%0 Journal Article %J Eur J Hum Genet %D 2019 %T Next-generation sequencing identified SPATC1L as a possible candidate gene for both early-onset and age-related hearing loss. %A Morgan, Anna %A Vuckovic, Dragana %A Krishnamoorthy, Navaneethakrishnan %A Rubinato, Elisa %A Ambrosetti, Umberto %A Castorina, Pierangela %A Franzè, Annamaria %A Vozzi, Diego %A La Bianca, Martina %A Cappellani, Stefania %A Di Stazio, Mariateresa %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Girotto, Giorgia %X

Hereditary hearing loss (HHL) and age-related hearing loss (ARHL) are two major sensory diseases affecting millions of people worldwide. Despite many efforts, additional HHL-genes and ARHL genetic risk factors still need to be identified. To fill this gap a large genomic screening based on next-generation sequencing technologies was performed. Whole exome sequencing in a 3-generation Italian HHL family and targeted re-sequencing in 464 ARHL patients were performed. We detected three variants in SPATC1L: a nonsense allele in an HHL family and a frameshift insertion and a missense variation in two unrelated ARHL patients. In silico molecular modelling of all variants suggested a significant impact on the structural stability of the protein itself, likely leading to deleterious effects and resulting in truncated isoforms. After demonstrating Spatc1l expression in mice inner ear, in vitro functional experiments were performed confirming the results of the molecular modelling studies. Finally, a candidate-gene population-based statistical study in cohorts from Caucasus and Central Asia revealed a statistically significant association of SPATC1L with normal hearing function at low and medium hearing frequencies. Overall, the amount of different genetic data presented here (variants with early-onset and late-onset hearing loss in addition to genetic association with normal hearing function), together with relevant functional evidence, likely suggest a role of SPATC1L in hearing function and loss.

%B Eur J Hum Genet %V 27 %P 70-79 %8 2019 01 %G eng %N 1 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30177775?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1038/s41431-018-0229-9 %0 Journal Article %J Nat Genet %D 2018 %T Genetic analysis of over 1 million people identifies 535 new loci associated with blood pressure traits. %A Evangelou, Evangelos %A Warren, Helen R %A Mosen-Ansorena, David %A Mifsud, Borbala %A Pazoki, Raha %A Gao, He %A Ntritsos, Georgios %A Dimou, Niki %A Cabrera, Claudia P %A Karaman, Ibrahim %A Ng, Fu Liang %A Evangelou, Marina %A Witkowska, Katarzyna %A Tzanis, Evan %A Hellwege, Jacklyn N %A Giri, Ayush %A Velez Edwards, Digna R %A Sun, Yan V %A Cho, Kelly %A Gaziano, J Michael %A Wilson, Peter W F %A Tsao, Philip S %A Kovesdy, Csaba P %A Esko, Tõnu %A Mägi, Reedik %A Milani, Lili %A Almgren, Peter %A Boutin, Thibaud %A Debette, Stéphanie %A Ding, Jun %A Giulianini, Franco %A Holliday, Elizabeth G %A Jackson, Anne U %A Li-Gao, Ruifang %A Lin, Wei-Yu %A Luan, Jian'an %A Mangino, Massimo %A Oldmeadow, Christopher %A Prins, Bram Peter %A Qian, Yong %A Sargurupremraj, Muralidharan %A Shah, Nabi %A Surendran, Praveen %A Thériault, Sébastien %A Verweij, Niek %A Willems, Sara M %A Zhao, Jing-Hua %A Amouyel, Philippe %A Connell, John %A de Mutsert, Renée %A Doney, Alex S F %A Farrall, Martin %A Menni, Cristina %A Morris, Andrew D %A Noordam, Raymond %A Paré, Guillaume %A Poulter, Neil R %A Shields, Denis C %A Stanton, Alice %A Thom, Simon %A Abecasis, Goncalo %A Amin, Najaf %A Arking, Dan E %A Ayers, Kristin L %A Barbieri, Caterina M %A Batini, Chiara %A Bis, Joshua C %A Blake, Tineka %A Bochud, Murielle %A Boehnke, Michael %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Boomsma, Dorret I %A Bottinger, Erwin P %A Braund, Peter S %A Brumat, Marco %A Campbell, Archie %A Campbell, Harry %A Chakravarti, Aravinda %A Chambers, John C %A Chauhan, Ganesh %A Ciullo, Marina %A Cocca, Massimiliano %A Collins, Francis %A Cordell, Heather J %A Davies, Gail %A de Borst, Martin H %A de Geus, Eco J %A Deary, Ian J %A Deelen, Joris %A del Greco M, Fabiola %A Demirkale, Cumhur Yusuf %A Dörr, Marcus %A Ehret, Georg B %A Elosua, Roberto %A Enroth, Stefan %A Erzurumluoglu, A Mesut %A Ferreira, Teresa %A Frånberg, Mattias %A Franco, Oscar H %A Gandin, Ilaria %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Giedraitis, Vilmantas %A Gieger, Christian %A Girotto, Giorgia %A Goel, Anuj %A Gow, Alan J %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Gyllensten, Ulf %A Hamsten, Anders %A Harris, Tamara B %A Harris, Sarah E %A Hartman, Catharina A %A Havulinna, Aki S %A Hicks, Andrew A %A Hofer, Edith %A Hofman, Albert %A Hottenga, Jouke-Jan %A Huffman, Jennifer E %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Ingelsson, Erik %A James, Alan %A Jansen, Rick %A Järvelin, Marjo-Riitta %A Joehanes, Roby %A Johansson, Åsa %A Johnson, Andrew D %A Joshi, Peter K %A Jousilahti, Pekka %A Jukema, J Wouter %A Jula, Antti %A Kähönen, Mika %A Kathiresan, Sekar %A Keavney, Bernard D %A Khaw, Kay-Tee %A Knekt, Paul %A Knight, Joanne %A Kolcic, Ivana %A Kooner, Jaspal S %A Koskinen, Seppo %A Kristiansson, Kati %A Kutalik, Zoltán %A Laan, Maris %A Larson, Marty %A Launer, Lenore J %A Lehne, Benjamin %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Liewald, David C M %A Lin, Li %A Lind, Lars %A Lindgren, Cecilia M %A Liu, Yongmei %A Loos, Ruth J F %A Lopez, Lorna M %A Lu, Yingchang %A Lyytikäinen, Leo-Pekka %A Mahajan, Anubha %A Mamasoula, Chrysovalanto %A Marrugat, Jaume %A Marten, Jonathan %A Milaneschi, Yuri %A Morgan, Anna %A Morris, Andrew P %A Morrison, Alanna C %A Munson, Peter J %A Nalls, Mike A %A Nandakumar, Priyanka %A Nelson, Christopher P %A Niiranen, Teemu %A Nolte, Ilja M %A Nutile, Teresa %A Oldehinkel, Albertine J %A Oostra, Ben A %A O'Reilly, Paul F %A Org, Elin %A Padmanabhan, Sandosh %A Palmas, Walter %A Palotie, Aarno %A Pattie, Alison %A Penninx, Brenda W J H %A Perola, Markus %A Peters, Annette %A Polasek, Ozren %A Pramstaller, Peter P %A Nguyen, Quang Tri %A Raitakari, Olli T %A Ren, Meixia %A Rettig, Rainer %A Rice, Kenneth %A Ridker, Paul M %A Ried, Janina S %A Riese, Harriëtte %A Ripatti, Samuli %A Robino, Antonietta %A Rose, Lynda M %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Rudan, Igor %A Ruggiero, Daniela %A Saba, Yasaman %A Sala, Cinzia F %A Salomaa, Veikko %A Samani, Nilesh J %A Sarin, Antti-Pekka %A Schmidt, Reinhold %A Schmidt, Helena %A Shrine, Nick %A Siscovick, David %A Smith, Albert V %A Snieder, Harold %A Sõber, Siim %A Sorice, Rossella %A Starr, John M %A Stott, David J %A Strachan, David P %A Strawbridge, Rona J %A Sundström, Johan %A Swertz, Morris A %A Taylor, Kent D %A Teumer, Alexander %A Tobin, Martin D %A Tomaszewski, Maciej %A Toniolo, Daniela %A Traglia, Michela %A Trompet, Stella %A Tuomilehto, Jaakko %A Tzourio, Christophe %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Vaez, Ahmad %A van der Most, Peter J %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Vergnaud, Anne-Claire %A Verwoert, Germaine C %A Vitart, Veronique %A Völker, Uwe %A Vollenweider, Peter %A Vuckovic, Dragana %A Watkins, Hugh %A Wild, Sarah H %A Willemsen, Gonneke %A Wilson, James F %A Wright, Alan F %A Yao, Jie %A Zemunik, Tatijana %A Zhang, Weihua %A Attia, John R %A Butterworth, Adam S %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Conen, David %A Cucca, Francesco %A Danesh, John %A Hayward, Caroline %A Howson, Joanna M M %A Laakso, Markku %A Lakatta, Edward G %A Langenberg, Claudia %A Melander, Olle %A Mook-Kanamori, Dennis O %A Palmer, Colin N A %A Risch, Lorenz %A Scott, Robert A %A Scott, Rodney J %A Sever, Peter %A Spector, Tim D %A van der Harst, Pim %A Wareham, Nicholas J %A Zeggini, Eleftheria %A Levy, Daniel %A Munroe, Patricia B %A Newton-Cheh, Christopher %A Brown, Morris J %A Metspalu, Andres %A Hung, Adriana M %A O'Donnell, Christopher J %A Edwards, Todd L %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Tzoulaki, Ioanna %A Barnes, Michael R %A Wain, Louise V %A Elliott, Paul %A Caulfield, Mark J %X

High blood pressure is a highly heritable and modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease. We report the largest genetic association study of blood pressure traits (systolic, diastolic and pulse pressure) to date in over 1 million people of European ancestry. We identify 535 novel blood pressure loci that not only offer new biological insights into blood pressure regulation but also highlight shared genetic architecture between blood pressure and lifestyle exposures. Our findings identify new biological pathways for blood pressure regulation with potential for improved cardiovascular disease prevention in the future.

