TY - JOUR T1 - Genome-wide association study identifies 74 loci associated with educational attainment. JF - Nature Y1 - 2016 A1 - Okbay, Aysu A1 - Beauchamp, Jonathan P A1 - Fontana, Mark Alan A1 - Lee, James J A1 - Pers, Tune H A1 - Rietveld, Cornelius A A1 - Turley, Patrick A1 - Chen, Guo-Bo A1 - Emilsson, Valur A1 - Meddens, S Fleur W A1 - Oskarsson, Sven A1 - Pickrell, Joseph K A1 - Thom, Kevin A1 - Timshel, Pascal A1 - de Vlaming, Ronald A1 - Abdellaoui, Abdel A1 - Ahluwalia, Tarunveer S A1 - Bacelis, Jonas A1 - Baumbach, Clemens A1 - Bjornsdottir, Gyda A1 - Brandsma, Johannes H A1 - Pina Concas, Maria A1 - Derringer, Jaime A1 - Furlotte, Nicholas A A1 - Galesloot, Tessel E A1 - Girotto, Giorgia A1 - Gupta, Richa A1 - Hall, Leanne M A1 - Harris, Sarah E A1 - Hofer, Edith A1 - Horikoshi, Momoko A1 - Huffman, Jennifer E A1 - Kaasik, Kadri A1 - Kalafati, Ioanna P A1 - Karlsson, Robert A1 - Kong, Augustine A1 - Lahti, Jari A1 - van der Lee, Sven J A1 - deLeeuw, Christiaan A1 - Lind, Penelope A A1 - Lindgren, Karl-Oskar A1 - Liu, Tian A1 - Mangino, Massimo A1 - Marten, Jonathan A1 - Mihailov, Evelin A1 - Miller, Michael B A1 - van der Most, Peter J A1 - Oldmeadow, Christopher A1 - Payton, Antony A1 - Pervjakova, Natalia A1 - Peyrot, Wouter J A1 - Qian, Yong A1 - Raitakari, Olli A1 - Rueedi, Rico A1 - Salvi, Erika A1 - Schmidt, Börge A1 - Schraut, Katharina E A1 - Shi, Jianxin A1 - Smith, Albert V A1 - Poot, Raymond A A1 - St Pourcain, Beate A1 - Teumer, Alexander A1 - Thorleifsson, Gudmar A1 - Verweij, Niek A1 - Vuckovic, Dragana A1 - Wellmann, Juergen A1 - Westra, Harm-Jan A1 - Yang, Jingyun A1 - Zhao, Wei A1 - Zhu, Zhihong A1 - Alizadeh, Behrooz Z A1 - Amin, Najaf A1 - Bakshi, Andrew A1 - Baumeister, Sebastian E A1 - Biino, Ginevra A1 - Bønnelykke, Klaus A1 - Boyle, Patricia A A1 - Campbell, Harry A1 - Cappuccio, Francesco P A1 - Davies, Gail A1 - De Neve, Jan-Emmanuel A1 - Deloukas, Panos A1 - Demuth, Ilja A1 - Ding, Jun A1 - Eibich, Peter A1 - Eisele, Lewin A1 - Eklund, Niina A1 - Evans, David M A1 - Faul, Jessica D A1 - Feitosa, Mary F A1 - Forstner, Andreas J A1 - Gandin, Ilaria A1 - Gunnarsson, Bjarni A1 - Halldórsson, Bjarni V A1 - Harris, Tamara B A1 - Heath, Andrew C A1 - Hocking, Lynne J A1 - Holliday, Elizabeth G A1 - Homuth, Georg A1 - Horan, Michael A A1 - Hottenga, Jouke-Jan A1 - de Jager, Philip L A1 - Joshi, Peter K A1 - Jugessur, Astanand A1 - Kaakinen, Marika A A1 - Kähönen, Mika A1 - Kanoni, Stavroula A1 - Keltigangas-Järvinen, Liisa A1 - Kiemeney, Lambertus A L M A1 - Kolcic, Ivana A1 - Koskinen, Seppo A1 - Kraja, Aldi T A1 - Kroh, Martin A1 - Kutalik, Zoltán A1 - Latvala, Antti A1 - Launer, Lenore J A1 - Lebreton, Maël P A1 - Levinson, Douglas F A1 - Lichtenstein, Paul A1 - Lichtner, Peter A1 - Liewald, David C M A1 - Loukola, Anu A1 - Madden, Pamela A A1 - Mägi, Reedik A1 - Mäki-Opas, Tomi A1 - Marioni, Riccardo E A1 - Marques-Vidal, Pedro A1 - Meddens, Gerardus A A1 - McMahon, George A1 - Meisinger, Christa A1 - Meitinger, Thomas A1 - Milaneschi, Yusplitri A1 - Milani, Lili A1 - Montgomery, Grant W A1 - Myhre, Ronny A1 - Nelson, Christopher P A1 - Nyholt, Dale R A1 - Ollier, William E R A1 - Palotie, Aarno A1 - Paternoster, Lavinia A1 - Pedersen, Nancy L A1 - Petrovic, Katja E A1 - Porteous, David J A1 - Räikkönen, Katri A1 - Ring, Susan M A1 - Robino, Antonietta A1 - Rostapshova, Olga A1 - Rudan, Igor A1 - Rustichini, Aldo A1 - Salomaa, Veikko A1 - Sanders, Alan R A1 - Sarin, Antti-Pekka A1 - Schmidt, Helena A1 - Scott, Rodney J A1 - Smith, Blair H A1 - Smith, Jennifer A A1 - Staessen, Jan A A1 - Steinhagen-Thiessen, Elisabeth A1 - Strauch, Konstantin A1 - Terracciano, Antonio A1 - Tobin, Martin D A1 - Ulivi, Sheila A1 - Vaccargiu, Simona A1 - Quaye, Lydia A1 - van Rooij, Frank J A A1 - Venturini, Cristina A1 - Vinkhuyzen, Anna A E A1 - Völker, Uwe A1 - Völzke, Henry A1 - Vonk, Judith M A1 - Vozzi, Diego A1 - Waage, Johannes A1 - Ware, Erin B A1 - Willemsen, Gonneke A1 - Attia, John R A1 - Bennett, David A A1 - Berger, Klaus A1 - Bertram, Lars A1 - Bisgaard, Hans A1 - Boomsma, Dorret I A1 - Borecki, Ingrid B A1 - Bültmann, Ute A1 - Chabris, Christopher F A1 - Cucca, Francesco A1 - Cusi, Daniele A1 - Deary, Ian J A1 - Dedoussis, George V A1 - van Duijn, Cornelia M A1 - Eriksson, Johan G A1 - Franke, Barbara A1 - Franke, Lude A1 - Gasparini, Paolo A1 - Gejman, Pablo V A1 - Gieger, Christian A1 - Grabe, Hans-Jörgen A1 - Gratten, Jacob A1 - Groenen, Patrick J F A1 - Gudnason, Vilmundur A1 - van der Harst, Pim A1 - Hayward, Caroline A1 - Hinds, David A A1 - Hoffmann, Wolfgang A1 - Hyppönen, Elina A1 - Iacono, William G A1 - Jacobsson, Bo A1 - Järvelin, Marjo-Riitta A1 - Jöckel, Karl-Heinz A1 - Kaprio, Jaakko A1 - Kardia, Sharon L R A1 - Lehtimäki, Terho A1 - Lehrer, Steven F A1 - Magnusson, Patrik K E A1 - Martin, Nicholas G A1 - McGue, Matt A1 - Metspalu, Andres A1 - Pendleton, Neil A1 - Penninx, Brenda W J H A1 - Perola, Markus A1 - Pirastu, Nicola A1 - Pirastu, Mario A1 - Polasek, Ozren A1 - Posthuma, Danielle A1 - Power, Christine A1 - Province, Michael A A1 - Samani, Nilesh J A1 - Schlessinger, David A1 - Schmidt, Reinhold A1 - Sørensen, Thorkild I A A1 - Spector, Tim D A1 - Stefansson, Kari A1 - Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur A1 - Thurik, A Roy A1 - Timpson, Nicholas J A1 - Tiemeier, Henning A1 - Tung, Joyce Y A1 - Uitterlinden, André G A1 - Vitart, Veronique A1 - Vollenweider, Peter A1 - Weir, David R A1 - Wilson, James F A1 - Wright, Alan F A1 - Conley, Dalton C A1 - Krueger, Robert F A1 - Davey Smith, George A1 - Hofman, Albert A1 - Laibson, David I A1 - Medland, Sarah E A1 - Meyer, Michelle N A1 - Yang, Jian A1 - Johannesson, Magnus A1 - Visscher, Peter M A1 - Esko, Tõnu A1 - Koellinger, Philipp D A1 - Cesarini, David A1 - Benjamin, Daniel J KW - Alzheimer Disease KW - Bipolar Disorder KW - Brain KW - Cognition KW - Computational Biology KW - Educational Status KW - Fetus KW - Gene Expression Regulation KW - Gene-Environment Interaction KW - Genome-Wide Association Study KW - Great Britain KW - Humans KW - Molecular Sequence Annotation KW - Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide KW - Schizophrenia AB -

Educational attainment is strongly influenced by social and other environmental factors, but genetic factors are estimated to account for at least 20% of the variation across individuals. Here we report the results of a genome-wide association study (GWAS) for educational attainment that extends our earlier discovery sample of 101,069 individuals to 293,723 individuals, and a replication study in an independent sample of 111,349 individuals from the UK Biobank. We identify 74 genome-wide significant loci associated with the number of years of schooling completed. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with educational attainment are disproportionately found in genomic regions regulating gene expression in the fetal brain. Candidate genes are preferentially expressed in neural tissue, especially during the prenatal period, and enriched for biological pathways involved in neural development. Our findings demonstrate that, even for a behavioural phenotype that is mostly environmentally determined, a well-powered GWAS identifies replicable associated genetic variants that suggest biologically relevant pathways. Because educational attainment is measured in large numbers of individuals, it will continue to be useful as a proxy phenotype in efforts to characterize the genetic influences of related phenotypes, including cognition and neuropsychiatric diseases.

