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Genotype %K Gout %K Humans %K Loss of Heterozygosity %K Male %K Middle Aged %K Organic Anion Transporters %K Organic Cation Transport Proteins %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Uric Acid %K Young Adult %X

Serum urate concentrations are highly heritable and elevated serum urate is a key risk factor for gout. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of serum urate in African American (AA) populations are lacking. We conducted a meta-analysis of GWAS of serum urate levels and gout among 5820 AA and a large candidate gene study among 6890 AA and 21 708 participants of European ancestry (EA) within the Candidate Gene Association Resource Consortium. Findings were tested for replication among 1996 independent AA individuals, and evaluated for their association among 28 283 EA participants of the CHARGE Consortium. Functional studies were conducted using (14)C-urate transport assays in mammalian Chinese hamster ovary cells. In the discovery GWAS of serum urate, three loci achieved genome-wide significance (P< 5.0 × 10(-8)): a novel locus near SGK1/SLC2A12 on chromosome 6 (rs9321453, P= 1.0 × 10(-9)), and two loci previously identified in EA participants, SLC2A9 (P= 3.8 × 10(-32)) and SLC22A12 (P= 2.1 × 10(-10)). A novel rare non-synonymous variant of large effect size in SLC22A12, rs12800450 (minor allele frequency 0.01, G65W), was identified and replicated (beta -1.19 mg/dl, P= 2.7 × 10(-16)). (14)C-urate transport assays showed reduced urate transport for the G65W URAT1 mutant. Finally, in analyses of 11 loci previously associated with serum urate in EA individuals, 10 of 11 lead single-nucleotide polymorphisms showed direction-consistent association with urate among AA. In summary, we identified and replicated one novel locus in association with serum urate levels and experimentally characterize the novel G65W variant in URAT1 as a functional allele. Our data support the importance of multi-ethnic GWAS in the identification of novel risk loci as well as functional variants.

%B Hum Mol Genet %V 20 %P 4056-68 %8 2011 Oct 15 %G eng %N 20 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21768215?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1093/hmg/ddr307 %0 Journal Article %J Nat Genet %D 2011 %T Genome-wide association study identifies six new loci influencing pulse pressure and mean arterial pressure. %A Wain, Louise V %A Verwoert, Germaine C %A O'Reilly, Paul F %A Shi, Gang %A Johnson, Toby %A Johnson, Andrew D %A Bochud, Murielle %A Rice, Kenneth M %A Henneman, Peter %A Smith, Albert V %A Ehret, Georg B %A Amin, Najaf %A Larson, Martin G %A Mooser, Vincent %A Hadley, David %A Dörr, Marcus %A Bis, Joshua C %A Aspelund, Thor %A Esko, Tõnu %A Janssens, A Cecile J W %A Zhao, Jing Hua %A Heath, Simon %A Laan, Maris %A Fu, Jingyuan %A Pistis, Giorgio %A Luan, Jian'an %A Arora, Pankaj %A Lucas, Gavin %A Pirastu, Nicola %A Pichler, Irene %A Jackson, Anne U %A Webster, Rebecca J %A Zhang, Feng %A Peden, John F %A Schmidt, Helena %A Tanaka, Toshiko %A Campbell, Harry %A Igl, Wilmar %A Milaneschi, Yuri %A Hottenga, Jouke-Jan %A Vitart, Veronique %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Trompet, Stella %A Bragg-Gresham, Jennifer L %A Alizadeh, Behrooz Z %A Chambers, John C %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Kuhnel, Brigitte %A Lopez, Lorna M %A Polasek, Ozren %A Boban, Mladen %A Nelson, Christopher P %A Morrison, Alanna C %A Pihur, Vasyl %A Ganesh, Santhi K %A Hofman, Albert %A Kundu, Suman %A Mattace-Raso, Francesco U S %A Rivadeneira, Fernando %A Sijbrands, Eric J G %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Vasan, Ramachandran S %A Wang, Thomas J %A Bergmann, Sven %A Vollenweider, Peter %A Waeber, Gérard %A Laitinen, Jaana %A Pouta, Anneli %A Zitting, Paavo %A McArdle, Wendy L %A Kroemer, Heyo K %A Völker, Uwe %A Völzke, Henry %A Glazer, Nicole L %A Taylor, Kent D %A Harris, Tamara B %A Alavere, Helene %A Haller, Toomas %A Keis, Aime %A Tammesoo, Mari-Liis %A Aulchenko, Yurii %A Barroso, Inês %A Khaw, Kay-Tee %A Galan, Pilar %A Hercberg, Serge %A Lathrop, Mark %A Eyheramendy, Susana %A Org, Elin %A Sõber, Siim %A Lu, Xiaowen %A Nolte, Ilja M %A Penninx, Brenda W %A Corre, Tanguy %A Masciullo, Corrado %A Sala, Cinzia %A Groop, Leif %A Voight, Benjamin F %A Melander, Olle %A O'Donnell, Christopher J %A Salomaa, Veikko %A d'Adamo, Adamo Pio %A Fabretto, Antonella %A Faletra, Flavio %A Ulivi, Sheila %A Del Greco, Fabiola M %A Facheris, Maurizio %A Collins, Francis S %A Bergman, Richard N %A Beilby, John P %A Hung, Joseph %A Musk, A William %A Mangino, Massimo %A Shin, So-Youn %A Soranzo, Nicole %A Watkins, Hugh %A Goel, Anuj %A Hamsten, Anders %A Gider, Pierre %A Loitfelder, Marisa %A Zeginigg, Marion %A Hernandez, Dena %A Najjar, Samer S %A Navarro, Pau %A Wild, Sarah H %A Corsi, Anna Maria %A Singleton, Andrew %A de Geus, Eco J C %A Willemsen, Gonneke %A Parker, Alex N %A Rose, Lynda M %A Buckley, Brendan %A Stott, David %A Orrù, Marco %A Uda, Manuela %A van der Klauw, Melanie M %A Zhang, Weihua %A Li, Xinzhong %A Scott, James %A Chen, Yii-Der Ida %A Burke, Gregory L %A Kähönen, Mika %A Viikari, Jorma %A Döring, Angela %A Meitinger, Thomas %A Davies, Gail %A Starr, John M %A Emilsson, Valur %A Plump, Andrew %A Lindeman, Jan H %A Hoen, Peter A C 't %A König, Inke R %A Felix, Janine F %A Clarke, Robert %A Hopewell, Jemma C %A Ongen, Halit %A Breteler, Monique %A Debette, Stephanie %A DeStefano, Anita L %A Fornage, Myriam %A Mitchell, Gary F %A Smith, Nicholas L %A Holm, Hilma %A Stefansson, Kari %A Thorleifsson, Gudmar %A Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur %A Samani, Nilesh J %A Preuss, Michael %A Rudan, Igor %A Hayward, Caroline %A Deary, Ian J %A Wichmann, H-Erich %A Raitakari, Olli T %A Palmas, Walter %A Kooner, Jaspal S %A Stolk, Ronald P %A Jukema, J Wouter %A Wright, Alan F %A Boomsma, Dorret I %A Bandinelli, Stefania %A Gyllensten, Ulf B %A Wilson, James F %A Ferrucci, Luigi %A Schmidt, Reinhold %A Farrall, Martin %A Spector, Tim D %A Palmer, Lyle J %A Tuomilehto, Jaakko %A Pfeufer, Arne %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Siscovick, David %A Altshuler, David %A Loos, Ruth J F %A Toniolo, Daniela %A Snieder, Harold %A Gieger, Christian %A Meneton, Pierre %A Wareham, Nicholas J %A Oostra, Ben A %A Metspalu, Andres %A Launer, Lenore %A Rettig, Rainer %A Strachan, David P %A Beckmann, Jacques S %A Witteman, Jacqueline C M %A Erdmann, Jeanette %A van Dijk, Ko Willems %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Boehnke, Michael %A Ridker, Paul M %A Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta %A Chakravarti, Aravinda %A Abecasis, Goncalo R %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Newton-Cheh, Christopher %A Levy, Daniel %A Munroe, Patricia B %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Caulfield, Mark J %A Rao, Dabeeru C %A Tobin, Martin D %A Elliott, Paul %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %K Arteries %K Blood Pressure %K Case-Control Studies %K Follow-Up Studies %K Genetic Loci %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Humans %K Hypertension %K Linkage Disequilibrium %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %X

Numerous genetic loci have been associated with systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) in Europeans. We now report genome-wide association studies of pulse pressure (PP) and mean arterial pressure (MAP). In discovery (N = 74,064) and follow-up studies (N = 48,607), we identified at genome-wide significance (P = 2.7 × 10(-8) to P = 2.3 × 10(-13)) four new PP loci (at 4q12 near CHIC2, 7q22.3 near PIK3CG, 8q24.12 in NOV and 11q24.3 near ADAMTS8), two new MAP loci (3p21.31 in MAP4 and 10q25.3 near ADRB1) and one locus associated with both of these traits (2q24.3 near FIGN) that has also recently been associated with SBP in east Asians. For three of the new PP loci, the estimated effect for SBP was opposite of that for DBP, in contrast to the majority of common SBP- and DBP-associated variants, which show concordant effects on both traits. These findings suggest new genetic pathways underlying blood pressure variation, some of which may differentially influence SBP and DBP.

%B Nat Genet %V 43 %P 1005-11 %8 2011 Sep 11 %G eng %N 10 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21909110?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1038/ng.922 %0 Journal Article %J PLoS Genet %D 2011 %T Identification of a sudden cardiac death susceptibility locus at 2q24.2 through genome-wide association in European ancestry individuals. %A Arking, Dan E %A Junttila, M Juhani %A Goyette, Philippe %A Huertas-Vazquez, Adriana %A Eijgelsheim, Mark %A Blom, Marieke T %A Newton-Cheh, Christopher %A Reinier, Kyndaron %A Teodorescu, Carmen %A Uy-Evanado, Audrey %A Carter-Monroe, Naima %A Kaikkonen, Kari S %A Kortelainen, Marja-Leena %A Boucher, Gabrielle %A Lagacé, Caroline %A Moes, Anna %A Zhao, XiaoQing %A Kolodgie, Frank %A Rivadeneira, Fernando %A Hofman, Albert %A Witteman, Jacqueline C M %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Marsman, Roos F %A Pazoki, Raha %A Bardai, Abdennasser %A Koster, Rudolph W %A Dehghan, Abbas %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Bhatnagar, Pallav %A Post, Wendy %A Hilton, Gina %A Prineas, Ronald J %A Li, Man %A Köttgen, Anna %A Ehret, Georg %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Coresh, Josef %A Kao, W H Linda %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Tomaselli, Gordon F %A Sotoodehnia, Nona %A Siscovick, David S %A Burke, Greg L %A Marbán, Eduardo %A Spooner, Peter M %A Cupples, L Adrienne %A Jui, Jonathan %A Gunson, Karen %A Kesaniemi, Y Antero %A Wilde, Arthur A M %A Tardif, Jean-Claude %A O'Donnell, Christopher J %A Bezzina, Connie R %A Virmani, Renu %A Stricker, Bruno H C H %A Tan, Hanno L %A Albert, Christine M %A Chakravarti, Aravinda %A Rioux, John D %A Huikuri, Heikki V %A Chugh, Sumeet S %K Adult %K Aged %K Alleles %K Chromosomes, Human, Pair 2 %K Death, Sudden, Cardiac %K European Continental Ancestry Group %K Female %K Genetic Loci %K Genetic Predisposition to Disease %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Humans %K Male %K Middle Aged %K Myocardial Contraction %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %X

Sudden cardiac death (SCD) continues to be one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide, with an annual incidence estimated at 250,000-300,000 in the United States and with the vast majority occurring in the setting of coronary disease. We performed a genome-wide association meta-analysis in 1,283 SCD cases and >20,000 control individuals of European ancestry from 5 studies, with follow-up genotyping in up to 3,119 SCD cases and 11,146 controls from 11 European ancestry studies, and identify the BAZ2B locus as associated with SCD (P = 1.8×10(-10)). The risk allele, while ancestral, has a frequency of ~1.4%, suggesting strong negative selection and increases risk for SCD by 1.92-fold per allele (95% CI 1.57-2.34). We also tested the role of 49 SNPs previously implicated in modulating electrocardiographic traits (QRS, QT, and RR intervals). Consistent with epidemiological studies showing increased risk of SCD with prolonged QRS/QT intervals, the interval-prolonging alleles are in aggregate associated with increased risk for SCD (P = 0.006).

%B PLoS Genet %V 7 %P e1002158 %8 2011 Jun %G eng %N 6 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21738491?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1371/journal.pgen.1002158 %0 Journal Article %J Circ Cardiovasc Genet %D 2012 %T Association between chromosome 9p21 variants and the ankle-brachial index identified by a meta-analysis of 21 genome-wide association studies. %A Murabito, Joanne M %A White, Charles C %A Kavousi, Maryam %A Sun, Yan V %A Feitosa, Mary F %A Nambi, Vijay %A Lamina, Claudia %A Schillert, Arne %A Coassin, Stefan %A Bis, Joshua C %A Broer, Linda %A Crawford, Dana C %A Franceschini, Nora %A Frikke-Schmidt, Ruth %A Haun, Margot %A Holewijn, Suzanne %A Huffman, Jennifer E %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Kiechl, Stefan %A Kollerits, Barbara %A Montasser, May E %A Nolte, Ilja M %A Rudock, Megan E %A Senft, Andrea %A Teumer, Alexander %A van der Harst, Pim %A Vitart, Veronique %A Waite, Lindsay L %A Wood, Andrew R %A Wassel, Christina L %A Absher, Devin M %A Allison, Matthew A %A Amin, Najaf %A Arnold, Alice %A Asselbergs, Folkert W %A Aulchenko, Yurii %A Bandinelli, Stefania %A Barbalic, Maja %A Boban, Mladen %A Brown-Gentry, Kristin %A Couper, David J %A Criqui, Michael H %A Dehghan, Abbas %A den Heijer, Martin %A Dieplinger, Benjamin %A Ding, Jingzhong %A Dörr, Marcus %A Espinola-Klein, Christine %A Felix, Stephan B %A Ferrucci, Luigi %A Folsom, Aaron R %A Fraedrich, Gustav %A Gibson, Quince %A Goodloe, Robert %A Gunjaca, Grgo %A Haltmayer, Meinhard %A Heiss, Gerardo %A Hofman, Albert %A Kieback, Arne %A Kiemeney, Lambertus A %A Kolcic, Ivana %A Kullo, Iftikhar J %A Kritchevsky, Stephen B %A Lackner, Karl J %A Li, Xiaohui %A Lieb, Wolfgang %A Lohman, Kurt %A Meisinger, Christa %A Melzer, David %A Mohler, Emile R %A Mudnic, Ivana %A Mueller, Thomas %A Navis, Gerjan %A Oberhollenzer, Friedrich %A Olin, Jeffrey W %A O'Connell, Jeff %A O'Donnell, Christopher J %A Palmas, Walter %A Penninx, Brenda W %A Petersmann, Astrid %A Polasek, Ozren %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Rantner, Barbara %A Rice, Ken %A Rivadeneira, Fernando %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Seldenrijk, Adrie %A Stadler, Marietta %A Summerer, Monika %A Tanaka, Toshiko %A Tybjaerg-Hansen, Anne %A Uitterlinden, André G %A van Gilst, Wiek H %A Vermeulen, Sita H %A Wild, Sarah H %A Wild, Philipp S %A Willeit, Johann %A Zeller, Tanja %A Zemunik, Tatijana %A Zgaga, Lina %A Assimes, Themistocles L %A Blankenberg, Stefan %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Campbell, Harry %A Cooke, John P %A de Graaf, Jacqueline %A Herrington, David %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Mitchell, Braxton D %A Murray, Anna %A Münzel, Thomas %A Newman, Anne B %A Oostra, Ben A %A Rudan, Igor %A Shuldiner, Alan R %A Snieder, Harold %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Völker, Uwe %A Wright, Alan F %A Wichmann, H-Erich %A Wilson, James F %A Witteman, Jacqueline C M %A Liu, Yongmei %A Hayward, Caroline %A Borecki, Ingrid B %A Ziegler, Andreas %A North, Kari E %A Cupples, L Adrienne %A Kronenberg, Florian %K Adult %K Age Factors %K Aged %K Aged, 80 and over %K Alleles %K Ankle Brachial Index %K Chromosomes, Human, Pair 9 %K Cohort Studies %K Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p15 %K Female %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Genotype %K HapMap Project %K Humans %K Logistic Models %K Male %K Middle Aged %K Peripheral Vascular Diseases %K Phenotype %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Risk Factors %K Sex Factors %X

BACKGROUND: Genetic determinants of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) remain largely unknown. To identify genetic variants associated with the ankle-brachial index (ABI), a noninvasive measure of PAD, we conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide association study data from 21 population-based cohorts.

METHODS AND RESULTS: Continuous ABI and PAD (ABI ≤0.9) phenotypes adjusted for age and sex were examined. Each study conducted genotyping and imputed data to the ≈2.5 million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in HapMap. Linear and logistic regression models were used to test each SNP for association with ABI and PAD using additive genetic models. Study-specific data were combined using fixed effects inverse variance weighted meta-analyses. There were a total of 41 692 participants of European ancestry (≈60% women, mean ABI 1.02 to 1.19), including 3409 participants with PAD and with genome-wide association study data available. In the discovery meta-analysis, rs10757269 on chromosome 9 near CDKN2B had the strongest association with ABI (β=-0.006, P=2.46×10(-8)). We sought replication of the 6 strongest SNP associations in 5 population-based studies and 3 clinical samples (n=16 717). The association for rs10757269 strengthened in the combined discovery and replication analysis (P=2.65×10(-9)). No other SNP associations for ABI or PAD achieved genome-wide significance. However, 2 previously reported candidate genes for PAD and 1 SNP associated with coronary artery disease were associated with ABI: DAB21P (rs13290547, P=3.6×10(-5)), CYBA (rs3794624, P=6.3×10(-5)), and rs1122608 (LDLR, P=0.0026).

CONCLUSIONS: Genome-wide association studies in more than 40 000 individuals identified 1 genome wide significant association on chromosome 9p21 with ABI. Two candidate genes for PAD and 1 SNP for coronary artery disease are associated with ABI.

%B Circ Cardiovasc Genet %V 5 %P 100-12 %8 2012 Feb 01 %G eng %N 1 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22199011?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.111.961292 %0 Journal Article %J Atherosclerosis %D 2012 %T Genetic determinants of the ankle-brachial index: a meta-analysis of a cardiovascular candidate gene 50K SNP panel in the candidate gene association resource (CARe) consortium. %A Wassel, Christina L %A Lamina, Claudia %A Nambi, Vijay %A Coassin, Stefan %A Mukamal, Kenneth J %A Ganesh, Santhi K %A Jacobs, David R %A Franceschini, Nora %A Papanicolaou, George J %A Gibson, Quince %A Yanek, Lisa R %A van der Harst, Pim %A Ferguson, Jane F %A Crawford, Dana C %A Waite, Lindsay L %A Allison, Matthew A %A Criqui, Michael H %A McDermott, Mary M %A Mehra, Reena %A Cupples, L Adrienne %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Redline, Susan %A Kaplan, Robert C %A Heiss, Gerardo %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Taylor, Herman A %A Eraso, Luis H %A Haun, Margot %A Li, Mingyao %A Meisinger, Christa %A O'Connell, Jeffrey R %A Shuldiner, Alan R %A Tybjærg-Hansen, Anne %A Frikke-Schmidt, Ruth %A Kollerits, Barbara %A Rantner, Barbara %A Dieplinger, Benjamin %A Stadler, Marietta %A Mueller, Thomas %A Haltmayer, Meinhard %A Klein-Weigel, Peter %A Summerer, Monika %A Wichmann, H-Erich %A Asselbergs, Folkert W %A Navis, Gerjan %A Mateo Leach, Irene %A Brown-Gentry, Kristin %A Goodloe, Robert %A Assimes, Themistocles L %A Becker, Diane M %A Cooke, John P %A Absher, Devin M %A Olin, Jeffrey W %A Mitchell, Braxton D %A Reilly, Muredach P %A Mohler, Emile R %A North, Kari E %A Reiner, Alexander P %A Kronenberg, Florian %A Murabito, Joanne M %K Adult %K African Americans %K Aged %K Ankle Brachial Index %K Aryl Hydrocarbon Hydroxylases %K Cytochrome P-450 CYP2B6 %K European Continental Ancestry Group %K Female %K Humans %K Male %K Middle Aged %K Oxidoreductases, N-Demethylating %K Peripheral Arterial Disease %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Risk Factors %K Transcription Factor 7-Like 2 Protein %X

BACKGROUND: Candidate gene association studies for peripheral artery disease (PAD), including subclinical disease assessed with the ankle-brachial index (ABI), have been limited by the modest number of genes examined. We conducted a two stage meta-analysis of ∼50,000 SNPs across ∼2100 candidate genes to identify genetic variants for ABI.

METHODS AND RESULTS: We studied subjects of European ancestry from 8 studies (n=21,547, 55% women, mean age 44-73 years) and African American ancestry from 5 studies (n=7267, 60% women, mean age 41-73 years) involved in the candidate gene association resource (CARe) consortium. In each ethnic group, additive genetic models were used (with each additional copy of the minor allele corresponding to the given beta) to test each SNP for association with continuous ABI (excluding ABI>1.40) and PAD (defined as ABI<0.90) using linear or logistic regression with adjustment for known PAD risk factors and population stratification. We then conducted a fixed-effects inverse-variance weighted meta-analyses considering a p<2×10(-6) to denote statistical significance.

RESULTS: In the European ancestry discovery meta-analyses, rs2171209 in SYTL3 (β=-0.007, p=6.02×10(-7)) and rs290481 in TCF7L2 (β=-0.008, p=7.01×10(-7)) were significantly associated with ABI. None of the SNP associations for PAD were significant, though a SNP in CYP2B6 (p=4.99×10(-5)) was among the strongest associations. These 3 genes are linked to key PAD risk factors (lipoprotein(a), type 2 diabetes, and smoking behavior, respectively). We sought replication in 6 population-based and 3 clinical samples (n=15,440) for rs290481 and rs2171209. However, in the replication stage (rs2171209, p=0.75; rs290481, p=0.19) and in the combined discovery and replication analysis the SNP-ABI associations were no longer significant (rs2171209, p=1.14×10(-3); rs290481, p=8.88×10(-5)). In African Americans, none of the SNP associations for ABI or PAD achieved an experiment-wide level of significance.

CONCLUSIONS: Genetic determinants of ABI and PAD remain elusive. Follow-up of these preliminary findings may uncover important biology given the known gene-risk factor associations. New and more powerful approaches to PAD gene discovery are warranted.

%B Atherosclerosis %V 222 %P 138-47 %8 2012 May %G eng %N 1 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22361517?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2012.01.039 %0 Journal Article %J PLoS Genet %D 2012 %T Genome-wide association and functional follow-up reveals new loci for kidney function. %A Pattaro, Cristian %A Köttgen, Anna %A Teumer, Alexander %A Garnaas, Maija %A Böger, Carsten A %A Fuchsberger, Christian %A Olden, Matthias %A Chen, Ming-Huei %A Tin, Adrienne %A Taliun, Daniel %A Li, Man %A Gao, Xiaoyi %A Gorski, Mathias %A Yang, Qiong %A Hundertmark, Claudia %A Foster, Meredith C %A O'Seaghdha, Conall M %A Glazer, Nicole %A Isaacs, Aaron %A Liu, Ching-Ti %A Smith, Albert V %A O'Connell, Jeffrey R %A Struchalin, Maksim %A Tanaka, Toshiko %A Li, Guo %A Johnson, Andrew D %A Gierman, Hinco J %A Feitosa, Mary %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Atkinson, Elizabeth J %A Lohman, Kurt %A Cornelis, Marilyn C %A Johansson, Asa %A Tönjes, Anke %A Dehghan, Abbas %A Chouraki, Vincent %A Holliday, Elizabeth G %A Sorice, Rossella %A Kutalik, Zoltán %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Esko, Tõnu %A Deshmukh, Harshal %A Ulivi, Sheila %A Chu, Audrey Y %A Murgia, Federico %A Trompet, Stella %A Imboden, Medea %A Kollerits, Barbara %A Pistis, Giorgio %A Harris, Tamara B %A Launer, Lenore J %A Aspelund, Thor %A Eiriksdottir, Gudny %A Mitchell, Braxton D %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Schmidt, Helena %A Cavalieri, Margherita %A Rao, Madhumathi %A Hu, Frank B %A Demirkan, Ayse %A Oostra, Ben A %A de Andrade, Mariza %A Turner, Stephen T %A Ding, Jingzhong %A Andrews, Jeanette S %A Freedman, Barry I %A Koenig, Wolfgang %A Illig, Thomas %A Döring, Angela %A Wichmann, H-Erich %A Kolcic, Ivana %A Zemunik, Tatijana %A Boban, Mladen %A Minelli, Cosetta %A Wheeler, Heather E %A Igl, Wilmar %A Zaboli, Ghazal %A Wild, Sarah H %A Wright, Alan F %A Campbell, Harry %A Ellinghaus, David %A Nöthlings, Ute %A Jacobs, Gunnar %A Biffar, Reiner %A Endlich, Karlhans %A Ernst, Florian %A Homuth, Georg %A Kroemer, Heyo K %A Nauck, Matthias %A Stracke, Sylvia %A Völker, Uwe %A Völzke, Henry %A Kovacs, Peter %A Stumvoll, Michael %A Mägi, Reedik %A Hofman, Albert %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Rivadeneira, Fernando %A Aulchenko, Yurii S %A Polasek, Ozren %A Hastie, Nick %A Vitart, Veronique %A Helmer, Catherine %A Wang, Jie Jin %A Ruggiero, Daniela %A Bergmann, Sven %A Kähönen, Mika %A Viikari, Jorma %A Nikopensius, Tiit %A Province, Michael %A Ketkar, Shamika %A Colhoun, Helen %A Doney, Alex %A Robino, Antonietta %A Giulianini, Franco %A Krämer, Bernhard K %A Portas, Laura %A Ford, Ian %A Buckley, Brendan M %A Adam, Martin %A Thun, Gian-Andri %A Paulweber, Bernhard %A Haun, Margot %A Sala, Cinzia %A Metzger, Marie %A Mitchell, Paul %A Ciullo, Marina %A Kim, Stuart K %A Vollenweider, Peter %A Raitakari, Olli %A Metspalu, Andres %A Palmer, Colin %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Pirastu, Mario %A Jukema, J Wouter %A Probst-Hensch, Nicole M %A Kronenberg, Florian %A Toniolo, Daniela %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Shuldiner, Alan R %A Coresh, Josef %A Schmidt, Reinhold %A Ferrucci, Luigi %A Siscovick, David S %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Borecki, Ingrid %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Liu, Yongmei %A Curhan, Gary C %A Rudan, Igor %A Gyllensten, Ulf %A Wilson, James F %A Franke, Andre %A Pramstaller, Peter P %A Rettig, Rainer %A Prokopenko, Inga %A Witteman, Jacqueline C M %A Hayward, Caroline %A Ridker, Paul %A Parsa, Afshin %A Bochud, Murielle %A Heid, Iris M %A Goessling, Wolfram %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Kao, W H Linda %A Fox, Caroline S %K African Americans %K Aged %K Animals %K Caspase 9 %K Cyclin-Dependent Kinases %K DEAD-box RNA Helicases %K DNA Helicases %K European Continental Ancestry Group %K Female %K Follow-Up Studies %K Gene Knockdown Techniques %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Glomerular Filtration Rate %K Humans %K Kidney %K Kidney Failure, Chronic %K Male %K Middle Aged %K Phosphoric Diester Hydrolases %K Zebrafish %X

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is an important public health problem with a genetic component. We performed genome-wide association studies in up to 130,600 European ancestry participants overall, and stratified for key CKD risk factors. We uncovered 6 new loci in association with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), the primary clinical measure of CKD, in or near MPPED2, DDX1, SLC47A1, CDK12, CASP9, and INO80. Morpholino knockdown of mpped2 and casp9 in zebrafish embryos revealed podocyte and tubular abnormalities with altered dextran clearance, suggesting a role for these genes in renal function. By providing new insights into genes that regulate renal function, these results could further our understanding of the pathogenesis of CKD.