%B Nat Genet %V 50 %P 1412-1425 %8 2018 Oct %G eng %N 10 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30224653?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1038/s41588-018-0205-x %0 Journal Article %J Am J Hum Genet %D 2018 %T Genome Analyses of >200,000 Individuals Identify 58 Loci for Chronic Inflammation and Highlight Pathways that Link Inflammation and Complex Disorders. %A Ligthart, Symen %A Vaez, Ahmad %A Võsa, Urmo %A Stathopoulou, Maria G %A de Vries, Paul S %A Prins, Bram P %A van der Most, Peter J %A Tanaka, Toshiko %A Naderi, Elnaz %A Rose, Lynda M %A Wu, Ying %A Karlsson, Robert %A Barbalic, Maja %A Lin, Honghuang %A Pool, René %A Zhu, Gu %A Macé, Aurélien %A Sidore, Carlo %A Trompet, Stella %A Mangino, Massimo %A Sabater-Lleal, Maria %A Kemp, John P %A Abbasi, Ali %A Kacprowski, Tim %A Verweij, Niek %A Smith, Albert V %A Huang, Tao %A Marzi, Carola %A Feitosa, Mary F %A Lohman, Kurt K %A Kleber, Marcus E %A Milaneschi, Yuri %A Mueller, Christian %A Huq, Mahmudul %A Vlachopoulou, Efthymia %A Lyytikäinen, Leo-Pekka %A Oldmeadow, Christopher %A Deelen, Joris %A Perola, Markus %A Zhao, Jing Hua %A Feenstra, Bjarke %A Amini, Marzyeh %A Lahti, Jari %A Schraut, Katharina E %A Fornage, Myriam %A Suktitipat, Bhoom %A Chen, Wei-Min %A Li, Xiaohui %A Nutile, Teresa %A Malerba, Giovanni %A Luan, Jian'an %A Bak, Tom %A Schork, Nicholas %A del Greco M, Fabiola %A Thiering, Elisabeth %A Mahajan, Anubha %A Marioni, Riccardo E %A Mihailov, Evelin %A Eriksson, Joel %A Ozel, Ayse Bilge %A Zhang, Weihua %A Nethander, Maria %A Cheng, Yu-Ching %A Aslibekyan, Stella %A Ang, Wei %A Gandin, Ilaria %A Yengo, Loic %A Portas, Laura %A Kooperberg, Charles %A Hofer, Edith %A Rajan, Kumar B %A Schurmann, Claudia %A den Hollander, Wouter %A Ahluwalia, Tarunveer S %A Zhao, Jing %A Draisma, Harmen H M %A Ford, Ian %A Timpson, Nicholas %A Teumer, Alexander %A Huang, Hongyan %A Wahl, Simone %A Liu, Yongmei %A Huang, Jie %A Uh, Hae-Won %A Geller, Frank %A Joshi, Peter K %A Yanek, Lisa R %A Trabetti, Elisabetta %A Lehne, Benjamin %A Vozzi, Diego %A Verbanck, Marie %A Biino, Ginevra %A Saba, Yasaman %A Meulenbelt, Ingrid %A O'Connell, Jeff R %A Laakso, Markku %A Giulianini, Franco %A Magnusson, Patrik K E %A Ballantyne, Christie M %A Hottenga, Jouke Jan %A Montgomery, Grant W %A Rivadineira, Fernando %A Rueedi, Rico %A Steri, Maristella %A Herzig, Karl-Heinz %A Stott, David J %A Menni, Cristina %A Frånberg, Mattias %A St Pourcain, Beate %A Felix, Stephan B %A Pers, Tune H %A Bakker, Stephan J L %A Kraft, Peter %A Peters, Annette %A Vaidya, Dhananjay %A Delgado, Graciela %A Smit, Johannes H %A Großmann, Vera %A Sinisalo, Juha %A Seppälä, Ilkka %A Williams, Stephen R %A Holliday, Elizabeth G %A Moed, Matthijs %A Langenberg, Claudia %A Räikkönen, Katri %A Ding, Jingzhong %A Campbell, Harry %A Sale, Michele M %A Chen, Yii-Der I %A James, Alan L %A Ruggiero, Daniela %A Soranzo, Nicole %A Hartman, Catharina A %A Smith, Erin N %A Berenson, Gerald S %A Fuchsberger, Christian %A Hernandez, Dena %A Tiesler, Carla M T %A Giedraitis, Vilmantas %A Liewald, David %A Fischer, Krista %A Mellström, Dan %A Larsson, Anders %A Wang, Yunmei %A Scott, William R %A Lorentzon, Matthias %A Beilby, John %A Ryan, Kathleen A %A Pennell, Craig E %A Vuckovic, Dragana %A Balkau, Beverly %A Concas, Maria Pina %A Schmidt, Reinhold %A Mendes de Leon, Carlos F %A Bottinger, Erwin P %A Kloppenburg, Margreet %A Paternoster, Lavinia %A Boehnke, Michael %A Musk, A W %A Willemsen, Gonneke %A Evans, David M %A Madden, Pamela A F %A Kähönen, Mika %A Kutalik, Zoltán %A Zoledziewska, Magdalena %A Karhunen, Ville %A Kritchevsky, Stephen B %A Sattar, Naveed %A LaChance, Genevieve %A Clarke, Robert %A Harris, Tamara B %A Raitakari, Olli T %A Attia, John R %A van Heemst, Diana %A Kajantie, Eero %A Sorice, Rossella %A Gambaro, Giovanni %A Scott, Robert A %A Hicks, Andrew A %A Ferrucci, Luigi %A Standl, Marie %A Lindgren, Cecilia M %A Starr, John M %A Karlsson, Magnus %A Lind, Lars %A Li, Jun Z %A Chambers, John C %A Mori, Trevor A %A de Geus, Eco J C N %A Heath, Andrew C %A Martin, Nicholas G %A Auvinen, Juha %A Buckley, Brendan M %A de Craen, Anton J M %A Waldenberger, Melanie %A Strauch, Konstantin %A Meitinger, Thomas %A Scott, Rodney J %A McEvoy, Mark %A Beekman, Marian %A Bombieri, Cristina %A Ridker, Paul M %A Mohlke, Karen L %A Pedersen, Nancy L %A Morrison, Alanna C %A Boomsma, Dorret I %A Whitfield, John B %A Strachan, David P %A Hofman, Albert %A Vollenweider, Peter %A Cucca, Francesco %A Järvelin, Marjo-Riitta %A Jukema, J Wouter %A Spector, Tim D %A Hamsten, Anders %A Zeller, Tanja %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Nauck, Matthias %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Qi, Lu %A Grallert, Harald %A Borecki, Ingrid B %A Rotter, Jerome I %A März, Winfried %A Wild, Philipp S %A Lokki, Marja-Liisa %A Boyle, Michael %A Salomaa, Veikko %A Melbye, Mads %A Eriksson, Johan G %A Wilson, James F %A Penninx, Brenda W J H %A Becker, Diane M %A Worrall, Bradford B %A Gibson, Greg %A Krauss, Ronald M %A Ciullo, Marina %A Zaza, Gianluigi %A Wareham, Nicholas J %A Oldehinkel, Albertine J %A Palmer, Lyle J %A Murray, Sarah S %A Pramstaller, Peter P %A Bandinelli, Stefania %A Heinrich, Joachim %A Ingelsson, Erik %A Deary, Ian J %A Mägi, Reedik %A Vandenput, Liesbeth %A van der Harst, Pim %A Desch, Karl C %A Kooner, Jaspal S %A Ohlsson, Claes %A Hayward, Caroline %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Shuldiner, Alan R %A Arnett, Donna K %A Beilin, Lawrence J %A Robino, Antonietta %A Froguel, Philippe %A Pirastu, Mario %A Jess, Tine %A Koenig, Wolfgang %A Loos, Ruth J F %A Evans, Denis A %A Schmidt, Helena %A Smith, George Davey %A Slagboom, P Eline %A Eiriksdottir, Gudny %A Morris, Andrew P %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Tracy, Russell P %A Nolte, Ilja M %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Visvikis-Siest, Sophie %A Reiner, Alex P %A Gross, Myron %A Bis, Joshua C %A Franke, Lude %A Franco, Oscar H %A Benjamin, Emelia J %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Dupuis, Josée %A Snieder, Harold %A Dehghan, Abbas %A Alizadeh, Behrooz Z %X

C-reactive protein (CRP) is a sensitive biomarker of chronic low-grade inflammation and is associated with multiple complex diseases. The genetic determinants of chronic inflammation remain largely unknown, and the causal role of CRP in several clinical outcomes is debated. We performed two genome-wide association studies (GWASs), on HapMap and 1000 Genomes imputed data, of circulating amounts of CRP by using data from 88 studies comprising 204,402 European individuals. Additionally, we performed in silico functional analyses and Mendelian randomization analyses with several clinical outcomes. The GWAS meta-analyses of CRP revealed 58 distinct genetic loci (p < 5 × 10). After adjustment for body mass index in the regression analysis, the associations at all except three loci remained. The lead variants at the distinct loci explained up to 7.0% of the variance in circulating amounts of CRP. We identified 66 gene sets that were organized in two substantially correlated clusters, one mainly composed of immune pathways and the other characterized by metabolic pathways in the liver. Mendelian randomization analyses revealed a causal protective effect of CRP on schizophrenia and a risk-increasing effect on bipolar disorder. Our findings provide further insights into the biology of inflammation and could lead to interventions for treating inflammation and its clinical consequences.

