%0 Journal Article %J Circ Cardiovasc Genet %D 2014 %T Strategies to design and analyze targeted sequencing data: cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) Consortium Targeted Sequencing Study. %A Lin, Honghuang %A Wang, Min %A Brody, Jennifer A %A Bis, Joshua C %A Dupuis, Josée %A Lumley, Thomas %A McKnight, Barbara %A Rice, Kenneth M %A Sitlani, Colleen M %A Reid, Jeffrey G %A Bressler, Jan %A Liu, Xiaoming %A Davis, Brian C %A Johnson, Andrew D %A O'Donnell, Christopher J %A Kovar, Christie L %A Dinh, Huyen %A Wu, Yuanqing %A Newsham, Irene %A Chen, Han %A Broka, Andi %A DeStefano, Anita L %A Gupta, Mayetri %A Lunetta, Kathryn L %A Liu, Ching-Ti %A White, Charles C %A Xing, Chuanhua %A Zhou, Yanhua %A Benjamin, Emelia J %A Schnabel, Renate B %A Heckbert, Susan R %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Muzny, Donna M %A Cupples, L Adrienne %A Morrison, Alanna C %A Boerwinkle, Eric %K Adult %K Aged %K Aged, 80 and over %K Aging %K Cohort Studies %K Female %K Genetic Variation %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Genomics %K Heart Diseases %K Humans %K Male %K Middle Aged %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Research Design %K Sequence Analysis, DNA %X

BACKGROUND: Genome-wide association studies have identified thousands of genetic variants that influence a variety of diseases and health-related quantitative traits. However, the causal variants underlying the majority of genetic associations remain unknown. Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) Consortium Targeted Sequencing Study aims to follow up genome-wide association study signals and identify novel associations of the allelic spectrum of identified variants with cardiovascular-related traits.

METHODS AND RESULTS: The study included 4231 participants from 3 CHARGE cohorts: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study, the Cardiovascular Health Study, and the Framingham Heart Study. We used a case-cohort design in which we selected both a random sample of participants and participants with extreme phenotypes for each of 14 traits. We sequenced and analyzed 77 genomic loci, which had previously been associated with ≥1 of 14 phenotypes. A total of 52 736 variants were characterized by sequencing and passed our stringent quality control criteria. For common variants (minor allele frequency ≥1%), we performed unweighted regression analyses to obtain P values for associations and weighted regression analyses to obtain effect estimates that accounted for the sampling design. For rare variants, we applied 2 approaches: collapsed aggregate statistics and joint analysis of variants using the sequence kernel association test.

CONCLUSIONS: We sequenced 77 genomic loci in participants from 3 cohorts. We established a set of filters to identify high-quality variants and implemented statistical and bioinformatics strategies to analyze the sequence data and identify potentially functional variants within genome-wide association study loci.

%B Circ Cardiovasc Genet %V 7 %P 335-43 %8 2014 Jun %G eng %N 3 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24951659?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.113.000350 %0 Journal Article %J Biol Psychiatry %D 2015 %T Genome-wide studies of verbal declarative memory in nondemented older people: the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology consortium. %A Debette, Stephanie %A Ibrahim Verbaas, Carla A %A Bressler, Jan %A Schuur, Maaike %A Smith, Albert %A Bis, Joshua C %A Davies, Gail %A Wolf, Christiane %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Chibnik, Lori B %A Yang, Qiong %A DeStefano, Anita L %A de Quervain, Dominique J F %A Srikanth, Velandai %A Lahti, Jari %A Grabe, Hans J %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Priebe, Lutz %A Yu, Lei %A Karbalai, Nazanin %A Hayward, Caroline %A Wilson, James F %A Campbell, Harry %A Petrovic, Katja %A Fornage, Myriam %A Chauhan, Ganesh %A Yeo, Robin %A Boxall, Ruth %A Becker, James %A Stegle, Oliver %A Mather, Karen A %A Chouraki, Vincent %A Sun, Qi %A Rose, Lynda M %A Resnick, Susan %A Oldmeadow, Christopher %A Kirin, Mirna %A Wright, Alan F %A Jonsdottir, Maria K %A Au, Rhoda %A Becker, Albert %A Amin, Najaf %A Nalls, Mike A %A Turner, Stephen T %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Oostra, Ben %A Windham, Gwen %A Coker, Laura H %A Zhao, Wei %A Knopman, David S %A Heiss, Gerardo %A Griswold, Michael E %A Gottesman, Rebecca F %A Vitart, Veronique %A Hastie, Nicholas D %A Zgaga, Lina %A Rudan, Igor %A Polasek, Ozren %A Holliday, Elizabeth G %A Schofield, Peter %A Choi, Seung Hoan %A Tanaka, Toshiko %A An, Yang %A Perry, Rodney T %A Kennedy, Richard E %A Sale, Michèle M %A Wang, Jing %A Wadley, Virginia G %A Liewald, David C %A Ridker, Paul M %A Gow, Alan J %A Pattie, Alison %A Starr, John M %A Porteous, David %A Liu, Xuan %A Thomson, Russell %A Armstrong, Nicola J %A Eiriksdottir, Gudny %A Assareh, Arezoo A %A Kochan, Nicole A %A Widen, Elisabeth %A Palotie, Aarno %A Hsieh, Yi-Chen %A Eriksson, Johan G %A Vogler, Christian %A van Swieten, John C %A Shulman, Joshua M %A Beiser, Alexa %A Rotter, Jerome %A Schmidt, Carsten O %A Hoffmann, Wolfgang %A Nöthen, Markus M %A Ferrucci, Luigi %A Attia, John %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Amouyel, Philippe %A Dartigues, Jean-François %A Amieva, Hélène %A Räikkönen, Katri %A Garcia, Melissa %A Wolf, Philip A %A Hofman, Albert %A Longstreth, W T %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A DeJager, Philip L %A Sachdev, Perminder S %A Schmidt, Reinhold %A Breteler, Monique M B %A Teumer, Alexander %A Lopez, Oscar L %A Cichon, Sven %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Grodstein, Francine %A Müller-Myhsok, Bertram %A Tzourio, Christophe %A Papassotiropoulos, Andreas %A Bennett, David A %A Ikram, M Arfan %A Deary, Ian J %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Launer, Lenore %A Fitzpatrick, Annette L %A Seshadri, Sudha %A Mosley, Thomas H %K Aged %K Aged, 80 and over %K Aging %K Apolipoproteins E %K Claudin-5 %K Cohort Studies %K Female %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Genotype %K Humans %K Male %K Memory Disorders %K Middle Aged %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Proteins %K Proteoglycans %K Regression Analysis %K Sulfotransferases %K Verbal Learning %X

BACKGROUND: Memory performance in older persons can reflect genetic influences on cognitive function and dementing processes. We aimed to identify genetic contributions to verbal declarative memory in a community setting.

METHODS: We conducted genome-wide association studies for paragraph or word list delayed recall in 19 cohorts from the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology consortium, comprising 29,076 dementia- and stroke-free individuals of European descent, aged ≥45 years. Replication of suggestive associations (p < 5 × 10(-6)) was sought in 10,617 participants of European descent, 3811 African-Americans, and 1561 young adults.

RESULTS: rs4420638, near APOE, was associated with poorer delayed recall performance in discovery (p = 5.57 × 10(-10)) and replication cohorts (p = 5.65 × 10(-8)). This association was stronger for paragraph than word list delayed recall and in the oldest persons. Two associations with specific tests, in subsets of the total sample, reached genome-wide significance in combined analyses of discovery and replication (rs11074779 [HS3ST4], p = 3.11 × 10(-8), and rs6813517 [SPOCK3], p = 2.58 × 10(-8)) near genes involved in immune response. A genetic score combining 58 independent suggestive memory risk variants was associated with increasing Alzheimer disease pathology in 725 autopsy samples. Association of memory risk loci with gene expression in 138 human hippocampus samples showed cis-associations with WDR48 and CLDN5, both related to ubiquitin metabolism.