%B PLoS Genet %V 8 %P e1002584 %8 2012 %G eng %N 3 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22479191?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1371/journal.pgen.1002584 %0 Journal Article %J Hum Mol Genet %D 2012 %T Genome-wide meta-analysis points to CTC1 and ZNF676 as genes regulating telomere homeostasis in humans. %A Mangino, Massimo %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Spector, Timothy D %A Hunt, Steven C %A Kimura, Masayuki %A Fitzpatrick, Annette L %A Christiansen, Lene %A Petersen, Inge %A Elbers, Clara C %A Harris, Tamara %A Chen, Wei %A Srinivasan, Sathanur R %A Kark, Jeremy D %A Benetos, Athanase %A El Shamieh, Said %A Visvikis-Siest, Sophie %A Christensen, Kaare %A Berenson, Gerald S %A Valdes, Ana M %A Viñuela, Ana %A Garcia, Melissa %A Arnett, Donna K %A Broeckel, Ulrich %A Province, Michael A %A Pankow, James S %A Kammerer, Candace %A Liu, Yongmei %A Nalls, Michael %A Tishkoff, Sarah %A Thomas, Fridtjof %A Ziv, Elad %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Bis, Joshua C %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Taylor, Kent D %A Smith, Erin %A Schork, Nicholas J %A Levy, Daniel %A Aviv, Abraham %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Humans %K Kruppel-Like Transcription Factors %K Telomere %K Telomere Homeostasis %K Telomere-Binding Proteins %X

Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is associated with a number of common age-related diseases and is a heritable trait. Previous genome-wide association studies (GWASs) identified two loci on chromosomes 3q26.2 (TERC) and 10q24.33 (OBFC1) that are associated with the inter-individual LTL variation. We performed a meta-analysis of 9190 individuals from six independent GWAS and validated our findings in 2226 individuals from four additional studies. We confirmed previously reported associations with OBFC1 (rs9419958 P = 9.1 × 10(-11)) and with the telomerase RNA component TERC (rs1317082, P = 1.1 × 10(-8)). We also identified two novel genomic regions associated with LTL variation that map near a conserved telomere maintenance complex component 1 (CTC1; rs3027234, P = 3.6 × 10(-8)) on chromosome17p13.1 and zinc finger protein 676 (ZNF676; rs412658, P = 3.3 × 10(-8)) on 19p12. The minor allele of rs3027234 was associated with both shorter LTL and lower expression of CTC1. Our findings are consistent with the recent observations that point mutations in CTC1 cause short telomeres in both Arabidopsis and humans affected by a rare Mendelian syndrome. Overall, our results provide novel insights into the genetic architecture of inter-individual LTL variation in the general population.

%B Hum Mol Genet %V 21 %P 5385-94 %8 2012 Dec 15 %G eng %N 24 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23001564?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1093/hmg/dds382 %0 Journal Article %J J Am Soc Nephrol %D 2013 %T Common variants in Mendelian kidney disease genes and their association with renal function. %A Parsa, Afshin %A Fuchsberger, Christian %A Köttgen, Anna %A O'Seaghdha, Conall M %A Pattaro, Cristian %A de Andrade, Mariza %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Teumer, Alexander %A Endlich, Karlhans %A Olden, Matthias %A Chen, Ming-Huei %A Tin, Adrienne %A Kim, Young J %A Taliun, Daniel %A Li, Man %A Feitosa, Mary %A Gorski, Mathias %A Yang, Qiong %A Hundertmark, Claudia %A Foster, Meredith C %A Glazer, Nicole %A Isaacs, Aaron %A Rao, Madhumathi %A Smith, Albert V %A O'Connell, Jeffrey R %A Struchalin, Maksim %A Tanaka, Toshiko %A Li, Guo %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Atkinson, Elizabeth J %A Lohman, Kurt %A Cornelis, Marilyn C %A Johansson, Asa %A Tönjes, Anke %A Dehghan, Abbas %A Couraki, Vincent %A Holliday, Elizabeth G %A Sorice, Rossella %A Kutalik, Zoltán %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Esko, Tõnu %A Deshmukh, Harshal %A Ulivi, Sheila %A Chu, Audrey Y %A Murgia, Federico %A Trompet, Stella %A Imboden, Medea %A Kollerits, Barbara %A Pistis, Giorgio %A Harris, Tamara B %A Launer, Lenore J %A Aspelund, Thor %A Eiriksdottir, Gudny %A Mitchell, Braxton D %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Schmidt, Helena %A Hofer, Edith %A Hu, Frank %A Demirkan, Ayse %A Oostra, Ben A %A Turner, Stephen T %A Ding, Jingzhong %A Andrews, Jeanette S %A Freedman, Barry I %A Giulianini, Franco %A Koenig, Wolfgang %A Illig, Thomas %A Döring, Angela %A Wichmann, H-Erich %A Zgaga, Lina %A Zemunik, Tatijana %A Boban, Mladen %A Minelli, Cosetta %A Wheeler, Heather E %A Igl, Wilmar %A Zaboli, Ghazal %A Wild, Sarah H %A Wright, Alan F %A Campbell, Harry %A Ellinghaus, David %A Nöthlings, Ute %A Jacobs, Gunnar %A Biffar, Reiner %A Ernst, Florian %A Homuth, Georg %A Kroemer, Heyo K %A Nauck, Matthias %A Stracke, Sylvia %A Völker, Uwe %A Völzke, Henry %A Kovacs, Peter %A Stumvoll, Michael %A Mägi, Reedik %A Hofman, Albert %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Rivadeneira, Fernando %A Aulchenko, Yurii S %A Polasek, Ozren %A Hastie, Nick %A Vitart, Veronique %A Helmer, Catherine %A Wang, Jie Jin %A Stengel, Bénédicte %A Ruggiero, Daniela %A Bergmann, Sven %A Kähönen, Mika %A Viikari, Jorma %A Nikopensius, Tiit %A Province, Michael %A Colhoun, Helen %A Doney, Alex %A Robino, Antonietta %A Krämer, Bernhard K %A Portas, Laura %A Ford, Ian %A Buckley, Brendan M %A Adam, Martin %A Thun, Gian-Andri %A Paulweber, Bernhard %A Haun, Margot %A Sala, Cinzia %A Mitchell, Paul %A Ciullo, Marina %A Vollenweider, Peter %A Raitakari, Olli %A Metspalu, Andres %A Palmer, Colin %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Pirastu, Mario %A Jukema, J Wouter %A Probst-Hensch, Nicole M %A Kronenberg, Florian %A Toniolo, Daniela %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Shuldiner, Alan R %A Coresh, Josef %A Schmidt, Reinhold %A Ferrucci, Luigi %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Borecki, Ingrid %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Liu, Yongmei %A Curhan, Gary C %A Rudan, Igor %A Gyllensten, Ulf %A Wilson, James F %A Franke, Andre %A Pramstaller, Peter P %A Rettig, Rainer %A Prokopenko, Inga %A Witteman, Jacqueline %A Hayward, Caroline %A Ridker, Paul M %A Bochud, Murielle %A Heid, Iris M %A Siscovick, David S %A Fox, Caroline S %A Kao, W Linda %A Böger, Carsten A %K Databases, Genetic %K European Continental Ancestry Group %K Gene Frequency %K Genetic Variation %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Humans %K Kidney %K Mendelian Randomization Analysis %K Phenotype %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Renal Insufficiency, Chronic %X

Many common genetic variants identified by genome-wide association studies for complex traits map to genes previously linked to rare inherited Mendelian disorders. A systematic analysis of common single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes responsible for Mendelian diseases with kidney phenotypes has not been performed. We thus developed a comprehensive database of genes for Mendelian kidney conditions and evaluated the association between common genetic variants within these genes and kidney function in the general population. Using the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man database, we identified 731 unique disease entries related to specific renal search terms and confirmed a kidney phenotype in 218 of these entries, corresponding to mutations in 258 genes. We interrogated common SNPs (minor allele frequency >5%) within these genes for association with the estimated GFR in 74,354 European-ancestry participants from the CKDGen Consortium. However, the top four candidate SNPs (rs6433115 at LRP2, rs1050700 at TSC1, rs249942 at PALB2, and rs9827843 at ROBO2) did not achieve significance in a stage 2 meta-analysis performed in 56,246 additional independent individuals, indicating that these common SNPs are not associated with estimated GFR. The effect of less common or rare variants in these genes on kidney function in the general population and disease-specific cohorts requires further research.

%B J Am Soc Nephrol %V 24 %P 2105-17 %8 2013 Dec %G eng %N 12 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24029420?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1681/ASN.2012100983 %0 Journal Article %J Nat Genet %D 2013 %T Identification of heart rate-associated loci and their effects on cardiac conduction and rhythm disorders. %A den Hoed, Marcel %A Eijgelsheim, Mark %A Esko, Tõnu %A Brundel, Bianca J J M %A Peal, David S %A Evans, David M %A Nolte, Ilja M %A Segrè, Ayellet V %A Holm, Hilma %A Handsaker, Robert E %A Westra, Harm-Jan %A Johnson, Toby %A Isaacs, Aaron %A Yang, Jian %A Lundby, Alicia %A Zhao, Jing Hua %A Kim, Young Jin %A Go, Min Jin %A Almgren, Peter %A Bochud, Murielle %A Boucher, Gabrielle %A Cornelis, Marilyn C %A Gudbjartsson, Daniel %A Hadley, David %A van der Harst, Pim %A Hayward, Caroline %A den Heijer, Martin %A Igl, Wilmar %A Jackson, Anne U %A Kutalik, Zoltán %A Luan, Jian'an %A Kemp, John P %A Kristiansson, Kati %A Ladenvall, Claes %A Lorentzon, Mattias %A Montasser, May E %A Njajou, Omer T %A O'Reilly, Paul F %A Padmanabhan, Sandosh %A St Pourcain, Beate %A Rankinen, Tuomo %A Salo, Perttu %A Tanaka, Toshiko %A Timpson, Nicholas J %A Vitart, Veronique %A Waite, Lindsay %A Wheeler, William %A Zhang, Weihua %A Draisma, Harmen H M %A Feitosa, Mary F %A Kerr, Kathleen F %A Lind, Penelope A %A Mihailov, Evelin %A Onland-Moret, N Charlotte %A Song, Ci %A Weedon, Michael N %A Xie, Weijia %A Yengo, Loic %A Absher, Devin %A Albert, Christine M %A Alonso, Alvaro %A Arking, Dan E %A de Bakker, Paul I W %A Balkau, Beverley %A Barlassina, Cristina %A Benaglio, Paola %A Bis, Joshua C %A Bouatia-Naji, Nabila %A Brage, Søren %A Chanock, Stephen J %A Chines, Peter S %A Chung, Mina %A Darbar, Dawood %A Dina, Christian %A Dörr, Marcus %A Elliott, Paul %A Felix, Stephan B %A Fischer, Krista %A Fuchsberger, Christian %A de Geus, Eco J C %A Goyette, Philippe %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Harris, Tamara B %A Hartikainen, Anna-Liisa %A Havulinna, Aki S %A Heckbert, Susan R %A Hicks, Andrew A %A Hofman, Albert %A Holewijn, Suzanne %A Hoogstra-Berends, Femke %A Hottenga, Jouke-Jan %A Jensen, Majken K %A Johansson, Asa %A Junttila, Juhani %A Kääb, Stefan %A Kanon, Bart %A Ketkar, Shamika %A Khaw, Kay-Tee %A Knowles, Joshua W %A Kooner, Angrad S %A Kors, Jan A %A Kumari, Meena %A Milani, Lili %A Laiho, Päivi %A Lakatta, Edward G %A Langenberg, Claudia %A Leusink, Maarten %A Liu, Yongmei %A Luben, Robert N %A Lunetta, Kathryn L %A Lynch, Stacey N %A Markus, Marcello R P %A Marques-Vidal, Pedro %A Mateo Leach, Irene %A McArdle, Wendy L %A McCarroll, Steven A %A Medland, Sarah E %A Miller, Kathryn A %A Montgomery, Grant W %A Morrison, Alanna C %A Müller-Nurasyid, Martina %A Navarro, Pau %A Nelis, Mari %A O'Connell, Jeffrey R %A O'Donnell, Christopher J %A Ong, Ken K %A Newman, Anne B %A Peters, Annette %A Polasek, Ozren %A Pouta, Anneli %A Pramstaller, Peter P %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Rao, Dabeeru C %A Ring, Susan M %A Rossin, Elizabeth J %A Rudan, Diana %A Sanna, Serena %A Scott, Robert A %A Sehmi, Jaban S %A Sharp, Stephen %A Shin, Jordan T %A Singleton, Andrew B %A Smith, Albert V %A Soranzo, Nicole %A Spector, Tim D %A Stewart, Chip %A Stringham, Heather M %A Tarasov, Kirill V %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Vandenput, Liesbeth %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Whitfield, John B %A Wijmenga, Cisca %A Wild, Sarah H %A Willemsen, Gonneke %A Wilson, James F %A Witteman, Jacqueline C M %A Wong, Andrew %A Wong, Quenna %A Jamshidi, Yalda %A Zitting, Paavo %A Boer, Jolanda M A %A Boomsma, Dorret I %A Borecki, Ingrid B %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Ekelund, Ulf %A Forouhi, Nita G %A Froguel, Philippe %A Hingorani, Aroon %A Ingelsson, Erik %A Kivimaki, Mika %A Kronmal, Richard A %A Kuh, Diana %A Lind, Lars %A Martin, Nicholas G %A Oostra, Ben A %A Pedersen, Nancy L %A Quertermous, Thomas %A Rotter, Jerome I %A van der Schouw, Yvonne T %A Verschuren, W M Monique %A Walker, Mark %A Albanes, Demetrius %A Arnar, David O %A Assimes, Themistocles L %A Bandinelli, Stefania %A Boehnke, Michael %A de Boer, Rudolf A %A Bouchard, Claude %A Caulfield, W L Mark %A Chambers, John C %A Curhan, Gary %A Cusi, Daniele %A Eriksson, Johan %A Ferrucci, Luigi %A van Gilst, Wiek H %A Glorioso, Nicola %A de Graaf, Jacqueline %A Groop, Leif %A Gyllensten, Ulf %A Hsueh, Wen-Chi %A Hu, Frank B %A Huikuri, Heikki V %A Hunter, David J %A Iribarren, Carlos %A Isomaa, Bo %A Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta %A Jula, Antti %A Kähönen, Mika %A Kiemeney, Lambertus A %A van der Klauw, Melanie M %A Kooner, Jaspal S %A Kraft, Peter %A Iacoviello, Licia %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Lokki, Marja-Liisa L %A Mitchell, Braxton D %A Navis, Gerjan %A Nieminen, Markku S %A Ohlsson, Claes %A Poulter, Neil R %A Qi, Lu %A Raitakari, Olli T %A Rimm, Eric B %A Rioux, John D %A Rizzi, Federica %A Rudan, Igor %A Salomaa, Veikko %A Sever, Peter S %A Shields, Denis C %A Shuldiner, Alan R %A Sinisalo, Juha %A Stanton, Alice V %A Stolk, Ronald P %A Strachan, David P %A Tardif, Jean-Claude %A Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur %A Tuomilehto, Jaako %A van Veldhuisen, Dirk J %A Virtamo, Jarmo %A Viikari, Jorma %A Vollenweider, Peter %A Waeber, Gérard %A Widen, Elisabeth %A Cho, Yoon Shin %A Olsen, Jesper V %A Visscher, Peter M %A Willer, Cristen %A Franke, Lude %A Erdmann, Jeanette %A Thompson, John R %A Pfeufer, Arne %A Sotoodehnia, Nona %A Newton-Cheh, Christopher %A Ellinor, Patrick T %A Stricker, Bruno H Ch %A Metspalu, Andres %A Perola, Markus %A Beckmann, Jacques S %A Smith, George Davey %A Stefansson, Kari %A Wareham, Nicholas J %A Munroe, Patricia B %A Sibon, Ody C M %A Milan, David J %A Snieder, Harold %A Samani, Nilesh J %A Loos, Ruth J F %K Animals %K Arrhythmias, Cardiac %K Gene Frequency %K Genetic Loci %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Heart Conduction System %K Heart Rate %K Humans %K Metabolic Networks and Pathways %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Quantitative Trait Loci %X

Elevated resting heart rate is associated with greater risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality. In a 2-stage meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies in up to 181,171 individuals, we identified 14 new loci associated with heart rate and confirmed associations with all 7 previously established loci. Experimental downregulation of gene expression in Drosophila melanogaster and Danio rerio identified 20 genes at 11 loci that are relevant for heart rate regulation and highlight a role for genes involved in signal transmission, embryonic cardiac development and the pathophysiology of dilated cardiomyopathy, congenital heart failure and/or sudden cardiac death. In addition, genetic susceptibility to increased heart rate is associated with altered cardiac conduction and reduced risk of sick sinus syndrome, and both heart rate-increasing and heart rate-decreasing variants associate with risk of atrial fibrillation. Our findings provide fresh insights into the mechanisms regulating heart rate and identify new therapeutic targets.

%B Nat Genet %V 45 %P 621-31 %8 2013 Jun %G eng %N 6 %R 10.1038/ng.2610 %0 Journal Article %J Circulation %D 2013 %T Resequencing and clinical associations of the 9p21.3 region: a comprehensive investigation in the Framingham heart study. %A Johnson, Andrew D %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Voorman, Arend %A Morrison, Alanna %A Peloso, Gina M %A Hsu, Yi-Hsiang %A Thanassoulis, George %A Newton-Cheh, Christopher %A Rogers, Ian S %A Hoffmann, Udo %A Freedman, Jane E %A Fox, Caroline S %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Cupples, L Adrienne %A O'Donnell, Christopher J %K Calcinosis %K Chromosomes, Human, Pair 9 %K Coronary Artery Disease %K Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p15 %K Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p16 %K DNA Copy Number Variations %K Female %K Follow-Up Studies %K Genetic Predisposition to Disease %K Genotype %K Humans %K Longitudinal Studies %K Male %K Massachusetts %K Middle Aged %K Myocardial Infarction %K Phenotype %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Risk Factors %K RNA, Long Noncoding %K Sequence Analysis, DNA %X

BACKGROUND: 9p21.3 is among the most strongly replicated regions for cardiovascular disease. There are few reports of sequencing the associated 9p21.3 interval. We set out to sequence the 9p21.3 region followed by a comprehensive study of genetic associations with clinical and subclinical cardiovascular disease and its risk factors, as well as with copy number variation and gene expression, in the Framingham Heart Study (FHS).

METHODS AND RESULTS: We sequenced 281 individuals (94 with myocardial infarction, 94 with high coronary artery calcium levels, and 93 control subjects free of elevated coronary artery calcium or myocardial infarction), followed by genotyping and association in >7000 additional FHS individuals. We assessed genetic associations with clinical and subclinical cardiovascular disease, risk factor phenotypes, and gene expression levels of the protein-coding genes CDKN2A and CDKN2B and the noncoding gene ANRIL in freshly harvested leukocytes and platelets. Within this large sample, we found strong associations of 9p21.3 variants with increased risk for myocardial infarction, higher coronary artery calcium levels, and larger abdominal aorta diameters and no evidence for association with traditional cardiovascular disease risk factors. No common protein-coding variation, variants in splice donor or acceptor sites, or copy number variation events were observed. By contrast, strong associations were observed between genetic variants and gene expression, particularly for a short isoform of ANRIL and for CDKN2B.

CONCLUSIONS: Our thorough genomic characterization of 9p21.3 suggests common variants likely account for observed disease associations and provides further support for the hypothesis that complex regulatory variation affecting ANRIL and CDKN2B gene expression may contribute to increased risk for clinically apparent and subclinical coronary artery disease and aortic disease.

%B Circulation %V 127 %P 799-810 %8 2013 Feb 19 %G eng %N 7 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23315372?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.112.111559 %0 Journal Article %J Am J Hum Genet %D 2014 %T Effects of long-term averaging of quantitative blood pressure traits on the detection of genetic associations. %A Ganesh, Santhi K %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Larson, Martin G %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Verwoert, Germain %A Bis, Joshua C %A Gu, Xiangjun %A Smith, Albert V %A Yang, Min-Lee %A Zhang, Yan %A Ehret, Georg %A Rose, Lynda M %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Papanicolau, George J %A Sijbrands, Eric J %A Rice, Kenneth %A Eiriksdottir, Gudny %A Pihur, Vasyl %A Ridker, Paul M %A Vasan, Ramachandran S %A Newton-Cheh, Christopher %A Raffel, Leslie J %A Amin, Najaf %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Liu, Kiang %A Launer, Lenore J %A Xu, Ming %A Caulfield, Mark %A Morrison, Alanna C %A Johnson, Andrew D %A Vaidya, Dhananjay %A Dehghan, Abbas %A Li, Guo %A Bouchard, Claude %A Harris, Tamara B %A Zhang, He %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Siscovick, David S %A Gao, Wei %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Rivadeneira, Fernando %A Hofman, Albert %A Willer, Cristen J %A Franco, Oscar H %A Huo, Yong %A Witteman, Jacqueline C M %A Munroe, Patricia B %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Palmas, Walter %A van Duijn, Cornelia %A Fornage, Myriam %A Levy, Daniel %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Chakravarti, Aravinda %K Blood Pressure %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Humans %K Longitudinal Studies %K Phenotype %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Quantitative Trait Loci %X

Blood pressure (BP) is a heritable, quantitative trait with intraindividual variability and susceptibility to measurement error. Genetic studies of BP generally use single-visit measurements and thus cannot remove variability occurring over months or years. We leveraged the idea that averaging BP measured across time would improve phenotypic accuracy and thereby increase statistical power to detect genetic associations. We studied systolic BP (SBP), diastolic BP (DBP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), and pulse pressure (PP) averaged over multiple years in 46,629 individuals of European ancestry. We identified 39 trait-variant associations across 19 independent loci (p < 5 × 10(-8)); five associations (in four loci) uniquely identified by our LTA analyses included those of SBP and MAP at 2p23 (rs1275988, near KCNK3), DBP at 2q11.2 (rs7599598, in FER1L5), and PP at 6p21 (rs10948071, near CRIP3) and 7p13 (rs2949837, near IGFBP3). Replication analyses conducted in cohorts with single-visit BP data showed positive replication of associations and a nominal association (p < 0.05). We estimated a 20% gain in statistical power with long-term average (LTA) as compared to single-visit BP association studies. Using LTA analysis, we identified genetic loci influencing BP. LTA might be one way of increasing the power of genetic associations for continuous traits in extant samples for other phenotypes that are measured serially over time.