%B Am J Hum Genet %V 103 %P 691-706 %8 2018 Nov 01 %G eng %N 5 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30388399?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1016/j.ajhg.2018.09.009 %0 Journal Article %J Nat Genet %D 2018 %T Genome-wide association meta-analysis of individuals of European ancestry identifies new loci explaining a substantial fraction of hair color variation and heritability. %A Hysi, Pirro G %A Valdes, Ana M %A Liu, Fan %A Furlotte, Nicholas A %A Evans, David M %A Bataille, Veronique %A Visconti, Alessia %A Hemani, Gibran %A McMahon, George %A Ring, Susan M %A Smith, George Davey %A Duffy, David L %A Zhu, Gu %A Gordon, Scott D %A Medland, Sarah E %A Lin, Bochao D %A Willemsen, Gonneke %A Jan Hottenga, Jouke %A Vuckovic, Dragana %A Girotto, Giorgia %A Gandin, Ilaria %A Sala, Cinzia %A Concas, Maria Pina %A Brumat, Marco %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Toniolo, Daniela %A Cocca, Massimiliano %A Robino, Antonietta %A Yazar, Seyhan %A Hewitt, Alex W %A Chen, Yan %A Zeng, Changqing %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Ikram, M Arfan %A Hamer, Merel A %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Nijsten, Tamar %A Mackey, David A %A Falchi, Mario %A Boomsma, Dorret I %A Martin, Nicholas G %A Hinds, David A %A Kayser, Manfred %A Spector, Timothy D %X

Hair color is one of the most recognizable visual traits in European populations and is under strong genetic control. Here we report the results of a genome-wide association study meta-analysis of almost 300,000 participants of European descent. We identified 123 autosomal and one X-chromosome loci significantly associated with hair color; all but 13 are novel. Collectively, single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with hair color within these loci explain 34.6% of red hair, 24.8% of blond hair, and 26.1% of black hair heritability in the study populations. These results confirm the polygenic nature of complex phenotypes and improve our understanding of melanin pigment metabolism in humans.

%B Nat Genet %V 50 %P 652-656 %8 2018 May %G eng %N 5 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29662168?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1038/s41588-018-0100-5 %0 Journal Article %J Sci Rep %D 2017 %T 1000 Genomes-based meta-analysis identifies 10 novel loci for kidney function. %A Gorski, Mathias %A van der Most, Peter J %A Teumer, Alexander %A Chu, Audrey Y %A Li, Man %A Mijatovic, Vladan %A Nolte, Ilja M %A Cocca, Massimiliano %A Taliun, Daniel %A Gomez, Felicia %A Li, Yong %A Tayo, Bamidele %A Tin, Adrienne %A Feitosa, Mary F %A Aspelund, Thor %A Attia, John %A Biffar, Reiner %A Bochud, Murielle %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Borecki, Ingrid %A Bottinger, Erwin P %A Chen, Ming-Huei %A Chouraki, Vincent %A Ciullo, Marina %A Coresh, Josef %A Cornelis, Marilyn C %A Curhan, Gary C %A d'Adamo, Adamo Pio %A Dehghan, Abbas %A Dengler, Laura %A Ding, Jingzhong %A Eiriksdottir, Gudny %A Endlich, Karlhans %A Enroth, Stefan %A Esko, Tõnu %A Franco, Oscar H %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Gieger, Christian %A Girotto, Giorgia %A Gottesman, Omri %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Gyllensten, Ulf %A Hancock, Stephen J %A Harris, Tamara B %A Helmer, Catherine %A Höllerer, Simon %A Hofer, Edith %A Hofman, Albert %A Holliday, Elizabeth G %A Homuth, Georg %A Hu, Frank B %A Huth, Cornelia %A Hutri-Kähönen, Nina %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Imboden, Medea %A Johansson, Åsa %A Kähönen, Mika %A König, Wolfgang %A Kramer, Holly %A Krämer, Bernhard K %A Kumar, Ashish %A Kutalik, Zoltán %A Lambert, Jean-Charles %A Launer, Lenore J %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A de Borst, Martin %A Navis, Gerjan %A Swertz, Morris %A Liu, Yongmei %A Lohman, Kurt %A Loos, Ruth J F %A Lu, Yingchang %A Lyytikäinen, Leo-Pekka %A McEvoy, Mark A %A Meisinger, Christa %A Meitinger, Thomas %A Metspalu, Andres %A Metzger, Marie %A Mihailov, Evelin %A Mitchell, Paul %A Nauck, Matthias %A Oldehinkel, Albertine J %A Olden, Matthias %A Wjh Penninx, Brenda %A Pistis, Giorgio %A Pramstaller, Peter P %A Probst-Hensch, Nicole %A Raitakari, Olli T %A Rettig, Rainer %A Ridker, Paul M %A Rivadeneira, Fernando %A Robino, Antonietta %A Rosas, Sylvia E %A Ruderfer, Douglas %A Ruggiero, Daniela %A Saba, Yasaman %A Sala, Cinzia %A Schmidt, Helena %A Schmidt, Reinhold %A Scott, Rodney J %A Sedaghat, Sanaz %A Smith, Albert V %A Sorice, Rossella %A Stengel, Bénédicte %A Stracke, Sylvia %A Strauch, Konstantin %A Toniolo, Daniela %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Ulivi, Sheila %A Viikari, Jorma S %A Völker, Uwe %A Vollenweider, Peter %A Völzke, Henry %A Vuckovic, Dragana %A Waldenberger, Melanie %A Jin Wang, Jie %A Yang, Qiong %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Tromp, Gerard %A Snieder, Harold %A Heid, Iris M %A Fox, Caroline S %A Köttgen, Anna %A Pattaro, Cristian %A Böger, Carsten A %A Fuchsberger, Christian %K Computational Biology %K Gene Frequency %K Genetic Loci %K Genome, Human %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Genotyping Techniques %K Humans %K Kidney %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %X

HapMap imputed genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have revealed >50 loci at which common variants with minor allele frequency >5% are associated with kidney function. GWAS using more complete reference sets for imputation, such as those from The 1000 Genomes project, promise to identify novel loci that have been missed by previous efforts. To investigate the value of such a more complete variant catalog, we conducted a GWAS meta-analysis of kidney function based on the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) in 110,517 European ancestry participants using 1000 Genomes imputed data. We identified 10 novel loci with p-value < 5 × 10 previously missed by HapMap-based GWAS. Six of these loci (HOXD8, ARL15, PIK3R1, EYA4, ASTN2, and EPB41L3) are tagged by common SNPs unique to the 1000 Genomes reference panel. Using pathway analysis, we identified 39 significant (FDR < 0.05) genes and 127 significantly (FDR < 0.05) enriched gene sets, which were missed by our previous analyses. Among those, the 10 identified novel genes are part of pathways of kidney development, carbohydrate metabolism, cardiac septum development and glucose metabolism. These results highlight the utility of re-imputing from denser reference panels, until whole-genome sequencing becomes feasible in large samples.