CONCLUSIONS: This largest study to date exploring the genetics of memory function in ~40,000 older individuals revealed genome-wide associations and suggested an involvement of immune and ubiquitin pathways.

%B Biol Psychiatry %V 77 %P 749-63 %8 2015 Apr 15 %G eng %N 8 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25648963?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1016/j.biopsych.2014.08.027 %0 Journal Article %J Genome Biol %D 2016 %T DNA methylation signatures of chronic low-grade inflammation are associated with complex diseases. %A Ligthart, Symen %A Marzi, Carola %A Aslibekyan, Stella %A Mendelson, Michael M %A Conneely, Karen N %A Tanaka, Toshiko %A Colicino, Elena %A Waite, Lindsay L %A Joehanes, Roby %A Guan, Weihua %A Brody, Jennifer A %A Elks, Cathy %A Marioni, Riccardo %A Jhun, Min A %A Agha, Golareh %A Bressler, Jan %A Ward-Caviness, Cavin K %A Chen, Brian H %A Huan, Tianxiao %A Bakulski, Kelly %A Salfati, Elias L %A Fiorito, Giovanni %A Wahl, Simone %A Schramm, Katharina %A Sha, Jin %A Hernandez, Dena G %A Just, Allan C %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Sotoodehnia, Nona %A Pilling, Luke C %A Pankow, James S %A Tsao, Phil S %A Liu, Chunyu %A Zhao, Wei %A Guarrera, Simonetta %A Michopoulos, Vasiliki J %A Smith, Alicia K %A Peters, Marjolein J %A Melzer, David %A Vokonas, Pantel %A Fornage, Myriam %A Prokisch, Holger %A Bis, Joshua C %A Chu, Audrey Y %A Herder, Christian %A Grallert, Harald %A Yao, Chen %A Shah, Sonia %A McRae, Allan F %A Lin, Honghuang %A Horvath, Steve %A Fallin, Daniele %A Hofman, Albert %A Wareham, Nicholas J %A Wiggins, Kerri L %A Feinberg, Andrew P %A Starr, John M %A Visscher, Peter M %A Murabito, Joanne M %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Absher, Devin M %A Binder, Elisabeth B %A Singleton, Andrew B %A Bandinelli, Stefania %A Peters, Annette %A Waldenberger, Melanie %A Matullo, Giuseppe %A Schwartz, Joel D %A Demerath, Ellen W %A Uitterlinden, André G %A van Meurs, Joyce B J %A Franco, Oscar H %A Chen, Yii-Der Ida %A Levy, Daniel %A Turner, Stephen T %A Deary, Ian J %A Ressler, Kerry J %A Dupuis, Josée %A Ferrucci, Luigi %A Ong, Ken K %A Assimes, Themistocles L %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Koenig, Wolfgang %A Arnett, Donna K %A Baccarelli, Andrea A %A Benjamin, Emelia J %A Dehghan, Abbas %X

BACKGROUND: Chronic low-grade inflammation reflects a subclinical immune response implicated in the pathogenesis of complex diseases. Identifying genetic loci where DNA methylation is associated with chronic low-grade inflammation may reveal novel pathways or therapeutic targets for inflammation.

RESULTS: We performed a meta-analysis of epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS) of serum C-reactive protein (CRP), which is a sensitive marker of low-grade inflammation, in a large European population (n = 8863) and trans-ethnic replication in African Americans (n = 4111). We found differential methylation at 218 CpG sites to be associated with CRP (P < 1.15 × 10(-7)) in the discovery panel of European ancestry and replicated (P < 2.29 × 10(-4)) 58 CpG sites (45 unique loci) among African Americans. To further characterize the molecular and clinical relevance of the findings, we examined the association with gene expression, genetic sequence variants, and clinical outcomes. DNA methylation at nine (16%) CpG sites was associated with whole blood gene expression in cis (P < 8.47 × 10(-5)), ten (17%) CpG sites were associated with a nearby genetic variant (P < 2.50 × 10(-3)), and 51 (88%) were also associated with at least one related cardiometabolic entity (P < 9.58 × 10(-5)). An additive weighted score of replicated CpG sites accounted for up to 6% inter-individual variation (R2) of age-adjusted and sex-adjusted CRP, independent of known CRP-related genetic variants.

CONCLUSION: We have completed an EWAS of chronic low-grade inflammation and identified many novel genetic loci underlying inflammation that may serve as targets for the development of novel therapeutic interventions for inflammation.

%B Genome Biol %V 17 %P 255 %8 2016 Dec 12 %G eng %N 1 %R 10.1186/s13059-016-1119-5 %0 Journal Article %J Circ Cardiovasc Genet %D 2016 %T Epigenetic Signatures of Cigarette Smoking. %A Joehanes, Roby %A Just, Allan C %A Marioni, Riccardo E %A Pilling, Luke C %A Reynolds, Lindsay M %A Mandaviya, Pooja R %A Guan, Weihua %A Xu, Tao %A Elks, Cathy E %A Aslibekyan, Stella %A Moreno-Macias, Hortensia %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Brody, Jennifer A %A Dhingra, Radhika %A Yousefi, Paul %A Pankow, James S %A Kunze, Sonja %A Shah, Sonia H %A McRae, Allan F %A Lohman, Kurt %A Sha, Jin %A Absher, Devin M %A Ferrucci, Luigi %A Zhao, Wei %A Demerath, Ellen W %A Bressler, Jan %A Grove, Megan L %A Huan, Tianxiao %A Liu, Chunyu %A Mendelson, Michael M %A Yao, Chen %A Kiel, Douglas P %A Peters, Annette %A Wang-Sattler, Rui %A Visscher, Peter M %A Wray, Naomi R %A Starr, John M %A Ding, Jingzhong %A Rodriguez, Carlos J %A Wareham, Nicholas J %A Irvin, Marguerite R %A Zhi, Degui %A Barrdahl, Myrto %A Vineis, Paolo %A Ambatipudi, Srikant %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Hofman, Albert %A Schwartz, Joel %A Colicino, Elena %A Hou, Lifang %A Vokonas, Pantel S %A Hernandez, Dena G %A Singleton, Andrew B %A Bandinelli, Stefania %A Turner, Stephen T %A Ware, Erin B %A Smith, Alicia K %A Klengel, Torsten %A Binder, Elisabeth B %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Taylor, Kent D %A Gharib, Sina A %A Swenson, Brenton R %A Liang, Liming %A DeMeo, Dawn L %A O'Connor, George T %A Herceg, Zdenko %A Ressler, Kerry J %A Conneely, Karen N %A Sotoodehnia, Nona %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Melzer, David %A Baccarelli, Andrea A %A van Meurs, Joyce B J %A Romieu, Isabelle %A Arnett, Donna K %A Ong, Ken K %A Liu, Yongmei %A Waldenberger, Melanie %A Deary, Ian J %A Fornage, Myriam %A Levy, Daniel %A London, Stephanie J %X

BACKGROUND: DNA methylation leaves a long-term signature of smoking exposure and is one potential mechanism by which tobacco exposure predisposes to adverse health outcomes, such as cancers, osteoporosis, lung, and cardiovascular disorders.

METHODS AND RESULTS: To comprehensively determine the association between cigarette smoking and DNA methylation, we conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide DNA methylation assessed using the Illumina BeadChip 450K array on 15 907 blood-derived DNA samples from participants in 16 cohorts (including 2433 current, 6518 former, and 6956 never smokers). Comparing current versus never smokers, 2623 cytosine-phosphate-guanine sites (CpGs), annotated to 1405 genes, were statistically significantly differentially methylated at Bonferroni threshold of P<1×10(-7) (18 760 CpGs at false discovery rate <0.05). Genes annotated to these CpGs were enriched for associations with several smoking-related traits in genome-wide studies including pulmonary function, cancers, inflammatory diseases, and heart disease. Comparing former versus never smokers, 185 of the CpGs that differed between current and never smokers were significant P<1×10(-7) (2623 CpGs at false discovery rate <0.05), indicating a pattern of persistent altered methylation, with attenuation, after smoking cessation. Transcriptomic integration identified effects on gene expression at many differentially methylated CpGs.

