Family studies to find rare high risk variants in migraine

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Rikke Dyhr; Christensen, Anne Francke; Olesen, Jes

2017-01-01

genetic variants with bigger effect size may be involved in the disease. Since migraine has a tendency to cluster in families, a family approach might be the way to find these variants. This is also indicated by identification of migraine-associated loci in classical linkage-analyses in migraine families....... A single migraine study using a candidate-gene approach was performed in 2010 identifying a rare mutation in the TRESK potassium channel segregating in a large family with migraine with aura, but this finding has later become questioned. The technologies of next-generation sequencing (NGS) now provides...... an affordable tool to investigate the genetic variation in the entire exome or genome. The family-based study design using NGS is described in this paper. We also review family studies using NGS that have been successful in finding rare variants in other common complex diseases in order to argue the promising...

Comprehensive genotyping in dyslipidemia: mendelian dyslipidemias caused by rare variants and Mendelian randomization studies using common variants.

Science.gov (United States)

Tada, Hayato; Kawashiri, Masa-Aki; Yamagishi, Masakazu

2017-04-01

Dyslipidemias, especially hyper-low-density lipoprotein cholesterolemia and hypertriglyceridemia, are important causal risk factors for coronary artery disease. Comprehensive genotyping using the 'next-generation sequencing' technique has facilitated the investigation of Mendelian dyslipidemias, in addition to Mendelian randomization studies using common genetic variants associated with plasma lipids and coronary artery disease. The beneficial effects of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol-lowering therapies on coronary artery disease have been verified by many randomized controlled trials over the years, and subsequent genetic studies have supported these findings. More recently, Mendelian randomization studies have preceded randomized controlled trials. When the on-target/off-target effects of rare variants and common variants exhibit the same direction, novel drugs targeting molecules identified by investigations of rare Mendelian lipid disorders could be promising. Such a strategy could aid in the search for drug discovery seeds other than those for dyslipidemias.

Re-analysis of public genetic data reveals a rare X-chromosomal variant associated with type 2 diabetes.

Science.gov (United States)

Bonàs-Guarch, Sílvia; Guindo-Martínez, Marta; Miguel-Escalada, Irene; Grarup, Niels; Sebastian, David; Rodriguez-Fos, Elias; Sánchez, Friman; Planas-Fèlix, Mercè; Cortes-Sánchez, Paula; González, Santi; Timshel, Pascal; Pers, Tune H; Morgan, Claire C; Moran, Ignasi; Atla, Goutham; González, Juan R; Puiggros, Montserrat; Martí, Jonathan; Andersson, Ehm A; Díaz, Carlos; Badia, Rosa M; Udler, Miriam; Leong, Aaron; Kaur, Varindepal; Flannick, Jason; Jørgensen, Torben; Linneberg, Allan; Jørgensen, Marit E; Witte, Daniel R; Christensen, Cramer; Brandslund, Ivan; Appel, Emil V; Scott, Robert A; Luan, Jian'an; Langenberg, Claudia; Wareham, Nicholas J; Pedersen, Oluf; Zorzano, Antonio; Florez, Jose C; Hansen, Torben; Ferrer, Jorge; Mercader, Josep Maria; Torrents, David

2018-01-22

The reanalysis of existing GWAS data represents a powerful and cost-effective opportunity to gain insights into the genetics of complex diseases. By reanalyzing publicly available type 2 diabetes (T2D) genome-wide association studies (GWAS) data for 70,127 subjects, we identify seven novel associated regions, five driven by common variants (LYPLAL1, NEUROG3, CAMKK2, ABO, and GIP genes), one by a low-frequency (EHMT2), and one driven by a rare variant in chromosome Xq23, rs146662057, associated with a twofold increased risk for T2D in males. rs146662057 is located within an active enhancer associated with the expression of Angiotensin II Receptor type 2 gene (AGTR2), a modulator of insulin sensitivity, and exhibits allelic specific activity in muscle cells. Beyond providing insights into the genetics and pathophysiology of T2D, these results also underscore the value of reanalyzing publicly available data using novel genetic resources and analytical approaches.

The complement system in age-related macular degeneration: A review of rare genetic variants and implications for personalized treatment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Geerlings, M.J.; Jong, E.K.; Hollander, A.I. den

2017-01-01

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a progressive retinal disease and the major cause of irreversible vision loss in the elderly. Numerous studies have found both common and rare genetic variants in the complement pathway to play a role in the pathogenesis of AMD. In this review we provide an

Burden of rare variants in ALS genes influences survival in familial and sporadic ALS.

Science.gov (United States)

Pang, Shirley Yin-Yu; Hsu, Jacob Shujui; Teo, Kay-Cheong; Li, Yan; Kung, Michelle H W; Cheah, Kathryn S E; Chan, Danny; Cheung, Kenneth M C; Li, Miaoxin; Sham, Pak-Chung; Ho, Shu-Leong

2017-10-01

Genetic variants are implicated in the development of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), but it is unclear whether the burden of rare variants in ALS genes has an effect on survival. We performed whole genome sequencing on 8 familial ALS (FALS) patients with superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) mutation and whole exome sequencing on 46 sporadic ALS (SALS) patients living in Hong Kong and found that 67% had at least 1 rare variant in the exons of 40 ALS genes; 22% had 2 or more. Patients with 2 or more rare variants had lower probability of survival than patients with 0 or 1 variant (p = 0.001). After adjusting for other factors, each additional rare variant increased the risk of respiratory failure or death by 60% (p = 0.0098). The presence of the rare variant was associated with the risk of ALS (Odds ratio 1.91, 95% confidence interval 1.03-3.61, p = 0.03), and ALS patients had higher rare variant burden than controls (MB, p = 0.004). Our findings support an oligogenic basis with the burden of rare variants affecting the development and survival of ALS. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Rare variants in ischemic stroke: an exome pilot study.

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John W Cole

Full Text Available The genetic architecture of ischemic stroke is complex and is likely to include rare or low frequency variants with high penetrance and large effect sizes. Such variants are likely to provide important insights into disease pathogenesis compared to common variants with small effect sizes. Because a significant portion of human functional variation may derive from the protein-coding portion of genes we undertook a pilot study to identify variation across the human exome (i.e., the coding exons across the entire human genome in 10 ischemic stroke cases. Our efforts focused on evaluating the feasibility and identifying the difficulties in this type of research as it applies to ischemic stroke. The cases included 8 African-Americans and 2 Caucasians selected on the basis of similar stroke subtypes and by implementing a case selection algorithm that emphasized the genetic contribution of stroke risk. Following construction of paired-end sequencing libraries, all predicted human exons in each sample were captured and sequenced. Sequencing generated an average of 25.5 million read pairs (75 bp×2 and 3.8 Gbp per sample. After passing quality filters, screening the exomes against dbSNP demonstrated an average of 2839 novel SNPs among African-Americans and 1105 among Caucasians. In an aggregate analysis, 48 genes were identified to have at least one rare variant across all stroke cases. One gene, CSN3, identified by screening our prior GWAS results in conjunction with our exome results, was found to contain an interesting coding polymorphism as well as containing excess rare variation as compared with the other genes evaluated. In conclusion, while rare coding variants may predispose to the risk of ischemic stroke, this fact has yet to be definitively proven. Our study demonstrates the complexities of such research and highlights that while exome data can be obtained, the optimal analytical methods have yet to be determined.

DIXDC1 Phosphorylation and Control of Dendritic Morphology Are Impaired by Rare Genetic Variants

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vickie Kwan

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The development of neural connectivity is essential for brain function, and disruption of this process is associated with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs. DIX domain containing 1 (DIXDC1 has previously been implicated in neurodevelopmental disorders, but its role in postnatal brain function remains unknown. Using a knockout mouse model, we determined that DIXDC1 is a regulator of excitatory neuron dendrite development and synapse function in the cortex. We discovered that MARK1, previously linked to ASDs, phosphorylates DIXDC1 to regulate dendrite and spine development through modulation of the cytoskeletal network in an isoform-specific manner. Finally, rare missense variants in DIXDC1 were identified in ASD patient cohorts via genetic sequencing. Interestingly, the variants inhibit DIXDC1 isoform 1 phosphorylation, causing impairment to dendrite and spine growth. These data reveal that DIXDC1 is a regulator of cortical dendrite and synaptic development and provide mechanistic insight into morphological defects associated with neurodevelopmental disorders.