%B Sci Rep %V 7 %P 45040 %8 2017 04 28 %G eng %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28452372?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1038/srep45040 %0 Journal Article %J Hypertension %D 2017 %T Novel Blood Pressure Locus and Gene Discovery Using Genome-Wide Association Study and Expression Data Sets From Blood and the Kidney. %A Wain, Louise V %A Vaez, Ahmad %A Jansen, Rick %A Joehanes, Roby %A van der Most, Peter J %A Erzurumluoglu, A Mesut %A O'Reilly, Paul F %A Cabrera, Claudia P %A Warren, Helen R %A Rose, Lynda M %A Verwoert, Germaine C %A Hottenga, Jouke-Jan %A Strawbridge, Rona J %A Esko, Tõnu %A Arking, Dan E %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Kutalik, Zoltán %A Trompet, Stella %A Shrine, Nick %A Teumer, Alexander %A Ried, Janina S %A Bis, Joshua C %A Smith, Albert V %A Amin, Najaf %A Nolte, Ilja M %A Lyytikäinen, Leo-Pekka %A Mahajan, Anubha %A Wareham, Nicholas J %A Hofer, Edith %A Joshi, Peter K %A Kristiansson, Kati %A Traglia, Michela %A Havulinna, Aki S %A Goel, Anuj %A Nalls, Mike A %A Sõber, Siim %A Vuckovic, Dragana %A Luan, Jian'an %A del Greco M, Fabiola %A Ayers, Kristin L %A Marrugat, Jaume %A Ruggiero, Daniela %A Lopez, Lorna M %A Niiranen, Teemu %A Enroth, Stefan %A Jackson, Anne U %A Nelson, Christopher P %A Huffman, Jennifer E %A Zhang, Weihua %A Marten, Jonathan %A Gandin, Ilaria %A Harris, Sarah E %A Zemunik, Tatijana %A Lu, Yingchang %A Evangelou, Evangelos %A Shah, Nabi %A de Borst, Martin H %A Mangino, Massimo %A Prins, Bram P %A Campbell, Archie %A Li-Gao, Ruifang %A Chauhan, Ganesh %A Oldmeadow, Christopher %A Abecasis, Goncalo %A Abedi, Maryam %A Barbieri, Caterina M %A Barnes, Michael R %A Batini, Chiara %A Beilby, John %A Blake, Tineka %A Boehnke, Michael %A Bottinger, Erwin P %A Braund, Peter S %A Brown, Morris %A Brumat, Marco %A Campbell, Harry %A Chambers, John C %A Cocca, Massimiliano %A Collins, Francis %A Connell, John %A Cordell, Heather J %A Damman, Jeffrey J %A Davies, Gail %A de Geus, Eco J %A de Mutsert, Renée %A Deelen, Joris %A Demirkale, Yusuf %A Doney, Alex S F %A Dörr, Marcus %A Farrall, Martin %A Ferreira, Teresa %A Frånberg, Mattias %A Gao, He %A Giedraitis, Vilmantas %A Gieger, Christian %A Giulianini, Franco %A Gow, Alan J %A Hamsten, Anders %A Harris, Tamara B %A Hofman, Albert %A Holliday, Elizabeth G %A Hui, Jennie %A Järvelin, Marjo-Riitta %A Johansson, Åsa %A Johnson, Andrew D %A Jousilahti, Pekka %A Jula, Antti %A Kähönen, Mika %A Kathiresan, Sekar %A Khaw, Kay-Tee %A Kolcic, Ivana %A Koskinen, Seppo %A Langenberg, Claudia %A Larson, Marty %A Launer, Lenore J %A Lehne, Benjamin %A Liewald, David C M %A Lin, Li %A Lind, Lars %A Mach, François %A Mamasoula, Chrysovalanto %A Menni, Cristina %A Mifsud, Borbala %A Milaneschi, Yuri %A Morgan, Anna %A Morris, Andrew D %A Morrison, Alanna C %A Munson, Peter J %A Nandakumar, Priyanka %A Nguyen, Quang Tri %A Nutile, Teresa %A Oldehinkel, Albertine J %A Oostra, Ben A %A Org, Elin %A Padmanabhan, Sandosh %A Palotie, Aarno %A Paré, Guillaume %A Pattie, Alison %A Penninx, Brenda W J H %A Poulter, Neil %A Pramstaller, Peter P %A Raitakari, Olli T %A Ren, Meixia %A Rice, Kenneth %A Ridker, Paul M %A Riese, Harriëtte %A Ripatti, Samuli %A Robino, Antonietta %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Rudan, Igor %A Saba, Yasaman %A Saint Pierre, Aude %A Sala, Cinzia F %A Sarin, Antti-Pekka %A Schmidt, Reinhold %A Scott, Rodney %A Seelen, Marc A %A Shields, Denis C %A Siscovick, David %A Sorice, Rossella %A Stanton, Alice %A Stott, David J %A Sundström, Johan %A Swertz, Morris %A Taylor, Kent D %A Thom, Simon %A Tzoulaki, Ioanna %A Tzourio, Christophe %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Völker, Uwe %A Vollenweider, Peter %A Wild, Sarah %A Willemsen, Gonneke %A Wright, Alan F %A Yao, Jie %A Thériault, Sébastien %A Conen, David %A Attia, John %A Sever, Peter %A Debette, Stéphanie %A Mook-Kanamori, Dennis O %A Zeggini, Eleftheria %A Spector, Tim D %A van der Harst, Pim %A Palmer, Colin N A %A Vergnaud, Anne-Claire %A Loos, Ruth J F %A Polasek, Ozren %A Starr, John M %A Girotto, Giorgia %A Hayward, Caroline %A Kooner, Jaspal S %A Lindgren, Cecila M %A Vitart, Veronique %A Samani, Nilesh J %A Tuomilehto, Jaakko %A Gyllensten, Ulf %A Knekt, Paul %A Deary, Ian J %A Ciullo, Marina %A Elosua, Roberto %A Keavney, Bernard D %A Hicks, Andrew A %A Scott, Robert A %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Laan, Maris %A Liu, Yongmei %A Watkins, Hugh %A Hartman, Catharina A %A Salomaa, Veikko %A Toniolo, Daniela %A Perola, Markus %A Wilson, James F %A Schmidt, Helena %A Zhao, Jing Hua %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Peters, Annette %A Rettig, Rainer %A James, Alan %A Jukema, J Wouter %A Strachan, David P %A Palmas, Walter %A Metspalu, Andres %A Ingelsson, Erik %A Boomsma, Dorret I %A Franco, Oscar H %A Bochud, Murielle %A Newton-Cheh, Christopher %A Munroe, Patricia B %A Elliott, Paul %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Chakravarti, Aravinda %A Knight, Joanne %A Morris, Andrew P %A Levy, Daniel %A Tobin, Martin D %A Snieder, Harold %A Caulfield, Mark J %A Ehret, Georg B %X

Elevated blood pressure is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and has a substantial genetic contribution. Genetic variation influencing blood pressure has the potential to identify new pharmacological targets for the treatment of hypertension. To discover additional novel blood pressure loci, we used 1000 Genomes Project-based imputation in 150 134 European ancestry individuals and sought significant evidence for independent replication in a further 228 245 individuals. We report 6 new signals of association in or near , , , , , and , and provide new replication evidence for a further 2 signals in and Combining large whole-blood gene expression resources totaling 12 607 individuals, we investigated all novel and previously reported signals and identified 48 genes with evidence for involvement in blood pressure regulation that are significant in multiple resources. Three novel kidney-specific signals were also detected. These robustly implicated genes may provide new leads for therapeutic innovation.