%B Am J Hum Genet %V 95 %P 49-65 %8 2014 Jul 03 %G eng %N 1 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24975945?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1016/j.ajhg.2014.06.002 %0 Journal Article %J Am J Hum Genet %D 2014 %T Gene-age interactions in blood pressure regulation: a large-scale investigation with the CHARGE, Global BPgen, and ICBP Consortia. %A Simino, Jeannette %A Shi, Gang %A Bis, Joshua C %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Ehret, Georg B %A Gu, Xiangjun %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Sijbrands, Eric %A Smith, Albert V %A Verwoert, Germaine C %A Bragg-Gresham, Jennifer L %A Cadby, Gemma %A Chen, Peng %A Cheng, Ching-Yu %A Corre, Tanguy %A de Boer, Rudolf A %A Goel, Anuj %A Johnson, Toby %A Khor, Chiea-Chuen %A Lluís-Ganella, Carla %A Luan, Jian'an %A Lyytikäinen, Leo-Pekka %A Nolte, Ilja M %A Sim, Xueling %A Sõber, Siim %A van der Most, Peter J %A Verweij, Niek %A Zhao, Jing Hua %A Amin, Najaf %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Bouchard, Claude %A Dehghan, Abbas %A Eiriksdottir, Gudny %A Elosua, Roberto %A Franco, Oscar H %A Gieger, Christian %A Harris, Tamara B %A Hercberg, Serge %A Hofman, Albert %A James, Alan L %A Johnson, Andrew D %A Kähönen, Mika %A Khaw, Kay-Tee %A Kutalik, Zoltán %A Larson, Martin G %A Launer, Lenore J %A Li, Guo %A Liu, Jianjun %A Liu, Kiang %A Morrison, Alanna C %A Navis, Gerjan %A Ong, Rick Twee-Hee %A Papanicolau, George J %A Penninx, Brenda W %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Raffel, Leslie J %A Raitakari, Olli T %A Rice, Kenneth %A Rivadeneira, Fernando %A Rose, Lynda M %A Sanna, Serena %A Scott, Robert A %A Siscovick, David S %A Stolk, Ronald P %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Vaidya, Dhananjay %A van der Klauw, Melanie M %A Vasan, Ramachandran S %A Vithana, Eranga Nishanthie %A Völker, Uwe %A Völzke, Henry %A Watkins, Hugh %A Young, Terri L %A Aung, Tin %A Bochud, Murielle %A Farrall, Martin %A Hartman, Catharina A %A Laan, Maris %A Lakatta, Edward G %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Loos, Ruth J F %A Lucas, Gavin %A Meneton, Pierre %A Palmer, Lyle J %A Rettig, Rainer %A Snieder, Harold %A Tai, E Shyong %A Teo, Yik-Ying %A van der Harst, Pim %A Wareham, Nicholas J %A Wijmenga, Cisca %A Wong, Tien Yin %A Fornage, Myriam %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Levy, Daniel %A Palmas, Walter %A Ridker, Paul M %A Rotter, Jerome I %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Witteman, Jacqueline C M %A Chakravarti, Aravinda %A Rao, Dabeeru C %K Adolescent %K Adult %K Age Factors %K Aged %K Blood Pressure %K Cohort Studies %K Humans %K Middle Aged %K Young Adult %X

Although age-dependent effects on blood pressure (BP) have been reported, they have not been systematically investigated in large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWASs). We leveraged the infrastructure of three well-established consortia (CHARGE, GBPgen, and ICBP) and a nonstandard approach (age stratification and metaregression) to conduct a genome-wide search of common variants with age-dependent effects on systolic (SBP), diastolic (DBP), mean arterial (MAP), and pulse (PP) pressure. In a two-staged design using 99,241 individuals of European ancestry, we identified 20 genome-wide significant (p ≤ 5 × 10(-8)) loci by using joint tests of the SNP main effect and SNP-age interaction. Nine of the significant loci demonstrated nominal evidence of age-dependent effects on BP by tests of the interactions alone. Index SNPs in the EHBP1L1 (DBP and MAP), CASZ1 (SBP and MAP), and GOSR2 (PP) loci exhibited the largest age interactions, with opposite directions of effect in the young versus the old. The changes in the genetic effects over time were small but nonnegligible (up to 1.58 mm Hg over 60 years). The EHBP1L1 locus was discovered through gene-age interactions only in whites but had DBP main effects replicated (p = 8.3 × 10(-4)) in 8,682 Asians from Singapore, indicating potential interethnic heterogeneity. A secondary analysis revealed 22 loci with evidence of age-specific effects (e.g., only in 20 to 29-year-olds). Age can be used to select samples with larger genetic effect sizes and more homogenous phenotypes, which may increase statistical power. Age-dependent effects identified through novel statistical approaches can provide insight into the biology and temporal regulation underlying BP associations.

%B Am J Hum Genet %V 95 %P 24-38 %8 2014 Jul 03 %G eng %N 1 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24954895?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1016/j.ajhg.2014.05.010 %0 Journal Article %J PLoS One %D 2014 %T Sequence analysis of six blood pressure candidate regions in 4,178 individuals: the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) targeted sequencing study. %A Morrison, Alanna C %A Bis, Joshua C %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Ehret, Georg B %A Lumley, Thomas %A Rice, Kenneth %A Muzny, Donna %A Gibbs, Richard A %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Chakravarti, Aravinda %A Levy, Daniel %K Aging %K Blood Pressure %K Cohort Studies %K Heart %K Humans %K Sequence Analysis %X

BACKGROUND: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) identified multiple loci for blood pressure (BP) and hypertension. Six genes--ATP2B1, CACNB2, CYP17A1, JAG1, PLEKHA7, and SH2B3--were evaluated for sequence variation with large effects on systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), pulse pressure (PP), and mean arterial pressure (MAP).

METHODS AND RESULTS: Targeted genomic sequence was determined in 4,178 European ancestry participants from the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) Consortium. Common variants (≥50 minor allele copies) were evaluated individually and rare variants (minor allele frequency, MAF≤1%) were aggregated by locus. 464 common variants were identified across the 6 genes. An upstream CYP17A1 variant, rs11191416 (MAF = 0.09), was the most significant association for SBP (P = 0.0005); however the association was attenuated (P = 0.0469) after conditioning on the GWAS index single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP). A PLEKHA7 intronic variant was the strongest DBP association (rs12806040, MAF = 0.007, P = 0.0006) and was not in LD (r² = 0.01) with the GWAS SNP. A CACNB2 intronic SNP, rs1571787, was the most significant association with PP (MAF = 0.27, P = 0.0003), but was not independent from the GWAS SNP (r² = 0.34). Three variants (rs6163 and rs743572 in the CYP17A1 region and rs112467382 in PLEKHA7) were associated with BP traits (P<0.001). Rare variation, aggregately assessed in the 6 regions, was not significantly associated with BP measures.

CONCLUSION: Six targeted gene regions, previously identified by GWAS, did not harbor novel variation with large effects on BP in this sample.

%B PLoS One %V 9 %P e109155 %8 2014 %G eng %N 10 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25275628?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1371/journal.pone.0109155 %0 Journal Article %J J Med Genet %D 2015 %T DCAF4, a novel gene associated with leucocyte telomere length. %A Mangino, Massimo %A Christiansen, Lene %A Stone, Rivka %A Hunt, Steven C %A Horvath, Kent %A Eisenberg, Dan T A %A Kimura, Masayuki %A Petersen, Inge %A Kark, Jeremy D %A Herbig, Utz %A Reiner, Alex P %A Benetos, Athanase %A Codd, Veryan %A Nyholt, Dale R %A Sinnreich, Ronit %A Christensen, Kaare %A Nassar, Hisham %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Levy, Daniel %A Bataille, Veronique %A Fitzpatrick, Annette L %A Chen, Wei %A Berenson, Gerald S %A Samani, Nilesh J %A Martin, Nicholas G %A Tishkoff, Sarah %A Schork, Nicholas J %A Kyvik, Kirsten Ohm %A Dalgård, Christine %A Spector, Timothy D %A Aviv, Abraham %K Alleles %K Carrier Proteins %K Gene Expression Regulation %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Humans %K Leukocytes %K Melanoma %K Risk Factors %K Telomere %K Telomere Homeostasis %X

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=6.4×10(-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=4.1×10(-3) and 2×10(-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 1.97×10(-169) to 3.42×10(-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.

%B J Med Genet %V 52 %P 157-62 %8 2015 Mar %G eng %N 3 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25624462?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1136/jmedgenet-2014-102681 %0 Journal Article %J J Am Coll Cardiol %D 2016 %T 52 Genetic Loci Influencing Myocardial Mass. %A van der Harst, Pim %A van Setten, Jessica %A Verweij, Niek %A Vogler, Georg %A Franke, Lude %A Maurano, Matthew T %A Wang, Xinchen %A Mateo Leach, Irene %A Eijgelsheim, Mark %A Sotoodehnia, Nona %A Hayward, Caroline %A Sorice, Rossella %A Meirelles, Osorio %A Lyytikäinen, Leo-Pekka %A Polasek, Ozren %A Tanaka, Toshiko %A Arking, Dan E %A Ulivi, Sheila %A Trompet, Stella %A Müller-Nurasyid, Martina %A Smith, Albert V %A Dörr, Marcus %A Kerr, Kathleen F %A Magnani, Jared W %A del Greco M, Fabiola %A Zhang, Weihua %A Nolte, Ilja M %A Silva, Claudia T %A Padmanabhan, Sandosh %A Tragante, Vinicius %A Esko, Tõnu %A Abecasis, Goncalo R %A Adriaens, Michiel E %A Andersen, Karl %A Barnett, Phil %A Bis, Joshua C %A Bodmer, Rolf %A Buckley, Brendan M %A Campbell, Harry %A Cannon, Megan V %A Chakravarti, Aravinda %A Chen, Lin Y %A Delitala, Alessandro %A Devereux, Richard B %A Doevendans, Pieter A %A Dominiczak, Anna F %A Ferrucci, Luigi %A Ford, Ian %A Gieger, Christian %A Harris, Tamara B %A Haugen, Eric %A Heinig, Matthias %A Hernandez, Dena G %A Hillege, Hans L %A Hirschhorn, Joel N %A Hofman, Albert %A Hubner, Norbert %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Iorio, Annamaria %A Kähönen, Mika %A Kellis, Manolis %A Kolcic, Ivana %A Kooner, Ishminder K %A Kooner, Jaspal S %A Kors, Jan A %A Lakatta, Edward G %A Lage, Kasper %A Launer, Lenore J %A Levy, Daniel %A Lundby, Alicia %A Macfarlane, Peter W %A May, Dalit %A Meitinger, Thomas %A Metspalu, Andres %A Nappo, Stefania %A Naitza, Silvia %A Neph, Shane %A Nord, Alex S %A Nutile, Teresa %A Okin, Peter M %A Olsen, Jesper V %A Oostra, Ben A %A Penninger, Josef M %A Pennacchio, Len A %A Pers, Tune H %A Perz, Siegfried %A Peters, Annette %A Pinto, Yigal M %A Pfeufer, Arne %A Pilia, Maria Grazia %A Pramstaller, Peter P %A Prins, Bram P %A Raitakari, Olli T %A Raychaudhuri, Soumya %A Rice, Ken M %A Rossin, Elizabeth J %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Schafer, Sebastian %A Schlessinger, David %A Schmidt, Carsten O %A Sehmi, Jobanpreet %A Silljé, Herman H W %A Sinagra, Gianfranco %A Sinner, Moritz F %A Slowikowski, Kamil %A Soliman, Elsayed Z %A Spector, Timothy D %A Spiering, Wilko %A Stamatoyannopoulos, John A %A Stolk, Ronald P %A Strauch, Konstantin %A Tan, Sian-Tsung %A Tarasov, Kirill V %A Trinh, Bosco %A Uitterlinden, André G %A van den Boogaard, Malou %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A van Gilst, Wiek H %A Viikari, Jorma S %A Visscher, Peter M %A Vitart, Veronique %A Völker, Uwe %A Waldenberger, Melanie %A Weichenberger, Christian X %A Westra, Harm-Jan %A Wijmenga, Cisca %A Wolffenbuttel, Bruce H %A Yang, Jian %A Bezzina, Connie R %A Munroe, Patricia B %A Snieder, Harold %A Wright, Alan F %A Rudan, Igor %A Boyer, Laurie A %A Asselbergs, Folkert W %A van Veldhuisen, Dirk J %A Stricker, Bruno H %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Ciullo, Marina %A Sanna, Serena %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Wilson, James F %A Bandinelli, Stefania %A Alonso, Alvaro %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Jukema, J Wouter %A Kääb, Stefan %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Felix, Stephan B %A Heckbert, Susan R %A de Boer, Rudolf A %A Newton-Cheh, Christopher %A Hicks, Andrew A %A Chambers, John C %A Jamshidi, Yalda %A Visel, Axel %A Christoffels, Vincent M %A Isaacs, Aaron %A Samani, Nilesh J %A de Bakker, Paul I W %X

BACKGROUND: Myocardial mass is a key determinant of cardiac muscle function and hypertrophy. Myocardial depolarization leading to cardiac muscle contraction is reflected by the amplitude and duration of the QRS complex on the electrocardiogram (ECG). Abnormal QRS amplitude or duration reflect changes in myocardial mass and conduction, and are associated with increased risk of heart failure and death.

OBJECTIVES: This meta-analysis sought to gain insights into the genetic determinants of myocardial mass.

METHODS: We carried out a genome-wide association meta-analysis of 4 QRS traits in up to 73,518 individuals of European ancestry, followed by extensive biological and functional assessment.

RESULTS: We identified 52 genomic loci, of which 32 are novel, that are reliably associated with 1 or more QRS phenotypes at p < 1 × 10(-8). These loci are enriched in regions of open chromatin, histone modifications, and transcription factor binding, suggesting that they represent regions of the genome that are actively transcribed in the human heart. Pathway analyses provided evidence that these loci play a role in cardiac hypertrophy. We further highlighted 67 candidate genes at the identified loci that are preferentially expressed in cardiac tissue and associated with cardiac abnormalities in Drosophila melanogaster and Mus musculus. We validated the regulatory function of a novel variant in the SCN5A/SCN10A locus in vitro and in vivo.

CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, our findings provide new insights into genes and biological pathways controlling myocardial mass and may help identify novel therapeutic targets.

%B J Am Coll Cardiol %V 68 %P 1435-48 %8 2016 Sep 27 %G eng %N 13 %R 10.1016/j.jacc.2016.07.729 %0 Journal Article %J Nat Genet %D 2016 %T Meta-analysis identifies common and rare variants influencing blood pressure and overlapping with metabolic trait loci. %A Liu, Chunyu %A Kraja, Aldi T %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Brody, Jennifer A %A Franceschini, Nora %A Bis, Joshua C %A Rice, Kenneth %A Morrison, Alanna C %A Lu, Yingchang %A Weiss, Stefan %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Palmas, Walter %A Martin, Lisa W %A Chen, Yii-Der Ida %A Surendran, Praveen %A Drenos, Fotios %A Cook, James P %A Auer, Paul L %A Chu, Audrey Y %A Giri, Ayush %A Zhao, Wei %A Jakobsdottir, Johanna %A Lin, Li-An %A Stafford, Jeanette M %A Amin, Najaf %A Mei, Hao %A Yao, Jie %A Voorman, Arend %A Larson, Martin G %A Grove, Megan L %A Smith, Albert V %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Chen, Han %A Huan, Tianxiao %A Kosova, Gulum %A Stitziel, Nathan O %A Kathiresan, Sekar %A Samani, Nilesh %A Schunkert, Heribert %A Deloukas, Panos %A Li, Man %A Fuchsberger, Christian %A Pattaro, Cristian %A Gorski, Mathias %A Kooperberg, Charles %A Papanicolaou, George J %A Rossouw, Jacques E %A Faul, Jessica D %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Bouchard, Claude %A Raffel, Leslie J %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Franco, Oscar H %A Vasan, Ramachandran S %A O'Donnell, Christopher J %A Taylor, Kent D %A Liu, Kiang %A Bottinger, Erwin P %A Gottesman, Omri %A Daw, E Warwick %A Giulianini, Franco %A Ganesh, Santhi %A Salfati, Elias %A Harris, Tamara B %A Launer, Lenore J %A Dörr, Marcus %A Felix, Stephan B %A Rettig, Rainer %A Völzke, Henry %A Kim, Eric %A Lee, Wen-Jane %A Lee, I-Te %A Sheu, Wayne H-H %A Tsosie, Krystal S %A Edwards, Digna R Velez %A Liu, Yongmei %A Correa, Adolfo %A Weir, David R %A Völker, Uwe %A Ridker, Paul M %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Reiner, Alexander P %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Borecki, Ingrid B %A Edwards, Todd L %A Chakravarti, Aravinda %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Loos, Ruth J F %A Fornage, Myriam %A Ehret, Georg B %A Newton-Cheh, Christopher %A Levy, Daniel %A Chasman, Daniel I %X

Meta-analyses of association results for blood pressure using exome-centric single-variant and gene-based tests identified 31 new loci in a discovery stage among 146,562 individuals, with follow-up and meta-analysis in 180,726 additional individuals (total n = 327,288). These blood pressure-associated loci are enriched for known variants for cardiometabolic traits. Associations were also observed for the aggregation of rare and low-frequency missense variants in three genes, NPR1, DBH, and PTPMT1. In addition, blood pressure associations at 39 previously reported loci were confirmed. The identified variants implicate biological pathways related to cardiometabolic traits, vascular function, and development. Several new variants are inferred to have roles in transcription or as hubs in protein-protein interaction networks. Genetic risk scores constructed from the identified variants were strongly associated with coronary disease and myocardial infarction. This large collection of blood pressure-associated loci suggests new therapeutic strategies for hypertension, emphasizing a link with cardiometabolic risk.

%B Nat Genet %V 48 %P 1162-70 %8 2016 Oct %G eng %N 10 %R 10.1038/ng.3660 %0 Journal Article %J Circ Cardiovasc Genet %D 2016 %T Multiethnic Exome-Wide Association Study of Subclinical Atherosclerosis. %A Natarajan, Pradeep %A Bis, Joshua C %A Bielak, Lawrence F %A Cox, Amanda J %A Dörr, Marcus %A Feitosa, Mary F %A Franceschini, Nora %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Isaacs, Aaron %A Jhun, Min A %A Kavousi, Maryam %A Li-Gao, Ruifang %A Lyytikäinen, Leo-Pekka %A Marioni, Riccardo E %A Schminke, Ulf %A Stitziel, Nathan O %A Tada, Hayato %A van Setten, Jessica %A Smith, Albert V %A Vojinovic, Dina %A Yanek, Lisa R %A Yao, Jie %A Yerges-Armstrong, Laura M %A Amin, Najaf %A Baber, Usman %A Borecki, Ingrid B %A Carr, J Jeffrey %A Chen, Yii-Der Ida %A Cupples, L Adrienne %A de Jong, Pim A %A de Koning, Harry %A de Vos, Bob D %A Demirkan, Ayse %A Fuster, Valentin %A Franco, Oscar H %A Goodarzi, Mark O %A Harris, Tamara B %A Heckbert, Susan R %A Heiss, Gerardo %A Hoffmann, Udo %A Hofman, Albert %A Išgum, Ivana %A Jukema, J Wouter %A Kähönen, Mika %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Kral, Brian G %A Launer, Lenore J %A Massaro, Joseph %A Mehran, Roxana %A Mitchell, Braxton D %A Mosley, Thomas H %A de Mutsert, Renée %A Newman, Anne B %A Nguyen, Khanh-Dung %A North, Kari E %A O'Connell, Jeffrey R %A Oudkerk, Matthijs %A Pankow, James S %A Peloso, Gina M %A Post, Wendy %A Province, Michael A %A Raffield, Laura M %A Raitakari, Olli T %A Reilly, Dermot F %A Rivadeneira, Fernando %A Rosendaal, Frits %A Sartori, Samantha %A Taylor, Kent D %A Teumer, Alexander %A Trompet, Stella %A Turner, Stephen T %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Vaidya, Dhananjay %A van der Lugt, Aad %A Völker, Uwe %A Wardlaw, Joanna M %A Wassel, Christina L %A Weiss, Stefan %A Wojczynski, Mary K %A Becker, Diane M %A Becker, Lewis C %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Bowden, Donald W %A Deary, Ian J %A Dehghan, Abbas %A Felix, Stephan B %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Mathias, Rasika %A Mook-Kanamori, Dennis O %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Rader, Daniel J %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Wilson, James G %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Völzke, Henry %A Kathiresan, Sekar %A Peyser, Patricia A %A O'Donnell, Christopher J %X

BACKGROUND: -The burden of subclinical atherosclerosis in asymptomatic individuals is heritable and associated with elevated risk of developing clinical coronary heart disease (CHD). We sought to identify genetic variants in protein-coding regions associated with subclinical atherosclerosis and the risk of subsequent CHD.

METHODS AND RESULTS: -We studied a total of 25,109 European ancestry and African-American participants with coronary artery calcification (CAC) measured by cardiac computed tomography and 52,869 with common carotid intima media thickness (CIMT) measured by ultrasonography within the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) Consortium. Participants were genotyped for 247,870 DNA sequence variants (231,539 in exons) across the genome. A meta-analysis of exome-wide association studies was performed across cohorts for CAC and CIMT. APOB p.Arg3527Gln was associated with four-fold excess CAC (P = 3×10(-10)). The APOE ε2 allele (p.Arg176Cys) was associated with both 22.3% reduced CAC (P = 1×10(-12)) and 1.4% reduced CIMT (P = 4×10(-14)) in carriers compared with non-carriers. In secondary analyses conditioning on LDL cholesterol concentration, the ε2 protective association with CAC, although attenuated, remained strongly significant. Additionally, the presence of ε2 was associated with reduced risk for CHD (OR 0.77; P = 1×10(-11)).

CONCLUSIONS: -Exome-wide association meta-analysis demonstrates that protein-coding variants in APOB and APOE associate with subclinical atherosclerosis. APOE ε2 represents the first significant association for multiple subclinical atherosclerosis traits across multiple ethnicities as well as clinical CHD.

%B Circ Cardiovasc Genet %8 2016 Nov 21 %G eng %R 10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.116.001572 %0 Journal Article %J Circ Cardiovasc Genet %D 2016 %T Rare Exome Sequence Variants in CLCN6 Reduce Blood Pressure Levels and Hypertension Risk. %A Yu, Bing %A Pulit, Sara L %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Brody, Jennifer A %A Amin, Najaf %A Auer, Paul L %A Bis, Joshua C %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Burke, Gregory L %A Chakravarti, Aravinda %A Correa, Adolfo %A Dreisbach, Albert W %A Franco, Oscar H %A Ehret, Georg B %A Franceschini, Nora %A Hofman, Albert %A Lin, Dan-Yu %A Metcalf, Ginger A %A Musani, Solomon K %A Muzny, Donna %A Palmas, Walter %A Raffel, Leslie %A Reiner, Alex %A Rice, Ken %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Veeraraghavan, Narayanan %A Fox, Ervin %A Guo, Xiuqing %A North, Kari E %A Gibbs, Richard A %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Levy, Daniel %A Newton-Cheh, Christopher %A Morrison, Alanna C %X

BACKGROUND: Rare genetic variants influence blood pressure (BP).

METHODS AND RESULTS: Whole-exome sequencing was performed on DNA samples from 17 956 individuals of European ancestry and African ancestry (14 497, first-stage discovery and 3459, second-stage discovery) to examine the effect of rare variants on hypertension and 4 BP traits: systolic BP, diastolic BP, pulse pressure, and mean arterial pressure. Tests of ≈170 000 common variants (minor allele frequency, ≥1%; statistical significance, P≤2.9×10(-7)) and gene-based tests of rare variants (minor allele frequency, <1%; ≈17 000 genes; statistical significance, P≤1.5×10(-6)) were evaluated for each trait and ancestry, followed by multiethnic meta-analyses. In the first-stage discovery, rare coding variants (splicing, stop-gain, stop-loss, nonsynonymous variants, or indels) in CLCN6 were associated with lower diastolic BP (cumulative minor allele frequency, 1.3%; β=-3.20; P=4.1×10(-6)) and were independent of a nearby common variant (rs17367504) previously associated with BP. CLCN6 rare variants were also associated with lower systolic BP (β=-4.11; P=2.8×10(-4)), mean arterial pressure (β=-3.50; P=8.9×10(-6)), and reduced hypertension risk (odds ratio, 0.72; P=0.017). Meta-analysis of the 2-stage discovery samples showed that CLCN6 was associated with lower diastolic BP at exome-wide significance (cumulative minor allele frequency, 1.1%; β=-3.30; P=5.0×10(-7)).

CONCLUSIONS: These findings implicate the effect of rare coding variants in CLCN6 in BP variation and offer new insights into BP regulation.

