| 1. |
- Sliz, E., et al.
(författare)
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Evidence of a causal effect of genetic tendency to gain muscle mass on uterine leiomyomata
- 2023
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Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723. ; 14:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Uterine leiomyomata (UL) are the most common tumours of the female genital tract and the primary cause of surgical removal of the uterus. Genetic factors contribute to UL susceptibility. To add understanding to the heritable genetic risk factors, we conduct a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of UL in up to 426,558 European women from FinnGen and a previous UL meta-GWAS. In addition to the 50 known UL loci, we identify 22 loci that have not been associated with UL in prior studies. UL-associated loci harbour genes enriched for development, growth, and cellular senescence. Of particular interest are the smooth muscle cell differentiation and proliferation-regulating genes functioning on the myocardin-cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor 1A pathway. Our results further suggest that genetic predisposition to increased fat-free mass may be causally related to higher UL risk, underscoring the involvement of altered muscle tissue biology in UL pathophysiology. Overall, our findings add to the understanding of the genetic pathways underlying UL, which may aid in developing novel therapeutics.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Kurki, MI, et al.
(författare)
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FinnGen provides genetic insights from a well-phenotyped isolated population
- 2023
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1476-4687 .- 0028-0836. ; 613:7944, s. 508-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Population isolates such as those in Finland benefit genetic research because deleterious alleles are often concentrated on a small number of low-frequency variants (0.1% ≤ minor allele frequency < 5%). These variants survived the founding bottleneck rather than being distributed over a large number of ultrarare variants. Although this effect is well established in Mendelian genetics, its value in common disease genetics is less explored1,2. FinnGen aims to study the genome and national health register data of 500,000 Finnish individuals. Given the relatively high median age of participants (63 years) and the substantial fraction of hospital-based recruitment, FinnGen is enriched for disease end points. Here we analyse data from 224,737 participants from FinnGen and study 15 diseases that have previously been investigated in large genome-wide association studies (GWASs). We also include meta-analyses of biobank data from Estonia and the United Kingdom. We identified 30 new associations, primarily low-frequency variants, enriched in the Finnish population. A GWAS of 1,932 diseases also identified 2,733 genome-wide significant associations (893 phenome-wide significant (PWS), P < 2.6 × 10–11) at 2,496 (771 PWS) independent loci with 807 (247 PWS) end points. Among these, fine-mapping implicated 148 (73 PWS) coding variants associated with 83 (42 PWS) end points. Moreover, 91 (47 PWS) had an allele frequency of <5% in non-Finnish European individuals, of which 62 (32 PWS) were enriched by more than twofold in Finland. These findings demonstrate the power of bottlenecked populations to find entry points into the biology of common diseases through low-frequency, high impact variants.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Liu, A., et al.
(författare)
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Evidence from Finland and Sweden on the relationship between early-life diseases and lifetime childlessness in men and women
- 2023
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Ingår i: Nature Human Behaviour. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 2397-3374.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The percentage of people without children over their lifetime is approximately 25% in men and 20% in women. Individual diseases have been linked to childlessness, mostly in women, yet we lack a comprehensive picture of the effect of early-life diseases on lifetime childlessness. We examined all individuals born in 1956-1968 (men) and 1956-1973 (women) in Finland (n = 1,035,928) and Sweden (n = 1,509,092) to the completion of their reproductive lifespan in 2018. Leveraging nationwide registers, we associated sociodemographic and reproductive information with 414 diseases across 16 categories, using a population and matched-pair case-control design of siblings discordant for childlessness (71,524 full sisters and 77,622 full brothers). The strongest associations were mental-behavioural disorders (particularly among men), congenital anomalies and endocrine-nutritional-metabolic disorders (strongest among women). We identified new associations for inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Associations were dependent on age at onset and mediated by singlehood and education. This evidence can be used to understand how disease contributes to involuntary childlessness.
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| 6. |
- Raemoe, JT, et al.
(författare)
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Genome-wide screen of otosclerosis in population biobanks: 27 loci and shared associations with skeletal structure
- 2023
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Ingår i: Nature communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723. ; 14:1, s. 157-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Otosclerosis is one of the most common causes of conductive hearing loss, affecting 0.3% of the population. It typically presents in adulthood and half of the patients have a positive family history. The pathophysiology of otosclerosis is poorly understood. A previous genome-wide association study (GWAS) identified a single association locus in an intronic region of RELN. Here, we report a meta-analysis of GWAS studies of otosclerosis in three population-based biobanks comprising 3504 cases and 861,198 controls. We identify 23 novel risk loci (p < 5 × 10−8) and report an association in RELN and three previously reported candidate gene or linkage regions (TGFB1, MEPE, and OTSC7). We demonstrate developmental stage-dependent immunostaining patterns of MEPE and RUNX2 in mouse otic capsules. In most association loci, the nearest protein-coding genes are implicated in bone remodelling, mineralization or severe skeletal disorders. We highlight multiple genes involved in transforming growth factor beta signalling for follow-up studies.
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| 7. |
- Rämö, JT, et al.