%B Hypertension %8 2017 Jul 24 %G eng %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28739976?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.117.09438 %0 Journal Article %J Nature %D 2016 %T Genome-wide association study identifies 74 loci associated with educational attainment. %A Okbay, Aysu %A Beauchamp, Jonathan P %A Fontana, Mark Alan %A Lee, James J %A Pers, Tune H %A Rietveld, Cornelius A %A Turley, Patrick %A Chen, Guo-Bo %A Emilsson, Valur %A Meddens, S Fleur W %A Oskarsson, Sven %A Pickrell, Joseph K %A Thom, Kevin %A Timshel, Pascal %A de Vlaming, Ronald %A Abdellaoui, Abdel %A Ahluwalia, Tarunveer S %A Bacelis, Jonas %A Baumbach, Clemens %A Bjornsdottir, Gyda %A Brandsma, Johannes H %A Pina Concas, Maria %A Derringer, Jaime %A Furlotte, Nicholas A %A Galesloot, Tessel E %A Girotto, Giorgia %A Gupta, Richa %A Hall, Leanne M %A Harris, Sarah E %A Hofer, Edith %A Horikoshi, Momoko %A Huffman, Jennifer E %A Kaasik, Kadri %A Kalafati, Ioanna P %A Karlsson, Robert %A Kong, Augustine %A Lahti, Jari %A van der Lee, Sven J %A deLeeuw, Christiaan %A Lind, Penelope A %A Lindgren, Karl-Oskar %A Liu, Tian %A Mangino, Massimo %A Marten, Jonathan %A Mihailov, Evelin %A Miller, Michael B %A van der Most, Peter J %A Oldmeadow, Christopher %A Payton, Antony %A Pervjakova, Natalia %A Peyrot, Wouter J %A Qian, Yong %A Raitakari, Olli %A Rueedi, Rico %A Salvi, Erika %A Schmidt, Börge %A Schraut, Katharina E %A Shi, Jianxin %A Smith, Albert V %A Poot, Raymond A %A St Pourcain, Beate %A Teumer, Alexander %A Thorleifsson, Gudmar %A Verweij, Niek %A Vuckovic, Dragana %A Wellmann, Juergen %A Westra, Harm-Jan %A Yang, Jingyun %A Zhao, Wei %A Zhu, Zhihong %A Alizadeh, Behrooz Z %A Amin, Najaf %A Bakshi, Andrew %A Baumeister, Sebastian E %A Biino, Ginevra %A Bønnelykke, Klaus %A Boyle, Patricia A %A Campbell, Harry %A Cappuccio, Francesco P %A Davies, Gail %A De Neve, Jan-Emmanuel %A Deloukas, Panos %A Demuth, Ilja %A Ding, Jun %A Eibich, Peter %A Eisele, Lewin %A Eklund, Niina %A Evans, David M %A Faul, Jessica D %A Feitosa, Mary F %A Forstner, Andreas J %A Gandin, Ilaria %A Gunnarsson, Bjarni %A Halldórsson, Bjarni V %A Harris, Tamara B %A Heath, Andrew C %A Hocking, Lynne J %A Holliday, Elizabeth G %A Homuth, Georg %A Horan, Michael A %A Hottenga, Jouke-Jan %A de Jager, Philip L %A Joshi, Peter K %A Jugessur, Astanand %A Kaakinen, Marika A %A Kähönen, Mika %A Kanoni, Stavroula %A Keltigangas-Järvinen, Liisa %A Kiemeney, Lambertus A L M %A Kolcic, Ivana %A Koskinen, Seppo %A Kraja, Aldi T %A Kroh, Martin %A Kutalik, Zoltán %A Latvala, Antti %A Launer, Lenore J %A Lebreton, Maël P %A Levinson, Douglas F %A Lichtenstein, Paul %A Lichtner, Peter %A Liewald, David C M %A Loukola, Anu %A Madden, Pamela A %A Mägi, Reedik %A Mäki-Opas, Tomi %A Marioni, Riccardo E %A Marques-Vidal, Pedro %A Meddens, Gerardus A %A McMahon, George %A Meisinger, Christa %A Meitinger, Thomas %A Milaneschi, Yusplitri %A Milani, Lili %A Montgomery, Grant W %A Myhre, Ronny %A Nelson, Christopher P %A Nyholt, Dale R %A Ollier, William E R %A Palotie, Aarno %A Paternoster, Lavinia %A Pedersen, Nancy L %A Petrovic, Katja E %A Porteous, David J %A Räikkönen, Katri %A Ring, Susan M %A Robino, Antonietta %A Rostapshova, Olga %A Rudan, Igor %A Rustichini, Aldo %A Salomaa, Veikko %A Sanders, Alan R %A Sarin, Antti-Pekka %A Schmidt, Helena %A Scott, Rodney J %A Smith, Blair H %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Staessen, Jan A %A Steinhagen-Thiessen, Elisabeth %A Strauch, Konstantin %A Terracciano, Antonio %A Tobin, Martin D %A Ulivi, Sheila %A Vaccargiu, Simona %A Quaye, Lydia %A van Rooij, Frank J A %A Venturini, Cristina %A Vinkhuyzen, Anna A E %A Völker, Uwe %A Völzke, Henry %A Vonk, Judith M %A Vozzi, Diego %A Waage, Johannes %A Ware, Erin B %A Willemsen, Gonneke %A Attia, John R %A Bennett, David A %A Berger, Klaus %A Bertram, Lars %A Bisgaard, Hans %A Boomsma, Dorret I %A Borecki, Ingrid B %A Bültmann, Ute %A Chabris, Christopher F %A Cucca, Francesco %A Cusi, Daniele %A Deary, Ian J %A Dedoussis, George V %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Eriksson, Johan G %A Franke, Barbara %A Franke, Lude %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Gejman, Pablo V %A Gieger, Christian %A Grabe, Hans-Jörgen %A Gratten, Jacob %A Groenen, Patrick J F %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A van der Harst, Pim %A Hayward, Caroline %A Hinds, David A %A Hoffmann, Wolfgang %A Hyppönen, Elina %A Iacono, William G %A Jacobsson, Bo %A Järvelin, Marjo-Riitta %A Jöckel, Karl-Heinz %A Kaprio, Jaakko %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Lehrer, Steven F %A Magnusson, Patrik K E %A Martin, Nicholas G %A McGue, Matt %A Metspalu, Andres %A Pendleton, Neil %A Penninx, Brenda W J H %A Perola, Markus %A Pirastu, Nicola %A Pirastu, Mario %A Polasek, Ozren %A Posthuma, Danielle %A Power, Christine %A Province, Michael A %A Samani, Nilesh J %A Schlessinger, David %A Schmidt, Reinhold %A Sørensen, Thorkild I A %A Spector, Tim D %A Stefansson, Kari %A Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur %A Thurik, A Roy %A Timpson, Nicholas J %A Tiemeier, Henning %A Tung, Joyce Y %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Vitart, Veronique %A Vollenweider, Peter %A Weir, David R %A Wilson, James F %A Wright, Alan F %A Conley, Dalton C %A Krueger, Robert F %A Davey Smith, George %A Hofman, Albert %A Laibson, David I %A Medland, Sarah E %A Meyer, Michelle N %A Yang, Jian %A Johannesson, Magnus %A Visscher, Peter M %A Esko, Tõnu %A Koellinger, Philipp D %A Cesarini, David %A Benjamin, Daniel J %K Alzheimer Disease %K Bipolar Disorder %K Brain %K Cognition %K Computational Biology %K Educational Status %K Fetus %K Gene Expression Regulation %K Gene-Environment Interaction %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Great Britain %K Humans %K Molecular Sequence Annotation %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Schizophrenia %X

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.

