%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 Hum Mol Genet %D 2016 %T A meta-analysis of 120 246 individuals identifies 18 new loci for fibrinogen concentration. %A de Vries, Paul S %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Sabater-Lleal, Maria %A Chen, Ming-Huei %A Huffman, Jennifer E %A Steri, Maristella %A Tang, Weihong %A Teumer, Alexander %A Marioni, Riccardo E %A Grossmann, Vera %A Hottenga, Jouke J %A Trompet, Stella %A Müller-Nurasyid, Martina %A Zhao, Jing Hua %A Brody, Jennifer A %A Kleber, Marcus E %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Wang, Jie Jin %A Auer, Paul L %A Attia, John R %A Yanek, Lisa R %A Ahluwalia, Tarunveer S %A Lahti, Jari %A Venturini, Cristina %A Tanaka, Toshiko %A Bielak, Lawrence F %A Joshi, Peter K %A Rocanin-Arjo, Ares %A Kolcic, Ivana %A Navarro, Pau %A Rose, Lynda M %A Oldmeadow, Christopher %A Riess, Helene %A Mazur, Johanna %A Basu, Saonli %A Goel, Anuj %A Yang, Qiong %A Ghanbari, Mohsen %A Willemsen, Gonneke %A Rumley, Ann %A Fiorillo, Edoardo %A de Craen, Anton J M %A Grotevendt, Anne %A Scott, Robert %A Taylor, Kent D %A Delgado, Graciela E %A Yao, Jie %A Kifley, Annette %A Kooperberg, Charles %A Qayyum, Rehan %A Lopez, Lorna M %A Berentzen, Tina L %A Räikkönen, Katri %A Mangino, Massimo %A Bandinelli, Stefania %A Peyser, Patricia A %A Wild, Sarah %A Trégouët, David-Alexandre %A Wright, Alan F %A Marten, Jonathan %A Zemunik, Tatijana %A Morrison, Alanna C %A Sennblad, Bengt %A Tofler, Geoffrey %A de Maat, Moniek P M %A de Geus, Eco J C %A Lowe, Gordon D %A Zoledziewska, Magdalena %A Sattar, Naveed %A Binder, Harald %A Völker, Uwe %A Waldenberger, Melanie %A Khaw, Kay-Tee %A McKnight, Barbara %A Huang, Jie %A Jenny, Nancy S %A Holliday, Elizabeth G %A Qi, Lihong %A Mcevoy, Mark G %A Becker, Diane M %A Starr, John M %A Sarin, Antti-Pekka %A Hysi, Pirro G %A Hernandez, Dena G %A Jhun, Min A %A Campbell, Harry %A Hamsten, Anders %A Rivadeneira, Fernando %A McArdle, Wendy L %A Slagboom, P Eline %A Zeller, Tanja %A Koenig, Wolfgang %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Haritunians, Talin %A Liu, Jingmin %A Palotie, Aarno %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Stott, David J %A Hofman, Albert %A Franco, Oscar H %A Polasek, Ozren %A Rudan, Igor %A Morange, Pierre-Emmanuel %A Wilson, James F %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Ferrucci, Luigi %A Spector, Tim D %A Eriksson, Johan G %A Hansen, Torben %A Deary, Ian J %A Becker, Lewis C %A Scott, Rodney J %A Mitchell, Paul %A März, Winfried %A Wareham, Nick J %A Peters, Annette %A Greinacher, Andreas %A Wild, Philipp S %A Jukema, J Wouter %A Boomsma, Dorret I %A Hayward, Caroline %A Cucca, Francesco %A Tracy, Russell %A Watkins, Hugh %A Reiner, Alex P %A Folsom, Aaron R %A Ridker, Paul M %A O'Donnell, Christopher J %A Smith, Nicholas L %A Strachan, David P %A Dehghan, Abbas %X

Genome-wide association studies have previously identified 23 genetic loci associated with circulating fibrinogen concentration. These studies used HapMap imputation and did not examine the X-chromosome. 1000 Genomes imputation provides better coverage of uncommon variants, and includes indels. We conducted a genome-wide association analysis of 34 studies imputed to the 1000 Genomes Project reference panel and including ∼120 000 participants of European ancestry (95 806 participants with data on the X-chromosome). Approximately 10.7 million single-nucleotide polymorphisms and 1.2 million indels were examined. We identified 41 genome-wide significant fibrinogen loci; of which, 18 were newly identified. There were no genome-wide significant signals on the X-chromosome. The lead variants of five significant loci were indels. We further identified six additional independent signals, including three rare variants, at two previously characterized loci: FGB and IRF1. Together the 41 loci explain 3% of the variance in plasma fibrinogen concentration.