Lack of Association of CD55 Receptor Genetic Variants and Severe Malaria in Ghanaian Children

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Kathrin Schuldt

2017-03-01

Full Text Available In a recent report, the cellular receptor CD55 was identified as a molecule essential for the invasion of human erythrocytes by Plasmodium falciparum, the causal agent of the most severe form of malaria. As this invasion process represents a critical step during infection with the parasite, it was hypothesized that genetic variants in the gene could affect severe malaria (SM susceptibility. We performed high-resolution variant discovery of rare and common genetic variants in the human CD55 gene. Association testing of these variants in over 1700 SM cases and unaffected control individuals from the malaria-endemic Ashanti Region in Ghana, West Africa, were performed on the basis of single variants, combined rare variant analyses, and reconstructed haplotypes. A total of 26 genetic variants were detected in coding and regulatory regions of CD55. Five variants were previously unknown. None of the single variants, rare variants, or haplotypes showed evidence for association with SM or P. falciparum density. Here, we present the first comprehensive analysis of variation in the CD55 gene in the context of SM and show that genetic variants present in a Ghanaian study group appear not to influence susceptibility to the disease.

Common Genetic Variants Found in HLA and KIR Immune Genes in Autism Spectrum Disorder

OpenAIRE

Torres, Anthony R.; Sweeten, Thayne L.; Johnson, Randall C.; Odell, Dennis; Westover, Jonna B.; Bray-Ward, Patricia; Ward, David C.; Davies, Christopher J.; Thomas, Aaron J.; Croen, Lisa A.; Benson, Michael

2016-01-01

The common variant - common disease hypothesis was proposed to explain diseases with strong inheritance. This model suggests that a genetic disease is the result of the combination of several common genetic variants. Common genetic variants are described as a 5% frequency differential between diseased versus matched control populations. This theory was recently supported by an epidemiology paper stating that about 50% of genetic risk for autism resides in common variants. However, rare va...

Targeted Genetic Screen in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Reveals Novel Genetic Variants with Synergistic Effect on Clinical Phenotype

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Johnathan Cooper-Knock

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS is underpinned by an oligogenic rare variant architecture. Identified genetic variants of ALS include RNA-binding proteins containing prion-like domains (PrLDs. We hypothesized that screening genes encoding additional similar proteins will yield novel genetic causes of ALS. The most common genetic variant of ALS patients is a G4C2-repeat expansion within C9ORF72. We have shown that G4C2-repeat RNA sequesters RNA-binding proteins. A logical consequence of this is that loss-of-function mutations in G4C2-binding partners might contribute to ALS pathogenesis independently of and/or synergistically with C9ORF72 expansions. Targeted sequencing of genomic DNA encoding either RNA-binding proteins or known ALS genes (n = 274 genes was performed in ALS patients to identify rare deleterious genetic variants and explore genotype-phenotype relationships. Genomic DNA was extracted from 103 ALS patients including 42 familial ALS patients and 61 young-onset (average age of onset 41 years sporadic ALS patients; patients were chosen to maximize the probability of identifying genetic causes of ALS. Thirteen patients carried a G4C2-repeat expansion of C9ORF72. We identified 42 patients with rare deleterious variants; 6 patients carried more than one variant. Twelve mutations were discovered in known ALS genes which served as a validation of our strategy. Rare deleterious variants in RNA-binding proteins were significantly enriched in ALS patients compared to control frequencies (p = 5.31E-18. Nineteen patients featured at least one variant in a RNA-binding protein containing a PrLD. The number of variants per patient correlated with rate of disease progression (t-test, p = 0.033. We identified eighteen patients with a single variant in a G4C2-repeat binding protein. Patients with a G4C2-binding protein variant in combination with a C9ORF72 expansion had a significantly faster disease course (t-test, p = 0.025. Our data are

Common and Rare Variant Association Study for Plasma Lipids and Coronary Artery Disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Tada, Hayato; Kawashiri, Masa-aki; Konno, Tetsuo; Yamagishi, Masakazu; Hayashi, Kenshi

2016-01-01

Blood lipid levels are highly heritable and modifiable risk factors for coronary artery disease (CAD), and are the leading cause of death worldwide. These facts have motivated human genetic association studies that have the substantial potential to define the risk factors that are causal and to identify pathways and therapeutic targets for lipids and CAD.The success of the HapMap project that provided an extensive catalog of human genetic variations and the development of microarray based genotyping chips (typically containing variations with allele frequencies ＞ 5%) facilitated common variant association study (CVAS; formerly termed genome-wide association study, GWAS) identifying disease-associated variants in a genome-wide manner. To date, 157 loci associated with blood lipids and 46 loci with CAD have been successfully identified, accounting for approximately 12%-14% of heritability for lipids and 10% of heritability for CAD. However, there is yet a major challenge termed "missing heritability problem," namely the observation that loci detected by CVAS explain only a small fraction of the inferred genetic variations. To explain such missing portions, focuses in genetic association studies have shifted from common to rare variants. However, it is challenging to apply rare variant association study (RVAS) in an unbiased manner because such variants typically lack the sufficient number to be identified statistically.In this review, we provide a current understanding of the genetic architecture mostly derived from CVAS, and several updates on the progress and limitations of RVAS for lipids and CAD.

Functionally significant, rare transcription factor variants in tetralogy of Fallot.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Töpf

Full Text Available Rare variants in certain transcription factors involved in cardiac development cause Mendelian forms of congenital heart disease. The purpose of this study was to systematically assess the frequency of rare transcription factor variants in sporadic patients with the cardiac outflow tract malformation tetralogy of Fallot (TOF.We sequenced the coding, 5'UTR, and 3'UTR regions of twelve transcription factor genes implicated in cardiac outflow tract development (NKX2.5, GATA4, ISL1, TBX20, MEF2C, BOP/SMYD1, HAND2, FOXC1, FOXC2, FOXH, FOXA2 and TBX1 in 93 non-syndromic, non-Mendelian TOF cases. We also analysed Illumina Human 660W-Quad SNP Array data for copy number variants in these genes; none were detected. Four of the rare variants detected have previously been shown to affect transactivation in in vitro reporter assays: FOXC1 p.P297S, FOXC2 p.Q444R, FOXH1 p.S113T and TBX1 p.P43_G61del PPPPRYDPCAAAAPGAPGP. Two further rare variants, HAND2 p.A25_A26insAA and FOXC1 p.G378_G380delGGG, A488_491delAAAA, affected transactivation in in vitro reporter assays. Each of these six functionally significant variants was present in a single patient in the heterozygous state; each of the four for which parental samples were available were maternally inherited. Thus in the 93 TOF cases we identified six functionally significant mutations in the secondary heart field transcriptional network.This study indicates that rare genetic variants in the secondary heart field transcriptional network with functional effects on protein function occur in 3-13% of patients with TOF. This is the first report of a functionally significant HAND2 mutation in a patient with congenital heart disease.

Common and rare variants in the exons and regulatory regions of osteoporosis-related genes improve osteoporotic fracture risk prediction.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Seung Hun; Kang, Moo Il; Ahn, Seong Hee; Lim, Kyeong-Hye; Lee, Gun Eui; Shin, Eun-Soon; Lee, Jong-Eun; Kim, Beom-Jun; Cho, Eun-Hee; Kim, Sang-Wook; Kim, Tae-Ho; Kim, Hyun-Ju; Yoon, Kun-Ho; Lee, Won Chul; Kim, Ghi Su; Koh, Jung-Min; Kim, Shin-Yoon

2014-11-01

Osteoporotic fracture risk is highly heritable, but genome-wide association studies have explained only a small proportion of the heritability to date. Genetic data may improve prediction of fracture risk in osteopenic subjects and assist early intervention and management. To detect common and rare variants in coding and regulatory regions related to osteoporosis-related traits, and to investigate whether genetic profiling improves the prediction of fracture risk. This cross-sectional study was conducted in three clinical units in Korea. Postmenopausal women with extreme phenotypes (n = 982) were used for the discovery set, and 3895 participants were used for the replication set. We performed targeted resequencing of 198 genes. Genetic risk scores from common variants (GRS-C) and from common and rare variants (GRS-T) were calculated. Nineteen common variants in 17 genes (of the discovered 34 functional variants in 26 genes) and 31 rare variants in five genes (of the discovered 87 functional variants in 15 genes) were associated with one or more osteoporosis-related traits. Accuracy of fracture risk classification was improved in the osteopenic patients by adding GRS-C to fracture risk assessment models (6.8%; P risk in an osteopenic individual.