%B Nature %V 533 %P 539-42 %8 2016 May 26 %G eng %N 7604 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27225129?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1038/nature17671 %0 Journal Article %J Eur J Hum Genet %D 2015 %T Connexin 26 variant carriers have a better gastrointestinal health: is this the heterozygote advantage? %A Vuckovic, Dragana %A Dallapiccola, Bruno %A Franzè, Annamaria %A Mauri, Lucia %A Perrone, Maria Dolores %A Gasparini, Paolo %B Eur J Hum Genet %V 23 %P 563-4 %8 2015 May %G eng %N 5 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25099251?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1038/ejhg.2014.151 %0 Journal Article %J Nature %D 2015 %T Directional dominance on stature and cognition in diverse human populations. %A Joshi, Peter K %A Esko, Tõnu %A Mattsson, Hannele %A Eklund, Niina %A Gandin, Ilaria %A Nutile, Teresa %A Jackson, Anne U %A Schurmann, Claudia %A Smith, Albert V %A Zhang, Weihua %A Okada, Yukinori %A Stančáková, Alena %A Faul, Jessica D %A Zhao, Wei %A Bartz, Traci M %A Concas, Maria Pina %A Franceschini, Nora %A Enroth, Stefan %A Vitart, Veronique %A Trompet, Stella %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Chasman, Daniel I %A O'Connel, Jeffrey R %A Corre, Tanguy %A Nongmaithem, Suraj S %A Chen, Yuning %A Mangino, Massimo %A Ruggiero, Daniela %A Traglia, Michela %A Farmaki, Aliki-Eleni %A Kacprowski, Tim %A Bjonnes, Andrew %A van der Spek, Ashley %A Wu, Ying %A Giri, Anil K %A Yanek, Lisa R %A Wang, Lihua %A Hofer, Edith %A Rietveld, Cornelius A %A McLeod, Olga %A Cornelis, Marilyn C %A Pattaro, Cristian %A Verweij, Niek %A Baumbach, Clemens %A Abdellaoui, Abdel %A Warren, Helen R %A Vuckovic, Dragana %A Mei, Hao %A Bouchard, Claude %A Perry, John R B %A Cappellani, Stefania %A Mirza, Saira S %A Benton, Miles C %A Broeckel, Ulrich %A Medland, Sarah E %A Lind, Penelope A %A Malerba, Giovanni %A Drong, Alexander %A Yengo, Loic %A Bielak, Lawrence F %A Zhi, Degui %A van der Most, Peter J %A Shriner, Daniel %A Mägi, Reedik %A Hemani, Gibran %A Karaderi, Tugce %A Wang, Zhaoming %A Liu, Tian %A Demuth, Ilja %A Zhao, Jing Hua %A Meng, Weihua %A Lataniotis, Lazaros %A van der Laan, Sander W %A Bradfield, Jonathan P %A Wood, Andrew R %A Bonnefond, Amelie %A Ahluwalia, Tarunveer S %A Hall, Leanne M %A Salvi, Erika %A Yazar, Seyhan %A Carstensen, Lisbeth %A de Haan, Hugoline G %A Abney, Mark %A Afzal, Uzma %A Allison, Matthew A %A Amin, Najaf %A Asselbergs, Folkert W %A Bakker, Stephan J L %A Barr, R Graham %A Baumeister, Sebastian E %A Benjamin, Daniel J %A Bergmann, Sven %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Bottinger, Erwin P %A Campbell, Archie %A Chakravarti, Aravinda %A Chan, Yingleong %A Chanock, Stephen J %A Chen, Constance %A Chen, Y-D Ida %A Collins, Francis S %A Connell, John %A Correa, Adolfo %A Cupples, L Adrienne %A Smith, George Davey %A Davies, Gail %A Dörr, Marcus %A Ehret, Georg %A Ellis, Stephen B %A Feenstra, Bjarke %A Feitosa, Mary F %A Ford, Ian %A Fox, Caroline S %A Frayling, Timothy M %A Friedrich, Nele %A Geller, Frank %A Scotland, Generation %A Gillham-Nasenya, Irina %A Gottesman, Omri %A Graff, Misa %A Grodstein, Francine %A Gu, Charles %A Haley, Chris %A Hammond, Christopher J %A Harris, Sarah E %A Harris, Tamara B %A Hastie, Nicholas D %A Heard-Costa, Nancy L %A Heikkilä, Kauko %A Hocking, Lynne J %A Homuth, Georg %A Hottenga, Jouke-Jan %A Huang, Jinyan %A Huffman, Jennifer E %A Hysi, Pirro G %A Ikram, M Arfan %A Ingelsson, Erik %A Joensuu, Anni %A Johansson, Åsa %A Jousilahti, Pekka %A Jukema, J Wouter %A Kähönen, Mika %A Kamatani, Yoichiro %A Kanoni, Stavroula %A Kerr, Shona M %A Khan, Nazir M %A Koellinger, Philipp %A Koistinen, Heikki A %A Kooner, Manraj K %A Kubo, Michiaki %A Kuusisto, Johanna %A Lahti, Jari %A Launer, Lenore J %A Lea, Rodney A %A Lehne, Benjamin %A Lehtimäki, Terho %A Liewald, David C M %A Lind, Lars %A Loh, Marie %A Lokki, Marja-Liisa %A London, Stephanie J %A Loomis, Stephanie J %A Loukola, Anu %A Lu, Yingchang %A Lumley, Thomas %A Lundqvist, Annamari %A Männistö, Satu %A Marques-Vidal, Pedro %A Masciullo, Corrado %A Matchan, Angela %A Mathias, Rasika A %A Matsuda, Koichi %A Meigs, James B %A Meisinger, Christa %A Meitinger, Thomas %A Menni, Cristina %A Mentch, Frank D %A Mihailov, Evelin %A Milani, Lili %A Montasser, May E %A Montgomery, Grant W %A Morrison, Alanna %A Myers, Richard H %A Nadukuru, Rajiv %A Navarro, Pau %A Nelis, Mari %A Nieminen, Markku S %A Nolte, Ilja M %A O'Connor, George T %A Ogunniyi, Adesola %A Padmanabhan, Sandosh %A Palmas, Walter R %A Pankow, James S %A Patarcic, Inga %A Pavani, Francesca %A Peyser, Patricia A %A Pietilainen, Kirsi %A Poulter, Neil %A Prokopenko, Inga %A Ralhan, Sarju %A Redmond, Paul %A Rich, Stephen S %A Rissanen, Harri %A Robino, Antonietta %A Rose, Lynda M %A Rose, Richard %A Sala, Cinzia %A Salako, Babatunde %A Salomaa, Veikko %A Sarin, Antti-Pekka %A Saxena, Richa %A Schmidt, Helena %A Scott, Laura J %A Scott, William R %A Sennblad, Bengt %A Seshadri, Sudha %A Sever, Peter %A Shrestha, Smeeta %A Smith, Blair H %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Soranzo, Nicole %A Sotoodehnia, Nona %A Southam, Lorraine %A Stanton, Alice V %A Stathopoulou, Maria G %A Strauch, Konstantin %A Strawbridge, Rona J %A Suderman, Matthew J %A Tandon, Nikhil %A Tang, Sian-Tsun %A Taylor, Kent D %A Tayo, Bamidele O %A Töglhofer, Anna Maria %A Tomaszewski, Maciej %A Tšernikova, Natalia %A Tuomilehto, Jaakko %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Vaidya, Dhananjay %A van Hylckama Vlieg, Astrid %A van Setten, Jessica %A Vasankari, Tuula %A Vedantam, Sailaja %A Vlachopoulou, Efthymia %A Vozzi, Diego %A Vuoksimaa, Eero %A Waldenberger, Melanie %A Ware, Erin B %A Wentworth-Shields, William %A Whitfield, John B %A Wild, Sarah %A Willemsen, Gonneke %A Yajnik, Chittaranjan S %A Yao, Jie %A Zaza, Gianluigi %A Zhu, Xiaofeng %A Salem, Rany M %A Melbye, Mads %A Bisgaard, Hans %A Samani, Nilesh J %A Cusi, Daniele %A Mackey, David A %A Cooper, Richard S %A Froguel, Philippe %A Pasterkamp, Gerard %A Grant, Struan F A %A Hakonarson, Hakon %A Ferrucci, Luigi %A Scott, Robert A %A Morris, Andrew D %A Palmer, Colin N A %A Dedoussis, George %A Deloukas, Panos %A Bertram, Lars %A Lindenberger, Ulman %A Berndt, Sonja I %A Lindgren, Cecilia M %A Timpson, Nicholas J %A Tönjes, Anke %A Munroe, Patricia B %A Sørensen, Thorkild I A %A Rotimi, Charles N %A Arnett, Donna K %A Oldehinkel, Albertine J %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Balkau, Beverley %A Gambaro, Giovanni %A Morris, Andrew P %A Eriksson, Johan G %A Wright, Margie J %A Martin, Nicholas G %A Hunt, Steven C %A Starr, John M %A Deary, Ian J %A Griffiths, Lyn R %A Tiemeier, Henning %A Pirastu, Nicola %A Kaprio, Jaakko %A Wareham, Nicholas J %A Pérusse, Louis %A Wilson, James G %A Girotto, Giorgia %A Caulfield, Mark J %A Raitakari, Olli %A Boomsma, Dorret I %A Gieger, Christian %A van der Harst, Pim %A Hicks, Andrew A %A Kraft, Peter %A Sinisalo, Juha %A Knekt, Paul %A Johannesson, Magnus %A Magnusson, Patrik K E %A Hamsten, Anders %A Schmidt, Reinhold %A Borecki, Ingrid B %A Vartiainen, Erkki %A Becker, Diane M %A Bharadwaj, Dwaipayan %A Mohlke, Karen L %A Boehnke, Michael %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Sanghera, Dharambir K %A Teumer, Alexander %A Zeggini, Eleftheria %A Metspalu, Andres %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Ulivi, Sheila %A Ober, Carole %A Toniolo, Daniela %A Rudan, Igor %A Porteous, David J %A Ciullo, Marina %A Spector, Tim D %A Hayward, Caroline %A Dupuis, Josée %A Loos, Ruth J F %A Wright, Alan F %A Chandak, Giriraj R %A Vollenweider, Peter %A Shuldiner, Alan R %A Ridker, Paul M %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Sattar, Naveed %A Gyllensten, Ulf %A North, Kari E %A Pirastu, Mario %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Weir, David R %A Laakso, Markku %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Takahashi, Atsushi %A Chambers, John C %A Kooner, Jaspal S %A Strachan, David P %A Campbell, Harry %A Hirschhorn, Joel N %A Perola, Markus %A Polasek, Ozren %A Wilson, James F %K Biological Evolution %K Blood Pressure %K Body Height %K Cholesterol, LDL %K Cognition %K Cohort Studies %K Educational Status %K Female %K Forced Expiratory Volume %K Genome, Human %K Homozygote %K Humans %K Lung Volume Measurements %K Male %K Phenotype %X

Homozygosity has long been associated with rare, often devastating, Mendelian disorders, and Darwin was one of the first to recognize that inbreeding reduces evolutionary fitness. However, the effect of the more distant parental relatedness that is common in modern human populations is less well understood. Genomic data now allow us to investigate the effects of homozygosity on traits of public health importance by observing contiguous homozygous segments (runs of homozygosity), which are inferred to be homozygous along their complete length. Given the low levels of genome-wide homozygosity prevalent in most human populations, information is required on very large numbers of people to provide sufficient power. Here we use runs of homozygosity to study 16 health-related quantitative traits in 354,224 individuals from 102 cohorts, and find statistically significant associations between summed runs of homozygosity and four complex traits: height, forced expiratory lung volume in one second, general cognitive ability and educational attainment (P < 1 × 10(-300), 2.1 × 10(-6), 2.5 × 10(-10) and 1.8 × 10(-10), respectively). In each case, increased homozygosity was associated with decreased trait value, equivalent to the offspring of first cousins being 1.2 cm shorter and having 10 months' less education. Similar effect sizes were found across four continental groups and populations with different degrees of genome-wide homozygosity, providing evidence that homozygosity, rather than confounding, directly contributes to phenotypic variance. Contrary to earlier reports in substantially smaller samples, no evidence was seen of an influence of genome-wide homozygosity on blood pressure and low density lipoprotein cholesterol, or ten other cardio-metabolic traits. Since directional dominance is predicted for traits under directional evolutionary selection, this study provides evidence that increased stature and cognitive function have been positively selected in human evolution, whereas many important risk factors for late-onset complex diseases may not have been.

