| 1. |
- Surendran, Praveen, et al.
(author)
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Discovery of rare variants associated with blood pressure regulation through meta-analysis of 1.3 million individuals
- 2020
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In: Nature Genetics. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 1061-4036 .- 1546-1718. ; 52:12, s. 1314-1332
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Genetic studies of blood pressure (BP) to date have mainly analyzed common variants (minor allele frequency > 0.05). In a meta-analysis of up to similar to 1.3 million participants, we discovered 106 new BP-associated genomic regions and 87 rare (minor allele frequency <= 0.01) variant BP associations (P < 5 x 10(-8)), of which 32 were in new BP-associated loci and 55 were independent BP-associated single-nucleotide variants within known BP-associated regions. Average effects of rare variants (44% coding) were similar to 8 times larger than common variant effects and indicate potential candidate causal genes at new and known loci (for example, GATA5 and PLCB3). BP-associated variants (including rare and common) were enriched in regions of active chromatin in fetal tissues, potentially linking fetal development with BP regulation in later life. Multivariable Mendelian randomization suggested possible inverse effects of elevated systolic and diastolic BP on large artery stroke. Our study demonstrates the utility of rare-variant analyses for identifying candidate genes and the results highlight potential therapeutic targets.
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| 2. |
- Lee, Crystal, et al.
(author)
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Association of anthropometry and weight change with risk of dementia and its major subtypes: a meta-analysis consisting 2.8 million adults with 57,294 cases of dementia
- 2020
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In: Obesity Reviews. - : Wiley. - 1467-7881 .- 1467-789X. ; 21:4
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Uncertainty exists regarding the relation of body size and weight change with dementia risk. As populations continue to age and the global obesity epidemic shows no sign of waning, reliable quantification of such associations is important. We examined the relationship of body mass index, waist circumference, and annual percent weight change with risk of dementia and its subtypes by pooling data from 19 prospective cohort studies and four clinical trials using meta-analysis. Compared with body mass index-defined lower-normal weight (18.5–22.4 kg/m2), the risk of all-cause dementia was higher among underweight individuals but lower among those with upper-normal (22.5–24.9 kg/m2) levels. Obesity was associated with higher risk in vascular dementia. Similarly, relative to the lowest fifth of waist circumference, those in the highest fifth had non-significant higher vascular dementia risk. Weight loss was associated with higher all-cause dementia risk relative to weight maintenance. Weight gain was weakly associated with higher vascular dementia risk. The relationship between body size, weight change and dementia is complex and exhibits nonlinear associations depending on dementia subtype under scrutiny. Weight loss was associated with an elevated risk most likely due to reverse causality and/or pathophysiological changes in the brain, although the latter remains speculative.
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| 3. |
- Ngo, Debby, et al.
(author)
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Proteomic profiling reveals novel biomarkers and pathways in yype 2 diabetes risk
- 2021
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In: JCI Insight. - : American Society for Clinical Investigation. - 2379-3708. ; 6:5
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Recent advances in proteomic technologies have made high throughput profiling of low abundance proteins in large epidemiological cohorts increasingly feasible. We investigated whether aptamer-based proteomic profiling could identify biomarkers associated with future development of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) beyond known risk factors. We identified dozens of markers with highly significant associations with future T2DM across two large longitudinal cohorts (n=2,839) followed for up to 16 years. We leveraged proteomic, metabolomic, genetic and clinical data from humans to nominate one specific candidate to test for potential causal relationships in model systems. Our studies identified functional effects of aminoacylase 1 (ACY1), a top protein association with future T2DM risk, on amino acid metabolism and insulin homeostasis in vitro and in vivo. Further, a loss-of-function variant associated with circulating levels of the biomarker WAP, Kazal, immunoglobulin, Kunitz and NTR domain-containing protein 2 (WFIKKN2) was in turn associated with fasting glucose, hemoglobin A1c and HOMA-IR measurements in humans. In addition to identifying novel disease markers and potential pathways in T2DM, we provide publicly available data to be leveraged for new insights about gene function and disease pathogenesis in the context of human metabolism. .
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| 4. |
- Thomas, Minta, et al.
(author)
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Genome-wide Modeling of Polygenic Risk Score in Colorectal Cancer Risk.
- 2020
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In: American Journal of Human Genetics. - Cambridge : Elsevier BV. - 0002-9297 .- 1537-6605. ; 107:3, s. 432-444
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Accurate colorectal cancer (CRC) risk prediction models are critical for identifying individuals at low and high risk of developing CRC, as they can then be offered targeted screening and interventions to address their risks of developing disease (if they are in a high-risk group) and avoid unnecessary screening and interventions (if they are in a low-risk group). As it is likely that thousands of genetic variants contribute to CRC risk, it is clinically important to investigate whether these genetic variants can be used jointly for CRC risk prediction. In this paper, we derived and compared different approaches to generating predictive polygenic risk scores (PRS) from genome-wide association studies (GWASs) including 55,105 CRC-affected case subjects and 65,079 control subjects of European ancestry. We built the PRS in three ways, using (1) 140 previously identified and validated CRC loci; (2) SNP selection based on linkage disequilibrium (LD) clumping followed by machine-learning approaches; and (3) LDpred, a Bayesian approach for genome-wide risk prediction. We tested the PRS in an independent cohort of 101,987 individuals with 1,699 CRC-affected case subjects. The discriminatory accuracy, calculated by the age- and sex-adjusted area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC), was highest for the LDpred-derived PRS (AUC = 0.654) including nearly 1.2 M genetic variants (the proportion of causal genetic variants for CRC assumed to be 0.003), whereas the PRS of the 140 known variants identified from GWASs had the lowest AUC (AUC = 0.629). Based on the LDpred-derived PRS, we are able to identify 30% of individuals without a family history as having risk for CRC similar to those with a family history of CRC, whereas the PRS based on known GWAS variants identified only top 10% as having a similar relative risk. About 90% of these individuals have no family history and would have been considered average risk under current screening guidelines, but might benefit from earlier screening. The developed PRS offers a way for risk-stratified CRC screening and other targeted interventions.
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| 5. |
- Thomas, Minta, et al.
(author)
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Response to Li and Hopper
- 2021
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In: American Journal of Human Genetics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0002-9297 .- 1537-6605. ; 108:3, s. 527-529
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)
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