Cumulative role of rare and common putative functional genetic variants at NPAS3 in schizophrenia susceptibility.

Science.gov (United States)

González-Peñas, Javier; Arrojo, Manuel; Paz, Eduardo; Brenlla, Julio; Páramo, Mario; Costas, Javier

2015-10-01

Schizophrenia may be considered a human-specific disorder arisen as a maladaptive by-product of human-specific brain evolution. Therefore, genetic variants involved in susceptibility to schizophrenia may be identified among those genes related to acquisition of human-specific traits. NPAS3, a transcription factor involved in central nervous system development and neurogenesis, seems to be implicated in the evolution of human brain, as it is the human gene with most human-specific accelerated elements (HAEs), i.e., .mammalian conserved regulatory sequences with accelerated evolution in the lineage leading to humans after human-chimpanzee split. We hypothesize that any nucleotide variant at the NPAS3 HAEs may lead to altered susceptibility to schizophrenia. Twenty-one variants at these HAEs detected by the 1000 genomes Project, as well as five additional variants taken from psychiatric genome-wide association studies, were genotyped in 538 schizophrenic patients and 539 controls from Galicia. Analyses at the haplotype level or based on the cumulative role of the variants assuming different susceptibility models did not find any significant association in spite of enough power under several plausible scenarios regarding direction of effect and the specific role of rare and common variants. These results suggest that, contrary to our hypothesis, the special evolution of the NPAS3 HAEs in Homo relaxed the strong constraint on sequence that characterized these regions during mammalian evolution, allowing some sequence changes without any effect on schizophrenia risk. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Genetic association study of exfoliation syndrome identifies a protective rare variant at LOXL1 and five new susceptibility loci.

Science.gov (United States)

Aung, Tin; Ozaki, Mineo; Lee, Mei Chin; Schlötzer-Schrehardt, Ursula; Thorleifsson, Gudmar; Mizoguchi, Takanori; Igo, Robert P; Haripriya, Aravind; Williams, Susan E; Astakhov, Yury S; Orr, Andrew C; Burdon, Kathryn P; Nakano, Satoko; Mori, Kazuhiko; Abu-Amero, Khaled; Hauser, Michael; Li, Zheng; Prakadeeswari, Gopalakrishnan; Bailey, Jessica N Cooke; Cherecheanu, Alina Popa; Kang, Jae H; Nelson, Sarah; Hayashi, Ken; Manabe, Shin-Ichi; Kazama, Shigeyasu; Zarnowski, Tomasz; Inoue, Kenji; Irkec, Murat; Coca-Prados, Miguel; Sugiyama, Kazuhisa; Järvelä, Irma; Schlottmann, Patricio; Lerner, S Fabian; Lamari, Hasnaa; Nilgün, Yildirim; Bikbov, Mukharram; Park, Ki Ho; Cha, Soon Cheol; Yamashiro, Kenji; Zenteno, Juan C; Jonas, Jost B; Kumar, Rajesh S; Perera, Shamira A; Chan, Anita S Y; Kobakhidze, Nino; George, Ronnie; Vijaya, Lingam; Do, Tan; Edward, Deepak P; de Juan Marcos, Lourdes; Pakravan, Mohammad; Moghimi, Sasan; Ideta, Ryuichi; Bach-Holm, Daniella; Kappelgaard, Per; Wirostko, Barbara; Thomas, Samuel; Gaston, Daniel; Bedard, Karen; Greer, Wenda L; Yang, Zhenglin; Chen, Xueyi; Huang, Lulin; Sang, Jinghong; Jia, Hongyan; Jia, Liyun; Qiao, Chunyan; Zhang, Hui; Liu, Xuyang; Zhao, Bowen; Wang, Ya-Xing; Xu, Liang; Leruez, Stéphanie; Reynier, Pascal; Chichua, George; Tabagari, Sergo; Uebe, Steffen; Zenkel, Matthias; Berner, Daniel; Mossböck, Georg; Weisschuh, Nicole; Hoja, Ursula; Welge-Luessen, Ulrich-Christoph; Mardin, Christian; Founti, Panayiota; Chatzikyriakidou, Anthi; Pappas, Theofanis; Anastasopoulos, Eleftherios; Lambropoulos, Alexandros; Ghosh, Arkasubhra; Shetty, Rohit; Porporato, Natalia; Saravanan, Vijayan; Venkatesh, Rengaraj; Shivkumar, Chandrashekaran; Kalpana, Narendran; Sarangapani, Sripriya; Kanavi, Mozhgan R; Beni, Afsaneh Naderi; Yazdani, Shahin; Lashay, Alireza; Naderifar, Homa; Khatibi, Nassim; Fea, Antonio; Lavia, Carlo; Dallorto, Laura; Rolle, Teresa; Frezzotti, Paolo; Paoli, Daniela; Salvi, Erika; Manunta, Paolo; Mori, Yosai; Miyata, Kazunori; Higashide, Tomomi; Chihara, Etsuo; Ishiko, Satoshi; Yoshida, Akitoshi; Yanagi, Masahide; Kiuchi, Yoshiaki; Ohashi, Tsutomu; Sakurai, Toshiya; Sugimoto, Takako; Chuman, Hideki; Aihara, Makoto; Inatani, Masaru; Miyake, Masahiro; Gotoh, Norimoto; Matsuda, Fumihiko; Yoshimura, Nagahisa; Ikeda, Yoko; Ueno, Morio; Sotozono, Chie; Jeoung, Jin Wook; Sagong, Min; Park, Kyu Hyung; Ahn, Jeeyun; Cruz-Aguilar, Marisa; Ezzouhairi, Sidi M; Rafei, Abderrahman; Chong, Yaan Fun; Ng, Xiao Yu; Goh, Shuang Ru; Chen, Yueming; Yong, Victor H K; Khan, Muhammad Imran; Olawoye, Olusola O; Ashaye, Adeyinka O; Ugbede, Idakwo; Onakoya, Adeola; Kizor-Akaraiwe, Nkiru; Teekhasaenee, Chaiwat; Suwan, Yanin; Supakontanasan, Wasu; Okeke, Suhanya; Uche, Nkechi J; Asimadu, Ifeoma; Ayub, Humaira; Akhtar, Farah; Kosior-Jarecka, Ewa; Lukasik, Urszula; Lischinsky, Ignacio; Castro, Vania; Grossmann, Rodolfo Perez; Sunaric Megevand, Gordana; Roy, Sylvain; Dervan, Edward; Silke, Eoin; Rao, Aparna; Sahay, Priti; Fornero, Pablo; Cuello, Osvaldo; Sivori, Delia; Zompa, Tamara; Mills, Richard A; Souzeau, Emmanuelle; Mitchell, Paul; Wang, Jie Jin; Hewitt, Alex W; Coote, Michael; Crowston, Jonathan G; Astakhov, Sergei Y; Akopov, Eugeny L; Emelyanov, Anton; Vysochinskaya, Vera; Kazakbaeva, Gyulli; Fayzrakhmanov, Rinat; Al-Obeidan, Saleh A; Owaidhah, Ohoud; Aljasim, Leyla Ali; Chowbay, Balram; Foo, Jia Nee; Soh, Raphael Q; Sim, Kar Seng; Xie, Zhicheng; Cheong, Augustine W O; Mok, Shi Qi; Soo, Hui Meng; Chen, Xiao Yin; Peh, Su Qin; Heng, Khai Koon; Husain, Rahat; Ho, Su-Ling; Hillmer, Axel M; Cheng, Ching-Yu; Escudero-Domínguez, Francisco A; González-Sarmiento, Rogelio; Martinon-Torres, Frederico; Salas, Antonio; Pathanapitoon, Kessara; Hansapinyo, Linda; Wanichwecharugruang, Boonsong; Kitnarong, Naris; Sakuntabhai, Anavaj; Nguyn, Hip X; Nguyn, Giang T T; Nguyn, Trình V; Zenz, Werner; Binder, Alexander; Klobassa, Daniela S; Hibberd, Martin L; Davila, Sonia; Herms, Stefan; Nöthen, Markus M; Moebus, Susanne; Rautenbach, Robyn M; Ziskind, Ari; Carmichael, Trevor R; Ramsay, Michele; Álvarez, Lydia; García, Montserrat; González-Iglesias, Héctor; Rodríguez-Calvo, Pedro P; Fernández-Vega Cueto, Luis; Oguz, Çilingir; Tamcelik, Nevbahar; Atalay, Eray; Batu, Bilge; Aktas, Dilek; Kasım, Burcu; Wilson, M Roy; Coleman, Anne L; Liu, Yutao; Challa, Pratap; Herndon, Leon; Kuchtey, Rachel W; Kuchtey, John; Curtin, Karen; Chaya, Craig J; Crandall, Alan; Zangwill, Linda M; Wong, Tien Yin; Nakano, Masakazu; Kinoshita, Shigeru; den Hollander, Anneke I; Vesti, Eija; Fingert, John H; Lee, Richard K; Sit, Arthur J; Shingleton, Bradford J; Wang, Ningli; Cusi, Daniele; Qamar, Raheel; Kraft, Peter; Pericak-Vance, Margaret A; Raychaudhuri, Soumya; Heegaard, Steffen; Kivelä, Tero; Reis, André; Kruse, Friedrich E; Weinreb, Robert N; Pasquale, Louis R; Haines, Jonathan L; Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur; Jonasson, Fridbert; Allingham, R Rand; Milea, Dan; Ritch, Robert; Kubota, Toshiaki; Tashiro, Kei; Vithana, Eranga N; Micheal, Shazia; Topouzis, Fotis; Craig, Jamie E; Dubina, Michael; Sundaresan, Periasamy; Stefansson, Kari; Wiggs, Janey L; Pasutto, Francesca; Khor, Chiea Chuen