%B Nature %V 523 %P 459-62 %8 2015 Jul 23 %G eng %N 7561 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26131930?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1038/nature14618 %0 Journal Article %J Hum Mol Genet %D 2015 %T Genome-wide association analysis on normal hearing function identifies PCDH20 and SLC28A3 as candidates for hearing function and loss. %A Vuckovic, Dragana %A Dawson, Sally %A Scheffer, Deborah I %A Rantanen, Taina %A Morgan, Anna %A Di Stazio, Mariateresa %A Vozzi, Diego %A Nutile, Teresa %A Concas, Maria P %A Biino, Ginevra %A Nolan, Lisa %A Bahl, Aileen %A Loukola, Anu %A Viljanen, Anne %A Davis, Adrian %A Ciullo, Marina %A Corey, David P %A Pirastu, Mario %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Girotto, Giorgia %X

Hearing loss and individual differences in normal hearing both have a substantial genetic basis. Although many new genes contributing to deafness have been identified, very little is known about genes/variants modulating the normal range of hearing ability. To fill this gap, we performed a two-stage meta-analysis on hearing thresholds (tested at 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 8 kHz) and on pure-tone averages (low-, medium- and high-frequency thresholds grouped) in several isolated populations from Italy and Central Asia (total N = 2636). Here, we detected two genome-wide significant loci close to PCDH20 and SLC28A3 (top hits: rs78043697, P = 4.71E-10 and rs7032430, P = 2.39E-09, respectively). For both loci, we sought replication in two independent cohorts: B58C from the UK (N = 5892) and FITSA from Finland (N = 270). Both loci were successfully replicated at a nominal level of significance (P < 0.05). In order to confirm our quantitative findings, we carried out RT-PCR and reported RNA-Seq data, which showed that both genes are expressed in mouse inner ear, especially in hair cells, further suggesting them as good candidates for modulatory genes in the auditory system. Sequencing data revealed no functional variants in the coding region of PCDH20 or SLC28A3, suggesting that variation in regulatory sequences may affect expression. Overall, these results contribute to a better understanding of the complex mechanisms underlying human hearing function.

%B Hum Mol Genet %V 24 %P 5655-64 %8 2015 Oct 1 %G eng %N 19 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26188009?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1093/hmg/ddv279 %0 Journal Article %J Nat Genet %D 2015 %T Large-scale genomic analyses link reproductive aging to hypothalamic signaling, breast cancer susceptibility and BRCA1-mediated DNA repair. %A Day, Felix R %A Ruth, Katherine S %A Thompson, Deborah J %A Lunetta, Kathryn L %A Pervjakova, Natalia %A Chasman, Daniel I %A Stolk, Lisette %A Finucane, Hilary K %A Sulem, Patrick %A Bulik-Sullivan, Brendan %A Esko, Tõnu %A Johnson, Andrew D %A Elks, Cathy E %A Franceschini, Nora %A He, Chunyan %A Altmaier, Elisabeth %A Brody, Jennifer A %A Franke, Lude L %A Huffman, Jennifer E %A Keller, Margaux F %A McArdle, Patrick F %A Nutile, Teresa %A Porcu, Eleonora %A Robino, Antonietta %A Rose, Lynda M %A Schick, Ursula M %A Smith, Jennifer A %A Teumer, Alexander %A Traglia, Michela %A Vuckovic, Dragana %A Yao, Jie %A Zhao, Wei %A Albrecht, Eva %A Amin, Najaf %A Corre, Tanguy %A Hottenga, Jouke-Jan %A Mangino, Massimo %A Smith, Albert V %A Tanaka, Toshiko %A Abecasis, Goncalo R %A Andrulis, Irene L %A Anton-Culver, Hoda %A Antoniou, Antonis C %A Arndt, Volker %A Arnold, Alice M %A Barbieri, Caterina %A Beckmann, Matthias W %A Beeghly-Fadiel, Alicia %A Benitez, Javier %A Bernstein, Leslie %A Bielinski, Suzette J %A Blomqvist, Carl %A Boerwinkle, Eric %A Bogdanova, Natalia V %A Bojesen, Stig E %A Bolla, Manjeet K %A Borresen-Dale, Anne-Lise %A Boutin, Thibaud S %A Brauch, Hiltrud %A Brenner, Hermann %A Brüning, Thomas %A Burwinkel, Barbara %A Campbell, Archie %A Campbell, Harry %A Chanock, Stephen J %A Chapman, J Ross %A Chen, Yii-Der Ida %A Chenevix-Trench, Georgia %A Couch, Fergus J %A Coviello, Andrea D %A Cox, Angela %A Czene, Kamila %A Darabi, Hatef %A De Vivo, Immaculata %A Demerath, Ellen W %A Dennis, Joe %A Devilee, Peter %A Dörk, Thilo %A Dos-Santos-Silva, Isabel %A Dunning, Alison M %A Eicher, John D %A Fasching, Peter A %A Faul, Jessica D %A Figueroa, Jonine %A Flesch-Janys, Dieter %A Gandin, Ilaria %A Garcia, Melissa E %A García-Closas, Montserrat %A Giles, Graham G %A Girotto, Giorgia G %A Goldberg, Mark S %A González-Neira, Anna %A Goodarzi, Mark O %A Grove, Megan L %A Gudbjartsson, Daniel F %A Guenel, Pascal %A Guo, Xiuqing %A Haiman, Christopher A %A Hall, Per %A Hamann, Ute %A Henderson, Brian E %A Hocking, Lynne J %A Hofman, Albert %A Homuth, Georg %A Hooning, Maartje J %A Hopper, John L %A Hu, Frank B %A Huang, Jinyan %A Humphreys, Keith %A Hunter, David J %A Jakubowska, Anna %A Jones, Samuel E %A Kabisch, Maria %A Karasik, David %A Knight, Julia A %A Kolcic, Ivana %A Kooperberg, Charles %A Kosma, Veli-Matti %A Kriebel, Jennifer %A Kristensen, Vessela %A Lambrechts, Diether %A Langenberg, Claudia %A Li, Jingmei %A Li, Xin %A Lindström, Sara %A Liu, Yongmei %A Luan, Jian'an %A Lubinski, Jan %A Mägi, Reedik %A Mannermaa, Arto %A Manz, Judith %A Margolin, Sara %A Marten, Jonathan %A Martin, Nicholas G %A Masciullo, Corrado %A Meindl, Alfons %A Michailidou, Kyriaki %A Mihailov, Evelin %A Milani, Lili %A Milne, Roger L %A Müller-Nurasyid, Martina %A Nalls, Michael %A Neale, Benjamin M %A Nevanlinna, Heli %A Neven, Patrick %A Newman, Anne B %A Nordestgaard, Børge G %A Olson, Janet E %A Padmanabhan, Sandosh %A Peterlongo, Paolo %A Peters, Ulrike %A Petersmann, Astrid %A Peto, Julian %A Pharoah, Paul D P %A Pirastu, Nicola N %A Pirie, Ailith %A Pistis, Giorgio %A Polasek, Ozren %A Porteous, David %A Psaty, Bruce M %A Pylkäs, Katri %A Radice, Paolo %A Raffel, Leslie J %A Rivadeneira, Fernando %A Rudan, Igor %A Rudolph, Anja %A Ruggiero, Daniela %A Sala, Cinzia F %A Sanna, Serena %A Sawyer, Elinor J %A Schlessinger, David %A Schmidt, Marjanka K %A Schmidt, Frank %A Schmutzler, Rita K %A Schoemaker, Minouk J %A Scott, Robert A %A Seynaeve, Caroline M %A Simard, Jacques %A Sorice, Rossella %A Southey, Melissa C %A Stöckl, Doris %A Strauch, Konstantin %A Swerdlow, Anthony %A Taylor, Kent D %A Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur %A Toland, Amanda E %A Tomlinson, Ian %A Truong, Therese %A Tryggvadottir, Laufey %A Turner, Stephen T %A Vozzi, Diego %A Wang, Qin %A Wellons, Melissa %A Willemsen, Gonneke %A Wilson, James F %A Winqvist, Robert %A Wolffenbuttel, Bruce B H R %A Wright, Alan F %A Yannoukakos, Drakoulis %A Zemunik, Tatijana %A Zheng, Wei %A Zygmunt, Marek %A Bergmann, Sven %A Boomsma, Dorret I %A Buring, Julie E %A Ferrucci, Luigi %A Montgomery, Grant W %A Gudnason, Vilmundur %A Spector, Tim D %A van Duijn, Cornelia M %A Alizadeh, Behrooz Z %A Ciullo, Marina %A Crisponi, Laura %A Easton, Douglas F %A Gasparini, Paolo P %A Gieger, Christian %A Harris, Tamara B %A Hayward, Caroline %A Kardia, Sharon L R %A Kraft, Peter %A McKnight, Barbara %A Metspalu, Andres %A Morrison, Alanna C %A Reiner, Alex P %A Ridker, Paul M %A Rotter, Jerome I %A Toniolo, Daniela %A Uitterlinden, André G %A Ulivi, Sheila %A Völzke, Henry %A Wareham, Nicholas J %A Weir, David R %A Yerges-Armstrong, Laura M %A Price, Alkes L %A Stefansson, Kari %A Visser, Jenny A %A Ong, Ken K %A Chang-Claude, Jenny %A Murabito, Joanne M %A Perry, John R B %A Murray, Anna %X

Menopause timing has a substantial impact on infertility and risk of disease, including breast cancer, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. We report a dual strategy in ∼70,000 women to identify common and low-frequency protein-coding variation associated with age at natural menopause (ANM). We identified 44 regions with common variants, including two regions harboring additional rare missense alleles of large effect. We found enrichment of signals in or near genes involved in delayed puberty, highlighting the first molecular links between the onset and end of reproductive lifespan. Pathway analyses identified major association with DNA damage response (DDR) genes, including the first common coding variant in BRCA1 associated with any complex trait. Mendelian randomization analyses supported a causal effect of later ANM on breast cancer risk (∼6% increase in risk per year; P = 3 × 10(-14)), likely mediated by prolonged sex hormone exposure rather than DDR mechanisms.