CONCLUSIONS: Cigarette smoking has a broad impact on genome-wide methylation that, at many loci, persists many years after smoking cessation. Many of the differentially methylated genes were novel genes with respect to biological effects of smoking and might represent therapeutic targets for prevention or treatment of tobacco-related diseases. Methylation at these sites could also serve as sensitive and stable biomarkers of lifetime exposure to tobacco smoke.

%B Circ Cardiovasc Genet %V 9 %P 436-447 %8 2016 Oct %G eng %N 5 %R 10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.116.001506 %0 Journal Article %J Am J Hum Genet %D 2017 %T DNA Methylation Analysis Identifies Loci for Blood Pressure Regulation. %A Richard, Melissa A %A Huan, Tianxiao %A Ligthart, Symen %A Gondalia, Rahul %A Jhun, Min A %A Brody, Jennifer A %A Irvin, Marguerite R %A Marioni, Riccardo %A Shen, Jincheng %A Tsai, Pei-Chien %A Montasser, May E %A Jia, Yucheng %A Syme, Catriona %A Salfati, Elias L %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Guan, Weihua %A Mosley, Thomas H %A Bressler, Jan %A Morrison, Alanna C %A Liu, Chunyu %A Mendelson, Michael M %A Uitterlinden, André G %A van Meurs, Joyce B %A Franco, Oscar H %A Zhang, Guosheng %A Li, Yun %A Stewart, James D %A Bis, Joshua C %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Chen, Yii-Der Ida %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Zhao, Wei %A Turner, Stephen T %A Absher, Devin %A Aslibekyan, Stella %A Starr, John M %A McRae, Allan F %A Hou, Lifang %A Just, Allan C %A Schwartz, Joel D %A Vokonas, Pantel S %A Menni, Cristina %A Spector, Tim D %A Shuldiner, Alan %A Damcott, Coleen M %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Palmas, Walter %A Liu, Yongmei %A Paus, Tomáš %A Horvath, Steve %A O'Connell, Jeffrey R %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Pausova, Zdenka %A Assimes, Themistocles L %A Sotoodehnia, Nona %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Arnett, Donna K %A Deary, Ian J %A Baccarelli, Andrea A %A Bell, Jordana T %A Whitsel, Eric %A Dehghan, Abbas %A Levy, Daniel %A Fornage, Myriam %K Aged %K Blood Pressure %K CpG Islands %K Cross-Sectional Studies %K DNA Methylation %K Epigenesis, Genetic %K Genetic Variation %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Humans %K Mendelian Randomization Analysis %K Middle Aged %K Nerve Tissue Proteins %K Quantitative Trait Loci %K Tetraspanins %X

Genome-wide association studies have identified hundreds of genetic variants associated with blood pressure (BP), but sequence variation accounts for a small fraction of the phenotypic variance. Epigenetic changes may alter the expression of genes involved in BP regulation and explain part of the missing heritability. We therefore conducted a two-stage meta-analysis of the cross-sectional associations of systolic and diastolic BP with blood-derived genome-wide DNA methylation measured on the Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip in 17,010 individuals of European, African American, and Hispanic ancestry. Of 31 discovery-stage cytosine-phosphate-guanine (CpG) dinucleotides, 13 replicated after Bonferroni correction (discovery: N = 9,828, p < 1.0 × 10-7; replication: N = 7,182, p < 1.6 × 10-3). The replicated methylation sites are heritable (h2 > 30%) and independent of known BP genetic variants, explaining an additional 1.4% and 2.0% of the interindividual variation in systolic and diastolic BP, respectively. Bidirectional Mendelian randomization among up to 4,513 individuals of European ancestry from 4 cohorts suggested that methylation at cg08035323 (TAF1B-YWHAQ) influences BP, while BP influences methylation at cg00533891 (ZMIZ1), cg00574958 (CPT1A), and cg02711608 (SLC1A5). Gene expression analyses further identified six genes (TSPAN2, SLC7A11, UNC93B1, CPT1A, PTMS, and LPCAT3) with evidence of triangular associations between methylation, gene expression, and BP. Additional integrative Mendelian randomization analyses of gene expression and DNA methylation suggested that the expression of TSPAN2 is a putative mediator of association between DNA methylation at cg23999170 and BP. These findings suggest that heritable DNA methylation plays a role in regulating BP independently of previously known genetic variants.

%B Am J Hum Genet %V 101 %P 888-902 %8 2017 Dec 07 %G eng %N 6 %R 10.1016/j.ajhg.2017.09.028 %0 Journal Article %J Nat Commun %D 2018 %T Study of 300,486 individuals identifies 148 independent genetic loci influencing general cognitive function. %A Davies, Gail %A Lam, Max %A Harris, Sarah E %A Trampush, Joey W %A Luciano, Michelle %A Hill, W David %A Hagenaars, Saskia P %A Ritchie, Stuart J %A Marioni, Riccardo E %A Fawns-Ritchie, Chloe %A Liewald, David C M %A Okely, Judith A %A Ahola-Olli, Ari V %A Barnes, Catriona L K %A Bertram, Lars %A Bis, Joshua C %A Burdick, Katherine E %A Christoforou, Andrea %A DeRosse, Pamela %A Djurovic, Srdjan %A Espeseth, Thomas %A Giakoumaki, Stella %A Giddaluru, Sudheer %A Gustavson, Daniel E %A Hayward, Caroline %A Hofer, Edith %A Ikram, M Arfan %A Karlsson, Robert %A Knowles, Emma %A Lahti, Jari %A Leber, Markus %A Li, Shuo %A Mather, Karen A %A Melle, Ingrid %A Morris, Derek %A Oldmeadow, Christopher %A Palviainen, Teemu %A Payton, Antony %A Pazoki, Raha %A Petrovic, Katja %A Reynolds, Chandra A %A Sargurupremraj, Muralidharan %A Scholz, Markus %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Smith, Albert V %A Terzikhan, Natalie %A Thalamuthu, Anbupalam %A Trompet, Stella %A van der Lee, Sven J %A Ware, Erin B %A Windham, B Gwen %A Wright, Margaret J %A Yang, Jingyun %A Yu, Jin %A Ames, David %A Amin, Najaf %A Amouyel, Philippe %A Andreassen, Ole A %A Armstrong, Nicola J %A Assareh, Amelia A %A Attia, John R %A Attix, Deborah %A Avramopoulos, Dimitrios %A Bennett, David A %A Böhmer, Anne C %A Boyle, Patricia A %A Brodaty, Henry %A Campbell, Harry %A Cannon, Tyrone D %A Cirulli, Elizabeth T %A Congdon, Eliza %A Conley, Emily Drabant %A Corley, Janie %A Cox, Simon R %A Dale, Anders M %A Dehghan, Abbas %A Dick, Danielle %A Dickinson, Dwight %A Eriksson, Johan G %A Evangelou, Evangelos %A Faul, Jessica D %A Ford, Ian %A Freimer, Nelson A %A Gao, He %A Giegling, Ina %A Gillespie, Nathan A %A Gordon, Scott D %A Gottesman, Rebecca F %A Griswold, Michael E %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Harris, Tamara B %A Hartmann, Annette M %A Hatzimanolis, Alex %A Heiss, Gerardo %A Holliday, Elizabeth G %A Joshi, Peter K %A Kähönen, Mika %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Karlsson, Ida %A Kleineidam, Luca %A Knopman, David S %A Kochan, Nicole A %A Konte, Bettina %A Kwok, John B %A Le Hellard, Stephanie %A Lee, Teresa %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Li, Shu-Chen %A Liu, Tian %A Koini, Marisa %A London, Edythe %A Longstreth, Will T %A Lopez, Oscar L %A Loukola, Anu %A Luck, Tobias %A Lundervold, Astri J %A Lundquist, Anders %A Lyytikäinen, Leo-Pekka %A Martin, Nicholas G %A Montgomery, Grant W %A Murray, Alison D %A Need, Anna C %A Noordam, Raymond %A Nyberg, Lars %A Ollier, William %A Papenberg, Goran %A Pattie, Alison %A Polasek, Ozren %A Poldrack, Russell A %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Reppermund, Simone %A Riedel-Heller, Steffi G %A Rose, Richard J %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Roussos, Panos %A Rovio, Suvi P %A Saba, Yasaman %A Sabb, Fred W %A Sachdev, Perminder S %A Satizabal, Claudia L %A Schmid, Matthias %A Scott, Rodney J %A Scult, Matthew A %A Simino, Jeannette %A Slagboom, P Eline %A Smyrnis, Nikolaos %A Soumaré, Aïcha %A Stefanis, Nikos C %A Stott, David J %A Straub, Richard E %A Sundet, Kjetil %A Taylor, Adele M %A Taylor, Kent D %A Tzoulaki, Ioanna %A Tzourio, Christophe %A Uitterlinden, Andre %A Vitart, Veronique %A Voineskos, Aristotle N %A Kaprio, Jaakko %A Wagner, Michael %A Wagner, Holger %A Weinhold, Leonie %A Wen, K Hoyan %A Widen, Elisabeth %A Yang, Qiong %A Zhao, Wei %A Adams, Hieab H H %A Arking, Dan E %A Bilder, Robert M %A Bitsios, Panos %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Chiba-Falek, Ornit %A Corvin, Aiden %A De Jager, Philip L %A Debette, Stephanie %A Donohoe, Gary %A Elliott, Paul %A Fitzpatrick, Annette L %A Gill, Michael %A Glahn, David C %A Hägg, Sara %A Hansell, Narelle K %A Hariri, Ahmad R %A Ikram, M Kamran %A Jukema, J Wouter %A Vuoksimaa, Eero %A Keller, Matthew C %A Kremen, William S %A Launer, Lenore %A Lindenberger, Ulman %A Palotie, Aarno %A Pedersen, Nancy L %A Pendleton, Neil %A Porteous, David J %A Räikkönen, Katri %A Raitakari, Olli T %A Ramirez, Alfredo %A Reinvang, Ivar %A Rudan, Igor %A Schmidt, Reinhold %A Schmidt, Helena %A Schofield, Peter W %A Schofield, Peter R %A Starr, John M %A Steen, Vidar M %A Trollor, Julian N %A Turner, Steven T %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Villringer, Arno %A Weinberger, Daniel R %A Weir, David R %A Wilson, James F %A Malhotra, Anil %A McIntosh, Andrew M %A Gale, Catharine R %A Seshadri, Sudha %A Mosley, Thomas H %A Bressler, Jan %A Lencz, Todd %A Deary, Ian J %X