2017-07-01

Exfoliation syndrome (XFS) is the most common known risk factor for secondary glaucoma and a major cause of blindness worldwide. Variants in two genes, LOXL1 and CACNA1A, have previously been associated with XFS. To further elucidate the genetic basis of XFS, we collected a global sample of XFS cases to refine the association at LOXL1, which previously showed inconsistent results across populations, and to identify new variants associated with XFS. We identified a rare protective allele at LOXL1 (p.Phe407, odds ratio (OR) = 25, P = 2.9 × 10 -14 ) through deep resequencing of XFS cases and controls from nine countries. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) of XFS cases and controls from 24 countries followed by replication in 18 countries identified seven genome-wide significant loci (P < 5 × 10 -8 ). We identified association signals at 13q12 (POMP), 11q23.3 (TMEM136), 6p21 (AGPAT1), 3p24 (RBMS3) and 5q23 (near SEMA6A). These findings provide biological insights into the pathology of XFS and highlight a potential role for naturally occurring rare LOXL1 variants in disease biology.

Rare variants analysis of cutaneous malignant melanoma genes in Parkinson's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Lubbe, S J; Escott-Price, V; Brice, A; Gasser, T; Pittman, A M; Bras, J; Hardy, J; Heutink, P; Wood, N M; Singleton, A B; Grosset, D G; Carroll, C B; Law, M H; Demenais, F; Iles, M M; Bishop, D T; Newton-Bishop, J; Williams, N M; Morris, H R

2016-12-01

A shared genetic susceptibility between cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) and Parkinson's disease (PD) has been suggested. We investigated this by assessing the contribution of rare variants in genes involved in CMM to PD risk. We studied rare variation across 29 CMM risk genes using high-quality genotype data in 6875 PD cases and 6065 controls and sought to replicate findings using whole-exome sequencing data from a second independent cohort totaling 1255 PD cases and 473 controls. No statistically significant enrichment of rare variants across all genes, per gene, or for any individual variant was detected in either cohort. There were nonsignificant trends toward different carrier frequencies between PD cases and controls, under different inheritance models, in the following CMM risk genes: BAP1, DCC, ERBB4, KIT, MAPK2, MITF, PTEN, and TP53. The very rare TYR p.V275F variant, which is a pathogenic allele for recessive albinism, was more common in PD cases than controls in 3 independent cohorts. Tyrosinase, encoded by TYR, is the rate-limiting enzyme for the production of neuromelanin, and has a role in the production of dopamine. These results suggest a possible role for another gene in the dopamine-biosynthetic pathway in susceptibility to neurodegenerative Parkinsonism, but further studies in larger PD cohorts are needed to accurately determine the role of these genes/variants in disease pathogenesis. Copyright © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Pooled Resequencing of 122 Ulcerative Colitis Genes in a Large Dutch Cohort Suggests Population-Specific Associations of Rare Variants in MUC2.

Science.gov (United States)

Visschedijk, Marijn C; Alberts, Rudi; Mucha, Soren; Deelen, Patrick; de Jong, Dirk J; Pierik, Marieke; Spekhorst, Lieke M; Imhann, Floris; van der Meulen-de Jong, Andrea E; van der Woude, C Janneke; van Bodegraven, Adriaan A; Oldenburg, Bas; Löwenberg, Mark; Dijkstra, Gerard; Ellinghaus, David; Schreiber, Stefan; Wijmenga, Cisca; Rivas, Manuel A; Franke, Andre; van Diemen, Cleo C; Weersma, Rinse K

2016-01-01

Genome-wide association studies have revealed several common genetic risk variants for ulcerative colitis (UC). However, little is known about the contribution of rare, large effect genetic variants to UC susceptibility. In this study, we performed a deep targeted re-sequencing of 122 genes in Dutch UC patients in order to investigate the contribution of rare variants to the genetic susceptibility to UC. The selection of genes consists of 111 established human UC susceptibility genes and 11 genes that lead to spontaneous colitis when knocked-out in mice. In addition, we sequenced the promoter regions of 45 genes where known variants exert cis-eQTL-effects. Targeted pooled re-sequencing was performed on DNA of 790 Dutch UC cases. The Genome of the Netherlands project provided sequence data of 500 healthy controls. After quality control and prioritization based on allele frequency and pathogenicity probability, follow-up genotyping of 171 rare variants was performed on 1021 Dutch UC cases and 1166 Dutch controls. Single-variant association and gene-based analyses identified an association of rare variants in the MUC2 gene with UC. The associated variants in the Dutch population could not be replicated in a German replication cohort (1026 UC cases, 3532 controls). In conclusion, this study has identified a putative role for MUC2 on UC susceptibility in the Dutch population and suggests a population-specific contribution of rare variants to UC.

Shifting the focus toward rare variants in schizophrenia to close the gap from genotype to phenotype.

Science.gov (United States)

Bustamante, M Leonor; Herrera, Luisa; Gaspar, Pablo A; Nieto, Rodrigo; Maturana, Alejandro; Villar, María José; Salinas, Valeria; Silva, Hernán

2017-10-01

Schizophrenia (SZ) is a disorder with a high heritability and a complex architecture. Several dozen genetic variants have been identified as risk factors through genome-wide association studies including large population-based samples. However, the bulk of the risk cannot be accounted for by the genes associated to date. Rare mutations have been historically seen as relevant only for some infrequent, Mendelian forms of psychosis. Recent findings, however, show that the subset of patients that present a mutation with major effect is larger than expected. We discuss some of the molecular findings of these studies. SZ is clinically and genetically heterogeneous. To identify the genetic variation underlying the disorder, research should be focused on features that are more likely a product of genetic heterogeneity. Based on the phenotypical correlations with rare variants, cognition emerges as a relevant domain to study. Cognitive disturbances could be useful in selecting cases that have a higher probability of carrying deleterious mutations, as well as on the correct ascertainment of sporadic cases for the identification of de novo variants. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Rare copy number variants implicated in posterior urethral valves.