%B Circ Cardiovasc Genet %V 9 %P 64-70 %8 2016 Feb %G eng %N 1 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26658788?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.115.001215 %0 Journal Article %J JAMA Oncol %D 2017 %T Association Between Telomere Length and Risk of Cancer and Non-Neoplastic Diseases: A Mendelian Randomization Study. %A Haycock, Philip C %A Burgess, Stephen %A Nounu, Aayah %A Zheng, Jie %A Okoli, George N %A Bowden, Jack %A Wade, Kaitlin Hazel %A Timpson, Nicholas J %A Evans, David M %A Willeit, Peter %A Aviv, Abraham %A Gaunt, Tom R %A Hemani, Gibran %A Mangino, Massimo %A Ellis, Hayley Patricia %A Kurian, Kathreena M %A Pooley, Karen A %A Eeles, Rosalind A %A Lee, Jeffrey E %A Fang, Shenying %A Chen, Wei V %A Law, Matthew H %A Bowdler, Lisa M %A Iles, Mark M %A Yang, Qiong %A Worrall, Bradford B %A Markus, Hugh Stephen %A Hung, Rayjean J %A Amos, Chris I %A Spurdle, Amanda B %A Thompson, Deborah J %A O'Mara, Tracy A %A Wolpin, Brian %A Amundadottir, Laufey %A Stolzenberg-Solomon, Rachael %A Trichopoulou, Antonia %A Onland-Moret, N Charlotte %A Lund, Eiliv %A Duell, Eric J %A Canzian, Federico %A Severi, Gianluca %A Overvad, Kim %A Gunter, Marc J %A Tumino, Rosario %A Svenson, Ulrika %A van Rij, Andre %A Baas, Annette F %A Bown, Matthew J %A Samani, Nilesh J %A van t'Hof, Femke N G %A Tromp, Gerard %A Jones, Gregory T %A Kuivaniemi, Helena %A Elmore, James R %A Johansson, Mattias %A Mckay, James %A Scelo, Ghislaine %A Carreras-Torres, Robert %A Gaborieau, Valerie %A Brennan, Paul %A Bracci, Paige M %A Neale, Rachel E %A Olson, Sara H %A Gallinger, Steven %A Li, Donghui %A Petersen, Gloria M %A Risch, Harvey A %A Klein, Alison P %A Han, Jiali %A Abnet, Christian C %A Freedman, Neal D %A Taylor, Philip R %A Maris, John M %A Aben, Katja K %A Kiemeney, Lambertus A %A Vermeulen, Sita H %A Wiencke, John K %A Walsh, Kyle M %A Wrensch, Margaret %A Rice, Terri %A Turnbull, Clare %A Litchfield, Kevin %A Paternoster, Lavinia %A Standl, Marie %A Abecasis, Goncalo R %A SanGiovanni, John Paul %A Li, Yong %A Mijatovic, Vladan %A Sapkota, Yadav %A Low, Siew-Kee %A Zondervan, Krina T %A Montgomery, Grant W %A Nyholt, Dale R %A van Heel, David A %A Hunt, Karen %A Arking, Dan E %A Ashar, Foram N %A Sotoodehnia, Nona %A Woo, Daniel %A Rosand, Jonathan %A Comeau, Mary E %A Brown, W Mark %A Silverman, Edwin K %A Hokanson, John E %A Cho, Michael H %A Hui, Jennie %A Ferreira, Manuel A %A Thompson, Philip J %A Morrison, Alanna C %A Felix, Janine F %A Smith, Nicholas L %A Christiano, Angela M %A Petukhova, Lynn %A Betz, Regina C %A Fan, Xing %A Zhang, Xuejun %A Zhu, Caihong %A Langefeld, Carl D %A Thompson, Susan D %A Wang, Feijie %A Lin, Xu %A Schwartz, David A %A Fingerlin, Tasha %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Cotch, Mary Frances %A Jensen, Richard A %A Munz, Matthias %A Dommisch, Henrik %A Schaefer, Arne S %A Han, Fang %A Ollila, Hanna M %A Hillary, Ryan P %A Albagha, Omar %A Ralston, Stuart H %A Zeng, Chenjie %A Zheng, Wei %A Shu, Xiao-Ou %A Reis, Andre %A Uebe, Steffen %A Hüffmeier, Ulrike %A Kawamura, Yoshiya %A Otowa, Takeshi %A Sasaki, Tsukasa %A Hibberd, Martin Lloyd %A Davila, Sonia %A Xie, Gang %A Siminovitch, Katherine %A Bei, Jin-Xin %A Zeng, Yi-Xin %A Försti, Asta %A Chen, Bowang %A Landi, Stefano %A Franke, Andre %A Fischer, Annegret %A Ellinghaus, David %A Flores, Carlos %A Noth, Imre %A Ma, Shwu-Fan %A Foo, Jia Nee %A Liu, Jianjun %A Kim, Jong-Won %A Cox, David G %A Delattre, Olivier %A Mirabeau, Olivier %A Skibola, Christine F %A Tang, Clara S %A Garcia-Barcelo, Merce %A Chang, Kai-Ping %A Su, Wen-Hui %A Chang, Yu-Sun %A Martin, Nicholas G %A Gordon, Scott %A Wade, Tracey D %A Lee, Chaeyoung %A Kubo, Michiaki %A Cha, Pei-Chieng %A Nakamura, Yusuke %A Levy, Daniel %A Kimura, Masayuki %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Hunt, Steven %A Spector, Tim %A Soranzo, Nicole %A Manichaikul, Ani W %A Barr, R Graham %A Kahali, Bratati %A Speliotes, Elizabeth %A Yerges-Armstrong, Laura M %A Cheng, Ching-Yu %A Jonas, Jost B %A Wong, Tien Yin %A Fogh, Isabella %A Lin, Kuang %A Powell, John F %A Rice, Kenneth %A Relton, Caroline L %A Martin, Richard M %A Davey Smith, George %K Adult %K Aged %K Aged, 80 and over %K Cardiovascular Diseases %K Female %K Genetic Predisposition to Disease %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Germ-Line Mutation %K Humans %K Male %K Mendelian Randomization Analysis %K Middle Aged %K Neoplasms %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Risk Assessment %K Telomere %K Telomere Homeostasis %X

Importance: The causal direction and magnitude of the association between telomere length and incidence of cancer and non-neoplastic diseases is uncertain owing to the susceptibility of observational studies to confounding and reverse causation.

Objective: To conduct a Mendelian randomization study, using germline genetic variants as instrumental variables, to appraise the causal relevance of telomere length for risk of cancer and non-neoplastic diseases.

Data Sources: Genomewide association studies (GWAS) published up to January 15, 2015.

Study Selection: GWAS of noncommunicable diseases that assayed germline genetic variation and did not select cohort or control participants on the basis of preexisting diseases. Of 163 GWAS of noncommunicable diseases identified, summary data from 103 were available.

Data Extraction and Synthesis: Summary association statistics for single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that are strongly associated with telomere length in the general population.

Main Outcomes and Measures: Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for disease per standard deviation (SD) higher telomere length due to germline genetic variation.

Results: Summary data were available for 35 cancers and 48 non-neoplastic diseases, corresponding to 420 081 cases (median cases, 2526 per disease) and 1 093 105 controls (median, 6789 per disease). Increased telomere length due to germline genetic variation was generally associated with increased risk for site-specific cancers. The strongest associations (ORs [95% CIs] per 1-SD change in genetically increased telomere length) were observed for glioma, 5.27 (3.15-8.81); serous low-malignant-potential ovarian cancer, 4.35 (2.39-7.94); lung adenocarcinoma, 3.19 (2.40-4.22); neuroblastoma, 2.98 (1.92-4.62); bladder cancer, 2.19 (1.32-3.66); melanoma, 1.87 (1.55-2.26); testicular cancer, 1.76 (1.02-3.04); kidney cancer, 1.55 (1.08-2.23); and endometrial cancer, 1.31 (1.07-1.61). Associations were stronger for rarer cancers and at tissue sites with lower rates of stem cell division. There was generally little evidence of association between genetically increased telomere length and risk of psychiatric, autoimmune, inflammatory, diabetic, and other non-neoplastic diseases, except for coronary heart disease (OR, 0.78 [95% CI, 0.67-0.90]), abdominal aortic aneurysm (OR, 0.63 [95% CI, 0.49-0.81]), celiac disease (OR, 0.42 [95% CI, 0.28-0.61]) and interstitial lung disease (OR, 0.09 [95% CI, 0.05-0.15]).

Conclusions and Relevance: It is likely that longer telomeres increase risk for several cancers but reduce risk for some non-neoplastic diseases, including cardiovascular diseases.

%B JAMA Oncol %V 3 %P 636-651 %8 2017 May 01 %G eng %N 5 %R 10.1001/jamaoncol.2016.5945 %0 Journal Article %J Hum Mol Genet %D 2017 %T Discovery of novel heart rate-associated loci using the Exome Chip. %A van den Berg, Marten E %A Warren, Helen R %A Cabrera, Claudia P %A Verweij, Niek %A Mifsud, Borbala %A Haessler, Jeffrey %A Bihlmeyer, Nathan A %A Fu, Yi-Ping %A Weiss, Stefan %A Lin, Henry J %A Grarup, Niels %A Li-Gao, Ruifang %A Pistis, Giorgio %A Shah, Nabi %A Brody, Jennifer A %A Müller-Nurasyid, Martina %A Lin, Honghuang %A Mei, Hao %A Smith, Albert V %A Lyytikäinen, Leo-Pekka %A Hall, Leanne M %A van Setten, Jessica %A Trompet, Stella %A Prins, Bram P %A Isaacs, Aaron %A Radmanesh, Farid %A Marten, Jonathan %A Entwistle, Aiman %A Kors, Jan A %A Silva, Claudia T %A Alonso, Alvaro %A Bis, Joshua C %A de Boer, Rudolf %A de Haan, Hugoline G %A de Mutsert, Renée %A Dedoussis, George %A Dominiczak, Anna F %A Doney, Alex S F %A Ellinor, Patrick T %A Eppinga, Ruben N %A Felix, Stephan B %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Hagemeijer, Yanick %A Hansen, Torben %A Harris, Tamara B %A Heckbert, Susan R %A Huang, Paul L %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Kähönen, Mika %A Kanters, Jørgen K %A Kolcic, Ivana %A Launer, Lenore J %A Li, Man %A Yao, Jie %A Linneberg, Allan %A Liu, Simin %A Macfarlane, Peter W %A Mangino, Massimo %A Morris, Andrew D %A Mulas, Antonella %A Murray, Alison D %A Nelson, Christopher P %A Orrù, Marco %A Padmanabhan, Sandosh %A Peters, Annette %A Porteous, David J %A Poulter, Neil %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Qi, Lihong %A Raitakari, Olli T %A Rivadeneira, Fernando %A Roselli, Carolina %A Rudan, Igor %A Sattar, Naveed %A Sever, Peter %A Sinner, Moritz F %A Soliman, Elsayed Z %A Spector, Timothy D %A Stanton, Alice V %A Stirrups, Kathleen E %A Taylor, Kent D %A Tobin, Martin D %A Uitterlinden, Andre %A Vaartjes, Ilonca %A Hoes, Arno W %A van der Meer, Peter %A Völker, Uwe %A Waldenberger, Melanie %A Xie, Zhijun %A Zoledziewska, Magdalena %A Tinker, Andrew %A Polasek, Ozren %A Rosand, Jonathan %A Jamshidi, Yalda %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Zeggini, Eleftheria %A Wouter Jukema, J %A Asselbergs, Folkert W %A Samani, Nilesh J %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Wilson, James %A Lubitz, Steven A %A Kääb, Stefan %A Sotoodehnia, Nona %A Caulfield, Mark J %A Palmer, Colin N A %A Sanna, Serena %A Mook-Kanamori, Dennis O %A Deloukas, Panos %A Pedersen, Oluf %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Dörr, Marcus %A O'Donnell, Chris J %A Hayward, Caroline %A Arking, Dan E %A Kooperberg, Charles %A van der Harst, Pim %A Eijgelsheim, Mark %A Stricker, Bruno H %A Munroe, Patricia B %X

Background Resting heart rate is a heritable trait, and an increase in heart rate is associated with increased mortality risk. GWAS analyses have found loci associated with resting heart rate, at the time of our study these loci explained 0.9% of the variation.Aim To discover new genetic loci associated with heart rate from Exome Chip meta-analyses.Methods Heart rate was measured from either elecrtrocardiograms or pulse recordings. We meta-analysed heart rate association results from 104,452 European-ancestry individuals from 30 cohorts, genotyped using the Exome Chip. Twenty-four variants were selected for follow-up in an independent dataset (UK Biobank, N = 134,251). Conditional and gene-based testing was undertaken, and variants were investigated with bioinformatics methods.Results We discovered five novel heart rate loci, and one new independent low-frequency non-synonymous variant in an established heart rate locus (KIAA1755). Lead variants in four of the novel loci are non-synonymous variants in the genes C10orf71, DALDR3, TESK2, SEC31B. The variant at SEC31B is significantly associated with SEC31B expression in heart and tibial nerve tissue. Further candidate genes were detected from long range regulatory chromatin interactions in heart tissue (SCD, SLF2, MAPK8). We observed significant enrichment in DNase I hypersensitive sites in fetal heart and lung. Moreover, enrichment was seen for the first time in human neuronal progenitor cells (derived from embryonic stem cells) and fetal muscle samples by including our novel variants.Conclusion Our findings advance the knowledge of the genetic architecture of heart rate, and indicate new candidate genes for follow-up functional studies.

%B Hum Mol Genet %8 2017 Apr 03 %G eng %R 10.1093/hmg/ddx113 %0 Journal Article %J Nat Commun %D 2017 %T Genetic loci associated with heart rate variability and their effects on cardiac disease risk. %A Nolte, Ilja M %A Munoz, M Loretto %A Tragante, Vinicius %A Amare, Azmeraw T %A Jansen, Rick %A Vaez, Ahmad %A von der Heyde, Benedikt %A Avery, Christy L %A Bis, Joshua C %A Dierckx, Bram %A van Dongen, Jenny %A Gogarten, Stephanie M %A Goyette, Philippe %A Hernesniemi, Jussi %A Huikari, Ville %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Jaju, Deepali %A Kerr, Kathleen F %A Kluttig, Alexander %A Krijthe, Bouwe P %A Kumar, Jitender %A van der Laan, Sander W %A Lyytikäinen, Leo-Pekka %A Maihofer, Adam X %A Minassian, Arpi %A van der Most, Peter J %A Müller-Nurasyid, Martina %A Nivard, Michel %A Salvi, Erika %A Stewart, James D %A Thayer, Julian F %A Verweij, Niek %A Wong, Andrew %A Zabaneh, Delilah %A Zafarmand, Mohammad H %A Abdellaoui, Abdel %A Albarwani, Sulayma %A Albert, Christine %A Alonso, Alvaro %A Ashar, Foram %A Auvinen, Juha %A Axelsson, Tomas %A Baker, Dewleen G %A de Bakker, Paul I W %A Barcella, Matteo %A Bayoumi, Riad %A Bieringa, Rob J %A Boomsma, Dorret %A Boucher, Gabrielle %A Britton, Annie R %A Christophersen, Ingrid %A Dietrich, Andrea %A Ehret, George B %A Ellinor, Patrick T %A Eskola, Markku %A Felix, Janine F %A Floras, John S %A Franco, Oscar H %A Friberg, Peter %A Gademan, Maaike G J %A Geyer, Mark A %A Giedraitis, Vilmantas %A Hartman, Catharina A %A Hemerich, Daiane %A Hofman, Albert %A Hottenga, Jouke-Jan %A Huikuri, Heikki %A Hutri-Kähönen, Nina %A Jouven, Xavier %A Junttila, Juhani %A Juonala, Markus %A Kiviniemi, Antti M %A Kors, Jan A %A Kumari, Meena %A Kuznetsova, Tatiana %A Laurie, Cathy C %A Lefrandt, Joop D %A Li, Yong %A Li, Yun %A Liao, Duanping %A Limacher, Marian C %A Lin, Henry J %A Lindgren, Cecilia M %A Lubitz, Steven A %A Mahajan, Anubha %A McKnight, Barbara %A Zu Schwabedissen, Henriette Meyer %A Milaneschi, Yuri %A Mononen, Nina %A Morris, Andrew P %A Nalls, Mike A %A Navis, Gerjan %A Neijts, Melanie %A Nikus, Kjell %A North, Kari E %A O'Connor, Daniel T %A Ormel, Johan %A Perz, Siegfried %A Peters, Annette %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Raitakari, Olli T %A Risbrough, Victoria B %A Sinner, Moritz F %A Siscovick, David %A Smit, Johannes H %A Smith, Nicholas L %A Soliman, Elsayed Z %A Sotoodehnia, Nona %A Staessen, Jan A %A Stein, Phyllis K %A Stilp, Adrienne M %A Stolarz-Skrzypek, Katarzyna %A Strauch, Konstantin %A Sundström, Johan %A Swenne, Cees A %A Syvänen, Ann-Christine %A Tardif, Jean-Claude %A Taylor, Kent D %A Teumer, Alexander %A Thornton, Timothy A %A Tinker, Lesley E %A Uitterlinden, André G %A van Setten, Jessica %A Voss, Andreas %A Waldenberger, Melanie %A Wilhelmsen, Kirk C %A Willemsen, Gonneke %A Wong, Quenna %A Zhang, Zhu-Ming %A Zonderman, Alan B %A Cusi, Daniele %A Evans, Michele K %A Greiser, Halina K %A van der Harst, Pim %A Hassan, Mohammad %A Ingelsson, Erik %A Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta %A Kääb, Stefan %A Kähönen, Mika %A Kivimaki, Mika %A Kooperberg, Charles %A Kuh, Diana %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Lind, Lars %A Nievergelt, Caroline M %A O'Donnell, Chris J %A Oldehinkel, Albertine J %A Penninx, Brenda %A Reiner, Alexander P %A Riese, Harriëtte %A van Roon, Arie M %A Rioux, John D %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Sofer, Tamar %A Stricker, Bruno H %A Tiemeier, Henning %A Vrijkotte, Tanja G M %A Asselbergs, Folkert W %A Brundel, Bianca J J M %A Heckbert, Susan R %A Whitsel, Eric A %A den Hoed, Marcel %A Snieder, Harold %A de Geus, Eco J C %X

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 %B Nat Commun %V 8 %P 15805 %8 2017 Jun 14 %G eng %R 10.1038/ncomms15805 %0 Journal Article %J Hypertension %D 2017 %T Novel Blood Pressure Locus and Gene Discovery Using Genome-Wide Association Study and Expression Data Sets From Blood and the Kidney. %A Wain, Louise V %A Vaez, Ahmad %A Jansen, Rick %A Joehanes, Roby %A van der Most, Peter J %A Erzurumluoglu, A Mesut %A O'Reilly, Paul F %A Cabrera, Claudia P %A Warren, Helen R %A Rose, Lynda M %A Verwoert, Germaine C %A Hottenga, Jouke-Jan %A Strawbridge, Rona J %A Esko, Tõnu %A Arking, Dan E %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Kutalik, Zoltán %A Trompet, Stella %A Shrine, Nick %A Teumer, Alexander %A Ried, Janina S %A Bis, Joshua C %A Smith, Albert V %A Amin, Najaf %A Nolte, Ilja M %A Lyytikäinen, Leo-Pekka %A Mahajan, Anubha %A Wareham, Nicholas J %A Hofer, Edith %A Joshi, Peter K %A Kristiansson, Kati %A Traglia, Michela %A Havulinna, Aki S %A Goel, Anuj %A Nalls, Mike A %A Sõber, Siim %A Vuckovic, Dragana %A Luan, Jian'an %A del Greco M, Fabiola %A Ayers, Kristin L %A Marrugat, Jaume %A Ruggiero, Daniela %A Lopez, Lorna M %A Niiranen, Teemu %A Enroth, Stefan %A Jackson, Anne U %A Nelson, Christopher P %A Huffman, Jennifer E %A Zhang, Weihua %A Marten, Jonathan %A Gandin, Ilaria %A Harris, Sarah E %A Zemunik, Tatijana %A Lu, Yingchang %A Evangelou, Evangelos %A Shah, Nabi %A de Borst, Martin H %A Mangino, Massimo %A Prins, Bram P %A Campbell, Archie %A Li-Gao, Ruifang %A Chauhan, Ganesh %A Oldmeadow, Christopher %A Abecasis, Goncalo %A Abedi, Maryam %A Barbieri, Caterina M %A Barnes, Michael R %A Batini, Chiara %A Beilby, John %A Blake, Tineka %A Boehnke, Michael %A Bottinger, Erwin P %A Braund, Peter S %A Brown, Morris %A Brumat, Marco %A Campbell, Harry %A Chambers, John C %A Cocca, Massimiliano %A Collins, Francis %A Connell, John %A Cordell, Heather J %A Damman, Jeffrey J %A Davies, Gail %A de Geus, Eco J %A de Mutsert, Renée %A Deelen, Joris %A Demirkale, Yusuf %A Doney, Alex S F %A Dörr, Marcus %A Farrall, Martin %A Ferreira, Teresa %A Frånberg, Mattias %A Gao, He %A Giedraitis, Vilmantas %A Gieger, Christian %A Giulianini, Franco %A Gow, Alan J %A Hamsten, Anders %A Harris, Tamara B %A Hofman, Albert %A Holliday, Elizabeth G %A Hui, Jennie %A Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta %A Johansson, Asa %A Johnson, Andrew D %A Jousilahti, Pekka %A Jula, Antti %A Kähönen, Mika %A Kathiresan, Sekar %A Khaw, Kay-Tee %A Kolcic, Ivana %A Koskinen, Seppo %A Langenberg, Claudia %A Larson, Marty %A Launer, Lenore J %A Lehne, Benjamin %A Liewald, David C M %A Lin, Li %A Lind, Lars %A Mach, François %A Mamasoula, Chrysovalanto %A Menni, Cristina %A Mifsud, Borbala %A Milaneschi, Yuri %A Morgan, Anna %A Morris, Andrew D %A Morrison, Alanna C %A Munson, Peter J %A Nandakumar, Priyanka %A Nguyen, Quang Tri %A Nutile, Teresa %A Oldehinkel, Albertine J %A Oostra, Ben A %A Org, Elin %A Padmanabhan, Sandosh %A Palotie, Aarno %A Paré, Guillaume %A Pattie, Alison %A Penninx, Brenda W J H %A Poulter, Neil %A Pramstaller, Peter P %A Raitakari, Olli T %A Ren, Meixia %A Rice, Kenneth %A Ridker, Paul M %A Riese, Harriëtte %A Ripatti, Samuli %A Robino, Antonietta %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Rudan, Igor %A Saba, Yasaman %A Saint Pierre, Aude %A Sala, Cinzia F %A Sarin, Antti-Pekka %A Schmidt, Reinhold %A Scott, Rodney %A Seelen, Marc A %A Shields, Denis C %A Siscovick, David %A Sorice, Rossella %A Stanton, Alice %A Stott, David J %A Sundström, Johan %A Swertz, Morris %A Taylor, Kent D %A Thom, Simon %A Tzoulaki, Ioanna %A Tzourio, Christophe %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Völker, Uwe %A Vollenweider, Peter %A Wild, Sarah %A Willemsen, Gonneke %A Wright, Alan F %A Yao, Jie %A Thériault, Sébastien %A Conen, David %A Attia, John %A Sever, Peter %A Debette, Stephanie %A Mook-Kanamori, Dennis O %A Zeggini, Eleftheria %A Spector, Tim D %A van der Harst, Pim %A Palmer, Colin N A %A Vergnaud, Anne-Claire %A Loos, Ruth J F %A Polasek, Ozren %A Starr, John M %A Girotto, Giorgia %A Hayward, Caroline %A Kooner, Jaspal S %A Lindgren, Cecila M %A Vitart, Veronique %A Samani, Nilesh J %A Tuomilehto, Jaakko %A Gyllensten, Ulf %A Knekt, Paul %A Deary, Ian J %A Ciullo, Marina %A Elosua, Roberto %A Keavney, Bernard D %A Hicks, Andrew A %A Scott, Robert A %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Laan, Maris %A Liu, Yongmei %A Watkins, Hugh %A Hartman, Catharina A %A Salomaa, Veikko %A Toniolo, Daniela %A Perola, Markus %A Wilson, James F %A Schmidt, Helena %A Zhao, Jing Hua %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Peters, Annette %A Rettig, Rainer %A James, Alan %A Jukema, J Wouter %A Strachan, David P %A Palmas, Walter %A Metspalu, Andres %A Ingelsson, Erik %A Boomsma, Dorret I %A Franco, Oscar H %A Bochud, Murielle %A Newton-Cheh, Christopher %A Munroe, Patricia B %A Elliott, Paul %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Chakravarti, Aravinda %A Knight, Joanne %A Morris, Andrew P %A Levy, Daniel %A Tobin, Martin D %A Snieder, Harold %A Caulfield, Mark J %A Ehret, Georg B %X

Elevated blood pressure is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and has a substantial genetic contribution. Genetic variation influencing blood pressure has the potential to identify new pharmacological targets for the treatment of hypertension. To discover additional novel blood pressure loci, we used 1000 Genomes Project-based imputation in 150 134 European ancestry individuals and sought significant evidence for independent replication in a further 228 245 individuals. We report 6 new signals of association in or near HSPB7, TNXB, LRP12, LOC283335, SEPT9, and AKT2, and provide new replication evidence for a further 2 signals in EBF2 and NFKBIA Combining large whole-blood gene expression resources totaling 12 607 individuals, we investigated all novel and previously reported signals and identified 48 genes with evidence for involvement in blood pressure regulation that are significant in multiple resources. Three novel kidney-specific signals were also detected. These robustly implicated genes may provide new leads for therapeutic innovation.

%B Hypertension %8 2017 Jul 24 %G eng %R 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.117.09438 %0 Journal Article %J Aging (Albany NY) %D 2017 %T Telomeres and the natural lifespan limit in humans. %A Steenstrup, Troels %A Kark, Jeremy D %A Verhulst, Simon %A Thinggaard, Mikael %A Hjelmborg, Jacob V B %A Dalgård, Christine %A Kyvik, Kirsten Ohm %A Christiansen, Lene %A Mangino, Massimo %A Spector, Timothy D %A Petersen, Inge %A Kimura, Masayuki %A Benetos, Athanase %A Labat, Carlos %A Sinnreich, Ronit %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Levy, Daniel %A Hunt, Steven C %A Fitzpatrick, Annette L %A Chen, Wei %A Berenson, Gerald S %A Barbieri, Michelangela %A Paolisso, Giuseppe %A Gadalla, Shahinaz M %A Savage, Sharon A %A Christensen, Kaare %A Yashin, Anatoliy I %A Arbeev, Konstantin G %A Aviv, Abraham %X

An ongoing debate in demography has focused on whether the human lifespan has a maximal natural limit. Taking a mechanistic perspective, and knowing that short telomeres are associated with diminished longevity, we examined whether telomere length dynamics during adult life could set a maximal natural lifespan limit. We define leukocyte telomere length of 5 kb as the 'telomeric brink', which denotes a high risk of imminent death. We show that a subset of adults may reach the telomeric brink within the current life expectancy and more so for a 100-year life expectancy. Thus, secular trends in life expectancy should confront a biological limit due to crossing the telomeric brink.

%B Aging (Albany NY) %V 9 %P 1130-1142 %8 2017 Apr %G eng %N 4 %R 10.18632/aging.101216 %0 Journal Article %J Eur Heart J %D 2018 %T A comprehensive evaluation of the genetic architecture of sudden cardiac arrest. %A Ashar, Foram N %A Mitchell, Rebecca N %A Albert, Christine M %A Newton-Cheh, Christopher %A Brody, Jennifer A %A Müller-Nurasyid, Martina %A Moes, Anna %A Meitinger, Thomas %A Mak, Angel %A Huikuri, Heikki %A Junttila, M Juhani %A Goyette, Philippe %A Pulit, Sara L %A Pazoki, Raha %A Tanck, Michael W %A Blom, Marieke T %A Zhao, XiaoQing %A Havulinna, Aki S %A Jabbari, Reza %A Glinge, Charlotte %A Tragante, Vinicius %A Escher, Stefan A %A Chakravarti, Aravinda %A Ehret, Georg %A Coresh, Josef %A Li, Man %A Prineas, Ronald J %A Franco, Oscar H %A Kwok, Pui-Yan %A Lumley, Thomas %A Dumas, Florence %A McKnight, Barbara %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Lemaitre, Rozenn N %A Heckbert, Susan R %A O'Donnell, Christopher J %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Tardif, Jean-Claude %A VanDenburgh, Martin %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Hofman, Albert %A Stricker, Bruno H C %A de Bakker, Paul I W %A Franks, Paul W %A Jansson, Jan-Håkan %A Asselbergs, Folkert W %A Halushka, Marc K %A Maleszewski, Joseph J %A Tfelt-Hansen, Jacob %A Engstrøm, Thomas %A Salomaa, Veikko %A Virmani, Renu %A Kolodgie, Frank %A Wilde, Arthur A M %A Tan, Hanno L %A Bezzina, Connie R %A Eijgelsheim, Mark %A Rioux, John D %A Jouven, Xavier %A Kääb, Stefan %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Siscovick, David S %A Arking, Dan E %A Sotoodehnia, Nona %X

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.