%B Hum Mol Genet %V 25 %P 358-70 %8 2016 Jan 15 %G eng %N 2 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26561523?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1093/hmg/ddv454 %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 J Am Soc Nephrol %D 2016 %T SOS2 and ACP1 Loci Identified through Large-Scale Exome Chip Analysis Regulate Kidney Development and Function. %A Li, Man %A Li, Yong %A Weeks, Olivia %A Mijatovic, Vladan %A Teumer, Alexander %A Huffman, Jennifer E %A Tromp, Gerard %A Fuchsberger, Christian %A Gorski, Mathias %A Lyytikäinen, Leo-Pekka %A Nutile, Teresa %A Sedaghat, Sanaz %A Sorice, Rossella %A Tin, Adrienne %A Yang, Qiong %A Ahluwalia, Tarunveer S %A Arking, Dan E %A Bihlmeyer, Nathan A %A Böger, Carsten A %A Carroll, Robert J %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Cornelis, Marilyn C %A Dehghan, Abbas %A Faul, Jessica D %A Feitosa, Mary F %A Gambaro, Giovanni %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Giulianini, Franco %A Heid, Iris %A Huang, Jinyan %A Imboden, Medea %A Jackson, Anne U %A Jeff, Janina %A Jhun, Min A %A Katz, Ronit %A Kifley, Annette %A Kilpeläinen, Tuomas O %A Kumar, Ashish %A Laakso, Markku %A Li-Gao, Ruifang %A Lohman, Kurt %A Lu, Yingchang %A Mägi, Reedik %A Malerba, Giovanni %A Mihailov, Evelin %A Mohlke, Karen L %A Mook-Kanamori, Dennis O %A Robino, Antonietta %A Ruderfer, Douglas %A Salvi, Erika %A Schick, Ursula M %A Schulz, Christina-Alexandra %A Smith, Albert V %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Traglia, Michela %A Yerges-Armstrong, Laura M %A Zhao, Wei %A Goodarzi, Mark O %A Kraja, Aldi T %A Liu, Chunyu %A Wessel, Jennifer %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Borecki, Ingrid B %A Bork-Jensen, Jette %A Bottinger, Erwin P %A Braga, Daniele %A Brandslund, Ivan %A Brody, Jennifer A %A Campbell, Archie %A Carey, David J %A Christensen, Cramer %A Coresh, Josef %A Crook, Errol %A Curhan, Gary C %A Cusi, Daniele %A de Boer, Ian H %A de Vries, Aiko P J %A Denny, Joshua C %A Devuyst, Olivier %A Dreisbach, Albert W %A Endlich, Karlhans %A Esko, Tõnu %A Franco, Oscar H %A Fulop, Tibor %A Gerhard, Glenn S %A Glümer, Charlotte %A Gottesman, Omri %A Grarup, Niels %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Harris, Tamara B %A Hayward, Caroline %A Hocking, Lynne %A Hofman, Albert %A Hu, Frank B %A Husemoen, Lise Lotte N %A Jackson, Rebecca D %A Jørgensen, Torben %A Jørgensen, Marit E %A Kähönen, Mika %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A König, Wolfgang %A Kooperberg, Charles %A Kriebel, Jennifer %A Launer, Lenore J %A Lauritzen, Torsten %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Levy, Daniel %A Linksted, Pamela %A Linneberg, Allan %A Liu, Yongmei %A Loos, Ruth J F %A Lupo, Antonio %A Meisinger, Christine %A Melander, Olle %A Metspalu, Andres %A Mitchell, Paul %A Nauck, Matthias %A Nürnberg, Peter %A Orho-Melander, Marju %A Parsa, Afshin %A Pedersen, Oluf %A Peters, Annette %A Peters, Ulrike %A Polasek, Ozren %A Porteous, David %A Probst-Hensch, Nicole M %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Qi, Lu %A Raitakari, Olli T %A Reiner, Alex P %A Rettig, Rainer %A Ridker, Paul M %A Rivadeneira, Fernando %A Rossouw, Jacques E %A Schmidt, Frank %A Siscovick, David %A Soranzo, Nicole %A Strauch, Konstantin %A Toniolo, Daniela %A Turner, Stephen T %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Ulivi, Sheila %A Velayutham, Dinesh %A Völker, Uwe %A Völzke, Henry %A Waldenberger, Melanie %A Wang, Jie Jin %A Weir, David R %A Witte, Daniel %A Kuivaniemi, Helena %A Fox, Caroline S %A Franceschini, Nora %A Goessling, Wolfram %A Köttgen, Anna %A Chu, Audrey Y %X