Science.gov (United States)

Boghossian, Nansi S; Sicko, Robert J; Kay, Denise M; Rigler, Shannon L; Caggana, Michele; Tsai, Michael Y; Yeung, Edwina H; Pankratz, Nathan; Cole, Benjamin R; Druschel, Charlotte M; Romitti, Paul A; Browne, Marilyn L; Fan, Ruzong; Liu, Aiyi; Brody, Lawrence C; Mills, James L

2016-03-01

The cause of posterior urethral valves (PUV) is unknown, but genetic factors are suspected given their familial occurrence. We examined cases of isolated PUV to identify novel copy number variants (CNVs). We identified 56 cases of isolated PUV from all live-births in New York State (1998-2005). Samples were genotyped using Illumina HumanOmni2.5 microarrays. Autosomal and sex-linked CNVs were identified using PennCNV and cnvPartition software. CNVs were prioritized for follow-up if they were absent from in-house controls, contained ≥ 10 consecutive probes, were ≥ 20 Kb in size, had ≤ 20% overlap with variants detected in other birth defect phenotypes screened in our lab, and were rare in population reference controls. We identified 47 rare candidate PUV-associated CNVs in 32 cases; one case had a 3.9 Mb deletion encompassing BMP7. Mutations in BMP7 have been associated with severe anomalies in the mouse urethra. Other interesting CNVs, each detected in a single PUV case included: a deletion of PIK3R3 and TSPAN1, duplication/triplication in FGF12, duplication of FAT1--a gene essential for normal growth and development, a large deletion (>2 Mb) on chromosome 17q that involves TBX2 and TBX4, and large duplications (>1 Mb) on chromosomes 3q and 6q. Our finding of previously unreported novel CNVs in PUV suggests that genetic factors may play a larger role than previously understood. Our data show a potential role of CNVs in up to 57% of cases examined. Investigation of genes in these CNVs may provide further insights into genetic variants that contribute to PUV. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Trans-ancestry meta-analyses identify rare and common variants associated with blood pressure and hypertension

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Surendran, P. (Praveen); F. Drenos (Fotios); R. Young (Robin); H. Warren (Helen); Cook, J.P. (James P.); A.K. Manning (Alisa); N. Grarup (Niels); X. Sim (Xueling); D. Barnes (Daniel); H.E. Witkowska (Ewa); J.R. Staley (James R.); V. Tragante (Vinicius); T. Tukiainen (Taru); H. Yaghootkar (Hanieh); Masca, N. (Nicholas); C.M. Freitag (Christine); T. Ferreira (Teresa); O. Giannakopoulou (Olga); Tinker, A. (Andrew); M. Harakalova (Magdalena); E. Mihailov (Evelin); Liu, C. (Chunyu); A. Kraja (Aldi); S.F. Nielsen (Sune); A. Rasheed (Asif); M. Samuel (Maria); W. Zhao (Wei); L.L. Bonnycastle (Lori); A.U. Jackson (Anne); N. Narisu (Narisu); A.J. Swift (Amy); L. Southam (Lorraine); J. Marten (Jonathan); J.R. Huyghe (Jeroen R.); A. Stancáková (Alena); C. Fava (Cristiano); Ohlsson, T. (Therese); A. Matchan (Angela); K. Stirrups (Kathy); J. Bork-Jensen (Jette); A.P. Gjesing (Anette); Kontto, J. (Jukka); M. Perola (Markus); S. Shaw-Hawkins (Sue); A.S. Havulinna (Aki); Zhang, H. (He); L.A. Donnelly (Louise); C.J. Groves (Christopher); N.W. Rayner (Nigel William); M.J. Neville (Matthew); N.R. Robertson (Neil); Yiorkas, A.M. (Andrianos M.); K.H. Herzig; E. Kajantie (Eero); W. Zhang (Weihua); S.M. Willems (Sara); L. Lannfelt (Lars); G. Malerba (Giovanni); N. Soranzo (Nicole); E. Trabetti (Elisabetta); N. Verweij (Niek); E. Evangelou (Evangelos); A. Moayyeri (Alireza); Vergnaud, A.-C. (Anne-Claire); C.P. Nelson (Christopher P.); Poveda, A. (Alaitz); T.V. Varga (Tibor V.); M. Caslake (Muriel); A.J.M. De Craen (Anton J. M.); S. Trompet (Stella); J. Luan (Jian'An); R.A. Scott (Robert); S.E. Harris (Sarah); D.C. Liewald (David C.); R.E. Marioni (Riccardo); C. Menni (Cristina); A.-E. Farmaki (Aliki-Eleni); G. Hallmans (Göran); F. Renström (Frida); J.E. Huffman (Jennifer); Hassinen, M. (Maija); S. Burgess (Stephen); Vasan, R.S. (Ramachandran S.); J.F. Felix (Janine); Uria-Nickelsen, M. (Maria); A. Mälarstig (Anders); Reilly, D.F. (Dermot F.); Hoek, M. (Maarten); Vogt, T.F. (Thomas F.); H. Lin (Honghuang); W. Lieb (Wolfgang); M. Traylor (Matthew); H.S. Markus (Hugh); H. Highland (Heather); A.E. Justice (Anne); E. Marouli (Eirini); J. Lindström (Jaana); M. Uusitupa (Matti); P. Komulainen (Pirjo); T.A. Lakka (Timo); R. Rauramaa (Rainer); O. Polasek (Ozren); I. Rudan (Igor); Rolandsson, O. (Olov); P.W. Franks (Paul); G.V. Dedoussis (George); T.D. Spector (Timothy); P. Jousilahti (Pekka); S. Männistö (Satu); I.J. Deary (Ian J.); J.M. Starr (John); C. Langenberg (Claudia); N.J. Wareham (Nick); M.J. Brown (Morris); A. Dominiczak (Anna); Connell, J.M. (John M.); J.W. Jukema (Jan Wouter); N. Sattar (Naveed); I. Ford (Ian); Packard, C.J. (Chris J.); T. Esko (Tõnu); R. Mägi (Reedik); A. Metspalu (Andres); R.A. de Boer (Rudolf); Van Der Meer, P. (Peter); P. van der Harst (Pim); G. Gambaro (Giovanni); Ingelsson, E. (Erik); W.H.L. Kao (Wen); P.I.W. de Bakker (Paul); M.E. Numans (Mattijs); I. Brandslund (Ivan); Christensen, C. (Cramer); Petersen, E.R.B. (Eva R. B.); E. Korpi-Hyövälti (Eeva); H. Oksa (Heikki); J.C. Chambers (John); J.S. Kooner (Jaspal S.); A.I.F. Blakemore (Alexandra); S. Franks (Steve); M.-R. Jarvelin (Marjo-Riitta); L.L.N. Husemoen (Lise Lotte); Linneberg, A. (Allan); T. Skaaby (Tea); Thuesen, B. (Betina); F. Karpe (Fredrik); J. Tuomilehto (Jaakko); A.S.F. Doney (Alex); A.D. Morris (Andrew); C.N.A. Palmer (Colin); O.L. Holmen (Oddgeir); K. Hveem (Kristian); C.J. Willer (Cristen); T. Tuomi (Tiinamaija); L. Groop (Leif); Käräjämäki, A. (Annemari); A. Palotie (Aarno); S. Ripatti (Samuli); V. Salomaa (Veikko); D.S. Alam (Dewan S.); Majumder, A.A.S. (Abdulla Al Shafi); E. di Angelantonio (Emanuele); R. Chowdhury (Rajiv); M.I. McCarthy (Mark); N.R. Poulter (Neil); A. Stanton (Alice); P. Sever (Peter); P. Amouyel (Philippe); D. Arveiler (Dominique); Blankenberg, S. (Stefan); J. Ferrieres (Jean); F. Kee (Frank); K. Kuulasmaa (Kari); M. Müller-Nurasyid (Martina); G. Veronesi (Giovanni); J. Virtamo (Jarmo); P. Deloukas (Panagiotis); P. Elliott (Paul); E. Zeggini (Eleftheria); S. Kathiresan (Sekar); O. Melander (Olle); J. Kuusisto (Johanna); M. Laakso (Markku); S. Padmanabhan (Sandosh); D. Porteous (David); C. Hayward (Caroline); G. Scotland (Generation); F.S. Collins (Francis); K.L. Mohlke (Karen); T. Hansen (T.); O. Pedersen (Oluf); M. Boehnke (Michael); H.M. Stringham (Heather); R. Frossard; C. Newton-Cheh (Christopher); M.D. Tobin (Martin); B.G. Nordestgaard (Børge); M. Caulfield (Mark); A. Mahajan (Anubha); A.P. Morris (Andrew); Tomaszewski, M. (Maciej); N.J. Samani (Nilesh); Saleheen, D. (Danish); F.W. Asselbergs (Folkert); C.M. Lindgren (Cecilia M.); J. Danesh (John); Wain, L.V. (Louise V.); A.S. Butterworth (Adam); Howson, J.M.M. (Joanna M. M.); P. Munroe (Patricia)