%B Eur Heart J %8 2018 Aug 28 %G eng %R 10.1093/eurheartj/ehy474 %0 Journal Article %J Nat Genet %D 2018 %T Genetic analysis of over 1 million people identifies 535 new loci associated with blood pressure traits. %A Evangelou, Evangelos %A Warren, Helen R %A Mosen-Ansorena, David %A Mifsud, Borbala %A Pazoki, Raha %A Gao, He %A Ntritsos, Georgios %A Dimou, Niki %A Cabrera, Claudia P %A Karaman, Ibrahim %A Ng, Fu Liang %A Evangelou, Marina %A Witkowska, Katarzyna %A Tzanis, Evan %A Hellwege, Jacklyn N %A Giri, Ayush %A Velez Edwards, Digna R %A Sun, Yan V %A Cho, Kelly %A Gaziano, J Michael %A Wilson, Peter W F %A Tsao, Philip S %A Kovesdy, Csaba P %A Esko, Tõnu %A Mägi, Reedik %A Milani, Lili %A Almgren, Peter %A Boutin, Thibaud %A Debette, Stephanie %A Ding, Jun %A Giulianini, Franco %A Holliday, Elizabeth G %A Jackson, Anne U %A Li-Gao, Ruifang %A Lin, Wei-Yu %A Luan, Jian'an %A Mangino, Massimo %A Oldmeadow, Christopher %A Prins, Bram Peter %A Qian, Yong %A Sargurupremraj, Muralidharan %A Shah, Nabi %A Surendran, Praveen %A Thériault, Sébastien %A Verweij, Niek %A Willems, Sara M %A Zhao, Jing-Hua %A Amouyel, Philippe %A Connell, John %A de Mutsert, Renée %A Doney, Alex S F %A Farrall, Martin %A Menni, Cristina %A Morris, Andrew D %A Noordam, Raymond %A Paré, Guillaume %A Poulter, Neil R %A Shields, Denis C %A Stanton, Alice %A Thom, Simon %A Abecasis, Goncalo %A Amin, Najaf %A Arking, Dan E %A Ayers, Kristin L %A Barbieri, Caterina M %A Batini, Chiara %A Bis, Joshua C %A Blake, Tineka %A Bochud, Murielle %A Boehnke, Michael %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Boomsma, Dorret I %A Bottinger, Erwin P %A Braund, Peter S %A Brumat, Marco %A Campbell, Archie %A Campbell, Harry %A Chakravarti, Aravinda %A Chambers, John C %A Chauhan, Ganesh %A Ciullo, Marina %A Cocca, Massimiliano %A Collins, Francis %A Cordell, Heather J %A Davies, Gail %A Borst, Martin H de %A Geus, Eco J de %A Deary, Ian J %A Deelen, Joris %A del Greco M, Fabiola %A Demirkale, Cumhur Yusuf %A Dörr, Marcus %A Ehret, Georg B %A Elosua, Roberto %A Enroth, Stefan %A Erzurumluoglu, A Mesut %A Ferreira, Teresa %A Frånberg, Mattias %A Franco, Oscar H %A Gandin, Ilaria %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Giedraitis, Vilmantas %A Gieger, Christian %A Girotto, Giorgia %A Goel, Anuj %A Gow, Alan J %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Gyllensten, Ulf %A Hamsten, Anders %A Harris, Tamara B %A Harris, Sarah E %A Hartman, Catharina A %A Havulinna, Aki S %A Hicks, Andrew A %A Hofer, Edith %A Hofman, Albert %A Hottenga, Jouke-Jan %A Huffman, Jennifer E %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Ingelsson, Erik %A James, Alan %A Jansen, Rick %A Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta %A Joehanes, Roby %A Johansson, Asa %A Johnson, Andrew D %A Joshi, Peter K %A Jousilahti, Pekka %A Jukema, J Wouter %A Jula, Antti %A Kähönen, Mika %A Kathiresan, Sekar %A Keavney, Bernard D %A Khaw, Kay-Tee %A Knekt, Paul %A Knight, Joanne %A Kolcic, Ivana %A Kooner, Jaspal S %A Koskinen, Seppo %A Kristiansson, Kati %A Kutalik, Zoltán %A Laan, Maris %A Larson, Marty %A Launer, Lenore J %A Lehne, Benjamin %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Liewald, David C M %A Lin, Li %A Lind, Lars %A Lindgren, Cecilia M %A Liu, Yongmei %A Loos, Ruth J F %A Lopez, Lorna M %A Lu, Yingchang %A Lyytikäinen, Leo-Pekka %A Mahajan, Anubha %A Mamasoula, Chrysovalanto %A Marrugat, Jaume %A Marten, Jonathan %A Milaneschi, Yuri %A Morgan, Anna %A Morris, Andrew P %A Morrison, Alanna C %A Munson, Peter J %A Nalls, Mike A %A Nandakumar, Priyanka %A Nelson, Christopher P %A Niiranen, Teemu %A Nolte, Ilja M %A Nutile, Teresa %A Oldehinkel, Albertine J %A Oostra, Ben A %A O'Reilly, Paul F %A Org, Elin %A Padmanabhan, Sandosh %A Palmas, Walter %A Palotie, Aarno %A Pattie, Alison %A Penninx, Brenda W J H %A Perola, Markus %A Peters, Annette %A Polasek, Ozren %A Pramstaller, Peter P %A Nguyen, Quang Tri %A Raitakari, Olli T %A Ren, Meixia %A Rettig, Rainer %A Rice, Kenneth %A Ridker, Paul M %A Ried, Janina S %A Riese, Harriëtte %A Ripatti, Samuli %A Robino, Antonietta %A Rose, Lynda M %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Rudan, Igor %A Ruggiero, Daniela %A Saba, Yasaman %A Sala, Cinzia F %A Salomaa, Veikko %A Samani, Nilesh J %A Sarin, Antti-Pekka %A Schmidt, Reinhold %A Schmidt, Helena %A Shrine, Nick %A Siscovick, David %A Smith, Albert V %A Snieder, Harold %A Sõber, Siim %A Sorice, Rossella %A Starr, John M %A Stott, David J %A Strachan, David P %A Strawbridge, Rona J %A Sundström, Johan %A Swertz, Morris A %A Taylor, Kent D %A Teumer, Alexander %A Tobin, Martin D %A Tomaszewski, Maciej %A Toniolo, Daniela %A Traglia, Michela %A Trompet, Stella %A Tuomilehto, Jaakko %A Tzourio, Christophe %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Vaez, Ahmad %A van der Most, Peter J %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Vergnaud, Anne-Claire %A Verwoert, Germaine C %A Vitart, Veronique %A Völker, Uwe %A Vollenweider, Peter %A Vuckovic, Dragana %A Watkins, Hugh %A Wild, Sarah H %A Willemsen, Gonneke %A Wilson, James F %A Wright, Alan F %A Yao, Jie %A Zemunik, Tatijana %A Zhang, Weihua %A Attia, John R %A Butterworth, Adam S %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Conen, David %A Cucca, Francesco %A Danesh, John %A Hayward, Caroline %A Howson, Joanna M M %A Laakso, Markku %A Lakatta, Edward G %A Langenberg, Claudia %A Melander, Olle %A Mook-Kanamori, Dennis O %A Palmer, Colin N A %A Risch, Lorenz %A Scott, Robert A %A Scott, Rodney J %A Sever, Peter %A Spector, Tim D %A van der Harst, Pim %A Wareham, Nicholas J %A Zeggini, Eleftheria %A Levy, Daniel %A Munroe, Patricia B %A Newton-Cheh, Christopher %A Brown, Morris J %A Metspalu, Andres %A Hung, Adriana M %A O'Donnell, Christopher J %A Edwards, Todd L %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Tzoulaki, Ioanna %A Barnes, Michael R %A Wain, Louise V %A Elliott, Paul %A Caulfield, Mark J %X

High blood pressure is a highly heritable and modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease. We report the largest genetic association study of blood pressure traits (systolic, diastolic and pulse pressure) to date in over 1 million people of European ancestry. We identify 535 novel blood pressure loci that not only offer new biological insights into blood pressure regulation but also highlight shared genetic architecture between blood pressure and lifestyle exposures. Our findings identify new biological pathways for blood pressure regulation with potential for improved cardiovascular disease prevention in the future.

%B Nat Genet %V 50 %P 1412-1425 %8 2018 Oct %G eng %N 10 %R 10.1038/s41588-018-0205-x %0 Journal Article %J Nat Commun %D 2018 %T GWAS and colocalization analyses implicate carotid intima-media thickness and carotid plaque loci in cardiovascular outcomes. %A Franceschini, Nora %A Giambartolomei, Claudia %A de Vries, Paul S %A Finan, Chris %A Bis, Joshua C %A Huntley, Rachael P %A Lovering, Ruth C %A Tajuddin, Salman M %A Winkler, Thomas W %A Graff, Misa %A Kavousi, Maryam %A Dale, Caroline %A Smith, Albert V %A Hofer, Edith %A van Leeuwen, Elisabeth M %A Nolte, Ilja M %A Lu, Lingyi %A Scholz, Markus %A Sargurupremraj, Muralidharan %A Pitkänen, Niina %A Franzén, Oscar %A Joshi, Peter K %A Noordam, Raymond %A Marioni, Riccardo E %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Musani, Solomon K %A Schminke, Ulf %A Palmas, Walter %A Isaacs, Aaron %A Correa, Adolfo %A Zonderman, Alan B %A Hofman, Albert %A Teumer, Alexander %A Cox, Amanda J %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Wong, Andrew %A Smit, Andries J %A Newman, Anne B %A Britton, Annie %A Ruusalepp, Arno %A Sennblad, Bengt %A Hedblad, Bo %A Pasaniuc, Bogdan %A Penninx, Brenda W %A Langefeld, Carl D %A Wassel, Christina L %A Tzourio, Christophe %A Fava, Cristiano %A Baldassarre, Damiano %A O'Leary, Daniel H %A Teupser, Daniel %A Kuh, Diana %A Tremoli, Elena %A Mannarino, Elmo %A Grossi, Enzo %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Schadt, Eric E %A Ingelsson, Erik %A Veglia, Fabrizio %A Rivadeneira, Fernando %A Beutner, Frank %A Chauhan, Ganesh %A Heiss, Gerardo %A Snieder, Harold %A Campbell, Harry %A Völzke, Henry %A Markus, Hugh S %A Deary, Ian J %A Jukema, J Wouter %A de Graaf, Jacqueline %A Price, Jacqueline %A Pott, Janne %A Hopewell, Jemma C %A Liang, Jingjing %A Thiery, Joachim %A Engmann, Jorgen %A Gertow, Karl %A Rice, Kenneth %A Taylor, Kent D %A Dhana, Klodian %A Kiemeney, Lambertus A L M %A Lind, Lars %A Raffield, Laura M %A Launer, Lenore J %A Holdt, Lesca M %A Dörr, Marcus %A Dichgans, Martin %A Traylor, Matthew %A Sitzer, Matthias %A Kumari, Meena %A Kivimaki, Mika %A Nalls, Mike A %A Melander, Olle %A Raitakari, Olli %A Franco, Oscar H %A Rueda-Ochoa, Oscar L %A Roussos, Panos %A Whincup, Peter H %A Amouyel, Philippe %A Giral, Philippe %A Anugu, Pramod %A Wong, Quenna %A Malik, Rainer %A Rauramaa, Rainer %A Burkhardt, Ralph %A Hardy, Rebecca %A Schmidt, Reinhold %A de Mutsert, Renée %A Morris, Richard W %A Strawbridge, Rona J %A Wannamethee, S Goya %A Hägg, Sara %A Shah, Sonia %A McLachlan, Stela %A Trompet, Stella %A Seshadri, Sudha %A Kurl, Sudhir %A Heckbert, Susan R %A Ring, Susan %A Harris, Tamara B %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Galesloot, Tessel E %A Shah, Tina %A de Faire, Ulf %A Plagnol, Vincent %A Rosamond, Wayne D %A Post, Wendy %A Zhu, Xiaofeng %A Zhang, Xiaoling %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Saba, Yasaman %A Dehghan, Abbas %A Seldenrijk, Adrie %A Morrison, Alanna C %A Hamsten, Anders %A Psaty, Bruce M %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Lawlor, Deborah A %A Mook-Kanamori, Dennis O %A Bowden, Donald W %A Schmidt, Helena %A Wilson, James F %A Wilson, James G %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Wardlaw, Joanna M %A Deanfield, John %A Halcox, Julian %A Lyytikäinen, Leo-Pekka %A Loeffler, Markus %A Evans, Michele K %A Debette, Stephanie %A Humphries, Steve E %A Völker, Uwe %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Hingorani, Aroon D %A Björkegren, Johan L M %A Casas, Juan P %A O'Donnell, Christopher J %K ADAMTS9 Protein %K Amino Acid Oxidoreductases %K Carotid Intima-Media Thickness %K Coronary Disease %K Genetic Predisposition to Disease %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Humans %K Lod Score %K Plaque, Atherosclerotic %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Quantitative Trait Loci %K Risk Factors %X

Carotid artery intima media thickness (cIMT) and carotid plaque are measures of subclinical atherosclerosis associated with ischemic stroke and coronary heart disease (CHD). Here, we undertake meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in 71,128 individuals for cIMT, and 48,434 individuals for carotid plaque traits. We identify eight novel susceptibility loci for cIMT, one independent association at the previously-identified PINX1 locus, and one novel locus for carotid plaque. Colocalization analysis with nearby vascular expression quantitative loci (cis-eQTLs) derived from arterial wall and metabolic tissues obtained from patients with CHD identifies candidate genes at two potentially additional loci, ADAMTS9 and LOXL4. LD score regression reveals significant genetic correlations between cIMT and plaque traits, and both cIMT and plaque with CHD, any stroke subtype and ischemic stroke. Our study provides insights into genes and tissue-specific regulatory mechanisms linking atherosclerosis both to its functional genomic origins and its clinical consequences in humans.

%B Nat Commun %V 9 %P 5141 %8 2018 12 03 %G eng %N 1 %R 10.1038/s41467-018-07340-5 %0 Journal Article %J Nat Genet %D 2019 %T A catalog of genetic loci associated with kidney function from analyses of a million individuals. %A Wuttke, Matthias %A Li, Yong %A Li, Man %A Sieber, Karsten B %A Feitosa, Mary F %A Gorski, Mathias %A Tin, Adrienne %A Wang, Lihua %A Chu, Audrey Y %A Hoppmann, Anselm %A Kirsten, Holger %A Giri, Ayush %A Chai, Jin-Fang %A Sveinbjornsson, Gardar %A Tayo, Bamidele O %A Nutile, Teresa %A Fuchsberger, Christian %A Marten, Jonathan %A Cocca, Massimiliano %A Ghasemi, Sahar %A Xu, Yizhe %A Horn, Katrin %A Noce, Damia %A van der Most, Peter J %A Sedaghat, Sanaz %A Yu, Zhi %A Akiyama, Masato %A Afaq, Saima %A Ahluwalia, Tarunveer S %A Almgren, Peter %A Amin, Najaf %A Arnlöv, Johan %A Bakker, Stephan J L %A Bansal, Nisha %A Baptista, Daniela %A Bergmann, Sven %A Biggs, Mary L %A Biino, Ginevra %A Boehnke, Michael %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Boissel, Mathilde %A Bottinger, Erwin P %A Boutin, Thibaud S %A Brenner, Hermann %A Brumat, Marco %A Burkhardt, Ralph %A Butterworth, Adam S %A Campana, Eric %A Campbell, Archie %A Campbell, Harry %A Canouil, Mickaël %A Carroll, Robert J %A Catamo, Eulalia %A Chambers, John C %A Chee, Miao-Ling %A Chee, Miao-Li %A Chen, Xu %A Cheng, Ching-Yu %A Cheng, Yurong %A Christensen, Kaare %A Cifkova, Renata %A Ciullo, Marina %A Concas, Maria Pina %A Cook, James P %A Coresh, Josef %A Corre, Tanguy %A Sala, Cinzia Felicita %A Cusi, Daniele %A Danesh, John %A Daw, E Warwick %A de Borst, Martin H %A De Grandi, Alessandro %A de Mutsert, Renée %A de Vries, Aiko P J %A Degenhardt, Frauke %A Delgado, Graciela %A Demirkan, Ayse %A Di Angelantonio, Emanuele %A Dittrich, Katalin %A Divers, Jasmin %A Dorajoo, Rajkumar %A Eckardt, Kai-Uwe %A Ehret, Georg %A Elliott, Paul %A Endlich, Karlhans %A Evans, Michele K %A Felix, Janine F %A Foo, Valencia Hui Xian %A Franco, Oscar H %A Franke, Andre %A Freedman, Barry I %A Freitag-Wolf, Sandra %A Friedlander, Yechiel %A Froguel, Philippe %A Gansevoort, Ron T %A Gao, He %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Gaziano, J Michael %A Giedraitis, Vilmantas %A Gieger, Christian %A Girotto, Giorgia %A Giulianini, Franco %A Gögele, Martin %A Gordon, Scott D %A Gudbjartsson, Daniel F %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Haller, Toomas %A Hamet, Pavel %A Harris, Tamara B %A Hartman, Catharina A %A Hayward, Caroline %A Hellwege, Jacklyn N %A Heng, Chew-Kiat %A Hicks, Andrew A %A Hofer, Edith %A Huang, Wei %A Hutri-Kähönen, Nina %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Ikram, M Arfan %A Indridason, Olafur S %A Ingelsson, Erik %A Ising, Marcus %A Jaddoe, Vincent W V %A Jakobsdottir, Johanna %A Jonas, Jost B %A Joshi, Peter K %A Josyula, Navya Shilpa %A Jung, Bettina %A Kähönen, Mika %A Kamatani, Yoichiro %A Kammerer, Candace M %A Kanai, Masahiro %A Kastarinen, Mika %A Kerr, Shona M %A Khor, Chiea-Chuen %A Kiess, Wieland %A Kleber, Marcus E %A Koenig, Wolfgang %A Kooner, Jaspal S %A Körner, Antje %A Kovacs, Peter %A Kraja, Aldi T %A Krajcoviechova, Alena %A Kramer, Holly %A Krämer, Bernhard K %A Kronenberg, Florian %A Kubo, Michiaki %A Kuhnel, Brigitte %A Kuokkanen, Mikko %A Kuusisto, Johanna %A La Bianca, Martina %A Laakso, Markku %A Lange, Leslie A %A Langefeld, Carl D %A Lee, Jeannette Jen-Mai %A Lehne, Benjamin %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Lieb, Wolfgang %A Lim, Su-Chi %A Lind, Lars %A Lindgren, Cecilia M %A Liu, Jun %A Liu, Jianjun %A Loeffler, Markus %A Loos, Ruth J F %A Lucae, Susanne %A Lukas, Mary Ann %A Lyytikäinen, Leo-Pekka %A Mägi, Reedik %A Magnusson, Patrik K E %A Mahajan, Anubha %A Martin, Nicholas G %A Martins, Jade %A März, Winfried %A Mascalzoni, Deborah %A Matsuda, Koichi %A Meisinger, Christa %A Meitinger, Thomas %A Melander, Olle %A Metspalu, Andres %A Mikaelsdottir, Evgenia K %A Milaneschi, Yuri %A Miliku, Kozeta %A Mishra, Pashupati P %A Mohlke, Karen L %A Mononen, Nina %A Montgomery, Grant W %A Mook-Kanamori, Dennis O %A Mychaleckyj, Josyf C %A Nadkarni, Girish N %A Nalls, Mike A %A Nauck, Matthias %A Nikus, Kjell %A Ning, Boting %A Nolte, Ilja M %A Noordam, Raymond %A O'Connell, Jeffrey %A O'Donoghue, Michelle L %A Olafsson, Isleifur %A Oldehinkel, Albertine J %A Orho-Melander, Marju %A Ouwehand, Willem H %A Padmanabhan, Sandosh %A Palmer, Nicholette D %A Palsson, Runolfur %A Penninx, Brenda W J H %A Perls, Thomas %A Perola, Markus %A Pirastu, Mario %A Pirastu, Nicola %A Pistis, Giorgio %A Podgornaia, Anna I %A Polasek, Ozren %A Ponte, Belen %A Porteous, David J %A Poulain, Tanja %A Pramstaller, Peter P %A Preuss, Michael H %A Prins, Bram P %A Province, Michael A %A Rabelink, Ton J %A Raffield, Laura M %A Raitakari, Olli T %A Reilly, Dermot F %A Rettig, Rainer %A Rheinberger, Myriam %A Rice, Kenneth M %A Ridker, Paul M %A Rivadeneira, Fernando %A Rizzi, Federica %A Roberts, David J %A Robino, Antonietta %A Rossing, Peter %A Rudan, Igor %A Rueedi, Rico %A Ruggiero, Daniela %A Ryan, Kathleen A %A Saba, Yasaman %A Sabanayagam, Charumathi %A Salomaa, Veikko %A Salvi, Erika %A Saum, Kai-Uwe %A Schmidt, Helena %A Schmidt, Reinhold %A Schöttker, Ben %A Schulz, Christina-Alexandra %A Schupf, Nicole %A Shaffer, Christian M %A Shi, Yuan %A Smith, Albert V %A Smith, Blair H %A Soranzo, Nicole %A Spracklen, Cassandra N %A Strauch, Konstantin %A Stringham, Heather M %A Stumvoll, Michael %A Svensson, Per O %A Szymczak, Silke %A Tai, E-Shyong %A Tajuddin, Salman M %A Tan, Nicholas Y Q %A Taylor, Kent D %A Teren, Andrej %A Tham, Yih-Chung %A Thiery, Joachim %A Thio, Chris H L %A Thomsen, Hauke %A Thorleifsson, Gudmar %A Toniolo, Daniela %A Tönjes, Anke %A Tremblay, Johanne %A Tzoulaki, Ioanna %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Vaccargiu, Simona %A van Dam, Rob M %A van der Harst, Pim %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Velez Edward, Digna R %A Verweij, Niek %A Vogelezang, Suzanne %A Völker, Uwe %A Vollenweider, Peter %A Waeber, Gérard %A Waldenberger, Melanie %A Wallentin, Lars %A Wang, Ya Xing %A Wang, Chaolong %A Waterworth, Dawn M %A Bin Wei, Wen %A White, Harvey %A Whitfield, John B %A Wild, Sarah H %A Wilson, James F %A Wojczynski, Mary K %A Wong, Charlene %A Wong, Tien-Yin %A Xu, Liang %A Yang, Qiong %A Yasuda, Masayuki %A Yerges-Armstrong, Laura M %A Zhang, Weihua %A Zonderman, Alan B %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Bochud, Murielle %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Vitart, Veronique %A Wilson, James G %A Dehghan, Abbas %A Parsa, Afshin %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Ho, Kevin %A Morris, Andrew P %A Devuyst, Olivier %A Akilesh, Shreeram %A Pendergrass, Sarah A %A Sim, Xueling %A Böger, Carsten A %A Okada, Yukinori %A Edwards, Todd L %A Snieder, Harold %A Stefansson, Kari %A Hung, Adriana M %A Heid, Iris M %A Scholz, Markus %A Teumer, Alexander %A Köttgen, Anna %A Pattaro, Cristian %K Chromosome Mapping %K European Continental Ancestry Group %K Genetic Association Studies %K Genetic Predisposition to Disease %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Glomerular Filtration Rate %K Humans %K Inheritance Patterns %K Kidney Function Tests %K Phenotype %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Quantitative Trait Loci %K Quantitative Trait, Heritable %K Renal Insufficiency, Chronic %K Uromodulin %X

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is responsible for a public health burden with multi-systemic complications. Through trans-ancestry meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and independent replication (n = 1,046,070), we identified 264 associated loci (166 new). Of these, 147 were likely to be relevant for kidney function on the basis of associations with the alternative kidney function marker blood urea nitrogen (n = 416,178). Pathway and enrichment analyses, including mouse models with renal phenotypes, support the kidney as the main target organ. A genetic risk score for lower eGFR was associated with clinically diagnosed CKD in 452,264 independent individuals. Colocalization analyses of associations with eGFR among 783,978 European-ancestry individuals and gene expression across 46 human tissues, including tubulo-interstitial and glomerular kidney compartments, identified 17 genes differentially expressed in kidney. Fine-mapping highlighted missense driver variants in 11 genes and kidney-specific regulatory variants. These results provide a comprehensive priority list of molecular targets for translational research.