(författare)
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Genome-wide screen of otosclerosis in population biobanks: 27 loci and shared associations with skeletal structure
- 2023
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Ingår i: Nature communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723. ; 14:1, s. 157-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Otosclerosis is one of the most common causes of conductive hearing loss, affecting 0.3% of the population. It typically presents in adulthood and half of the patients have a positive family history. The pathophysiology of otosclerosis is poorly understood. A previous genome-wide association study (GWAS) identified a single association locus in an intronic region of RELN. Here, we report a meta-analysis of GWAS studies of otosclerosis in three population-based biobanks comprising 3504 cases and 861,198 controls. We identify 23 novel risk loci (p < 5 × 10−8) and report an association in RELN and three previously reported candidate gene or linkage regions (TGFB1, MEPE, and OTSC7). We demonstrate developmental stage-dependent immunostaining patterns of MEPE and RUNX2 in mouse otic capsules. In most association loci, the nearest protein-coding genes are implicated in bone remodelling, mineralization or severe skeletal disorders. We highlight multiple genes involved in transforming growth factor beta signalling for follow-up studies.
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| 8. |
- Saarentaus, EC, et al.
(författare)
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Inflammatory and infectious upper respiratory diseases associate with 41 genomic loci and type 2 inflammation
- 2023
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Ingår i: Nature communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723. ; 14:1, s. 83-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Inflammatory and infectious upper respiratory diseases (ICD-10: J30-J39), such as diseases of the sinonasal tract, pharynx and larynx, are growing health problems yet their genomic similarity is not known. We analyze genome-wide association to eight upper respiratory diseases (61,195 cases) among 260,405 FinnGen participants, meta-analyzing diseases in four groups based on an underlying genetic correlation structure. Aiming to understand which genetic loci contribute to susceptibility to upper respiratory diseases in general and its subtypes, we detect 41 independent genome-wide significant loci, distinguishing impact on sinonasal or pharyngeal diseases, or both. Fine-mapping implicated non-synonymous variants in nine genes, including three linked to immune-related diseases. Phenome-wide analysis implicated asthma and atopic dermatitis at sinonasal disease loci, and inflammatory bowel diseases and other immune-mediated disorders at pharyngeal disease loci. Upper respiratory diseases also genetically correlated with autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, autoimmune hypothyroidism, and psoriasis. Finally, we associated separate gene pathways in sinonasal and pharyngeal diseases that both contribute to type 2 immunological reaction. We show shared heritability among upper respiratory diseases that extends to several immune-mediated diseases with diverse mechanisms, such as type 2 high inflammation.
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| 9. |
- Saarentaus, EC, et al.
(författare)
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Inflammatory and infectious upper respiratory diseases associate with 41 genomic loci and type 2 inflammation
- 2023
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Ingår i: Nature communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723. ; 14:1, s. 83-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Inflammatory and infectious upper respiratory diseases (ICD-10: J30-J39), such as diseases of the sinonasal tract, pharynx and larynx, are growing health problems yet their genomic similarity is not known. We analyze genome-wide association to eight upper respiratory diseases (61,195 cases) among 260,405 FinnGen participants, meta-analyzing diseases in four groups based on an underlying genetic correlation structure. Aiming to understand which genetic loci contribute to susceptibility to upper respiratory diseases in general and its subtypes, we detect 41 independent genome-wide significant loci, distinguishing impact on sinonasal or pharyngeal diseases, or both. Fine-mapping implicated non-synonymous variants in nine genes, including three linked to immune-related diseases. Phenome-wide analysis implicated asthma and atopic dermatitis at sinonasal disease loci, and inflammatory bowel diseases and other immune-mediated disorders at pharyngeal disease loci. Upper respiratory diseases also genetically correlated with autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, autoimmune hypothyroidism, and psoriasis. Finally, we associated separate gene pathways in sinonasal and pharyngeal diseases that both contribute to type 2 immunological reaction. We show shared heritability among upper respiratory diseases that extends to several immune-mediated diseases with diverse mechanisms, such as type 2 high inflammation.
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| 10. |
- Bao, Erik L, et al.
(författare)
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Inherited myeloproliferative neoplasm risk affects haematopoietic stem cells
- 2020
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Ingår i: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 586:7831, s. 769-775
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) are blood cancers that are characterized by the excessive production of mature myeloid cells and arise from the acquisition of somatic driver mutations in haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). Epidemiological studies indicate a substantial heritable component of MPNs that is among the highest known for cancers1. However, only a limited number of genetic risk loci have been identified, and the underlying biological mechanisms that lead to the acquisition of MPNs remain unclear. Here, by conducting a large-scale genome-wide association study (3,797 cases and 1,152,977 controls), we identify 17 MPN risk loci (P < 5.0 × 10-8), 7 of which have not been previously reported. We find that there is a shared genetic architecture between MPN risk and several haematopoietic traits from distinct lineages; that there is an enrichment for MPN risk variants within accessible chromatin of HSCs; and that increased MPN risk is associated with longer telomere length in leukocytes and other clonal haematopoietic states-collectively suggesting that MPN risk is associated with the function and self-renewal of HSCs. We use gene mapping to identify modulators of HSC biology linked to MPN risk, and show through targeted variant-to-function assays that CHEK2 and GFI1B have roles in altering the function of HSCs to confer disease risk. Overall, our results reveal a previously unappreciated mechanism for inherited MPN risk through the modulation of HSC function.
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