2016-01-01

textabstractHigh blood pressure is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and premature death. However, there is limited knowledge on specific causal genes and pathways. To better understand the genetics of blood pressure, we genotyped 242,296 rare, low-frequency and common genetic variants

Common Genetic Variants Found in HLA and KIR Immune Genes in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anthony R Torres

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The common variant - common disease hypothesis was proposed to explain diseases with strong inheritance. This model suggests that a genetic disease is the result of the combination of several common genetic variants. Common genetic variants are described as a 5% frequency differential between diseased versus matched control populations. This theory was recently supported by an epidemiology paper stating that about 50% of genetic risk for autism resides in common variants. However, rare variants, rather than common variants, have been found in numerous genome wide genetic studies and many have concluded that the common variant—common disease hypothesis is incorrect. One interpretation is that rare variants are major contributors to genetic diseases and autism involves the interaction of many rare variants, especially in the brain. It is obvious there is much yet to be learned about autism genetics.Evidence has been mounting over the years indicating immune involvement in autism, particularly the HLA genes on chromosome 6 and KIR genes on chromosome 19. These two large multigene complexes have important immune functions and have been shown to interact to eliminate unwanted virally infected and malignant cells. HLA proteins have important functions in antigen presentation in adaptive immunity and specific epitopes on HLA class I proteins act as cognate ligands for KIR receptors in innate immunity. Data suggests that HLA alleles and KIR activating genes/haplotypes are common variants in different autism populations. For example, class I allele (HLA-A2 and HLA-G 14bp-indel frequencies are significantly increased by more than 5% over control populations (Table2. The HLA-DR4 Class II and shared epitope frequencies are significantly above the control populations (Table 2. Three activating KIR genes: 3DS1, 2DS1 and 2DS2 have increased frequencies of 15%, 22% and 14% in autism populations, respectively. There is a 6% increase in total activating KIR

The role of functionally defective rare germline variants of sialic acid acetylesterase in autoimmune Addison's disease

Science.gov (United States)

Gan, Earn H; MacArthur, Katie; Mitchell, Anna L; Pearce, Simon H S

2012-01-01

Background Autoimmune Addison's disease (AAD) is a rare condition with a complex genetic basis. A panel of rare and functionally defective genetic variants in the sialic acid acetylesterase (SIAE) gene has recently been implicated in several common autoimmune conditions. We performed a case–control study to determine whether these rare variants are associated with a rarer condition, AAD. Method We analysed nine SIAE gene variants (W48X, M89V, C196F, C226G, R230W, T312M, Y349C, F404S and R479C) in a United Kingdom cohort of 378 AAD subjects and 387 healthy controls. All samples were genotyped using Sequenom iPlex chemistry to characterise primer extension products. Results A heterozygous rare allele at codon 312 (312*M) was found in one AAD patient (0.13%) but was not detected in the healthy controls. The commoner, functionally recessive variant at codon 89 (89*V) was found to be homozygous in two AAD patients but was only found in the heterozygous state in controls. Taking into account all nine alleles examined, 4/378 (1.06%) AAD patients and 1/387 (0.25%) healthy controls carried the defective SIAE alleles, with a calculated odds ratio of 4.13 (95% CI 0.44–97.45, two-tailed P value 0.212, NS). Conclusion We demonstrated the presence of 89*V homozygotes and the 312*M rare allele in the AAD cohort, but overall, our analysis does not support a role for rare variants in SIAE in the pathogenesis of AAD. However, the relatively small collection of AAD patients limits the power to exclude a small effect. PMID:23011869

CDKL5 variants: Improving our understanding of a rare neurologic disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Hector, Ralph D; Kalscheuer, Vera M; Hennig, Friederike; Leonard, Helen; Downs, Jenny; Clarke, Angus; Benke, Tim A; Armstrong, Judith; Pineda, Mercedes; Bailey, Mark E S; Cobb, Stuart R

2017-12-01

To provide new insights into the interpretation of genetic variants in a rare neurologic disorder, CDKL5 deficiency, in the contexts of population sequencing data and an updated characterization of the CDKL5 gene. We analyzed all known potentially pathogenic CDKL5 variants by combining data from large-scale population sequencing studies with CDKL5 variants from new and all available clinical cohorts and combined this with computational methods to predict pathogenicity. The study has identified several variants that can be reclassified as benign or likely benign. With the addition of novel CDKL5 variants, we confirm that pathogenic missense variants cluster in the catalytic domain of CDKL5 and reclassify a purported missense variant as having a splicing consequence. We provide further evidence that missense variants in the final 3 exons are likely to be benign and not important to disease pathology. We also describe benign splicing and nonsense variants within these exons, suggesting that isoform hCDKL5_5 is likely to have little or no neurologic significance. We also use the available data to make a preliminary estimate of minimum incidence of CDKL5 deficiency. These findings have implications for genetic diagnosis, providing evidence for the reclassification of specific variants previously thought to result in CDKL5 deficiency. Together, these analyses support the view that the predominant brain isoform in humans (hCDKL5_1) is crucial for normal neurodevelopment and that the catalytic domain is the primary functional domain.

Trans-ancestry meta-analyses identify rare and common variants associated with blood pressure and hypertension