General cognitive function is a prominent and relatively stable human trait that is associated with many important life outcomes. We combine cognitive and genetic data from the CHARGE and COGENT consortia, and UK Biobank (total N = 300,486; age 16-102) and find 148 genome-wide significant independent loci (P < 5 × 10) associated with general cognitive function. Within the novel genetic loci are variants associated with neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders, physical and psychiatric illnesses, and brain structure. Gene-based analyses find 709 genes associated with general cognitive function. Expression levels across the cortex are associated with general cognitive function. Using polygenic scores, up to 4.3% of variance in general cognitive function is predicted in independent samples. We detect significant genetic overlap between general cognitive function, reaction time, and many health variables including eyesight, hypertension, and longevity. In conclusion we identify novel genetic loci and pathways contributing to the heritability of general cognitive function.

%B Nat Commun %V 9 %P 2098 %8 2018 May 29 %G eng %N 1 %R 10.1038/s41467-018-04362-x %0 Journal Article %J Circulation %D 2019 %T Blood Leukocyte DNA Methylation Predicts Risk of Future Myocardial Infarction and Coronary Heart Disease. %A Agha, Golareh %A Mendelson, Michael M %A Ward-Caviness, Cavin K %A Joehanes, Roby %A Huan, Tianxiao %A Gondalia, Rahul %A Salfati, Elias %A Brody, Jennifer A %A Fiorito, Giovanni %A Bressler, Jan %A Chen, Brian H %A Ligthart, Symen %A Guarrera, Simonetta %A Colicino, Elena %A Just, Allan C %A Wahl, Simone %A Gieger, Christian %A Vandiver, Amy R %A Tanaka, Toshiko %A Hernandez, Dena G %A Pilling, Luke C %A Singleton, Andrew B %A Sacerdote, Carlotta %A Krogh, Vittorio %A Panico, Salvatore %A Tumino, Rosario %A Li, Yun %A Zhang, Guosheng %A Stewart, James D %A Floyd, James S %A Wiggins, Kerri L %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Multhaup, Michael %A Bakulski, Kelly %A Horvath, Steven %A Tsao, Philip S %A Absher, Devin M %A Vokonas, Pantel %A Hirschhorn, Joel %A Fallin, M Daniele %A Liu, Chunyu %A Bandinelli, Stefania %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Dehghan, Abbas %A Schwartz, Joel D %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Feinberg, Andrew P %A Hou, Lifang %A Ferrucci, Luigi %A Sotoodehnia, Nona %A Matullo, Giuseppe %A Peters, Annette %A Fornage, Myriam %A Assimes, Themistocles L %A Whitsel, Eric A %A Levy, Daniel %A Baccarelli, Andrea A %K Adult %K Aged %K Cohort Studies %K Coronary Disease %K CpG Islands %K DNA Methylation %K Europe %K Female %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Humans %K Incidence %K Leukocytes %K Male %K Middle Aged %K Myocardial Infarction %K Population Groups %K Prognosis %K Prospective Studies %K Risk %K United States %X

BACKGROUND: DNA methylation is implicated in coronary heart disease (CHD), but current evidence is based on small, cross-sectional studies. We examined blood DNA methylation in relation to incident CHD across multiple prospective cohorts.

METHODS: Nine population-based cohorts from the United States and Europe profiled epigenome-wide blood leukocyte DNA methylation using the Illumina Infinium 450k microarray, and prospectively ascertained CHD events including coronary insufficiency/unstable angina, recognized myocardial infarction, coronary revascularization, and coronary death. Cohorts conducted race-specific analyses adjusted for age, sex, smoking, education, body mass index, blood cell type proportions, and technical variables. We conducted fixed-effect meta-analyses across cohorts.

RESULTS: Among 11 461 individuals (mean age 64 years, 67% women, 35% African American) free of CHD at baseline, 1895 developed CHD during a mean follow-up of 11.2 years. Methylation levels at 52 CpG (cytosine-phosphate-guanine) sites were associated with incident CHD or myocardial infarction (false discovery rate<0.05). These CpGs map to genes with key roles in calcium regulation (ATP2B2, CASR, GUCA1B, HPCAL1), and genes identified in genome- and epigenome-wide studies of serum calcium (CASR), serum calcium-related risk of CHD (CASR), coronary artery calcified plaque (PTPRN2), and kidney function (CDH23, HPCAL1), among others. Mendelian randomization analyses supported a causal effect of DNA methylation on incident CHD; these CpGs map to active regulatory regions proximal to long non-coding RNA transcripts.

CONCLUSION: Methylation of blood-derived DNA is associated with risk of future CHD across diverse populations and may serve as an informative tool for gaining further insight on the development of CHD.

