TY - JOUR T1 - Multiple loci are associated with white blood cell phenotypes. JF - PLoS Genet Y1 - 2011 A1 - Nalls, Michael A A1 - Couper, David J A1 - Tanaka, Toshiko A1 - van Rooij, Frank J A A1 - Chen, Ming-Huei A1 - Smith, Albert V A1 - Toniolo, Daniela A1 - Zakai, Neil A A1 - Yang, Qiong A1 - Greinacher, Andreas A1 - Wood, Andrew R A1 - Garcia, Melissa A1 - Gasparini, Paolo A1 - Liu, Yongmei A1 - Lumley, Thomas A1 - Folsom, Aaron R A1 - Reiner, Alex P A1 - Gieger, Christian A1 - Lagou, Vasiliki A1 - Felix, Janine F A1 - Völzke, Henry A1 - Gouskova, Natalia A A1 - Biffi, Alessandro A1 - Döring, Angela A1 - Völker, Uwe A1 - Chong, Sean A1 - Wiggins, Kerri L A1 - Rendon, Augusto A1 - Dehghan, Abbas A1 - Moore, Matt A1 - Taylor, Kent A1 - Wilson, James G A1 - Lettre, Guillaume A1 - Hofman, Albert A1 - Bis, Joshua C A1 - Pirastu, Nicola A1 - Fox, Caroline S A1 - Meisinger, Christa A1 - Sambrook, Jennifer A1 - Arepalli, Sampath A1 - Nauck, Matthias A1 - Prokisch, Holger A1 - Stephens, Jonathan A1 - Glazer, Nicole L A1 - Cupples, L Adrienne A1 - Okada, Yukinori A1 - Takahashi, Atsushi A1 - Kamatani, Yoichiro A1 - Matsuda, Koichi A1 - Tsunoda, Tatsuhiko A1 - Tanaka, Toshihiro A1 - Kubo, Michiaki A1 - Nakamura, Yusuke A1 - Yamamoto, Kazuhiko A1 - Kamatani, Naoyuki A1 - Stumvoll, Michael A1 - Tönjes, Anke A1 - Prokopenko, Inga A1 - Illig, Thomas A1 - Patel, Kushang V A1 - Garner, Stephen F A1 - Kuhnel, Brigitte A1 - Mangino, Massimo A1 - Oostra, Ben A A1 - Thein, Swee Lay A1 - Coresh, Josef A1 - Wichmann, H-Erich A1 - Menzel, Stephan A1 - Lin, JingPing A1 - Pistis, Giorgio A1 - Uitterlinden, André G A1 - Spector, Tim D A1 - Teumer, Alexander A1 - Eiriksdottir, Gudny A1 - Gudnason, Vilmundur A1 - Bandinelli, Stefania A1 - Frayling, Timothy M A1 - Chakravarti, Aravinda A1 - van Duijn, Cornelia M A1 - Melzer, David A1 - Ouwehand, Willem H A1 - Levy, Daniel A1 - Boerwinkle, Eric A1 - Singleton, Andrew B A1 - Hernandez, Dena G A1 - Longo, Dan L A1 - Soranzo, Nicole A1 - Witteman, Jacqueline C M A1 - Psaty, Bruce M A1 - Ferrucci, Luigi A1 - Harris, Tamara B A1 - O'Donnell, Christopher J A1 - Ganesh, Santhi K KW - Genetic Loci KW - Genome-Wide Association Study KW - Humans KW - Leukocyte Count KW - Leukocytes KW - Molecular Epidemiology KW - Multigene Family KW - Phenotype KW - Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide KW - Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases AB -

White blood cell (WBC) count is a common clinical measure from complete blood count assays, and it varies widely among healthy individuals. Total WBC count and its constituent subtypes have been shown to be moderately heritable, with the heritability estimates varying across cell types. We studied 19,509 subjects from seven cohorts in a discovery analysis, and 11,823 subjects from ten cohorts for replication analyses, to determine genetic factors influencing variability within the normal hematological range for total WBC count and five WBC subtype measures. Cohort specific data was supplied by the CHARGE, HeamGen, and INGI consortia, as well as independent collaborative studies. We identified and replicated ten associations with total WBC count and five WBC subtypes at seven different genomic loci (total WBC count-6p21 in the HLA region, 17q21 near ORMDL3, and CSF3; neutrophil count-17q21; basophil count- 3p21 near RPN1 and C3orf27; lymphocyte count-6p21, 19p13 at EPS15L1; monocyte count-2q31 at ITGA4, 3q21, 8q24 an intergenic region, 9q31 near EDG2), including three previously reported associations and seven novel associations. To investigate functional relationships among variants contributing to variability in the six WBC traits, we utilized gene expression- and pathways-based analyses. We implemented gene-clustering algorithms to evaluate functional connectivity among implicated loci and showed functional relationships across cell types. Gene expression data from whole blood was utilized to show that significant biological consequences can be extracted from our genome-wide analyses, with effect estimates for significant loci from the meta-analyses being highly corellated with the proximal gene expression. In addition, collaborative efforts between the groups contributing to this study and related studies conducted by the COGENT and RIKEN groups allowed for the examination of effect homogeneity for genome-wide significant associations across populations of diverse ancestral backgrounds.

VL - 7 IS - 6 U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21738480?dopt=Abstract ER -