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Surendran, Praveen; Drenos, Fotios; Young, Robin; Warren, Helen; Cook, James P; Manning, Alisa K; Grarup, Niels; Sim, Xueling; Barnes, Daniel R; Witkowska, Kate; Staley, James R; Tragante, Vinicius; Tukiainen, Taru; Yaghootkar, Hanieh; Masca, Nicholas; Freitag, Daniel F; Ferreira, Teresa; Giannakopoulou, Olga; Tinker, Andrew; Harakalova, Magdalena; Mihailov, Evelin; Liu, Chunyu; Kraja, Aldi T; Nielsen, Sune Fallgaard; Rasheed, Asif; Samuel, Maria; Zhao, Wei; Bonnycastle, Lori L; Jackson, Anne U; Narisu, Narisu; Swift, Amy J; Southam, Lorraine; Marten, Jonathan; Huyghe, Jeroen R; Stančáková, Alena; Fava, Cristiano; Ohlsson, Therese; Matchan, Angela; Stirrups, Kathleen E; Bork-Jensen, Jette; Gjesing, Anette P; Kontto, Jukka; Perola, Markus; Shaw-Hawkins, Susan; Havulinna, Aki S; Zhang, He; Donnelly, Louise A; Groves, Christopher J; Rayner, N William; Neville, Matt J; Robertson, Neil R; Yiorkas, Andrianos M; Herzig, Karl-Heinz; Kajantie, Eero; Zhang, Weihua; Willems, Sara M; Lannfelt, Lars; Malerba, Giovanni; Soranzo, Nicole; Trabetti, Elisabetta; Verweij, Niek; Evangelou, Evangelos; Moayyeri, Alireza; Vergnaud, Anne-Claire; Nelson, Christopher P; Poveda, Alaitz; Varga, Tibor V; Caslake, Muriel; de Craen, Anton J M; Trompet, Stella; Luan, Jian'an; Scott, Robert A; Harris, Sarah E; Liewald, David C M; Marioni, Riccardo; Menni, Cristina; Farmaki, Aliki-Eleni; Hallmans, Göran; Renström, Frida; Huffman, Jennifer E; Hassinen, Maija; Burgess, Stephen; Vasan, Ramachandran S; Felix, Janine F; Uria-Nickelsen, Maria; Malarstig, Anders; Reilly, Dermot F; Hoek, Maarten; Vogt, Thomas F; Lin, Honghuang; Lieb, Wolfgang; Traylor, Matthew; Markus, Hugh S; Highland, Heather M; Justice, Anne E; Marouli, Eirini; Lindström, Jaana; Uusitupa, Matti; Komulainen, Pirjo; Lakka, Timo A; Rauramaa, Rainer; Polasek, Ozren; Rudan, Igor; Rolandsson, Olov; Franks, Paul W; Dedoussis, George; Spector, Timothy D; Jousilahti, Pekka; Männistö, Satu; Deary, Ian J; Starr, John M; Langenberg, Claudia; Wareham, Nick J; Brown, Morris J; Dominiczak, Anna F; Connell, John M; Jukema, J Wouter; Sattar, Naveed; Ford, Ian; Packard, Chris J; Esko, Tõnu; Mägi, Reedik; Metspalu, Andres; de Boer, Rudolf A; van der Meer, Peter; van der Harst, Pim; Gambaro, Giovanni; Ingelsson, Erik; Lind, Lars; de Bakker, Paul I W; Numans, Mattijs E; Brandslund, Ivan; Christensen, Cramer; Petersen, Eva R B; Korpi-Hyövälti, Eeva; Oksa, Heikki; Chambers, John C; Kooner, Jaspal S; Blakemore, Alexandra I F; Franks, Steve; Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta; Husemoen, Lise L; Linneberg, Allan; Skaaby, Tea; Thuesen, Betina; Karpe, Fredrik; Tuomilehto, Jaakko; Doney, Alex S F; Morris, Andrew D; Palmer, Colin N A; Holmen, Oddgeir Lingaas; Hveem, Kristian; Willer, Cristen J; Tuomi, Tiinamaija; Groop, Leif; Käräjämäki, AnneMari; Palotie, Aarno; Ripatti, Samuli; Salomaa, Veikko; Alam, Dewan S; Majumder, Abdulla Al Shafi; Di Angelantonio, Emanuele; Chowdhury, Rajiv; McCarthy, Mark I; Poulter, Neil; Stanton, Alice V; Sever, Peter; Amouyel, Philippe; Arveiler, Dominique; Blankenberg, Stefan; Ferrières, Jean; Kee, Frank; Kuulasmaa, Kari; Müller-Nurasyid, Martina; Veronesi, Giovanni; Virtamo, Jarmo; Deloukas, Panos; Elliott, Paul; Zeggini, Eleftheria; Kathiresan, Sekar; Melander, Olle; Kuusisto, Johanna; Laakso, Markku; Padmanabhan, Sandosh; Porteous, David J; Hayward, Caroline; Scotland, Generation; Collins, Francis S; Mohlke, Karen L; Hansen, Torben; Pedersen, Oluf; Boehnke, Michael; Stringham, Heather M; Frossard, Philippe; Newton-Cheh, Christopher; Tobin, Martin D; Nordestgaard, Børge Grønne; Caulfield, Mark J; Mahajan, Anubha; Morris, Andrew P; Tomaszewski, Maciej; Samani, Nilesh J; Saleheen, Danish; Asselbergs, Folkert W; Lindgren, Cecilia M; Danesh, John; Wain, Louise V; Butterworth, Adam S; Howson, Joanna M M; Munroe, Patricia B

2016-01-01

High blood pressure is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and premature death. However, there is limited knowledge on specific causal genes and pathways. To better understand the genetics of blood pressure, we genotyped 242,296 rare, low-frequency and common genetic variants in up to

Trans-ancestry meta-analyses identify rare and common variants associated with blood pressure and hypertension

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Surendran, Praveen; Drenos, Fotios; Young, Robin

2016-01-01

High blood pressure is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and premature death. However, there is limited knowledge on specific causal genes and pathways. To better understand the genetics of blood pressure, we genotyped 242,296 rare, low-frequency and common genetic variants in up to ...

Trans-ancestry meta-analyses identify rare and common variants associated with blood pressure and hypertension

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Surendran, Praveen; Drenos, Fotios; Young, Robin; Warren, Helen; Cook, James P.; Manning, Alisa K.; Grarup, Niels; Sim, Xueling; Barnes, Daniel R.; Witkowska, Kate; Staley, James R.; Tragante, Vinicius; Tukiainen, Taru; Yaghootkar, Hanieh; Masca, Nicholas; Freitag, Daniel F.; Ferreira, Teresa; Giannakopoulou, Olga; Tinker, Andrew; Harakalova, Magdalena; Mihailov, Evelin; Liu, Chunyu; Kraja, Aldi T.; Nielsen, Sune Fallgaard; Rasheed, Asif; Samue, Maria; Zhao, Wei; Bonnycastle, Lori L.; Jackson, Anne U.; Narisu, Narisu; Swift, Amy J.; Southam, Lorraine; Marten, Jonathan; Huyghe, Jeroen R.; Stancakova, Alena; Fava, Cristiano; Ohlsson, Therese; Matchan, Angela; Stirrups, Kathleen E.; Bork-Jensen, Jette; Gjesing, Anette P.; Kontto, Jukka; Perola, Markus; Shaw-Hawkins, Susan; Havulinna, Aki S.; Verweij, Niek; de Boer, Rudolf A.; van der Meer, Peter; van der Harst, Pim; Asselbergs, Folkert W.

2016-01-01

High blood pressure is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and premature death. However, there is limited knowledge on specific causal genes and pathways. To better understand the genetics of blood pressure, we genotyped 242,296 rare, low frequency and common genetic variants in up to

Bayesian detection of causal rare variants under posterior consistency.

KAUST Repository

Liang, Faming

2013-07-26

Identification of causal rare variants that are associated with complex traits poses a central challenge on genome-wide association studies. However, most current research focuses only on testing the global association whether the rare variants in a given genomic region are collectively associated with the trait. Although some recent work, e.g., the Bayesian risk index method, have tried to address this problem, it is unclear whether the causal rare variants can be consistently identified by them in the small-n-large-P situation. We develop a new Bayesian method, the so-called Bayesian Rare Variant Detector (BRVD), to tackle this problem. The new method simultaneously addresses two issues: (i) (Global association test) Are there any of the variants associated with the disease, and (ii) (Causal variant detection) Which variants, if any, are driving the association. The BRVD ensures the causal rare variants to be consistently identified in the small-n-large-P situation by imposing some appropriate prior distributions on the model and model specific parameters. The numerical results indicate that the BRVD is more powerful for testing the global association than the existing methods, such as the combined multivariate and collapsing test, weighted sum statistic test, RARECOVER, sequence kernel association test, and Bayesian risk index, and also more powerful for identification of causal rare variants than the Bayesian risk index method. The BRVD has also been successfully applied to the Early-Onset Myocardial Infarction (EOMI) Exome Sequence Data. It identified a few causal rare variants that have been verified in the literature.

Bayesian detection of causal rare variants under posterior consistency.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Faming Liang

Full Text Available Identification of causal rare variants that are associated with complex traits poses a central challenge on genome-wide association studies. However, most current research focuses only on testing the global association whether the rare variants in a given genomic region are collectively associated with the trait. Although some recent work, e.g., the Bayesian risk index method, have tried to address this problem, it is unclear whether the causal rare variants can be consistently identified by them in the small-n-large-P situation. We develop a new Bayesian method, the so-called Bayesian Rare Variant Detector (BRVD, to tackle this problem. The new method simultaneously addresses two issues: (i (Global association test Are there any of the variants associated with the disease, and (ii (Causal variant detection Which variants, if any, are driving the association. The BRVD ensures the causal rare variants to be consistently identified in the small-n-large-P situation by imposing some appropriate prior distributions on the model and model specific parameters. The numerical results indicate that the BRVD is more powerful for testing the global association than the existing methods, such as the combined multivariate and collapsing test, weighted sum statistic test, RARECOVER, sequence kernel association test, and Bayesian risk index, and also more powerful for identification of causal rare variants than the Bayesian risk index method. The BRVD has also been successfully applied to the Early-Onset Myocardial Infarction (EOMI Exome Sequence Data. It identified a few causal rare variants that have been verified in the literature.