%B Nat Genet %V 47 %P 1294-303 %8 2015 Nov %G eng %N 11 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26414677?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1038/ng.3412 %0 Journal Article %J J Am Soc Nephrol %D 2014 %T Common variants in UMOD associate with urinary uromodulin levels: a meta-analysis. %A Olden, Matthias %A Corre, Tanguy %A Hayward, Caroline %A Toniolo, Daniela %A Ulivi, Sheila %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Pistis, Giorgio %A Hwang, Shih-Jen %A Bergmann, Sven %A Campbell, Harry %A Cocca, Massimiliano %A Gandin, Ilaria %A Girotto, Giorgia %A Glaudemans, Bob %A Hastie, Nicholas D %A Loffing, Johannes %A Polasek, Ozren %A Rampoldi, Luca %A Rudan, Igor %A Sala, Cinzia %A Traglia, Michela %A Vollenweider, Peter %A Vuckovic, Dragana %A Youhanna, Sonia %A Weber, Julien %A Wright, Alan F %A Kutalik, Zoltán %A Bochud, Murielle %A Fox, Caroline S %A Devuyst, Olivier %K Creatinine %K European Continental Ancestry Group %K Genetic Variation %K Humans %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Uromodulin %X

Uromodulin is expressed exclusively in the thick ascending limb and is the most abundant protein excreted in normal urine. Variants in UMOD, which encodes uromodulin, are associated with renal function, and urinary uromodulin levels may be a biomarker for kidney disease. However, the genetic factors regulating uromodulin excretion are unknown. We conducted a meta-analysis of urinary uromodulin levels to identify associated common genetic variants in the general population. We included 10,884 individuals of European descent from three genetic isolates and three urban cohorts. Each study measured uromodulin indexed to creatinine and conducted linear regression analysis of approximately 2.5 million single nucleotide polymorphisms using an additive model. We also tested whether variants in genes expressed in the thick ascending limb associate with uromodulin levels. rs12917707, located near UMOD and previously associated with renal function and CKD, had the strongest association with urinary uromodulin levels (P<0.001). In all cohorts, carriers of a G allele of this variant had higher uromodulin levels than noncarriers did (geometric means 10.24, 14.05, and 17.67 μg/g creatinine for zero, one, or two copies of the G allele). rs12446492 in the adjacent gene PDILT (protein disulfide isomerase-like, testis expressed) also reached genome-wide significance (P<0.001). Regarding genes expressed in the thick ascending limb, variants in KCNJ1, SORL1, and CAB39 associated with urinary uromodulin levels. These data indicate that common variants in the UMOD promoter region may influence urinary uromodulin levels. They also provide insights into uromodulin biology and the association of UMOD variants with renal function.

%B J Am Soc Nephrol %V 25 %P 1869-82 %8 2014 Aug %G eng %N 8 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24578125?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1681/ASN.2013070781 %0 Journal Article %J Hum Hered %D 2014 %T Consanguinity and hereditary hearing loss in Qatar. %A Girotto, Giorgia %A Mezzavilla, Massimo %A Abdulhadi, Khalid %A Vuckovic, Dragana %A Vozzi, Diego %A Khalifa Alkowari, Moza %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Badii, Ramin %K Consanguinity %K Hearing Loss %K Homozygote %K Humans %K Inheritance Patterns %K Pedigree %K Prevalence %K Principal Component Analysis %K Qatar %K Transcription Factor TFIIIB %X

Qatar is a sovereign state located on the Eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Persian Gulf. Its native population consists of 3 major subgroups: people of Arabian origin or Bedouins, those from an Eastern or Persian ancestry and individuals with African admixture. Historically, all types of consanguineous marriages have been and still are common in the Qatari population, particularly among first and double-first cousins. Thus, there is a higher risk for most inherited diseases including hereditary hearing loss (HHL). In particular, a hearing loss prevalence of 5.2% has been reported in Qatar, with parental consanguinity being more common among affected individuals as compared with unaffected ones. Our recent molecular results confirm a high homogeneity and level of inbreeding in Qatari HHL patients. Among all HHL genes, GJB2, the major player worldwide, accounts for a minor proportion of cases and at least 3 additional genes have been found to be mutated in Qatari patients. Interestingly, one gene, BDP1, has been described to cause HHL only in this country. These results point towards an unexpected level of genetic heterogeneity despite the high level of inbreeding. This review provides an up-to-date picture of HHL in Qatar and of the impact of consanguinity on this disease.

%B Hum Hered %V 77 %P 175-82 %8 2014 %G eng %N 1-4 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25060281?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1159/000360475 %0 Journal Article %J PLoS One %D 2014 %T Expression and replication studies to identify new candidate genes involved in normal hearing function. %A Girotto, Giorgia %A Vuckovic, Dragana %A Buniello, Annalisa %A Lorente-Cánovas, Beatriz %A Lewis, Morag %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Steel, Karen P %K Adult %K Animals %K DNA Replication %K Gene Expression Profiling %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Genotype %K Hair Cells, Auditory %K Hearing %K Humans %K Mice %K Phenotype %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Stria Vascularis %X

Considerable progress has been made in identifying deafness genes, but still little is known about the genetic basis of normal variation in hearing function. We recently carried out a Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS) of quantitative hearing traits in southern European populations and found several SNPs with suggestive but none with significant association. In the current study, we followed up these SNPs to investigate which of them might show a genuine association with auditory function using alternative approaches. Firstly, we generated a shortlist of 19 genes from the published GWAS results. Secondly, we carried out immunocytochemistry to examine expression of these 19 genes in the mouse inner ear. Twelve of them showed distinctive cochlear expression patterns. Four showed expression restricted to sensory hair cells (Csmd1, Arsg, Slc16a6 and Gabrg3), one only in marginal cells of the stria vascularis (Dclk1) while the others (Ptprd, Grm8, GlyBP, Evi5, Rimbp2, Ank2, Cdh13) in multiple cochlear cell types. In the third step, we tested these 12 genes for replication of association in an independent set of samples from the Caucasus and Central Asia. Nine out of them showed nominally significant association (p<0.05). In particular, 4 were replicated at the same SNP and with the same effect direction while the remaining 5 showed a significant association in a gene-based test. Finally, to look for genotype-phenotype relationship, the audiometric profiles of the three genotypes of the most strongly associated gene variants were analyzed. Seven out of the 9 replicated genes (CDH13, GRM8, ANK2, SLC16A6, ARSG, RIMBP2 and DCLK1) showed an audiometric pattern with differences between different genotypes further supporting their role in hearing function. These data demonstrate the usefulness of this multistep approach in providing new insights into the molecular basis of hearing and may suggest new targets for treatment and prevention of hearing impairment.

%B PLoS One %V 9 %P e85352 %8 2014 %G eng %N 1 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24454846?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1371/journal.pone.0085352 %0 Journal Article %J Hum Mol Genet %D 2014 %T Salt-inducible kinase 3, SIK3, is a new gene associated with hearing. %A Wolber, Lisa E %A Girotto, Giorgia %A Buniello, Annalisa %A Vuckovic, Dragana %A Pirastu, Nicola %A Lorente-Cánovas, Beatriz %A Rudan, Igor %A Hayward, Caroline %A Polasek, Ozren %A Ciullo, Marina %A Mangino, Massimo %A Steves, Claire %A Concas, Maria Pina %A Cocca, Massilimiliano %A Spector, Tim D %A Gasparini, Paolo %A Steel, Karen P %A Williams, Frances M K %K Age Factors %K Animals %K Cochlea %K European Continental Ancestry Group %K Genome-Wide Association Study %K Hearing %K Humans %K Mice, Inbred C57BL %K Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide %K Protein Kinases %X

Hearing function is known to be heritable, but few significant and reproducible associations of genetic variants have been identified to date in the adult population. In this study, genome-wide association results of hearing function from the G-EAR consortium and TwinsUK were used for meta-analysis. Hearing ability in eight population samples of Northern and Southern European ancestry (n = 4591) and the Silk Road (n = 348) was measured using pure-tone audiometry and summarized using principal component (PC) analysis. Genome-wide association analyses for PC1-3 were conducted separately in each sample assuming an additive model adjusted for age, sex and relatedness of subjects. Meta-analysis was performed using 2.3 million single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) tested against each of the three PCs of hearing ability in 4939 individuals. A single SNP lying in intron 6 of the salt-inducible kinase 3 (SIK3) gene was found to be associated with hearing PC2 (P = 3.7×10(-8)) and further supported by whole-genome sequence in a subset. To determine the relevance of this gene in the ear, expression of the Sik3 protein was studied in mouse cochlea of different ages. Sik3 was expressed in murine hair cells during early development and in cells of the spiral ganglion during early development and adulthood. Our results suggest a developmental role of Sik3 in hearing and may be required for the maintenance of adult auditory function.

%B Hum Mol Genet %V 23 %P 6407-18 %8 2014 Dec 1 %G eng %N 23 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25060954?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1093/hmg/ddu346