%B Circulation %V 140 %P 645-657 %8 2019 08 20 %G eng %N 8 %R 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.118.039357 %0 Journal Article %J Genome Med %D 2020 %T Mitochondrial DNA copy number can influence mortality and cardiovascular disease via methylation of nuclear DNA CpGs. %A Castellani, Christina A %A Longchamps, Ryan J %A Sumpter, Jason A %A Newcomb, Charles E %A Lane, John A %A Grove, Megan L %A Bressler, Jan %A Brody, Jennifer A %A Floyd, James S %A Bartz, Traci M %A Taylor, Kent D %A Wang, Penglong %A Tin, Adrienne %A Coresh, Josef %A Pankow, James S %A Fornage, Myriam %A Guallar, Eliseo %A O'Rourke, Brian %A Pankratz, Nathan %A Liu, Chunyu %A Levy, Daniel %A Sotoodehnia, Nona %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Arking, Dan E %X

BACKGROUND: Mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNA-CN) has been associated with a variety of aging-related diseases, including all-cause mortality. However, the mechanism by which mtDNA-CN influences disease is not currently understood. One such mechanism may be through regulation of nuclear gene expression via the modification of nuclear DNA (nDNA) methylation.

METHODS: To investigate this hypothesis, we assessed the relationship between mtDNA-CN and nDNA methylation in 2507 African American (AA) and European American (EA) participants from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study. To validate our findings, we assayed an additional 2528 participants from the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS) (N = 533) and Framingham Heart Study (FHS) (N = 1995). We further assessed the effect of experimental modification of mtDNA-CN through knockout of TFAM, a regulator of mtDNA replication, via CRISPR-Cas9.

RESULTS: Thirty-four independent CpGs were associated with mtDNA-CN at genome-wide significance (P < 5 × 10). Meta-analysis across all cohorts identified six mtDNA-CN-associated CpGs at genome-wide significance (P < 5 × 10). Additionally, over half of these CpGs were associated with phenotypes known to be associated with mtDNA-CN, including coronary heart disease, cardiovascular disease, and mortality. Experimental modification of mtDNA-CN demonstrated that modulation of mtDNA-CN results in changes in nDNA methylation and gene expression of specific CpGs and nearby transcripts. Strikingly, the "neuroactive ligand receptor interaction" KEGG pathway was found to be highly overrepresented in the ARIC cohort (P = 5.24 × 10), as well as the TFAM knockout methylation (P = 4.41 × 10) and expression (P = 4.30 × 10) studies.

CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate that changes in mtDNA-CN influence nDNA methylation at specific loci and result in differential expression of specific genes that may impact human health and disease via altered cell signaling.

%B Genome Med %V 12 %P 84 %8 2020 Sep 28 %G eng %N 1 %R 10.1186/s13073-020-00778-7 %0 Journal Article %J Transl Psychiatry %D 2021 %T Association of low-frequency and rare coding variants with information processing speed. %A Bressler, Jan %A Davies, Gail %A Smith, Albert V %A Saba, Yasaman %A Bis, Joshua C %A Jian, Xueqiu %A Hayward, Caroline %A Yanek, Lisa %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Mirza, Saira S %A Wang, Ruiqi %A Adams, Hieab H H %A Becker, Diane %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Campbell, Archie %A Cox, Simon R %A Eiriksdottir, Gudny %A Fawns-Ritchie, Chloe %A Gottesman, Rebecca F %A Grove, Megan L %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Hofer, Edith %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Knol, Maria J %A Koini, Marisa %A Lopez, Oscar L %A Marioni, Riccardo E %A Nyquist, Paul %A Pattie, Alison %A Polasek, Ozren %A Porteous, David J %A Rudan, Igor %A Satizabal, Claudia L %A Schmidt, Helena %A Schmidt, Reinhold %A Sidney, Stephen %A Simino, Jeannette %A Smith, Blair H %A Turner, Stephen T %A van der Lee, Sven J %A Ware, Erin B %A Whitmer, Rachel A %A Yaffe, Kristine %A Yang, Qiong %A Zhao, Wei %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Launer, Lenore J %A Fitzpatrick, Annette L %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Fornage, Myriam %A Arfan Ikram, M %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Seshadri, Sudha %A Mosley, Thomas H %A Deary, Ian J %K Adult %K Aging %K Cognition %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Geroscience %K Humans %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases %X

Measures of information processing speed vary between individuals and decline with age. Studies of aging twins suggest heritability may be as high as 67%. The Illumina HumanExome Bead Chip genotyping array was used to examine the association of rare coding variants with performance on the Digit-Symbol Substitution Test (DSST) in community-dwelling adults participating in the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) Consortium. DSST scores were available for 30,576 individuals of European ancestry from nine cohorts and for 5758 individuals of African ancestry from four cohorts who were older than 45 years and free of dementia and clinical stroke. Linear regression models adjusted for age and gender were used for analysis of single genetic variants, and the T5, T1, and T01 burden tests that aggregate the number of rare alleles by gene were also applied. Secondary analyses included further adjustment for education. Meta-analyses to combine cohort-specific results were carried out separately for each ancestry group. Variants in RNF19A reached the threshold for statistical significance (p = 2.01 × 10) using the T01 test in individuals of European descent. RNF19A belongs to the class of E3 ubiquitin ligases that confer substrate specificity when proteins are ubiquitinated and targeted for degradation through the 26S proteasome. Variants in SLC22A7 and OR51A7 were suggestively associated with DSST scores after adjustment for education for African-American participants and in the European cohorts, respectively. Further functional characterization of its substrates will be required to confirm the role of RNF19A in cognitive function.

%B Transl Psychiatry %V 11 %P 613 %8 2021 12 04 %G eng %N 1 %R 10.1038/s41398-021-01736-6 %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 PLoS One %D 2021 %T Identification of novel and rare variants associated with handgrip strength using whole genome sequence data from the NHLBI Trans-Omics in Precision Medicine (TOPMed) Program. %A Sarnowski, Chloe %A Chen, Han %A Biggs, Mary L %A Wassertheil-Smoller, Sylvia %A Bressler, Jan %A Irvin, Marguerite R %A Ryan, Kathleen A %A Karasik, David %A Arnett, Donna K %A Cupples, L Adrienne %A Fardo, David W %A Gogarten, Stephanie M %A Heavner, Benjamin D %A Jain, Deepti %A Kang, Hyun Min %A Kooperberg, Charles %A Mainous, Arch G %A Mitchell, Braxton D %A Morrison, Alanna C %A O'Connell, Jeffrey R %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Rice, Kenneth %A Smith, Albert V %A Vasan, Ramachandran S %A Windham, B Gwen %A Kiel, Douglas P %A Murabito, Joanne M %A Lunetta, Kathryn L %X

Handgrip strength is a widely used measure of muscle strength and a predictor of a range of morbidities including cardiovascular diseases and all-cause mortality. Previous genome-wide association studies of handgrip strength have focused on common variants primarily in persons of European descent. We aimed to identify rare and ancestry-specific genetic variants associated with handgrip strength by conducting whole-genome sequence association analyses using 13,552 participants from six studies representing diverse population groups from the Trans-Omics in Precision Medicine (TOPMed) Program. By leveraging multiple handgrip strength measures performed in study participants over time, we increased our effective sample size by 7-12%. Single-variant analyses identified ten handgrip strength loci among African-Americans: four rare variants, five low-frequency variants, and one common variant. One significant and four suggestive genes were identified associated with handgrip strength when aggregating rare and functional variants; all associations were ancestry-specific. We additionally leveraged the different ancestries available in the UK Biobank to further explore the ancestry-specific association signals from the single-variant association analyses. In conclusion, our study identified 11 new loci associated with handgrip strength with rare and/or ancestry-specific genetic variations, highlighting the added value of whole-genome sequencing in diverse samples. Several of the associations identified using single-variant or aggregate analyses lie in genes with a function relevant to the brain or muscle or were reported to be associated with muscle or age-related traits. Further studies in samples with sequence data and diverse ancestries are needed to confirm these findings.