%B Nat Genet %V 51 %P 957-972 %8 2019 06 %G eng %N 6 %R 10.1038/s41588-019-0407-x %0 Journal Article %J Nat Genet %D 2019 %T Target genes, variants, tissues and transcriptional pathways influencing human serum urate levels. %A Tin, Adrienne %A Marten, Jonathan %A Halperin Kuhns, Victoria L %A Li, Yong %A Wuttke, Matthias %A Kirsten, Holger %A Sieber, Karsten B %A Qiu, Chengxiang %A Gorski, Mathias %A Yu, Zhi %A Giri, Ayush %A Sveinbjornsson, Gardar %A Li, Man %A Chu, Audrey Y %A Hoppmann, Anselm %A O'Connor, Luke J %A Prins, Bram %A Nutile, Teresa %A Noce, Damia %A Akiyama, Masato %A Cocca, Massimiliano %A Ghasemi, Sahar %A van der Most, Peter J %A Horn, Katrin %A Xu, Yizhe %A Fuchsberger, Christian %A Sedaghat, Sanaz %A Afaq, Saima %A Amin, Najaf %A Arnlöv, Johan %A Bakker, Stephan J L %A Bansal, Nisha %A Baptista, Daniela %A Bergmann, Sven %A Biggs, Mary L %A Biino, Ginevra %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Bottinger, Erwin P %A Boutin, Thibaud S %A Brumat, Marco %A Burkhardt, Ralph %A Campana, Eric %A Campbell, Archie %A Campbell, Harry %A Carroll, Robert J %A Catamo, Eulalia %A Chambers, John C %A Ciullo, Marina %A Concas, Maria Pina %A Coresh, Josef %A Corre, Tanguy %A Cusi, Daniele %A Felicita, Sala Cinzia %A de Borst, Martin H %A De Grandi, Alessandro %A de Mutsert, Renée %A de Vries, Aiko P J %A Delgado, Graciela %A Demirkan, Ayse %A Devuyst, Olivier %A Dittrich, Katalin %A Eckardt, Kai-Uwe %A Ehret, Georg %A Endlich, Karlhans %A Evans, Michele K %A Gansevoort, Ron T %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Giedraitis, Vilmantas %A Gieger, Christian %A Girotto, Giorgia %A Gögele, Martin %A Gordon, Scott D %A Gudbjartsson, Daniel F %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Haller, Toomas %A Hamet, Pavel %A Harris, Tamara B %A Hayward, Caroline %A Hicks, Andrew A %A Hofer, Edith %A Holm, Hilma %A Huang, Wei %A Hutri-Kähönen, Nina %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Ikram, M Arfan %A Lewis, Raychel M %A Ingelsson, Erik %A Jakobsdottir, Johanna %A Jonsdottir, Ingileif %A Jonsson, Helgi %A Joshi, Peter K %A Josyula, Navya Shilpa %A Jung, Bettina %A Kähönen, Mika %A Kamatani, Yoichiro %A Kanai, Masahiro %A Kerr, Shona M %A Kiess, Wieland %A Kleber, Marcus E %A Koenig, Wolfgang %A Kooner, Jaspal S %A Körner, Antje %A Kovacs, Peter %A Krämer, Bernhard K %A Kronenberg, Florian %A Kubo, Michiaki %A Kuhnel, Brigitte %A La Bianca, Martina %A Lange, Leslie A %A Lehne, Benjamin %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Liu, Jun %A Loeffler, Markus %A Loos, Ruth J F %A Lyytikäinen, Leo-Pekka %A Mägi, Reedik %A Mahajan, Anubha %A Martin, Nicholas G %A März, Winfried %A Mascalzoni, Deborah %A Matsuda, Koichi %A Meisinger, Christa %A Meitinger, Thomas %A Metspalu, Andres %A Milaneschi, Yuri %A O'Donnell, Christopher J %A Wilson, Otis D %A Gaziano, J Michael %A Mishra, Pashupati P %A Mohlke, Karen L %A Mononen, Nina %A Montgomery, Grant W %A Mook-Kanamori, Dennis O %A Müller-Nurasyid, Martina %A Nadkarni, Girish N %A Nalls, Mike A %A Nauck, Matthias %A Nikus, Kjell %A Ning, Boting %A Nolte, Ilja M %A Noordam, Raymond %A O'Connell, Jeffrey R %A Olafsson, Isleifur %A Padmanabhan, Sandosh %A Penninx, Brenda W J H %A Perls, Thomas %A Peters, Annette %A Pirastu, Mario %A Pirastu, Nicola %A Pistis, Giorgio %A Polasek, Ozren %A Ponte, Belen %A Porteous, David J %A Poulain, Tanja %A Preuss, Michael H %A Rabelink, Ton J %A Raffield, Laura M %A Raitakari, Olli T %A Rettig, Rainer %A Rheinberger, Myriam %A Rice, Kenneth M %A Rizzi, Federica %A Robino, Antonietta %A Rudan, Igor %A Krajcoviechova, Alena %A Cifkova, Renata %A Rueedi, Rico %A Ruggiero, Daniela %A Ryan, Kathleen A %A Saba, Yasaman %A Salvi, Erika %A Schmidt, Helena %A Schmidt, Reinhold %A Shaffer, Christian M %A Smith, Albert V %A Smith, Blair H %A Spracklen, Cassandra N %A Strauch, Konstantin %A Stumvoll, Michael %A Sulem, Patrick %A Tajuddin, Salman M %A Teren, Andrej %A Thiery, Joachim %A Thio, Chris H L %A Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur %A Toniolo, Daniela %A Tönjes, Anke %A Tremblay, Johanne %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Vaccargiu, Simona %A van der Harst, Pim %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Verweij, Niek %A Völker, Uwe %A Vollenweider, Peter %A Waeber, Gérard %A Waldenberger, Melanie %A Whitfield, John B %A Wild, Sarah H %A Wilson, James F %A Yang, Qiong %A Zhang, Weihua %A Zonderman, Alan B %A Bochud, Murielle %A Wilson, James G %A Pendergrass, Sarah A %A Ho, Kevin %A Parsa, Afshin %A Pramstaller, Peter P %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Böger, Carsten A %A Snieder, Harold %A Butterworth, Adam S %A Okada, Yukinori %A Edwards, Todd L %A Stefansson, Kari %A Susztak, Katalin %A Scholz, Markus %A Heid, Iris M %A Hung, Adriana M %A Teumer, Alexander %A Pattaro, Cristian %A Woodward, Owen M %A Vitart, Veronique %A Köttgen, Anna %X

Elevated serum urate levels cause gout and correlate with cardiometabolic diseases via poorly understood mechanisms. We performed a trans-ancestry genome-wide association study of serum urate in 457,690 individuals, identifying 183 loci (147 previously unknown) that improve the prediction of gout in an independent cohort of 334,880 individuals. Serum urate showed significant genetic correlations with many cardiometabolic traits, with genetic causality analyses supporting a substantial role for pleiotropy. Enrichment analysis, fine-mapping of urate-associated loci and colocalization with gene expression in 47 tissues implicated the kidney and liver as the main target organs and prioritized potentially causal genes and variants, including the transcriptional master regulators in the liver and kidney, HNF1A and HNF4A. Experimental validation showed that HNF4A transactivated the promoter of ABCG2, encoding a major urate transporter, in kidney cells, and that HNF4A p.Thr139Ile is a functional variant. Transcriptional coregulation within and across organs may be a general mechanism underlying the observed pleiotropy between urate and cardiometabolic traits.

%B Nat Genet %V 51 %P 1459-1474 %8 2019 Oct %G eng %N 10 %R 10.1038/s41588-019-0504-x %0 Journal Article %J JAMA Netw Open %D 2020 %T Association of Leukocyte Telomere Length With Mortality Among Adult Participants in 3 Longitudinal Studies. %A Arbeev, Konstantin G %A Verhulst, Simon %A Steenstrup, Troels %A Kark, Jeremy D %A Bagley, Olivia %A Kooperberg, Charles %A Reiner, Alexander P %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Levy, Daniel %A Fitzpatrick, Annette L %A Christensen, Kaare %A Yashin, Anatoliy I %A Aviv, Abraham %X

Importance: Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is a trait associated with risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer, the 2 major disease categories that largely define longevity in the United States. However, it remains unclear whether LTL is associated with the human life span.

Objective: To examine whether LTL is associated with the life span of contemporary humans.

Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohort study included 3259 adults of European ancestry from the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS), Framingham Heart Study (FHS), and Women's Health Initiative (WHI). Leukocyte telomere length was measured in 1992 and 1997 in the CHS, from 1995 to 1998 in the FHS, and from 1993 to 1998 in the WHI. Data analysis was conducted from February 2017 to December 2019.

Main Outcomes and Measures: Death and LTL, measured by Southern blots of the terminal restriction fragments, were the main outcomes. Cause of death was adjudicated by end point committees.

Results: The analyzed sample included 3259 participants (2342 [71.9%] women), with a median (range) age of 69.0 (50.0-98.0) years at blood collection. The median (range) follow-up until death was 10.9 (0.2-23.0) years in CHS, 19.7 (3.4-23.0) years in FHS, and 16.6 (0.5-20.0) years in WHI. During follow-up, there were 1525 deaths (482 [31.6%] of cardiovascular disease; 373 [24.5%] of cancer, and 670 [43.9%] of other or unknown causes). Short LTL, expressed in residual LTL, was associated with increased mortality risk. Overall, the hazard ratio for all-cause mortality for a 1-kilobase decrease in LTL was 1.34 (95% CI, 1.21-1.47). This association was stronger for noncancer causes of death (cardiovascular death: hazard ratio, 1.28; 95% CI, 1.08-1.52; cancer: hazard ratio, 1.13; 95% CI, 0.93-1.36; and other causes: hazard ratio, 1.53; 95% CI, 1.32-1.77).

Conclusions and Relevance: The results of this study indicate that LTL is associated with a natural life span limit in contemporary humans.

%B JAMA Netw Open %V 3 %P e200023 %8 2020 Feb 05 %G eng %N 2 %R 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.0023 %0 Journal Article %J PLoS One %D 2020 %T Genetic loci associated with prevalent and incident myocardial infarction and coronary heart disease in the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) Consortium. %A Hahn, Julie %A Fu, Yi-Ping %A Brown, Michael R %A Bis, Joshua C %A de Vries, Paul S %A Feitosa, Mary F %A Yanek, Lisa R %A Weiss, Stefan %A Giulianini, Franco %A Smith, Albert Vernon %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Bartz, Traci M %A Becker, Diane M %A Becker, Lewis C %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Brody, Jennifer A %A Chen, Yii-Der Ida %A Franco, Oscar H %A Grove, Megan %A Harris, Tamara B %A Hofman, Albert %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Kral, Brian G %A Launer, Lenore J %A Markus, Marcello R P %A Rice, Kenneth M %A Rich, Stephen S %A Ridker, Paul M %A Rivadeneira, Fernando %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Sotoodehnia, Nona %A Taylor, Kent D %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Völker, Uwe %A Völzke, Henry %A Yao, Jie %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Dörr, Marcus %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Mathias, Rasika A %A Post, Wendy %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Dehghan, Abbas %A O'Donnell, Christopher J %A Morrison, Alanna C %K Aging %K Coronary Artery Disease %K Cross-Sectional Studies %K Europe %K European Continental Ancestry Group %K Genetic Loci %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Humans %K Myocardial Infarction %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Prospective Studies %X

BACKGROUND: Genome-wide association studies have identified multiple genomic loci associated with coronary artery disease, but most are common variants in non-coding regions that provide limited information on causal genes and etiology of the disease. To overcome the limited scope that common variants provide, we focused our investigation on low-frequency and rare sequence variations primarily residing in coding regions of the genome.

METHODS AND RESULTS: Using samples of individuals of European ancestry from ten cohorts within the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) consortium, both cross-sectional and prospective analyses were conducted to examine associations between genetic variants and myocardial infarction (MI), coronary heart disease (CHD), and all-cause mortality following these events. For prevalent events, a total of 27,349 participants of European ancestry, including 1831 prevalent MI cases and 2518 prevalent CHD cases were used. For incident cases, a total of 55,736 participants of European ancestry were included (3,031 incident MI cases and 5,425 incident CHD cases). There were 1,860 all-cause deaths among the 3,751 MI and CHD cases from six cohorts that contributed to the analysis of all-cause mortality. Single variant and gene-based analyses were performed separately in each cohort and then meta-analyzed for each outcome. A low-frequency intronic variant (rs988583) in PLCL1 was significantly associated with prevalent MI (OR = 1.80, 95% confidence interval: 1.43, 2.27; P = 7.12 × 10-7). We conducted gene-based burden tests for genes with a cumulative minor allele count (cMAC) ≥ 5 and variants with minor allele frequency (MAF) < 5%. TMPRSS5 and LDLRAD1 were significantly associated with prevalent MI and CHD, respectively, and RC3H2 and ANGPTL4 were significantly associated with incident MI and CHD, respectively. No loci were significantly associated with all-cause mortality following a MI or CHD event.

CONCLUSION: This study identified one known locus (ANGPTL4) and four new loci (PLCL1, RC3H2, TMPRSS5, and LDLRAD1) associated with cardiovascular disease risk that warrant further investigation.

%B PLoS One %V 15 %P e0230035 %8 2020 %G eng %N 11 %R 10.1371/journal.pone.0230035 %0 Journal Article %J Kidney Int %D 2020 %T Meta-analysis uncovers genome-wide significant variants for rapid kidney function decline. %A Gorski, Mathias %A Jung, Bettina %A Li, Yong %A Matias-Garcia, Pamela R %A Wuttke, Matthias %A Coassin, Stefan %A Thio, Chris H L %A Kleber, Marcus E %A Winkler, Thomas W %A Wanner, Veronika %A Chai, Jin-Fang %A Chu, Audrey Y %A Cocca, Massimiliano %A Feitosa, Mary F %A Ghasemi, Sahar %A Hoppmann, Anselm %A Horn, Katrin %A Li, Man %A Nutile, Teresa %A Scholz, Markus %A Sieber, Karsten B %A Teumer, Alexander %A Tin, Adrienne %A Wang, Judy %A Tayo, Bamidele O %A Ahluwalia, Tarunveer S %A Almgren, Peter %A Bakker, Stephan J L %A Banas, Bernhard %A Bansal, Nisha %A Biggs, Mary L %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Bottinger, Erwin P %A Brenner, Hermann %A Carroll, Robert J %A Chalmers, John %A Chee, Miao-Li %A Chee, Miao-Ling %A Cheng, Ching-Yu %A Coresh, Josef %A de Borst, Martin H %A Degenhardt, Frauke %A Eckardt, Kai-Uwe %A Endlich, Karlhans %A Franke, Andre %A Freitag-Wolf, Sandra %A Gampawar, Piyush %A Gansevoort, Ron T %A Ghanbari, Mohsen %A Gieger, Christian %A Hamet, Pavel %A Ho, Kevin %A Hofer, Edith %A Holleczek, Bernd %A Xian Foo, Valencia Hui %A Hutri-Kähönen, Nina %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Ikram, M Arfan %A Josyula, Navya Shilpa %A Kähönen, Mika %A Khor, Chiea-Chuen %A Koenig, Wolfgang %A Kramer, Holly %A Krämer, Bernhard K %A Kuhnel, Brigitte %A Lange, Leslie A %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Lieb, Wolfgang %A Loos, Ruth J F %A Lukas, Mary Ann %A Lyytikäinen, Leo-Pekka %A Meisinger, Christa %A Meitinger, Thomas %A Melander, Olle %A Milaneschi, Yuri %A Mishra, Pashupati P %A Mononen, Nina %A Mychaleckyj, Josyf C %A Nadkarni, Girish N %A Nauck, Matthias %A Nikus, Kjell %A Ning, Boting %A Nolte, Ilja M %A O'Donoghue, Michelle L %A Orho-Melander, Marju %A Pendergrass, Sarah A %A Penninx, Brenda W J H %A Preuss, Michael H %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Raffield, Laura M %A Raitakari, Olli T %A Rettig, Rainer %A Rheinberger, Myriam %A Rice, Kenneth M %A Rosenkranz, Alexander R %A Rossing, Peter %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Sabanayagam, Charumathi %A Schmidt, Helena %A Schmidt, Reinhold %A Schöttker, Ben %A Schulz, Christina-Alexandra %A Sedaghat, Sanaz %A Shaffer, Christian M %A Strauch, Konstantin %A Szymczak, Silke %A Taylor, Kent D %A Tremblay, Johanne %A Chaker, Layal %A van der Harst, Pim %A van der Most, Peter J %A Verweij, Niek %A Völker, Uwe %A Waldenberger, Melanie %A Wallentin, Lars %A Waterworth, Dawn M %A White, Harvey D %A Wilson, James G %A Wong, Tien-Yin %A Woodward, Mark %A Yang, Qiong %A Yasuda, Masayuki %A Yerges-Armstrong, Laura M %A Zhang, Yan %A Snieder, Harold %A Wanner, Christoph %A Böger, Carsten A %A Köttgen, Anna %A Kronenberg, Florian %A Pattaro, Cristian %A Heid, Iris M %X

Rapid decline of glomerular filtration rate estimated from creatinine (eGFRcrea) is associated with severe clinical endpoints. In contrast to cross-sectionally assessed eGFRcrea, the genetic basis for rapid eGFRcrea decline is largely unknown. To help define this, we meta-analyzed 42 genome-wide association studies from the Chronic Kidney Diseases Genetics Consortium and United Kingdom Biobank to identify genetic loci for rapid eGFRcrea decline. Two definitions of eGFRcrea decline were used: 3 mL/min/1.73m/year or more ("Rapid3"; encompassing 34,874 cases, 107,090 controls) and eGFRcrea decline 25% or more and eGFRcrea under 60 mL/min/1.73m at follow-up among those with eGFRcrea 60 mL/min/1.73m or more at baseline ("CKDi25"; encompassing 19,901 cases, 175,244 controls). Seven independent variants were identified across six loci for Rapid3 and/or CKDi25: consisting of five variants at four loci with genome-wide significance (near UMOD-PDILT (2), PRKAG2, WDR72, OR2S2) and two variants among 265 known eGFRcrea variants (near GATM, LARP4B). All these loci were novel for Rapid3 and/or CKDi25 and our bioinformatic follow-up prioritized variants and genes underneath these loci. The OR2S2 locus is novel for any eGFRcrea trait including interesting candidates. For the five genome-wide significant lead variants, we found supporting effects for annual change in blood urea nitrogen or cystatin-based eGFR, but not for GATM or LARP4B. Individuals at high compared to those at low genetic risk (8-14 vs 0-5 adverse alleles) had a 1.20-fold increased risk of acute kidney injury (95% confidence interval 1.08-1.33). Thus, our identified loci for rapid kidney function decline may help prioritize therapeutic targets and identify mechanisms and individuals at risk for sustained deterioration of kidney function.

%B Kidney Int %8 2020 Oct 30 %G eng %R 10.1016/j.kint.2020.09.030 %0 Journal Article %J Nat Commun %D 2021 %T Epigenome-wide association study of serum urate reveals insights into urate co-regulation and the SLC2A9 locus. %A Tin, Adrienne %A Schlosser, Pascal %A Matias-Garcia, Pamela R %A Thio, Chris H L %A Joehanes, Roby %A Liu, Hongbo %A Yu, Zhi %A Weihs, Antoine %A Hoppmann, Anselm %A Grundner-Culemann, Franziska %A Min, Josine L %A Kuhns, Victoria L Halperin %A Adeyemo, Adebowale A %A Agyemang, Charles %A Arnlöv, Johan %A Aziz, Nasir A %A Baccarelli, Andrea %A Bochud, Murielle %A Brenner, Hermann %A Bressler, Jan %A Breteler, Monique M B %A Carmeli, Cristian %A Chaker, Layal %A Coresh, Josef %A Corre, Tanguy %A Correa, Adolfo %A Cox, Simon R %A Delgado, Graciela E %A Eckardt, Kai-Uwe %A Ekici, Arif B %A Endlich, Karlhans %A Floyd, James S %A Fraszczyk, Eliza %A Gao, Xu %A Gào, Xīn %A Gelber, Allan C %A Ghanbari, Mohsen %A Ghasemi, Sahar %A Gieger, Christian %A Greenland, Philip %A Grove, Megan L %A Harris, Sarah E %A Hemani, Gibran %A Henneman, Peter %A Herder, Christian %A Horvath, Steve %A Hou, Lifang %A Hurme, Mikko A %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Kasela, Silva %A Kleber, Marcus E %A Koenig, Wolfgang %A Kooner, Jaspal S %A Kronenberg, Florian %A Kuhnel, Brigitte %A Ladd-Acosta, Christine %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Lind, Lars %A Liu, Dan %A Lloyd-Jones, Donald M %A Lorkowski, Stefan %A Lu, Ake T %A Marioni, Riccardo E %A März, Winfried %A McCartney, Daniel L %A Meeks, Karlijn A C %A Milani, Lili %A Mishra, Pashupati P %A Nauck, Matthias %A Nowak, Christoph %A Peters, Annette %A Prokisch, Holger %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Raitakari, Olli T %A Ratliff, Scott M %A Reiner, Alex P %A Schöttker, Ben %A Schwartz, Joel %A Sedaghat, Sanaz %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Sotoodehnia, Nona %A Stocker, Hannah R %A Stringhini, Silvia %A Sundström, Johan %A Swenson, Brenton R %A van Meurs, Joyce B J %A van Vliet-Ostaptchouk, Jana V %A Venema, Andrea %A Völker, Uwe %A Winkelmann, Juliane %A Wolffenbuttel, Bruce H R %A Zhao, Wei %A Zheng, Yinan %A Loh, Marie %A Snieder, Harold %A Waldenberger, Melanie %A Levy, Daniel %A Akilesh, Shreeram %A Woodward, Owen M %A Susztak, Katalin %A Teumer, Alexander %A Köttgen, Anna %K Amino Acid Transport System y+ %K Cohort Studies %K CpG Islands %K DNA Methylation %K Epigenome %K Female %K Genetic Predisposition to Disease %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Glucose Transport Proteins, Facilitative %K Gout %K Humans %K Male %K Uric Acid %X

Elevated serum urate levels, a complex trait and major risk factor for incident gout, are correlated with cardiometabolic traits via incompletely understood mechanisms. DNA methylation in whole blood captures genetic and environmental influences and is assessed in transethnic meta-analysis of epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS) of serum urate (discovery, n = 12,474, replication, n = 5522). The 100 replicated, epigenome-wide significant (p < 1.1E-7) CpGs explain 11.6% of the serum urate variance. At SLC2A9, the serum urate locus with the largest effect in genome-wide association studies (GWAS), five CpGs are associated with SLC2A9 gene expression. Four CpGs at SLC2A9 have significant causal effects on serum urate levels and/or gout, and two of these partly mediate the effects of urate-associated GWAS variants. In other genes, including SLC7A11 and PHGDH, 17 urate-associated CpGs are associated with conditions defining metabolic syndrome, suggesting that these CpGs may represent a blood DNA methylation signature of cardiometabolic risk factors. This study demonstrates that EWAS can provide new insights into GWAS loci and the correlation of serum urate with other complex traits.

%B Nat Commun %V 12 %P 7173 %8 2021 12 09 %G eng %N 1 %R 10.1038/s41467-021-27198-4 %0 Journal Article %J Nat Commun %D 2021 %T Meta-analyses identify DNA methylation associated with kidney function and damage. %A Schlosser, Pascal %A Tin, Adrienne %A Matias-Garcia, Pamela R %A Thio, Chris H L %A Joehanes, Roby %A Liu, Hongbo %A Weihs, Antoine %A Yu, Zhi %A Hoppmann, Anselm %A Grundner-Culemann, Franziska %A Min, Josine L %A Adeyemo, Adebowale A %A Agyemang, Charles %A Arnlöv, Johan %A Aziz, Nasir A %A Baccarelli, Andrea %A Bochud, Murielle %A Brenner, Hermann %A Breteler, Monique M B %A Carmeli, Cristian %A Chaker, Layal %A Chambers, John C %A Cole, Shelley A %A Coresh, Josef %A Corre, Tanguy %A Correa, Adolfo %A Cox, Simon R %A de Klein, Niek %A Delgado, Graciela E %A Domingo-Relloso, Arce %A Eckardt, Kai-Uwe %A Ekici, Arif B %A Endlich, Karlhans %A Evans, Kathryn L %A Floyd, James S %A Fornage, Myriam %A Franke, Lude %A Fraszczyk, Eliza %A Gao, Xu %A Gào, Xīn %A Ghanbari, Mohsen %A Ghasemi, Sahar %A Gieger, Christian %A Greenland, Philip %A Grove, Megan L %A Harris, Sarah E %A Hemani, Gibran %A Henneman, Peter %A Herder, Christian %A Horvath, Steve %A Hou, Lifang %A Hurme, Mikko A %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Kasela, Silva %A Kleber, Marcus E %A Koenig, Wolfgang %A Kooner, Jaspal S %A Kramer, Holly %A Kronenberg, Florian %A Kuhnel, Brigitte %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Lind, Lars %A Liu, Dan %A Liu, Yongmei %A Lloyd-Jones, Donald M %A Lohman, Kurt %A Lorkowski, Stefan %A Lu, Ake T %A Marioni, Riccardo E %A März, Winfried %A McCartney, Daniel L %A Meeks, Karlijn A C %A Milani, Lili %A Mishra, Pashupati P %A Nauck, Matthias %A Navas-Acien, Ana %A Nowak, Christoph %A Peters, Annette %A Prokisch, Holger %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Raitakari, Olli T %A Ratliff, Scott M %A Reiner, Alex P %A Rosas, Sylvia E %A Schöttker, Ben %A Schwartz, Joel %A Sedaghat, Sanaz %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Sotoodehnia, Nona %A Stocker, Hannah R %A Stringhini, Silvia %A Sundström, Johan %A Swenson, Brenton R %A Tellez-Plaza, Maria %A van Meurs, Joyce B J %A van Vliet-Ostaptchouk, Jana V %A Venema, Andrea %A Verweij, Niek %A Walker, Rosie M %A Wielscher, Matthias %A Winkelmann, Juliane %A Wolffenbuttel, Bruce H R %A Zhao, Wei %A Zheng, Yinan %A Loh, Marie %A Snieder, Harold %A Levy, Daniel %A Waldenberger, Melanie %A Susztak, Katalin %A Köttgen, Anna %A Teumer, Alexander %K Adult %K Aged %K CpG Islands %K DNA Methylation %K Female %K Glomerular Filtration Rate %K Humans %K Interferon Regulatory Factors %K Kidney %K Kidney Function Tests %K LIM Domain Proteins %K Male %K Membrane Proteins %K Middle Aged %K Renal Insufficiency, Chronic %K Transcription Factors %X

Chronic kidney disease is a major public health burden. Elevated urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio is a measure of kidney damage, and used to diagnose and stage chronic kidney disease. To extend the knowledge on regulatory mechanisms related to kidney function and disease, we conducted a blood-based epigenome-wide association study for estimated glomerular filtration rate (n = 33,605) and urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (n = 15,068) and detected 69 and seven CpG sites where DNA methylation was associated with the respective trait. The majority of these findings showed directionally consistent associations with the respective clinical outcomes chronic kidney disease and moderately increased albuminuria. Associations of DNA methylation with kidney function, such as CpGs at JAZF1, PELI1 and CHD2 were validated in kidney tissue. Methylation at PHRF1, LDB2, CSRNP1 and IRF5 indicated causal effects on kidney function. Enrichment analyses revealed pathways related to hemostasis and blood cell migration for estimated glomerular filtration rate, and immune cell activation and response for urinary albumin-to-creatinineratio-associated CpGs.