Genome-wide association studies have identified >50 common variants associated with kidney function, but these variants do not fully explain the variation in eGFR. We performed a two-stage meta-analysis of associations between genotypes from the Illumina exome array and eGFR on the basis of serum creatinine (eGFRcrea) among participants of European ancestry from the CKDGen Consortium (nStage1: 111,666; nStage2: 48,343). In single-variant analyses, we identified single nucleotide polymorphisms at seven new loci associated with eGFRcrea (PPM1J, EDEM3, ACP1, SPEG, EYA4, CYP1A1, and ATXN2L; PStage1<3.7×10(-7)), of which most were common and annotated as nonsynonymous variants. Gene-based analysis identified associations of functional rare variants in three genes with eGFRcrea, including a novel association with the SOS Ras/Rho guanine nucleotide exchange factor 2 gene, SOS2 (P=5.4×10(-8) by sequence kernel association test). Experimental follow-up in zebrafish embryos revealed changes in glomerular gene expression and renal tubule morphology in the embryonic kidney of acp1- and sos2-knockdowns. These developmental abnormalities associated with altered blood clearance rate and heightened prevalence of edema. This study expands the number of loci associated with kidney function and identifies novel genes with potential roles in kidney formation.

%B J Am Soc Nephrol %8 2016 Dec 05 %G eng %R 10.1681/ASN.2016020131 %0 Journal Article %J Am J Hum Genet %D 2016 %T Trans-ethnic Meta-analysis and Functional Annotation Illuminates the Genetic Architecture of Fasting Glucose and Insulin. %A Liu, Ching-Ti %A Raghavan, Sridharan %A Maruthur, Nisa %A Kabagambe, Edmond Kato %A Hong, Jaeyoung %A Ng, Maggie C Y %A Hivert, Marie-France %A Lu, Yingchang %A An, Ping %A Bentley, Amy R %A Drolet, Anne M %A Gaulton, Kyle J %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Armstrong, Loren L %A Irvin, Marguerite R %A Li, Man %A Lipovich, Leonard %A Rybin, Denis V %A Taylor, Kent D %A Agyemang, Charles %A Palmer, Nicholette D %A Cade, Brian E %A Chen, Wei-Min %A Dauriz, Marco %A Delaney, Joseph A C %A Edwards, Todd L %A Evans, Daniel S %A Evans, Michele K %A Lange, Leslie A %A Leong, Aaron %A Liu, Jingmin %A Liu, Yongmei %A Nayak, Uma %A Patel, Sanjay R %A Porneala, Bianca C %A Rasmussen-Torvik, Laura J %A Snijder, Marieke B %A Stallings, Sarah C %A Tanaka, Toshiko %A Yanek, Lisa R %A Zhao, Wei %A Becker, Diane M %A Bielak, Lawrence F %A Biggs, Mary L %A Bottinger, Erwin P %A Bowden, Donald W %A Chen, Guanjie %A Correa, Adolfo %A Couper, David J %A Crawford, Dana C %A Cushman, Mary %A Eicher, John D %A Fornage, Myriam %A Franceschini, Nora %A Fu, Yi-Ping %A Goodarzi, Mark O %A Gottesman, Omri %A Hara, Kazuo %A Harris, Tamara B %A Jensen, Richard A %A Johnson, Andrew D %A Jhun, Min A %A Karter, Andrew J %A Keller, Margaux F %A Kho, Abel N %A Kizer, Jorge R %A Krauss, Ronald M %A Langefeld, Carl D %A Li, Xiaohui %A Liang, Jingling %A Liu, Simin %A Lowe, William L %A Mosley, Thomas H %A North, Kari E %A Pacheco, Jennifer A %A Peyser, Patricia A %A Patrick, Alan L %A Rice, Kenneth M %A Selvin, Elizabeth %A Sims, Mario %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Tajuddin, Salman M %A Vaidya, Dhananjay %A Wren, Mary P %A Yao, Jie %A Zhu, Xiaofeng %A Ziegler, Julie T %A Zmuda, Joseph M %A Zonderman, Alan B %A Zwinderman, Aeilko H %A Adeyemo, Adebowale %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Ferrucci, Luigi %A Hayes, M Geoffrey %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Miljkovic, Iva %A Pankow, James S %A Rotimi, Charles N %A Sale, Michèle M %A Wagenknecht, Lynne E %A Arnett, Donna K %A Chen, Yii-Der Ida %A Nalls, Michael A %A Province, Michael A %A Kao, W H Linda %A Siscovick, David S %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Wilson, James G %A Loos, Ruth J F %A Dupuis, Josée %A Rich, Stephen S %A Florez, Jose C %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Morris, Andrew P %A Meigs, James B %X