%B PLoS One %V 16 %P e0253611 %8 2021 %G eng %N 7 %R 10.1371/journal.pone.0253611 %0 Journal Article %J Mol Psychiatry %D 2022 %T Genome-wide meta-analyses reveal novel loci for verbal short-term memory and learning. %A Lahti, Jari %A Tuominen, Samuli %A Yang, Qiong %A Pergola, Giulio %A Ahmad, Shahzad %A Amin, Najaf %A Armstrong, Nicola J %A Beiser, Alexa %A Bey, Katharina %A Bis, Joshua C %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Bressler, Jan %A Campbell, Archie %A Campbell, Harry %A Chen, Qiang %A Corley, Janie %A Cox, Simon R %A Davies, Gail %A De Jager, Philip L %A Derks, Eske M %A Faul, Jessica D %A Fitzpatrick, Annette L %A Fohner, Alison E %A Ford, Ian %A Fornage, Myriam %A Gerring, Zachary %A Grabe, Hans J %A Grodstein, Francine %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Simonsick, Eleanor %A Holliday, Elizabeth G %A Joshi, Peter K %A Kajantie, Eero %A Kaprio, Jaakko %A Karell, Pauliina %A Kleineidam, Luca %A Knol, Maria J %A Kochan, Nicole A %A Kwok, John B %A Leber, Markus %A Lam, Max %A Lee, Teresa %A Li, Shuo %A Loukola, Anu %A Luck, Tobias %A Marioni, Riccardo E %A Mather, Karen A %A Medland, Sarah %A Mirza, Saira S %A Nalls, Mike A %A Nho, Kwangsik %A O'Donnell, Adrienne %A Oldmeadow, Christopher %A Painter, Jodie %A Pattie, Alison %A Reppermund, Simone %A Risacher, Shannon L %A Rose, Richard J %A Sadashivaiah, Vijay %A Scholz, Markus %A Satizabal, Claudia L %A Schofield, Peter W %A Schraut, Katharina E %A Scott, Rodney J %A Simino, Jeannette %A Smith, Albert V %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Stott, David J %A Surakka, Ida %A Teumer, Alexander %A Thalamuthu, Anbupalam %A Trompet, Stella %A Turner, Stephen T %A van der Lee, Sven J %A Villringer, Arno %A Völker, Uwe %A Wilson, Robert S %A Wittfeld, Katharina %A Vuoksimaa, Eero %A Xia, Rui %A Yaffe, Kristine %A Yu, Lei %A Zare, Habil %A Zhao, Wei %A Ames, David %A Attia, John %A Bennett, David A %A Brodaty, Henry %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Goldman, Aaron L %A Hayward, Caroline %A Ikram, M Arfan %A Jukema, J Wouter %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Lencz, Todd %A Loeffler, Markus %A Mattay, Venkata S %A Palotie, Aarno %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Ramirez, Alfredo %A Ridker, Paul M %A Riedel-Heller, Steffi G %A Sachdev, Perminder S %A Saykin, Andrew J %A Scherer, Martin %A Schofield, Peter R %A Sidney, Stephen %A Starr, John M %A Trollor, Julian %A Ulrich, William %A Wagner, Michael %A Weir, David R %A Wilson, James F %A Wright, Margaret J %A Weinberger, Daniel R %A Debette, Stephanie %A Eriksson, Johan G %A Mosley, Thomas H %A Launer, Lenore J %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Deary, Ian J %A Seshadri, Sudha %A Räikkönen, Katri %X

Understanding the genomic basis of memory processes may help in combating neurodegenerative disorders. Hence, we examined the associations of common genetic variants with verbal short-term memory and verbal learning in adults without dementia or stroke (N = 53,637). We identified novel loci in the intronic region of CDH18, and at 13q21 and 3p21.1, as well as an expected signal in the APOE/APOC1/TOMM40 region. These results replicated in an independent sample. Functional and bioinformatic analyses supported many of these loci and further implicated POC1. We showed that polygenic score for verbal learning associated with brain activation in right parieto-occipital region during working memory task. Finally, we showed genetic correlations of these memory traits with several neurocognitive and health outcomes. Our findings suggest a role of several genomic loci in verbal memory processes.