%B Nat Commun %V 12 %P 7174 %8 2021 12 09 %G eng %N 1 %R 10.1038/s41467-021-27234-3 %0 Journal Article %J Eur J Epidemiol %D 2021 %T Meta-analysis of epigenome-wide association studies of carotid intima-media thickness. %A Portilla-Fernández, Eliana %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Wilson, Rory %A Maddock, Jane %A Hill, W David %A Teumer, Alexander %A Mishra, Pashupati P %A Brody, Jennifer A %A Joehanes, Roby %A Ligthart, Symen %A Ghanbari, Mohsen %A Kavousi, Maryam %A Roks, Anton J M %A Danser, A H Jan %A Levy, Daniel %A Peters, Annette %A Ghasemi, Sahar %A Schminke, Ulf %A Dörr, Marcus %A Grabe, Hans J %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Kähönen, Mika %A Hurme, Mikko A %A Bartz, Traci M %A Sotoodehnia, Nona %A Bis, Joshua C %A Thiery, Joachim %A Koenig, Wolfgang %A Ong, Ken K %A Bell, Jordana T %A Meisinger, Christine %A Wardlaw, Joanna M %A Starr, John M %A Seissler, Jochen %A Then, Cornelia %A Rathmann, Wolfgang %A Ikram, M Arfan %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Raitakari, Olli T %A Völzke, Henry %A Deary, Ian J %A Wong, Andrew %A Waldenberger, Melanie %A O'Donnell, Christopher J %A Dehghan, Abbas %X

Common carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) is an index of subclinical atherosclerosis that is associated with ischemic stroke and coronary artery disease (CAD). We undertook a cross-sectional epigenome-wide association study (EWAS) of measures of cIMT in 6400 individuals. Mendelian randomization analysis was applied to investigate the potential causal role of DNA methylation in the link between atherosclerotic cardiovascular risk factors and cIMT or clinical cardiovascular disease. The CpG site cg05575921 was associated with cIMT (beta = -0.0264, p value = 3.5 × 10) in the discovery panel and was replicated in replication panel (beta = -0.07, p value = 0.005). This CpG is located at chr5:81649347 in the intron 3 of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor repressor gene (AHRR). Our results indicate that DNA methylation at cg05575921 might be in the pathway between smoking, cIMT and stroke. Moreover, in a region-based analysis, 34 differentially methylated regions (DMRs) were identified of which a DMR upstream of ALOX12 showed the strongest association with cIMT (p value = 1.4 × 10). In conclusion, our study suggests that DNA methylation may play a role in the link between cardiovascular risk factors, cIMT and clinical cardiovascular disease.

%B Eur J Epidemiol %8 2021 Jun 06 %G eng %R 10.1007/s10654-021-00759-z %0 Journal Article %J Circ Genom Precis Med %D 2021 %T Multiethnic Genome-Wide Association Study of Subclinical Atherosclerosis in Individuals With Type 2 Diabetes. %A Lu, Yingchang %A Dimitrov, Latchezar %A Chen, Shyh-Huei %A Bielak, Lawrence F %A Bis, Joshua C %A Feitosa, Mary F %A Lu, Lingyi %A Kavousi, Maryam %A Raffield, Laura M %A Smith, Albert V %A Wang, Lihua %A Weiss, Stefan %A Yao, Jie %A Zhu, Jiaxi %A Gudmundsson, Elias F %A Gudmundsdottir, Valborg %A Bos, Daniel %A Ghanbari, Mohsen %A Ikram, M Arfan %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Taylor, Kent D %A Budoff, Matthew J %A Gislason, Gauti K %A O'Donnell, Christopher J %A An, Ping %A Franceschini, Nora %A Freedman, Barry I %A Fu, Yi-Ping %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Heiss, Gerardo %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Wilson, James G %A Langefeld, Carl D %A Schminke, Ulf %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Lange, Leslie A %A Peyser, Patricia A %A Gudnason, Vilmundur G %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Bowden, Donald W %A Ng, Maggie C Y %X

BACKGROUND: Coronary artery calcification (CAC) and carotid artery intima-media thickness (cIMT) are measures of subclinical atherosclerosis in asymptomatic individuals and strong risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is an independent cardiovascular disease risk factor that accelerates atherosclerosis.

METHODS: We performed meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies in up to 2500 T2D individuals of European ancestry (EA) and 1590 T2D individuals of African ancestry with or without exclusion of prevalent cardiovascular disease, for CAC measured by cardiac computed tomography, and 3608 individuals of EA and 838 individuals of African ancestry with T2D for cIMT measured by ultrasonography within the CHARGE (Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology) Consortium.

RESULTS: We replicated 2 loci (rs9369640 and rs9349379 near and rs10757278 near ) for CAC and one locus for cIMT (rs7412 and rs445925 near ) that were previously reported in the general EA populations. We identified one novel CAC locus (rs8000449 near at 13q13.3) at =2.0×10 in EA. No additional loci were identified with the meta-analyses of EA and African ancestry. The expression quantitative trait loci analysis with nearby expressed genes derived from arterial wall and metabolic tissues from the Genotype-Tissue Expression project pinpoints , encoding a matricellular protein involved in bone formation and bone matrix organization, as the potential candidate gene at this locus. In addition, we found significant associations (<3.1×10) for 3 previously reported coronary artery disease loci for these subclinical atherosclerotic phenotypes (rs2891168 near and rs11170820 near for CAC, and rs7412 near for cIMT).

CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide potential biological mechanisms that could link CAC and cIMT to increased cardiovascular disease risk in individuals with T2D.

%B Circ Genom Precis Med %V 14 %P e003258 %8 2021 Aug %G eng %N 4 %R 10.1161/CIRCGEN.120.003258 %0 Journal Article %J EBioMedicine %D 2021 %T Whole genome sequence analyses of eGFR in 23,732 people representing multiple ancestries in the NHLBI trans-omics for precision medicine (TOPMed) consortium. %A Lin, Bridget M %A Grinde, Kelsey E %A Brody, Jennifer A %A Breeze, Charles E %A Raffield, Laura M %A Mychaleckyj, Josyf C %A Thornton, Timothy A %A Perry, James A %A Baier, Leslie J %A de Las Fuentes, Lisa %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Heavner, Benjamin D %A Hanson, Robert L %A Hung, Yi-Jen %A Qian, Huijun %A Hsiung, Chao A %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Irvin, Margaret R %A Jain, Deepti %A Kelly, Tanika N %A Kobes, Sayuko %A Lange, Leslie %A Lash, James P %A Li, Yun %A Liu, Xiaoming %A Mi, Xuenan %A Musani, Solomon K %A Papanicolaou, George J %A Parsa, Afshin %A Reiner, Alex P %A Salimi, Shabnam %A Sheu, Wayne H-H %A Shuldiner, Alan R %A Taylor, Kent D %A Smith, Albert V %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Tin, Adrienne %A Vaidya, Dhananjay %A Wallace, Robert B %A Yamamoto, Kenichi %A Sakaue, Saori %A Matsuda, Koichi %A Kamatani, Yoichiro %A Momozawa, Yukihide %A Yanek, Lisa R %A Young, Betsi A %A Zhao, Wei %A Okada, Yukinori %A Abecasis, Gonzalo %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Arnett, Donna K %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Cai, Jianwen %A Yii-Der Chen, Ida %A Correa, Adolfo %A Cupples, L Adrienne %A He, Jiang %A Kardia, Sharon Lr %A Kooperberg, Charles %A Mathias, Rasika A %A Mitchell, Braxton D %A Nickerson, Deborah A %A Turner, Steve T %A Vasan, Ramachandran S %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Levy, Daniel %A Kramer, Holly J %A Köttgen, Anna %A Rich, Stephen S %A Lin, Dan-Yu %A Browning, Sharon R %A Franceschini, Nora %X

BACKGROUND: Genetic factors that influence kidney traits have been understudied for low frequency and ancestry-specific variants.

METHODS: We combined whole genome sequencing (WGS) data from 23,732 participants from 10 NHLBI Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) Program multi-ethnic studies to identify novel loci for estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). Participants included European, African, East Asian, and Hispanic ancestries. We applied linear mixed models using a genetic relationship matrix estimated from the WGS data and adjusted for age, sex, study, and ethnicity.

FINDINGS: When testing single variants, we identified three novel loci driven by low frequency variants more commonly observed in non-European ancestry (PRKAA2, rs180996919, minor allele frequency [MAF] 0.04%, P = 6.1 × 10; METTL8, rs116951054, MAF 0.09%, P = 4.5 × 10; and MATK, rs539182790, MAF 0.05%, P = 3.4 × 10). We also replicated two known loci for common variants (rs2461702, MAF=0.49, P = 1.2 × 10, nearest gene GATM, and rs71147340, MAF=0.34, P = 3.3 × 10, CDK12). Testing aggregated variants within a gene identified the MAF gene. A statistical approach based on local ancestry helped to identify replication samples for ancestry-specific variants.

INTERPRETATION: This study highlights challenges in studying variants influencing kidney traits that are low frequency in populations and more common in non-European ancestry.

%B EBioMedicine %V 63 %P 103157 %8 2021 Jan %G eng %R 10.1016/j.ebiom.2020.103157 %0 Journal Article %J Commun Biol %D 2022 %T Differential and shared genetic effects on kidney function between diabetic and non-diabetic individuals. %A Winkler, Thomas W %A Rasheed, Humaira %A Teumer, Alexander %A Gorski, Mathias %A Rowan, Bryce X %A Stanzick, Kira J %A Thomas, Laurent F %A Tin, Adrienne %A Hoppmann, Anselm %A Chu, Audrey Y %A Tayo, Bamidele %A Thio, Chris H L %A Cusi, Daniele %A Chai, Jin-Fang %A Sieber, Karsten B %A Horn, Katrin %A Li, Man %A Scholz, Markus %A Cocca, Massimiliano %A Wuttke, Matthias %A van der Most, Peter J %A Yang, Qiong %A Ghasemi, Sahar %A Nutile, Teresa %A Li, Yong %A Pontali, Giulia %A Günther, Felix %A Dehghan, Abbas %A Correa, Adolfo %A Parsa, Afshin %A Feresin, Agnese %A de Vries, Aiko P J %A Zonderman, Alan B %A Smith, Albert V %A Oldehinkel, Albertine J %A De Grandi, Alessandro %A Rosenkranz, Alexander R %A Franke, Andre %A Teren, Andrej %A Metspalu, Andres %A Hicks, Andrew A %A Morris, Andrew P %A Tönjes, Anke %A Morgan, Anna %A Podgornaia, Anna I %A Peters, Annette %A Körner, Antje %A Mahajan, Anubha %A Campbell, Archie %A Freedman, Barry I %A Spedicati, Beatrice %A Ponte, Belen %A Schöttker, Ben %A Brumpton, Ben %A Banas, Bernhard %A Krämer, Bernhard K %A Jung, Bettina %A Åsvold, Bjørn Olav %A Smith, Blair H %A Ning, Boting %A Penninx, Brenda W J H %A Vanderwerff, Brett R %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Kammerer, Candace M %A Langefeld, Carl D %A Hayward, Caroline %A Spracklen, Cassandra N %A Robinson-Cohen, Cassianne %A Hartman, Catharina A %A Lindgren, Cecilia M %A Wang, Chaolong %A Sabanayagam, Charumathi %A Heng, Chew-Kiat %A Lanzani, Chiara %A Khor, Chiea-Chuen %A Cheng, Ching-Yu %A Fuchsberger, Christian %A Gieger, Christian %A Shaffer, Christian M %A Schulz, Christina-Alexandra %A Willer, Cristen J %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Gudbjartsson, Daniel F %A Ruggiero, Daniela %A Toniolo, Daniela %A Czamara, Darina %A Porteous, David J %A Waterworth, Dawn M %A Mascalzoni, Deborah %A Mook-Kanamori, Dennis O %A Reilly, Dermot F %A Daw, E Warwick %A Hofer, Edith %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Salvi, Erika %A Bottinger, Erwin P %A Tai, E-Shyong %A Catamo, Eulalia %A Rizzi, Federica %A Guo, Feng %A Rivadeneira, Fernando %A Guilianini, Franco %A Sveinbjornsson, Gardar %A Ehret, Georg %A Waeber, Gérard %A Biino, Ginevra %A Girotto, Giorgia %A Pistis, Giorgio %A Nadkarni, Girish N %A Delgado, Graciela E %A Montgomery, Grant W %A Snieder, Harold %A Campbell, Harry %A White, Harvey D %A Gao, He %A Stringham, Heather M %A Schmidt, Helena %A Li, Hengtong %A Brenner, Hermann %A Holm, Hilma %A Kirsten, Holgen %A Kramer, Holly %A Rudan, Igor %A Nolte, Ilja M %A Tzoulaki, Ioanna %A Olafsson, Isleifur %A Martins, Jade %A Cook, James P %A Wilson, James F %A Halbritter, Jan %A Felix, Janine F %A Divers, Jasmin %A Kooner, Jaspal S %A Lee, Jeannette Jen-Mai %A O'Connell, Jeffrey %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Liu, Jianjun %A Xu, Jie %A Thiery, Joachim %A Arnlöv, Johan %A Kuusisto, Johanna %A Jakobsdottir, Johanna %A Tremblay, Johanne %A Chambers, John C %A Whitfield, John B %A Gaziano, John M %A Marten, Jonathan %A Coresh, Josef %A Jonas, Jost B %A Mychaleckyj, Josyf C %A Christensen, Kaare %A Eckardt, Kai-Uwe %A Mohlke, Karen L %A Endlich, Karlhans %A Dittrich, Katalin %A Ryan, Kathleen A %A Rice, Kenneth M %A Taylor, Kent D %A Ho, Kevin %A Nikus, Kjell %A Matsuda, Koichi %A Strauch, Konstantin %A Miliku, Kozeta %A Hveem, Kristian %A Lind, Lars %A Wallentin, Lars %A Yerges-Armstrong, Laura M %A Raffield, Laura M %A Phillips, Lawrence S %A Launer, Lenore J %A Lyytikäinen, Leo-Pekka %A Lange, Leslie A %A Citterio, Lorena %A Klaric, Lucija %A Ikram, M Arfan %A Ising, Marcus %A Kleber, Marcus E %A Francescatto, Margherita %A Concas, Maria Pina %A Ciullo, Marina %A Piratsu, Mario %A Orho-Melander, Marju %A Laakso, Markku %A Loeffler, Markus %A Perola, Markus %A de Borst, Martin H %A Gögele, Martin %A Bianca, Martina La %A Lukas, Mary Ann %A Feitosa, Mary F %A Biggs, Mary L %A Wojczynski, Mary K %A Kavousi, Maryam %A Kanai, Masahiro %A Akiyama, Masato %A Yasuda, Masayuki %A Nauck, Matthias %A Waldenberger, Melanie %A Chee, Miao-Li %A Chee, Miao-Ling %A Boehnke, Michael %A Preuss, Michael H %A Stumvoll, Michael %A Province, Michael A %A Evans, Michele K %A O'Donoghue, Michelle L %A Kubo, Michiaki %A Kähönen, Mika %A Kastarinen, Mika %A Nalls, Mike A %A Kuokkanen, Mikko %A Ghanbari, Mohsen %A Bochud, Murielle %A Josyula, Navya Shilpa %A Martin, Nicholas G %A Tan, Nicholas Y Q %A Palmer, Nicholette D %A Pirastu, Nicola %A Schupf, Nicole %A Verweij, Niek %A Hutri-Kähönen, Nina %A Mononen, Nina %A Bansal, Nisha %A Devuyst, Olivier %A Melander, Olle %A Raitakari, Olli T %A Polasek, Ozren %A Manunta, Paolo %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Mishra, Pashupati P %A Sulem, Patrick %A Magnusson, Patrik K E %A Elliott, Paul %A Ridker, Paul M %A Hamet, Pavel %A Svensson, Per O %A Joshi, Peter K %A Kovacs, Peter %A Pramstaller, Peter P %A Rossing, Peter %A Vollenweider, Peter %A van der Harst, Pim %A Dorajoo, Rajkumar %A Sim, Ralene Z H %A Burkhardt, Ralph %A Tao, Ran %A Noordam, Raymond %A Mägi, Reedik %A Schmidt, Reinhold %A de Mutsert, Renée %A Rueedi, Rico %A van Dam, Rob M %A Carroll, Robert J %A Gansevoort, Ron T %A Loos, Ruth J F %A Felicita, Sala Cinzia %A Sedaghat, Sanaz %A Padmanabhan, Sandosh %A Freitag-Wolf, Sandra %A Pendergrass, Sarah A %A Graham, Sarah E %A Gordon, Scott D %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Kerr, Shona M %A Vaccargiu, Simona %A Patil, Snehal B %A Hallan, Stein %A Bakker, Stephan J L %A Lim, Su-Chi %A Lucae, Susanne %A Vogelezang, Suzanne %A Bergmann, Sven %A Corre, Tanguy %A Ahluwalia, Tarunveer S %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Boutin, Thibaud S %A Meitinger, Thomas %A Wong, Tien-Yin %A Bergler, Tobias %A Rabelink, Ton J %A Esko, Tõnu %A Haller, Toomas %A Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur %A Völker, Uwe %A Foo, Valencia Hui Xian %A Salomaa, Veikko %A Vitart, Veronique %A Giedraitis, Vilmantas %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Jaddoe, Vincent W V %A Huang, Wei %A Zhang, Weihua %A Wei, Wen Bin %A Kiess, Wieland %A März, Winfried %A Koenig, Wolfgang %A Lieb, Wolfgang %A Gào, Xīn %A Sim, Xueling %A Wang, Ya Xing %A Friedlander, Yechiel %A Tham, Yih-Chung %A Kamatani, Yoichiro %A Okada, Yukinori %A Milaneschi, Yuri %A Yu, Zhi %A Stark, Klaus J %A Stefansson, Kari %A Böger, Carsten A %A Hung, Adriana M %A Kronenberg, Florian %A Köttgen, Anna %A Pattaro, Cristian %A Heid, Iris M %K Creatinine %K Diabetes Mellitus %K Diabetic Nephropathies %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Glomerular Filtration Rate %K Humans %K Kidney %X

Reduced glomerular filtration rate (GFR) can progress to kidney failure. Risk factors include genetics and diabetes mellitus (DM), but little is known about their interaction. We conducted genome-wide association meta-analyses for estimated GFR based on serum creatinine (eGFR), separately for individuals with or without DM (n = 178,691, n = 1,296,113). Our genome-wide searches identified (i) seven eGFR loci with significant DM/noDM-difference, (ii) four additional novel loci with suggestive difference and (iii) 28 further novel loci (including CUBN) by allowing for potential difference. GWAS on eGFR among DM individuals identified 2 known and 27 potentially responsible loci for diabetic kidney disease. Gene prioritization highlighted 18 genes that may inform reno-protective drug development. We highlight the existence of DM-only and noDM-only effects, which can inform about the target group, if respective genes are advanced as drug targets. Largely shared effects suggest that most drug interventions to alter eGFR should be effective in DM and noDM.

%B Commun Biol %V 5 %P 580 %8 2022 Jun 13 %G eng %N 1 %R 10.1038/s42003-022-03448-z %0 Journal Article %J Kidney Int %D 2022 %T Genetic loci and prioritization of genes for kidney function decline derived from a meta-analysis of 62 longitudinal genome-wide association studies. %A Gorski, Mathias %A Rasheed, Humaira %A Teumer, Alexander %A Thomas, Laurent F %A Graham, Sarah E %A Sveinbjornsson, Gardar %A Winkler, Thomas W %A Günther, Felix %A Stark, Klaus J %A Chai, Jin-Fang %A Tayo, Bamidele O %A Wuttke, Matthias %A Li, Yong %A Tin, Adrienne %A Ahluwalia, Tarunveer S %A Arnlöv, Johan %A Åsvold, Bjørn Olav %A Bakker, Stephan J L %A Banas, Bernhard %A Bansal, Nisha %A Biggs, Mary L %A Biino, Ginevra %A Böhnke, Michael %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Bottinger, Erwin P %A Brenner, Hermann %A Brumpton, Ben %A Carroll, Robert J %A Chaker, Layal %A Chalmers, John %A Chee, Miao-Li %A Chee, Miao-Ling %A Cheng, Ching-Yu %A Chu, Audrey Y %A Ciullo, Marina %A Cocca, Massimiliano %A Cook, James P %A Coresh, Josef %A Cusi, Daniele %A de Borst, Martin H %A Degenhardt, Frauke %A Eckardt, Kai-Uwe %A Endlich, Karlhans %A Evans, Michele K %A Feitosa, Mary F %A Franke, Andre %A Freitag-Wolf, Sandra %A Fuchsberger, Christian %A Gampawar, Piyush %A Gansevoort, Ron T %A Ghanbari, Mohsen %A Ghasemi, Sahar %A Giedraitis, Vilmantas %A Gieger, Christian %A Gudbjartsson, Daniel F %A Hallan, Stein %A Hamet, Pavel %A Hishida, Asahi %A Ho, Kevin %A Hofer, Edith %A Holleczek, Bernd %A Holm, Hilma %A Hoppmann, Anselm %A Horn, Katrin %A Hutri-Kähönen, Nina %A Hveem, Kristian %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Ikram, M Arfan %A Josyula, Navya Shilpa %A Jung, Bettina %A Kähönen, Mika %A Karabegović, Irma %A Khor, Chiea-Chuen %A Koenig, Wolfgang %A Kramer, Holly %A Krämer, Bernhard K %A Kuhnel, Brigitte %A Kuusisto, Johanna %A Laakso, Markku %A Lange, Leslie A %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Li, Man %A Lieb, Wolfgang %A Lind, Lars %A Lindgren, Cecilia M %A Loos, Ruth J F %A Lukas, Mary Ann %A Lyytikäinen, Leo-Pekka %A Mahajan, Anubha %A Matias-Garcia, Pamela R %A Meisinger, Christa %A Meitinger, Thomas %A Melander, Olle %A Milaneschi, Yuri %A Mishra, Pashupati P %A Mononen, Nina %A Morris, Andrew P %A Mychaleckyj, Josyf C %A Nadkarni, Girish N %A Naito, Mariko %A Nakatochi, Masahiro %A Nalls, Mike A %A Nauck, Matthias %A Nikus, Kjell %A Ning, Boting %A Nolte, Ilja M %A Nutile, Teresa %A O'Donoghue, Michelle L %A O'Connell, Jeffrey %A Olafsson, Isleifur %A Orho-Melander, Marju %A Parsa, Afshin %A Pendergrass, Sarah A %A Penninx, Brenda W J H %A Pirastu, Mario %A Preuss, Michael H %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Raffield, Laura M %A Raitakari, Olli T %A Rheinberger, Myriam %A Rice, Kenneth M %A Rizzi, Federica %A Rosenkranz, Alexander R %A Rossing, Peter %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Ruggiero, Daniela %A Ryan, Kathleen A %A Sabanayagam, Charumathi %A Salvi, Erika %A Schmidt, Helena %A Schmidt, Reinhold %A Scholz, Markus %A Schöttker, Ben %A Schulz, Christina-Alexandra %A Sedaghat, Sanaz %A Shaffer, Christian M %A Sieber, Karsten B %A Sim, Xueling %A Sims, Mario %A Snieder, Harold %A Stanzick, Kira J %A Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur %A Stocker, Hannah %A Strauch, Konstantin %A Stringham, Heather M %A Sulem, Patrick %A Szymczak, Silke %A Taylor, Kent D %A Thio, Chris H L %A Tremblay, Johanne %A Vaccargiu, Simona %A van der Harst, Pim %A van der Most, Peter J %A Verweij, Niek %A Völker, Uwe %A Wakai, Kenji %A Waldenberger, Melanie %A Wallentin, Lars %A Wallner, Stefan %A Wang, Judy %A Waterworth, Dawn M %A White, Harvey D %A Willer, Cristen J %A Wong, Tien-Yin %A Woodward, Mark %A Yang, Qiong %A Yerges-Armstrong, Laura M %A Zimmermann, Martina %A Zonderman, Alan B %A Bergler, Tobias %A Stefansson, Kari %A Böger, Carsten A %A Pattaro, Cristian %A Köttgen, Anna %A Kronenberg, Florian %A Heid, Iris M %X

Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) reflects kidney function. Progressive eGFR-decline can lead to kidney failure, necessitating dialysis or transplantation. Hundreds of loci from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for eGFR help explain population cross section variability. Since the contribution of these or other loci to eGFR-decline remains largely unknown, we derived GWAS for annual eGFR-decline and meta-analyzed 62 longitudinal studies with eGFR assessed twice over time in all 343,339 individuals and in high-risk groups. We also explored different covariate adjustment. Twelve genome-wide significant independent variants for eGFR-decline unadjusted or adjusted for eGFR-baseline (11 novel, one known for this phenotype), including nine variants robustly associated across models were identified. All loci for eGFR-decline were known for cross-sectional eGFR and thus distinguished a subgroup of eGFR loci. Seven of the nine variants showed variant-by-age interaction on eGFR cross section (further about 350,000 individuals), which linked genetic associations for eGFR-decline with age-dependency of genetic cross-section associations. Clinically important were two to four-fold greater genetic effects on eGFR-decline in high-risk subgroups. Five variants associated also with chronic kidney disease progression mapped to genes with functional in-silico evidence (UMOD, SPATA7, GALNTL5, TPPP). An unfavorable versus favorable nine-variant genetic profile showed increased risk odds ratios of 1.35 for kidney failure (95% confidence intervals 1.03-1.77) and 1.27 for acute kidney injury (95% confidence intervals 1.08-1.50) in over 2000 cases each, with matched controls). Thus, we provide a large data resource, genetic loci, and prioritized genes for kidney function decline, which help inform drug development pipelines revealing important insights into the age-dependency of kidney function genetics.