Knowledge of the genetic basis of the type 2 diabetes (T2D)-related quantitative traits fasting glucose (FG) and insulin (FI) in African ancestry (AA) individuals has been limited. In non-diabetic subjects of AA (n = 20,209) and European ancestry (EA; n = 57,292), we performed trans-ethnic (AA+EA) fine-mapping of 54 established EA FG or FI loci with detailed functional annotation, assessed their relevance in AA individuals, and sought previously undescribed loci through trans-ethnic (AA+EA) meta-analysis. We narrowed credible sets of variants driving association signals for 22/54 EA-associated loci; 18/22 credible sets overlapped with active islet-specific enhancers or transcription factor (TF) binding sites, and 21/22 contained at least one TF motif. Of the 54 EA-associated loci, 23 were shared between EA and AA. Replication with an additional 10,096 AA individuals identified two previously undescribed FI loci, chrX FAM133A (rs213676) and chr5 PELO (rs6450057). Trans-ethnic analyses with regulatory annotation illuminate the genetic architecture of glycemic traits and suggest gene regulation as a target to advance precision medicine for T2D. Our approach to utilize state-of-the-art functional annotation and implement trans-ethnic association analysis for discovery and fine-mapping offers a framework for further follow-up and characterization of GWAS signals of complex trait loci.

%B Am J Hum Genet %V 99 %P 56-75 %8 2016 Jul 7 %G eng %N 1 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27321945?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1016/j.ajhg.2016.05.006 %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 Blood %D 2018 %T DNA methylation age is associated with an altered hemostatic profile in a multi-ethnic meta-analysis. %A Ward-Caviness, Cavin K %A Huffman, Jennifer E %A Evertt, Karl %A Germain, Marine %A van Dongen, Jenny %A Hill, W David %A Jhun, Min A %A Brody, Jennifer A %A Ghanbari, Mohsen %A Du, Lei %A Roetker, Nicholas S %A de Vries, Paul S %A Waldenberger, Melanie %A Gieger, Christian %A Wolf, Petra %A Prokisch, Holger %A Koenig, Wolfgang %A O'Donnell, Christopher J %A Levy, Daniel %A Liu, Chunyu %A Truong, Vinh %A Wells, Philip S %A Trégouët, David-Alexandre %A Tang, Weihong %A Morrison, Alanna C %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Wiggins, Kerri L %A McKnight, Barbara %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Sotoodenia, Nona %A Boomsa, Dorret I %A Willemsen, Gonneke %A Ligthart, Lannie %A Deary, Ian J %A Zhao, Wei %A Ware, Erin B %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A van Meurs, Joyce B J %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Franco, Oscar H %A Eriksson, Per %A Franco-Cereceda, Anders %A Pankow, James S %A Johnson, Andrew D %A Gagnon, France %A Morange, Pierre-Emmanuel %A de Geus, Eco J C %A Starr, John M %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Dehghan, Abbas %A Björck, Hanna M %A Smith, Nicholas L %A Peters, Annette %X

Many hemostatic factors are associated with age and age-related diseases, however much remains unknown about the biological mechanisms linking aging and hemostatic factors. DNA methylation is a novel means by which to assess epigenetic aging, which is a measure of age and the aging processes as determined by altered epigenetic states. We used a meta-analysis approach to examine the association between measures of epigenetic aging and hemostatic factors, as well as a clotting time measure. For fibrinogen, we used European and African-ancestry participants who were meta-analyzed separately and combined via a random effects meta-analysis. All other measures only included participants of European-ancestry. We found that 1-year higher extrinsic epigenetic age as compared to chronological age was associated with higher fibrinogen (0.004 g/L per year; 95% CI: 0.001, 0.007; P = 0.01) and plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1; 0.13 U/mL per year; 95% CI: 0.07, 0.20; P = 6.6x10-5) concentrations as well as lower activated partial thromboplastin time, a measure of clotting time. We replicated PAI-1 associations using an independent cohort. To further elucidate potential functional mechanisms we associated epigenetic aging with expression levels of the PAI-1 protein encoding gene (SERPINE1) and the three fibrinogen subunit-encoding genes (FGA, FGG, and FGB), in both peripheral blood and aorta intima-media samples. We observed associations between accelerated epigenetic aging and transcription of FGG in both tissues. Collectively, our results indicate that accelerated epigenetic aging is associated with a pro-coagulation hemostatic profile, and that epigenetic aging may regulate hemostasis in part via gene transcription.