%B Mol Psychiatry %8 2022 Aug 16 %G eng %R 10.1038/s41380-022-01710-8 %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 Genet %D 2022 %T New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. %A Bellenguez, Céline %A Küçükali, Fahri %A Jansen, Iris E %A Kleineidam, Luca %A Moreno-Grau, Sonia %A Amin, Najaf %A Naj, Adam C %A Campos-Martin, Rafael %A Grenier-Boley, Benjamin %A Andrade, Victor %A Holmans, Peter A %A Boland, Anne %A Damotte, Vincent %A van der Lee, Sven J %A Costa, Marcos R %A Kuulasmaa, Teemu %A Yang, Qiong %A de Rojas, Itziar %A Bis, Joshua C %A Yaqub, Amber %A Prokic, Ivana %A Chapuis, Julien %A Ahmad, Shahzad %A Giedraitis, Vilmantas %A Aarsland, Dag %A Garcia-Gonzalez, Pablo %A Abdelnour, Carla %A Alarcón-Martín, Emilio %A Alcolea, Daniel %A Alegret, Montserrat %A Alvarez, Ignacio %A Alvarez, Victoria %A Armstrong, Nicola J %A Tsolaki, Anthoula %A Antunez, Carmen %A Appollonio, Ildebrando %A Arcaro, Marina %A Archetti, Silvana %A Pastor, Alfonso Arias %A Arosio, Beatrice %A Athanasiu, Lavinia %A Bailly, Henri %A Banaj, Nerisa %A Baquero, Miquel %A Barral, Sandra %A Beiser, Alexa %A Pastor, Ana Belén %A Below, Jennifer E %A Benchek, Penelope %A Benussi, Luisa %A Berr, Claudine %A Besse, Céline %A Bessi, Valentina %A Binetti, Giuliano %A Bizarro, Alessandra %A Blesa, Rafael %A Boada, Merce %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Borroni, Barbara %A Boschi, Silvia %A Bossù, Paola %A Bråthen, Geir %A Bressler, Jan %A Bresner, Catherine %A Brodaty, Henry %A Brookes, Keeley J %A Brusco, Luis Ignacio %A Buiza-Rueda, Dolores %A Bûrger, Katharina %A Burholt, Vanessa %A Bush, William S %A Calero, Miguel %A Cantwell, Laura B %A Chene, Geneviève %A Chung, Jaeyoon %A Cuccaro, Michael L %A Carracedo, Angel %A Cecchetti, Roberta %A Cervera-Carles, Laura %A Charbonnier, Camille %A Chen, Hung-Hsin %A Chillotti, Caterina %A Ciccone, Simona %A Claassen, Jurgen A H R %A Clark, Christopher %A Conti, Elisa %A Corma-Gómez, Anaïs %A Costantini, Emanuele %A Custodero, Carlo %A Daian, Delphine %A Dalmasso, Maria Carolina %A Daniele, Antonio %A Dardiotis, Efthimios %A Dartigues, Jean-François %A de Deyn, Peter Paul %A de Paiva Lopes, Katia %A de Witte, Lot D %A Debette, Stephanie %A Deckert, Jürgen %A Del Ser, Teodoro %A Denning, Nicola %A DeStefano, Anita %A Dichgans, Martin %A Diehl-Schmid, Janine %A Diez-Fairen, Monica %A Rossi, Paolo Dionigi %A Djurovic, Srdjan %A Duron, Emmanuelle %A Düzel, Emrah %A Dufouil, Carole %A Eiriksdottir, Gudny %A Engelborghs, Sebastiaan %A Escott-Price, Valentina %A Espinosa, Ana %A Ewers, Michael %A Faber, Kelley M %A Fabrizio, Tagliavini %A Nielsen, Sune Fallgaard %A Fardo, David W %A Farotti, Lucia %A Fenoglio, Chiara %A Fernández-Fuertes, Marta %A Ferrari, Raffaele %A Ferreira, Catarina B %A Ferri, Evelyn %A Fin, Bertrand %A Fischer, Peter %A Fladby, Tormod %A Fließbach, Klaus %A Fongang, Bernard %A Fornage, Myriam %A Fortea, Juan %A Foroud, Tatiana M %A Fostinelli, Silvia %A Fox, Nick C %A Franco-Macías, Emlio %A Bullido, María J %A Frank-García, Ana %A Froelich, Lutz %A Fulton-Howard, Brian %A Galimberti, Daniela %A García-Alberca, Jose Maria %A Garcia-Gonzalez, Pablo %A Garcia-Madrona, Sebastian %A Garcia-Ribas, Guillermo %A Ghidoni, Roberta %A Giegling, Ina %A Giorgio, Giaccone %A Goate, Alison M %A Goldhardt, Oliver %A Gomez-Fonseca, Duber %A González-Perez, Antonio %A Graff, Caroline %A Grande, Giulia %A Green, Emma %A Grimmer, Timo %A Grünblatt, Edna %A Grunin, Michelle %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Guetta-Baranes, Tamar %A Haapasalo, Annakaisa %A Hadjigeorgiou, Georgios %A Haines, Jonathan L %A Hamilton-Nelson, Kara L %A Hampel, Harald %A Hanon, Olivier %A Hardy, John %A Hartmann, Annette M %A Hausner, Lucrezia %A Harwood, Janet %A Heilmann-Heimbach, Stefanie %A Helisalmi, Seppo %A Heneka, Michael T %A Hernandez, Isabel %A Herrmann, Martin J %A Hoffmann, Per %A Holmes, Clive %A Holstege, Henne %A Vilas, Raquel Huerto %A Hulsman, Marc %A Humphrey, Jack %A Biessels, Geert Jan %A Jian, Xueqiu %A Johansson, Charlotte %A Jun, Gyungah R %A Kastumata, Yuriko %A Kauwe, John %A Kehoe, Patrick G %A Kilander, Lena %A Ståhlbom, Anne Kinhult %A Kivipelto, Miia %A Koivisto, Anne %A Kornhuber, Johannes %A Kosmidis, Mary H %A Kukull, Walter A %A Kuksa, Pavel P %A Kunkle, Brian W %A Kuzma, Amanda B %A Lage, Carmen %A Laukka, Erika J %A Launer, Lenore %A Lauria, Alessandra %A Lee, Chien-Yueh %A Lehtisalo, Jenni %A Lerch, Ondrej %A Lleo, Alberto %A Longstreth, William %A Lopez, Oscar %A de Munain, Adolfo Lopez %A Love, Seth %A Löwemark, Malin %A Luckcuck, Lauren %A Lunetta, Kathryn L %A Ma, Yiyi %A Macías, Juan %A MacLeod, Catherine A %A Maier, Wolfgang %A Mangialasche, Francesca %A Spallazzi, Marco %A Marquié, Marta %A Marshall, Rachel %A Martin, Eden R %A Montes, Angel Martín %A Rodríguez, Carmen Martínez %A Masullo, Carlo %A Mayeux, Richard %A Mead, Simon %A Mecocci, Patrizia %A Medina, Miguel %A Meggy, Alun %A Mehrabian, Shima %A Mendoza, Silvia %A Menéndez-González, Manuel %A Mir, Pablo %A Moebus, Susanne %A Mol, Merel %A Molina-Porcel, Laura %A Montrreal, Laura %A Morelli, Laura %A Moreno, Fermin %A Morgan, Kevin %A Mosley, Thomas %A Nöthen, Markus M %A Muchnik, Carolina %A Mukherjee, Shubhabrata %A Nacmias, Benedetta %A Ngandu, Tiia %A Nicolas, Gaël %A Nordestgaard, Børge G %A Olaso, Robert %A Orellana, Adelina %A Orsini, Michela %A Ortega, Gemma %A Padovani, Alessandro %A Paolo, Caffarra %A Papenberg, Goran %A Parnetti, Lucilla %A Pasquier, Florence %A Pastor, Pau %A Peloso, Gina %A Pérez-Cordón, Alba %A Pérez-Tur, Jordi %A Pericard, Pierre %A Peters, Oliver %A Pijnenburg, Yolande A L %A Pineda, Juan A %A Piñol-Ripoll, Gerard %A Pisanu, Claudia %A Polak, Thomas %A Popp, Julius %A Posthuma, Danielle %A Priller, Josef %A Puerta, Raquel %A Quenez, Olivier %A Quintela, Inés %A Thomassen, Jesper Qvist %A Rábano, Alberto %A Rainero, Innocenzo %A Rajabli, Farid %A Ramakers, Inez %A Real, Luis M %A Reinders, Marcel J T %A Reitz, Christiane %A Reyes-Dumeyer, Dolly %A Ridge, Perry %A Riedel-Heller, Steffi %A Riederer, Peter %A Roberto, Natalia %A Rodriguez-Rodriguez, Eloy %A Rongve, Arvid %A Allende, Irene Rosas %A Rosende-Roca, Maitée %A Royo, Jose Luis %A Rubino, Elisa %A Rujescu, Dan %A Sáez, María Eugenia %A Sakka, Paraskevi %A Saltvedt, Ingvild %A Sanabria, Ángela %A Sánchez-Arjona, María Bernal %A Sanchez-Garcia, Florentino %A Juan, Pascual Sánchez %A Sánchez-Valle, Raquel %A Sando, Sigrid B %A Sarnowski, Chloe %A Satizabal, Claudia L %A Scamosci, Michela %A Scarmeas, Nikolaos %A Scarpini, Elio %A Scheltens, Philip %A Scherbaum, Norbert %A Scherer, Martin %A Schmid, Matthias %A Schneider, Anja %A Schott, Jonathan M %A Selbæk, Geir %A Seripa, Davide %A Serrano, Manuel %A Sha, Jin %A Shadrin, Alexey A %A Skrobot, Olivia %A Slifer, Susan %A Snijders, Gijsje J L %A Soininen, Hilkka %A Solfrizzi, Vincenzo %A Solomon, Alina %A Song, Yeunjoo %A Sorbi, Sandro %A Sotolongo-Grau, Oscar %A Spalletta, Gianfranco %A Spottke, Annika %A Squassina, Alessio %A Stordal, Eystein %A Tartan, Juan Pablo %A Tarraga, Lluis %A Tesí, Niccolo %A Thalamuthu, Anbupalam %A Thomas, Tegos %A Tosto, Giuseppe %A Traykov, Latchezar %A Tremolizzo, Lucio %A Tybjærg-Hansen, Anne %A Uitterlinden, Andre %A Ullgren, Abbe %A Ulstein, Ingun %A Valero, Sergi %A Valladares, Otto %A Broeckhoven, Christine Van %A Vance, Jeffery %A Vardarajan, Badri N %A van der Lugt, Aad %A Dongen, Jasper Van %A van Rooij, Jeroen %A van Swieten, John %A Vandenberghe, Rik %A Verhey, Frans %A Vidal, Jean-Sébastien %A Vogelgsang, Jonathan %A Vyhnalek, Martin %A Wagner, Michael %A Wallon, David %A Wang, Li-San %A Wang, Ruiqi %A Weinhold, Leonie %A Wiltfang, Jens %A Windle, Gill %A Woods, Bob %A Yannakoulia, Mary %A Zare, Habil %A Zhao, Yi %A Zhang, Xiaoling %A Zhu, Congcong %A Zulaica, Miren %A Farrer, Lindsay A %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Ghanbari, Mohsen %A Raj, Towfique %A Sachdev, Perminder %A Mather, Karen %A Jessen, Frank %A Ikram, M Arfan %A de Mendonça, Alexandre %A Hort, Jakub %A Tsolaki, Magda %A Pericak-Vance, Margaret A %A Amouyel, Philippe %A Williams, Julie %A Frikke-Schmidt, Ruth %A Clarimon, Jordi %A Deleuze, Jean-Francois %A Rossi, Giacomina %A Seshadri, Sudha %A Andreassen, Ole A %A Ingelsson, Martin %A Hiltunen, Mikko %A Sleegers, Kristel %A Schellenberg, Gerard D %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Sims, Rebecca %A van der Flier, Wiesje M %A Ruiz, Agustin %A Ramirez, Alfredo %A Lambert, Jean-Charles %K Alzheimer Disease %K Cognitive Dysfunction %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Humans %K tau Proteins %X

Characterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/'proxy' AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis. Pathway enrichment analyses confirmed the involvement of amyloid/tau pathways and highlighted microglia implication. Gene prioritization in the new loci identified 31 genes that were suggestive of new genetically associated processes, including the tumor necrosis factor alpha pathway through the linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex. We also built a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future AD/dementia or progression from mild cognitive impairment to AD/dementia. The improvement in prediction led to a 1.6- to 1.9-fold increase in AD risk from the lowest to the highest decile, in addition to effects of age and the APOE ε4 allele.