%B Kidney Int %8 2022 Jun 16 %G eng %R 10.1016/j.kint.2022.05.021 %0 Journal Article %J Hypertension %D 2022 %T Insights From a Large-Scale Whole-Genome Sequencing Study of Systolic Blood Pressure, Diastolic Blood Pressure, and Hypertension. %A Kelly, Tanika N %A Sun, Xiao %A He, Karen Y %A Brown, Michael R %A Taliun, Sarah A Gagliano %A Hellwege, Jacklyn N %A Irvin, Marguerite R %A Mi, Xuenan %A Brody, Jennifer A %A Franceschini, Nora %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A de Vries, Paul S %A Gao, Yan %A Moscati, Arden %A Nadkarni, Girish N %A Yanek, Lisa R %A Elfassy, Tali %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Chung, Ren-Hua %A Beitelshees, Amber L %A Patki, Amit %A Aslibekyan, Stella %A Blobner, Brandon M %A Peralta, Juan M %A Assimes, Themistocles L %A Palmas, Walter R %A Liu, Chunyu %A Bress, Adam P %A Huang, Zhijie %A Becker, Lewis C %A Hwa, Chii-Min %A O'Connell, Jeffrey R %A Carlson, Jenna C %A Warren, Helen R %A Das, Sayantan %A Giri, Ayush %A Martin, Lisa W %A Craig Johnson, W %A Fox, Ervin R %A Bottinger, Erwin P %A Razavi, Alexander C %A Vaidya, Dhananjay %A Chuang, Lee-Ming %A Chang, Yen-Pei C %A Naseri, Take %A Jain, Deepti %A Kang, Hyun Min %A Hung, Adriana M %A Srinivasasainagendra, Vinodh %A Snively, Beverly M %A Gu, Dongfeng %A Montasser, May E %A Reupena, Muagututi'a Sefuiva %A Heavner, Benjamin D %A LeFaive, Jonathon %A Hixson, James E %A Rice, Kenneth M %A Wang, Fei Fei %A Nielsen, Jonas B %A Huang, Jianfeng %A Khan, Alyna T %A Zhou, Wei %A Nierenberg, Jovia L %A Laurie, Cathy C %A Armstrong, Nicole D %A Shi, Mengyao %A Pan, Yang %A Stilp, Adrienne M %A Emery, Leslie %A Wong, Quenna %A Hawley, Nicola L %A Minster, Ryan L %A Curran, Joanne E %A Munroe, Patricia B %A Weeks, Daniel E %A North, Kari E %A Tracy, Russell P %A Kenny, Eimear E %A Shimbo, Daichi %A Chakravarti, Aravinda %A Rich, Stephen S %A Reiner, Alex P %A Blangero, John %A Redline, Susan %A Mitchell, Braxton D %A Rao, Dabeeru C %A Ida Chen, Yii-Der %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Kaplan, Robert C %A Mathias, Rasika A %A He, Jiang %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Fornage, Myriam %A Loos, Ruth J F %A Correa, Adolfo %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Kooperberg, Charles %A Edwards, Todd L %A Abecasis, Goncalo R %A Zhu, Xiaofeng %A Levy, Daniel %A Arnett, Donna K %A Morrison, Alanna C %X

BACKGROUND: The availability of whole-genome sequencing data in large studies has enabled the assessment of coding and noncoding variants across the allele frequency spectrum for their associations with blood pressure.

METHODS: We conducted a multiancestry whole-genome sequencing analysis of blood pressure among 51 456 Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine and Centers for Common Disease Genomics program participants (stage-1). Stage-2 analyses leveraged array data from UK Biobank (N=383 145), Million Veteran Program (N=318 891), and Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (N=10 643) participants, along with whole-exome sequencing data from UK Biobank (N=199 631) participants.

RESULTS: Two blood pressure signals achieved genome-wide significance in meta-analyses of stage-1 and stage-2 single variant findings (<5×10). Among them, a rare intergenic variant at novel locus, , was associated with lower systolic blood pressure in stage-1 (beta [SE]=-32.6 [6.0]; =4.99×10) but not stage-2 analysis (=0.11). Furthermore, a novel common variant at the known locus was suggestively associated with diastolic blood pressure in stage-1 (beta [SE]=-0.36 [0.07]; =4.18×10) and attained genome-wide significance in stage-2 (beta [SE]=-0.29 [0.03]; =7.28×10). Nineteen additional signals suggestively associated with blood pressure in meta-analysis of single and aggregate rare variant findings (<1×10 and <1×10, respectively).

DISCUSSION: We report one promising but unconfirmed rare variant for blood pressure and, more importantly, contribute insights for future blood pressure sequencing studies. Our findings suggest promise of aggregate analyses to complement single variant analysis strategies and the need for larger, diverse samples, and family studies to enable robust rare variant identification.

%B Hypertension %P 101161HYPERTENSIONAHA12219324 %8 2022 Jun 02 %G eng %R 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.122.19324 %0 Journal Article %J Aging Cell %D 2022 %T Integrative analysis of clinical and epigenetic biomarkers of mortality. %A Huan, Tianxiao %A Nguyen, Steve %A Colicino, Elena %A Ochoa-Rosales, Carolina %A Hill, W David %A Brody, Jennifer A %A Soerensen, Mette %A Zhang, Yan %A Baldassari, Antoine %A Elhadad, Mohamed Ahmed %A Toshiko, Tanaka %A Zheng, Yinan %A Domingo-Relloso, Arce %A Lee, Dong Heon %A Ma, Jiantao %A Yao, Chen %A Liu, Chunyu %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Joehanes, Roby %A Fornage, Myriam %A Bressler, Jan %A van Meurs, Joyce B J %A Debrabant, Birgit %A Mengel-From, Jonas %A Hjelmborg, Jacob %A Christensen, Kaare %A Vokonas, Pantel %A Schwartz, Joel %A Gahrib, Sina A %A Sotoodehnia, Nona %A Sitlani, Colleen M %A Kunze, Sonja %A Gieger, Christian %A Peters, Annette %A Waldenberger, Melanie %A Deary, Ian J %A Ferrucci, Luigi %A Qu, Yishu %A Greenland, Philip %A Lloyd-Jones, Donald M %A Hou, Lifang %A Bandinelli, Stefania %A Voortman, Trudy %A Hermann, Brenner %A Baccarelli, Andrea %A Whitsel, Eric %A Pankow, James S %A Levy, Daniel %K Biomarkers %K Cardiovascular Diseases %K DNA Methylation %K Epigenesis, Genetic %K Epigenomics %K Humans %K Male %K Neoplasms %X

DNA methylation (DNAm) has been reported to be associated with many diseases and with mortality. We hypothesized that the integration of DNAm with clinical risk factors would improve mortality prediction. We performed an epigenome-wide association study of whole blood DNAm in relation to mortality in 15 cohorts (n = 15,013). During a mean follow-up of 10 years, there were 4314 deaths from all causes including 1235 cardiovascular disease (CVD) deaths and 868 cancer deaths. Ancestry-stratified meta-analysis of all-cause mortality identified 163 CpGs in European ancestry (EA) and 17 in African ancestry (AA) participants at p < 1 × 10 , of which 41 (EA) and 16 (AA) were also associated with CVD death, and 15 (EA) and 9 (AA) with cancer death. We built DNAm-based prediction models for all-cause mortality that predicted mortality risk after adjusting for clinical risk factors. The mortality prediction model trained by integrating DNAm with clinical risk factors showed an improvement in prediction of cancer death with 5% increase in the C-index in a replication cohort, compared with the model including clinical risk factors alone. Mendelian randomization identified 15 putatively causal CpGs in relation to longevity, CVD, or cancer risk. For example, cg06885782 (in KCNQ4) was positively associated with risk for prostate cancer (Beta = 1.2, P  = 4.1 × 10 ) and negatively associated with longevity (Beta = -1.9, P  = 0.02). Pathway analysis revealed that genes associated with mortality-related CpGs are enriched for immune- and cancer-related pathways. We identified replicable DNAm signatures of mortality and demonstrated the potential utility of CpGs as informative biomarkers for prediction of mortality risk.

%B Aging Cell %V 21 %P e13608 %8 2022 Jun %G eng %N 6 %R 10.1111/acel.13608 %0 Journal Article %J Nat Commun %D 2022 %T A multi-ethnic polygenic risk score is associated with hypertension prevalence and progression throughout adulthood. %A Kurniansyah, Nuzulul %A Goodman, Matthew O %A Kelly, Tanika N %A Elfassy, Tali %A Wiggins, Kerri L %A Bis, Joshua C %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Palmas, Walter %A Taylor, Kent D %A Lin, Henry J %A Haessler, Jeffrey %A Gao, Yan %A Shimbo, Daichi %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Yu, Bing %A Feofanova, Elena V %A Smit, Roelof A J %A Wang, Zhe %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Liu, Simin %A Wassertheil-Smoller, Sylvia %A Manson, JoAnn E %A Lloyd-Jones, Donald M %A Rich, Stephen S %A Loos, Ruth J F %A Redline, Susan %A Correa, Adolfo %A Kooperberg, Charles %A Fornage, Myriam %A Kaplan, Robert C %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Arnett, Donna K %A Morrison, Alanna C %A Franceschini, Nora %A Levy, Daniel %A Sofer, Tamar %K Adult %K Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 %K Genetic Predisposition to Disease %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Humans %K Hypertension %K Multifactorial Inheritance %K Prevalence %K Risk Factors %X

In a multi-stage analysis of 52,436 individuals aged 17-90 across diverse cohorts and biobanks, we train, test, and evaluate a polygenic risk score (PRS) for hypertension risk and progression. The PRS is trained using genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for systolic, diastolic blood pressure, and hypertension, respectively. For each trait, PRS is selected by optimizing the coefficient of variation (CV) across estimated effect sizes from multiple potential PRS using the same GWAS, after which the 3 trait-specific PRSs are combined via an unweighted sum called "PRSsum", forming the HTN-PRS. The HTN-PRS is associated with both prevalent and incident hypertension at 4-6 years of follow up. This association is further confirmed in age-stratified analysis. In an independent biobank of 40,201 individuals, the HTN-PRS is confirmed to be predictive of increased risk for coronary artery disease, ischemic stroke, type 2 diabetes, and chronic kidney disease.

%B Nat Commun %V 13 %P 3549 %8 2022 Jun 21 %G eng %N 1 %R 10.1038/s41467-022-31080-2 %0 Journal Article %J Nat Hum Behav %D 2022 %T Rare genetic variants explain missing heritability in smoking. %A Jang, Seon-Kyeong %A Evans, Luke %A Fialkowski, Allison %A Arnett, Donna K %A Ashley-Koch, Allison E %A Barnes, Kathleen C %A Becker, Diane M %A Bis, Joshua C %A Blangero, John %A Bleecker, Eugene R %A Boorgula, Meher Preethi %A Bowden, Donald W %A Brody, Jennifer A %A Cade, Brian E %A Jenkins, Brenda W Campbell %A Carson, April P %A Chavan, Sameer %A Cupples, L Adrienne %A Custer, Brian %A Damrauer, Scott M %A David, Sean P %A de Andrade, Mariza %A Dinardo, Carla L %A Fingerlin, Tasha E %A Fornage, Myriam %A Freedman, Barry I %A Garrett, Melanie E %A Gharib, Sina A %A Glahn, David C %A Haessler, Jeffrey %A Heckbert, Susan R %A Hokanson, John E %A Hou, Lifang %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Hyman, Matthew C %A Judy, Renae %A Justice, Anne E %A Kaplan, Robert C %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Kelly, Shannon %A Kim, Wonji %A Kooperberg, Charles %A Levy, Daniel %A Lloyd-Jones, Donald M %A Loos, Ruth J F %A Manichaikul, Ani W %A Gladwin, Mark T %A Martin, Lisa Warsinger %A Nouraie, Mehdi %A Melander, Olle %A Meyers, Deborah A %A Montgomery, Courtney G %A North, Kari E %A Oelsner, Elizabeth C %A Palmer, Nicholette D %A Payton, Marinelle %A Peljto, Anna L %A Peyser, Patricia A %A Preuss, Michael %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Qiao, Dandi %A Rader, Daniel J %A Rafaels, Nicholas %A Redline, Susan %A Reed, Robert M %A Reiner, Alexander P %A Rich, Stephen S %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Schwartz, David A %A Shadyab, Aladdin H %A Silverman, Edwin K %A Smith, Nicholas L %A Smith, J Gustav %A Smith, Albert V %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Tang, Weihong %A Taylor, Kent D %A Telen, Marilyn J %A Vasan, Ramachandran S %A Gordeuk, Victor R %A Wang, Zhe %A Wiggins, Kerri L %A Yanek, Lisa R %A Yang, Ivana V %A Young, Kendra A %A Young, Kristin L %A Zhang, Yingze %A Liu, Dajiang J %A Keller, Matthew C %A Vrieze, Scott %X

Common genetic variants explain less variation in complex phenotypes than inferred from family-based studies, and there is a debate on the source of this 'missing heritability'. We investigated the contribution of rare genetic variants to tobacco use with whole-genome sequences from up to 26,257 unrelated individuals of European ancestries and 11,743 individuals of African ancestries. Across four smoking traits, single-nucleotide-polymorphism-based heritability ([Formula: see text]) was estimated from 0.13 to 0.28 (s.e., 0.10-0.13) in European ancestries, with 35-74% of it attributable to rare variants with minor allele frequencies between 0.01% and 1%. These heritability estimates are 1.5-4 times higher than past estimates based on common variants alone and accounted for 60% to 100% of our pedigree-based estimates of narrow-sense heritability ([Formula: see text], 0.18-0.34). In the African ancestry samples, [Formula: see text] was estimated from 0.03 to 0.33 (s.e., 0.09-0.14) across the four smoking traits. These results suggest that rare variants are important contributors to the heritability of smoking.

%B Nat Hum Behav %8 2022 Aug 04 %G eng %R 10.1038/s41562-022-01408-5 %0 Journal Article %J Hum Mol Genet %D 2022 %T Whole-Exome Sequencing Study Identifies Four Novel Gene Loci Associated with Diabetic Kidney Disease. %A Pan, Yang %A Sun, Xiao %A Mi, Xuenan %A Huang, Zhijie %A Hsu, Yenchih %A Hixson, James E %A Munzy, Donna %A Metcalf, Ginger %A Franceschini, Nora %A Tin, Adrienne %A Köttgen, Anna %A Francis, Michael %A Brody, Jennifer A %A Kestenbaum, Bryan %A Sitlani, Colleen M %A Mychaleckyj, Josyf C %A Kramer, Holly %A Lange, Leslie A %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Irvin, Marguerite R %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Yanek, Lisa R %A Vaidya, Dhananjay %A Chen, Yii-Der Ida %A Fornage, Myriam %A Lloyd-Jones, Donald M %A Hou, Lifang %A Mathias, Rasika A %A Mitchell, Braxton D %A Peyser, Patricia A %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Arnett, Donna K %A Correa, Adolfo %A Raffield, Laura M %A Vasan, Ramachandran S %A Cupple, L Adrienne %A Levy, Daniel %A Kaplan, Robert C %A North, Kari E %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Kooperberg, Charles %A Reiner, Alexander P %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Tracy, Russell P %A Gibbs, Richard A %A Morrison, Alanna C %A Feldman, Harold %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A He, Jiang %A Kelly, Tanika N %X

Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is recognized as an important public health challenge. However, its genomic mechanisms are poorly understood. To identify rare variants for DKD, we conducted a whole-exome sequencing (WES) study leveraging large cohorts well-phenotyped for chronic kidney disease (CKD) and diabetes. Our two-stage whole-exome sequencing study included 4372 European and African ancestry participants from the Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort (CRIC) and Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) studies (stage-1) and 11 487 multi-ancestry Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) participants (stage-2). Generalized linear mixed models, which accounted for genetic relatedness and adjusted for age, sex, and ancestry, were used to test associations between single variants and DKD. Gene-based aggregate rare variant analyses were conducted using an optimized sequence kernel association test (SKAT-O) implemented within our mixed model framework. We identified four novel exome-wide significant DKD-related loci through initiating diabetes. In single variant analyses, participants carrying a rare, in-frame insertion in the DIS3L2 gene (rs141560952) exhibited a 193-fold increased odds (95% confidence interval: 33.6, 1105) of DKD compared with non-carriers (P = 3.59 × 10-9). Likewise, each copy of a low-frequency KRT6B splice-site variant (rs425827) conferred a 5.31-fold higher odds (95% confidence interval: 3.06, 9.21) of DKD (P = 2.72 × 10-9). Aggregate gene-based analyses further identified ERAP2 (P = 4.03 × 10-8) and NPEPPS (P = 1.51 × 10-7), which are both expressed in the kidney and implicated in renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system modulated immune response. In the largest WES study of DKD, we identified novel rare variant loci attaining exome-wide significance. These findings provide new insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying DKD.

%B Hum Mol Genet %8 2022 Nov 29 %G eng %R 10.1093/hmg/ddac290 %0 Journal Article %J Nat Commun %D 2023 %T Evaluating the use of blood pressure polygenic risk scores across race/ethnic background groups. %A Kurniansyah, Nuzulul %A Goodman, Matthew O %A Khan, Alyna T %A Wang, Jiongming %A Feofanova, Elena %A Bis, Joshua C %A Wiggins, Kerri L %A Huffman, Jennifer E %A Kelly, Tanika %A Elfassy, Tali %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Palmas, Walter %A Lin, Henry J %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Gao, Yan %A Young, Kendra %A Kinney, Gregory L %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Yu, Bing %A Liu, Simin %A Wassertheil-Smoller, Sylvia %A Manson, JoAnn E %A Zhu, Xiaofeng %A Chen, Yii-Der Ida %A Lee, I-Te %A Gu, C Charles %A Lloyd-Jones, Donald M %A Zöllner, Sebastian %A Fornage, Myriam %A Kooperberg, Charles %A Correa, Adolfo %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Arnett, Donna K %A Isasi, Carmen R %A Rich, Stephen S %A Kaplan, Robert C %A Redline, Susan %A Mitchell, Braxton D %A Franceschini, Nora %A Levy, Daniel %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Morrison, Alanna C %A Sofer, Tamar %K Blood Pressure %K Ethnicity %K Female %K Genetic Predisposition to Disease %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Humans %K Male %K Multifactorial Inheritance %K Population Health %K Risk Factors %X

We assess performance and limitations of polygenic risk scores (PRSs) for multiple blood pressure (BP) phenotypes in diverse population groups. We compare "clumping-and-thresholding" (PRSice2) and LD-based (LDPred2) methods to construct PRSs from each of multiple GWAS, as well as multi-PRS approaches that sum PRSs with and without weights, including PRS-CSx. We use datasets from the MGB Biobank, TOPMed study, UK biobank, and from All of Us to train, assess, and validate PRSs in groups defined by self-reported race/ethnic background (Asian, Black, Hispanic/Latino, and White). For both SBP and DBP, the PRS-CSx based PRS, constructed as a weighted sum of PRSs developed from multiple independent GWAS, perform best across all race/ethnic backgrounds. Stratified analysis in All of Us shows that PRSs are better predictive of BP in females compared to males, individuals without obesity, and middle-aged (40-60 years) compared to older and younger individuals.

%B Nat Commun %V 14 %P 3202 %8 2023 Jun 02 %G eng %N 1 %R 10.1038/s41467-023-38990-9 %0 Journal Article %J Nat Genet %D 2023 %T Multi-ancestry genome-wide study identifies effector genes and druggable pathways for coronary artery calcification. %A Kavousi, Maryam %A Bos, Maxime M %A Barnes, Hanna J %A Lino Cardenas, Christian L %A Wong, Doris %A Lu, Haojie %A Hodonsky, Chani J %A Landsmeer, Lennart P L %A Turner, Adam W %A Kho, Minjung %A Hasbani, Natalie R %A de Vries, Paul S %A Bowden, Donald W %A Chopade, Sandesh %A Deelen, Joris %A Benavente, Ernest Diez %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Hofer, Edith %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Lutz, Sharon M %A Lyytikäinen, Leo-Pekka %A Slenders, Lotte %A Smith, Albert V %A Stanislawski, Maggie A %A van Setten, Jessica %A Wong, Quenna %A Yanek, Lisa R %A Becker, Diane M %A Beekman, Marian %A Budoff, Matthew J %A Feitosa, Mary F %A Finan, Chris %A Hilliard, Austin T %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Kovacic, Jason C %A Kral, Brian G %A Langefeld, Carl D %A Launer, Lenore J %A Malik, Shaista %A Hoesein, Firdaus A A Mohamed %A Mokry, Michal %A Schmidt, Reinhold %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Taylor, Kent D %A Terry, James G %A van der Grond, Jeroen %A van Meurs, Joyce %A Vliegenthart, Rozemarijn %A Xu, Jianzhao %A Young, Kendra A %A Zilhão, Nuno R %A Zweiker, Robert %A Assimes, Themistocles L %A Becker, Lewis C %A Bos, Daniel %A Carr, J Jeffrey %A Cupples, L Adrienne %A de Kleijn, Dominique P V %A de Winther, Menno %A den Ruijter, Hester M %A Fornage, Myriam %A Freedman, Barry I %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Hingorani, Aroon D %A Hokanson, John E %A Ikram, M Arfan %A Išgum, Ivana %A Jacobs, David R %A Kähönen, Mika %A Lange, Leslie A %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Pasterkamp, Gerard %A Raitakari, Olli T %A Schmidt, Helena %A Slagboom, P Eline %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Vernooij, Meike W %A Bis, Joshua C %A Franceschini, Nora %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Post, Wendy S %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Björkegren, Johan L M %A O'Donnell, Christopher J %A Bielak, Lawrence F %A Peyser, Patricia A %A Malhotra, Rajeev %A van der Laan, Sander W %A Miller, Clint L %X

Coronary artery calcification (CAC), a measure of subclinical atherosclerosis, predicts future symptomatic coronary artery disease (CAD). Identifying genetic risk factors for CAC may point to new therapeutic avenues for prevention. Currently, there are only four known risk loci for CAC identified from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in the general population. Here we conducted the largest multi-ancestry GWAS meta-analysis of CAC to date, which comprised 26,909 individuals of European ancestry and 8,867 individuals of African ancestry. We identified 11 independent risk loci, of which eight were new for CAC and five had not been reported for CAD. These new CAC loci are related to bone mineralization, phosphate catabolism and hormone metabolic pathways. Several new loci harbor candidate causal genes supported by multiple lines of functional evidence and are regulators of smooth muscle cell-mediated calcification ex vivo and in vitro. Together, these findings help refine the genetic architecture of CAC and extend our understanding of the biological and potential druggable pathways underlying CAC.

%B Nat Genet %V 55 %P 1651-1664 %8 2023 Oct %G eng %N 10 %R 10.1038/s41588-023-01518-4 %0 Journal Article %J Nat Genet %D 2023 %T Multi-ancestry transcriptome-wide association analyses yield insights into tobacco use biology and drug repurposing. %A Chen, Fang %A Wang, Xingyan %A Jang, Seon-Kyeong %A Quach, Bryan C %A Weissenkampen, J Dylan %A Khunsriraksakul, Chachrit %A Yang, Lina %A Sauteraud, Renan %A Albert, Christine M %A Allred, Nicholette D D %A Arnett, Donna K %A Ashley-Koch, Allison E %A Barnes, Kathleen C %A Barr, R Graham %A Becker, Diane M %A Bielak, Lawrence F %A Bis, Joshua C %A Blangero, John %A Boorgula, Meher Preethi %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Chavan, Sameer %A Chen, Yii-der I %A Chuang, Lee-Ming %A Correa, Adolfo %A Curran, Joanne E %A David, Sean P %A Fuentes, Lisa de Las %A Deka, Ranjan %A Duggirala, Ravindranath %A Faul, Jessica D %A Garrett, Melanie E %A Gharib, Sina A %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Hall, Michael E %A Hawley, Nicola L %A He, Jiang %A Hobbs, Brian D %A Hokanson, John E %A Hsiung, Chao A %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Hyde, Thomas M %A Irvin, Marguerite R %A Jaffe, Andrew E %A Johnson, Eric O %A Kaplan, Robert %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Kaufman, Joel D %A Kelly, Tanika N %A Kleinman, Joel E %A Kooperberg, Charles %A Lee, I-Te %A Levy, Daniel %A Lutz, Sharon M %A Manichaikul, Ani W %A Martin, Lisa W %A Marx, Olivia %A McGarvey, Stephen T %A Minster, Ryan L %A Moll, Matthew %A Moussa, Karine A %A Naseri, Take %A North, Kari E %A Oelsner, Elizabeth C %A Peralta, Juan M %A Peyser, Patricia A %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Rafaels, Nicholas %A Raffield, Laura M %A Reupena, Muagututi'a Sefuiva %A Rich, Stephen S %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Schwartz, David A %A Shadyab, Aladdin H %A Sheu, Wayne H-H %A Sims, Mario %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Sun, Xiao %A Taylor, Kent D %A Telen, Marilyn J %A Watson, Harold %A Weeks, Daniel E %A Weir, David R %A Yanek, Lisa R %A Young, Kendra A %A Young, Kristin L %A Zhao, Wei %A Hancock, Dana B %A Jiang, Bibo %A Vrieze, Scott %A Liu, Dajiang J %K Biology %K Drug Repositioning %K Genetic Predisposition to Disease %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Humans %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Tobacco Use %K Transcriptome %X

Most transcriptome-wide association studies (TWASs) so far focus on European ancestry and lack diversity. To overcome this limitation, we aggregated genome-wide association study (GWAS) summary statistics, whole-genome sequences and expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) data from diverse ancestries. We developed a new approach, TESLA (multi-ancestry integrative study using an optimal linear combination of association statistics), to integrate an eQTL dataset with a multi-ancestry GWAS. By exploiting shared phenotypic effects between ancestries and accommodating potential effect heterogeneities, TESLA improves power over other TWAS methods. When applied to tobacco use phenotypes, TESLA identified 273 new genes, up to 55% more compared with alternative TWAS methods. These hits and subsequent fine mapping using TESLA point to target genes with biological relevance. In silico drug-repurposing analyses highlight several drugs with known efficacy, including dextromethorphan and galantamine, and new drugs such as muscle relaxants that may be repurposed for treating nicotine addiction.

%B Nat Genet %V 55 %P 291-300 %8 2023 Feb %G eng %N 2 %R 10.1038/s41588-022-01282-x