VL - 533 IS - 7604 U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27225129?dopt=Abstract ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Trans-ethnic meta-analysis of white blood cell phenotypes. JF - Hum Mol Genet Y1 - 2014 A1 - Keller, Margaux F A1 - Reiner, Alexander P A1 - Okada, Yukinori A1 - van Rooij, Frank J A A1 - Johnson, Andrew D A1 - Chen, Ming-Huei A1 - Smith, Albert V A1 - Morris, Andrew P A1 - Tanaka, Toshiko A1 - Ferrucci, Luigi A1 - Zonderman, Alan B A1 - Lettre, Guillaume A1 - Harris, Tamara A1 - Garcia, Melissa A1 - Bandinelli, Stefania A1 - Qayyum, Rehan A1 - Yanek, Lisa R A1 - Becker, Diane M A1 - Becker, Lewis C A1 - Kooperberg, Charles A1 - Keating, Brendan A1 - Reis, Jared A1 - Tang, Hua A1 - Boerwinkle, Eric A1 - Kamatani, Yoichiro A1 - Matsuda, Koichi A1 - Kamatani, Naoyuki A1 - Nakamura, Yusuke A1 - Kubo, Michiaki A1 - Liu, Simin A1 - Dehghan, Abbas A1 - Felix, Janine F A1 - Hofman, Albert A1 - Uitterlinden, André G A1 - van Duijn, Cornelia M A1 - Franco, Oscar H A1 - Longo, Dan L A1 - Singleton, Andrew B A1 - Psaty, Bruce M A1 - Evans, Michelle K A1 - Cupples, L Adrienne A1 - Rotter, Jerome I A1 - O'Donnell, Christopher J A1 - Takahashi, Atsushi A1 - Wilson, James G A1 - Ganesh, Santhi K A1 - Nalls, Mike A KW - African Americans KW - Asian Continental Ancestry Group KW - Bayes Theorem KW - European Continental Ancestry Group KW - Genome, Human KW - Genome-Wide Association Study KW - Genotype KW - Humans KW - Leukocyte Count KW - Leukocytes KW - Linkage Disequilibrium KW - Phenotype KW - Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide KW - Quantitative Trait Loci AB -

White blood cell (WBC) count is a common clinical measure used as a predictor of certain aspects of human health, including immunity and infection status. WBC count is also a complex trait that varies among individuals and ancestry groups. Differences in linkage disequilibrium structure and heterogeneity in allelic effects are expected to play a role in the associations observed between populations. Prior genome-wide association study (GWAS) meta-analyses have identified genomic loci associated with WBC and its subtypes, but much of the heritability of these phenotypes remains unexplained. Using GWAS summary statistics for over 50 000 individuals from three diverse populations (Japanese, African-American and European ancestry), a Bayesian model methodology was employed to account for heterogeneity between ancestry groups. This approach was used to perform a trans-ethnic meta-analysis of total WBC, neutrophil and monocyte counts. Ten previously known associations were replicated and six new loci were identified, including several regions harboring genes related to inflammation and immune cell function. Ninety-five percent credible interval regions were calculated to narrow the association signals and fine-map the putatively causal variants within loci. Finally, a conditional analysis was performed on the most significant SNPs identified by the trans-ethnic meta-analysis (MA), and nine secondary signals within loci previously associated with WBC or its subtypes were identified. This work illustrates the potential of trans-ethnic analysis and ascribes a critical role to multi-ethnic cohorts and consortia in exploring complex phenotypes with respect to variants that lie outside the European-biased GWAS pool.

VL - 23 IS - 25 U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25096241?dopt=Abstract ER - 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 -