%B Nat Genet %V 54 %P 412-436 %8 2022 Apr %G eng %N 4 %R 10.1038/s41588-022-01024-z %0 Journal Article %J Neurology %D 2023 %T Association of Mitochondrial DNA Copy Number With Brain MRI Markers and Cognitive Function: A Meta-analysis of Community-Based Cohorts. %A Zhang, Yuankai %A Liu, Xue %A Wiggins, Kerri L %A Kurniansyah, Nuzulul %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Rodrigue, Amanda L %A Zhao, Wei %A Yanek, Lisa R %A Ratliff, Scott M %A Pitsillides, Achilleas %A Aguirre Patiño, Juan Sebastian %A Sofer, Tamar %A Arking, Dan E %A Austin, Thomas R %A Beiser, Alexa S %A Blangero, John %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Bressler, Jan %A Curran, Joanne E %A Hou, Lifang %A Hughes, Timothy M %A Kardia, Sharon L %A Launer, Lenore %A Levy, Daniel %A Mosley, Tom H %A Nasrallah, Ilya M %A Rich, Stephen S %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Seshadri, Sudha %A Tarraf, Wassim %A González, Kevin A %A Ramachandran, Vasan %A Yaffe, Kristine %A Nyquist, Paul A %A Psaty, Bruce M %A DeCarli, Charles S %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Glahn, David C %A González, Hector M %A Bis, Joshua C %A Fornage, Myriam %A Heckbert, Susan R %A Fitzpatrick, Annette L %A Liu, Chunyu %A Satizabal, Claudia L %X

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Previous studies suggest lower mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copy number (CN) is associated with neurodegenerative diseases. However, whether mtDNA CN in whole blood is related to endophenotypes of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and AD related dementia (AD/ADRD) needs further investigation. We assessed the association of mtDNA CN with cognitive function and MRI measures in community-based samples of middle-aged to older adults.

METHODS: We included dementia-free participants from nine diverse community-based cohorts with whole-genome sequencing in the Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) program. Circulating mtDNA CN was estimated as twice the ratio of the average coverage of mtDNA to nuclear DNA. Brain MRI markers included total brain, hippocampal, and white matter hyperintensity volumes. General cognitive function was derived from distinct cognitive domains. We performed cohort-specific association analyses of mtDNA CN with AD/ADRD endophenotypes assessed within ±5 years (i.e., cross-sectional analyses) or 5 to 20 years after blood draw (i.e., prospective analyses) adjusting for potential confounders. We further explored associations stratified by sex and age (<60 vs. ≥60 years). Fixed-effects or sample size-weighted meta-analyses were performed to combine results. Finally, we performed Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses to assess causality.

RESULTS: We included up to 19,152 participants (mean age 59 years, 57% women). Higher mtDNA CN was cross-sectionally associated with better general cognitive function (Beta=0.04; 95% CI 0.02, 0.06) independent of age, sex, batch effects, race/ethnicity, time between blood draw and cognitive evaluation, cohort-specific variables, and education. Additional adjustment for blood cell counts or cardiometabolic traits led to slightly attenuated results. We observed similar significant associations with cognition in prospective analyses, although of reduced magnitude. We found no significant associations between mtDNA CN and brain MRI measures in meta-analyses. MR analyses did not reveal a causal relation between mtDNA CN in blood and cognition.

DISCUSSION: Higher mtDNA CN in blood is associated with better current and future general cognitive function in large and diverse communities across the US. Although MR analyses did not support a causal role, additional research is needed to assess causality. Circulating mtDNA CN could serve nevertheless as a biomarker of current and future cognitive function in the community.

%B Neurology %8 2023 Mar 16 %G eng %R 10.1212/WNL.0000000000207157 %0 Journal Article %J Alzheimers Res Ther %D 2024 %T Multi-omics and pathway analyses of genome-wide associations implicate regulation and immunity in verbal declarative memory performance. %A Mei, Hao %A Simino, Jeannette %A Li, Lianna %A Jiang, Fan %A Bis, Joshua C %A Davies, Gail %A Hill, W David %A Xia, Charley %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Yang, Qiong %A Lahti, Jari %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Kirin, Mirna %A De Jager, Philip %A Armstrong, Nicola J %A Ghanbari, Mohsen %A Kolcic, Ivana %A Moran, Christopher %A Teumer, Alexander %A Sargurupremraj, Murali %A Mahmud, Shamsed %A Fornage, Myriam %A Zhao, Wei %A Satizabal, Claudia L %A Polasek, Ozren %A Räikkönen, Katri %A Liewald, David C %A Homuth, Georg %A Callisaya, Michele %A Mather, Karen A %A Windham, B Gwen %A Zemunik, Tatijana %A Palotie, Aarno %A Pattie, Alison %A van der Auwera, Sandra %A Thalamuthu, Anbupalam %A Knopman, David S %A Rudan, Igor %A Starr, John M %A Wittfeld, Katharina %A Kochan, Nicole A %A Griswold, Michael E %A Vitart, Veronique %A Brodaty, Henry %A Gottesman, Rebecca %A Cox, Simon R %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Grodstein, Francine %A Sachdev, Perminder S %A Srikanth, Velandai %A Hayward, Caroline %A Wilson, James F %A Eriksson, Johan G %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Grabe, Hans J %A Bennett, David A %A Ikram, M Arfan %A Deary, Ian J %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Launer, Lenore %A Fitzpatrick, Annette L %A Seshadri, Sudha %A Bressler, Jan %A Debette, Stephanie %A Mosley, Thomas H %K Aged %K Cognition %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Humans %K Memory %K MicroRNAs %K Multiomics %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %X

BACKGROUND: Uncovering the functional relevance underlying verbal declarative memory (VDM) genome-wide association study (GWAS) results may facilitate the development of interventions to reduce age-related memory decline and dementia.

METHODS: We performed multi-omics and pathway enrichment analyses of paragraph (PAR-dr) and word list (WL-dr) delayed recall GWAS from 29,076 older non-demented individuals of European descent. We assessed the relationship between single-variant associations and expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) in 44 tissues and methylation quantitative trait loci (meQTLs) in the hippocampus. We determined the relationship between gene associations and transcript levels in 53 tissues, annotation as immune genes, and regulation by transcription factors (TFs) and microRNAs. To identify significant pathways, gene set enrichment was tested in each cohort and meta-analyzed across cohorts. Analyses of differential expression in brain tissues were conducted for pathway component genes.

RESULTS: The single-variant associations of VDM showed significant linkage disequilibrium (LD) with eQTLs across all tissues and meQTLs within the hippocampus. Stronger WL-dr gene associations correlated with reduced expression in four brain tissues, including the hippocampus. More robust PAR-dr and/or WL-dr gene associations were intricately linked with immunity and were influenced by 31 TFs and 2 microRNAs. Six pathways, including type I diabetes, exhibited significant associations with both PAR-dr and WL-dr. These pathways included fifteen MHC genes intricately linked to VDM performance, showing diverse expression patterns based on cognitive status in brain tissues.

CONCLUSIONS: VDM genetic associations influence expression regulation via eQTLs and meQTLs. The involvement of TFs, microRNAs, MHC genes, and immune-related pathways contributes to VDM performance in older individuals.

%B Alzheimers Res Ther %V 16 %P 14 %8 2024 Jan 20 %G eng %N 1 %R 10.1186/s13195-023-01376-6