%B Blood %8 2018 Jul 24 %G eng %R 10.1182/blood-2018-02-831347 %0 Journal Article %J Brain %D 2022 %T Epigenetic and integrative cross-omics analyses of cerebral white matter hyperintensities on MRI. %A Yang, Yunju %A Knol, Maria J %A Wang, Ruiqi %A Mishra, Aniket %A Liu, Dan %A Luciano, Michelle %A Teumer, Alexander %A Armstrong, Nicola %A Bis, Joshua C %A Jhun, Min A %A Li, Shuo %A Adams, Hieab H H %A Aziz, Nasir Ahmad %A Bastin, Mark E %A Bourgey, Mathieu %A Brody, Jennifer A %A Frenzel, Stefan %A Gottesman, Rebecca F %A Hosten, Norbert %A Hou, Lifang %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Lohner, Valerie %A Marquis, Pascale %A Maniega, Susana Muñoz %A Satizabal, Claudia L %A Sorond, Farzaneh A %A Valdés Hernández, Maria C %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Vernooij, Meike W %A Wittfeld, Katharina %A Yang, Qiong %A Zhao, Wei %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Levy, Daniel %A Deary, Ian J %A Jiang, Jiyang %A Mather, Karen A %A Mosley, Thomas H %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Sachdev, Perminder S %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Sotoodehnia, Nona %A DeCarli, Charles S %A Breteler, Monique M B %A Arfan Ikram, M %A Grabe, Hans J %A Wardlaw, Joanna %A Longstreth, W T %A Launer, Lenore J %A Seshadri, Sudha %A Debette, Stephanie %A Fornage, Myriam %X

Cerebral white matter hyperintensities on MRI are markers of cerebral small vessel disease, a major risk factor for dementia and stroke. Despite the successful identification of multiple genetic variants associated with this highly heritable condition, its genetic architecture remains incompletely understood. More specifically, the role of DNA methylation has received little attention. We investigated the association between white matter hyperintensity burden and DNA methylation in blood at approximately 450,000 CpG sites in 9,732 middle-aged to older adults from 14 community-based studies. Single-CpG and region-based association analyses were carried out. Functional annotation and integrative cross-omics analyses were performed to identify novel genes underlying the relationship between DNA methylation and white matter hyperintensities. We identified 12 single-CpG and 46 region-based DNA methylation associations with white matter hyperintensity burden. Our top discovery single CpG, cg24202936 (P = 7.6 × 10-8), was associated with F2 expression in blood (P = 6.4 × 10-5), and colocalized with FOLH1 expression in brain (posterior probability =0.75). Our top differentially methylated regions were in PRMT1 and in CCDC144NL-AS1, which were also represented in single-CpG associations (cg17417856 and cg06809326, respectively). Through Mendelian randomization analyses cg06809326 was putatively associated with white matter hyperintensity burden (P = 0.03) and expression of CCDC144NL-AS1 possibly mediated this association. Differentially methylated region analysis, joint epigenetic association analysis, and multi-omics colocalization analysis consistently identified a role of DNA methylation near SH3PXD2A, a locus previously identified in genome-wide association studies of white matter hyperintensities. Gene set enrichment analyses revealed functions of the identified DNA methylation loci in the blood-brain barrier and in the immune response. Integrative cross-omics analysis identified 19 key regulatory genes in two networks related to extracellular matrix organization, and lipid and lipoprotein metabolism. A drug repositioning analysis indicated antihyperlipidemic agents, more specifically peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha, as possible target drugs for white matter hyperintensities. Our epigenome-wide association study and integrative cross-omics analyses implicate novel genes influencing white matter hyperintensity burden, which converged on pathways related to the immune response and to a compromised blood brain barrier possibly due to disrupted cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix interactions. The results also suggest that antihyperlipidemic therapy may contribute to lowering risk for white matter hyperintensities possibly through protection against blood brain barrier disruption.

%B Brain %8 2022 Aug 09 %G eng %R 10.1093/brain/awac290