Bayesian detection of causal rare variants under posterior consistency.

KAUST Repository

Liang, Faming; Xiong, Momiao

2013-01-01

Identification of causal rare variants that are associated with complex traits poses a central challenge on genome-wide association studies. However, most current research focuses only on testing the global association whether the rare variants in a given genomic region are collectively associated with the trait. Although some recent work, e.g., the Bayesian risk index method, have tried to address this problem, it is unclear whether the causal rare variants can be consistently identified by them in the small-n-large-P situation. We develop a new Bayesian method, the so-called Bayesian Rare Variant Detector (BRVD), to tackle this problem. The new method simultaneously addresses two issues: (i) (Global association test) Are there any of the variants associated with the disease, and (ii) (Causal variant detection) Which variants, if any, are driving the association. The BRVD ensures the causal rare variants to be consistently identified in the small-n-large-P situation by imposing some appropriate prior distributions on the model and model specific parameters. The numerical results indicate that the BRVD is more powerful for testing the global association than the existing methods, such as the combined multivariate and collapsing test, weighted sum statistic test, RARECOVER, sequence kernel association test, and Bayesian risk index, and also more powerful for identification of causal rare variants than the Bayesian risk index method. The BRVD has also been successfully applied to the Early-Onset Myocardial Infarction (EOMI) Exome Sequence Data. It identified a few causal rare variants that have been verified in the literature.

Genetics in psychiatry: common variant association studies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Buxbaum Joseph D

2010-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Many psychiatric conditions and traits are associated with significant heritability. Genetic risk for psychiatric conditions encompass rare variants, identified due to major effect, as well as common variants, the latter analyzed by association analyses. We review guidelines for common variant association analyses, undertaking after assessing evidence of heritability. We highlight the importance of: suitably large sample sizes; an experimental design that controls for ancestry; careful data cleaning; correction for multiple testing; small P values for positive findings; assessment of effect size for positive findings; and, inclusion of an independent replication sample. We also note the importance of a critical discussion of any prior findings, biological follow-up where possible, and a means of accessing the raw data.

Common, low-frequency, and rare genetic variants associated with lipoprotein subclasses and triglyceride measures in Finnish men from the METSIM study.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

James P Davis

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Lipid and lipoprotein subclasses are associated with metabolic and cardiovascular diseases, yet the genetic contributions to variability in subclass traits are not fully understood. We conducted single-variant and gene-based association tests between 15.1M variants from genome-wide and exome array and imputed genotypes and 72 lipid and lipoprotein traits in 8,372 Finns. After accounting for 885 variants at 157 previously identified lipid loci, we identified five novel signals near established loci at HIF3A, ADAMTS3, PLTP, LCAT, and LIPG. Four of the signals were identified with a low-frequency (0.005rare (MAF<0.005 variant, including Arg123His in LCAT. Gene-based associations (P<10-10 support a role for coding variants in LIPC and LIPG with lipoprotein subclass traits. 30 established lipid-associated loci had a stronger association for a subclass trait than any conventional trait. These novel association signals provide further insight into the molecular basis of dyslipidemia and the etiology of metabolic disorders.

Rare and common variants in LPL and APOA5 in Thai subjects with severe hypertriglyceridemia: A resequencing approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Khovidhunkit, Weerapan; Charoen, Supannika; Kiateprungvej, Arunrat; Chartyingcharoen, Palm; Muanpetch, Suwanna; Plengpanich, Wanee

2016-01-01

Severe hypertriglyceridemia usually results from a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Few data exist on the genetics of severe hypertriglyceridemia in Asian populations. To examine the genetic variants of 3 candidate genes known to influence triglyceride metabolism, LPL, APOC2, and APOA5, which encode lipoprotein lipase, apolipoprotein C-II, and apolipoprotein A-V, respectively, in a large group of Thai subjects with severe hypertriglyceridemia. We identified sequence variants of LPL, APOC2, and APOA5 by sequencing exons and exon-intron junctions in 101 subjects with triglyceride levels ≥ 10 mmol/L (886 mg/dL) and compared with those of 111 normotriglyceridemic subjects. Six different rare variants in LPL were found in 13 patients, 2 of which were novel (1 heterozygous missense variant: p.Arg270Gly and 1 frameshift variant: p.Asp308Glyfs*3). Four previously identified heterozygous missense variants in LPL were p.Ala98Thr, p.Leu279Val, p.Leu279Arg, and p.Arg432Thr. Collectively, these rare variants were found only in the hypertriglyceridemic group but not in the control group (13% vs 0%, P severe hypertriglyceridemia. A common p.Gly185Cys APOA5 variant, in particular, was quite prevalent and potentially contributed to hypertriglyceridemia in this group of patients. Copyright © 2015 National Lipid Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Improved imputation accuracy of rare and low-frequency variants using population-specific high-coverage WGS-based imputation reference panel.

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Mitt, Mario; Kals, Mart; Pärn, Kalle; Gabriel, Stacey B; Lander, Eric S; Palotie, Aarno; Ripatti, Samuli; Morris, Andrew P; Metspalu, Andres; Esko, Tõnu; Mägi, Reedik; Palta, Priit

2017-06-01

Genetic imputation is a cost-efficient way to improve the power and resolution of genome-wide association (GWA) studies. Current publicly accessible imputation reference panels accurately predict genotypes for common variants with minor allele frequency (MAF)≥5% and low-frequency variants (0.5≤MAF<5%) across diverse populations, but the imputation of rare variation (MAF<0.5%) is still rather limited. In the current study, we evaluate imputation accuracy achieved with reference panels from diverse populations with a population-specific high-coverage (30 ×) whole-genome sequencing (WGS) based reference panel, comprising of 2244 Estonian individuals (0.25% of adult Estonians). Although the Estonian-specific panel contains fewer haplotypes and variants, the imputation confidence and accuracy of imputed low-frequency and rare variants was significantly higher. The results indicate the utility of population-specific reference panels for human genetic studies.

Rare variant testing across methods and thresholds using the multi-kernel sequence kernel association test (MK-SKAT).

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Urrutia, Eugene; Lee, Seunggeun; Maity, Arnab; Zhao, Ni; Shen, Judong; Li, Yun; Wu, Michael C

Analysis of rare genetic variants has focused on region-based analysis wherein a subset of the variants within a genomic region is tested for association with a complex trait. Two important practical challenges have emerged. First, it is difficult to choose which test to use. Second, it is unclear which group of variants within a region should be tested. Both depend on the unknown true state of nature. Therefore, we develop the Multi-Kernel SKAT (MK-SKAT) which tests across a range of rare variant tests and groupings. Specifically, we demonstrate that several popular rare variant tests are special cases of the sequence kernel association test which compares pair-wise similarity in trait value to similarity in the rare variant genotypes between subjects as measured through a kernel function. Choosing a particular test is equivalent to choosing a kernel. Similarly, choosing which group of variants to test also reduces to choosing a kernel. Thus, MK-SKAT uses perturbation to test across a range of kernels. Simulations and real data analyses show that our framework controls type I error while maintaining high power across settings: MK-SKAT loses power when compared to the kernel for a particular scenario but has much greater power than poor choices.

Analysis of Plasminogen Genetic Variants in Multiple Sclerosis Patients

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Sadovnick, A. Dessa; Traboulsee, Anthony L.; Bernales, Cecily Q.; Ross, Jay P.; Forwell, Amanda L.; Yee, Irene M.; Guillot-Noel, Lena; Fontaine, Bertrand; Cournu-Rebeix, Isabelle; Alcina, Antonio; Fedetz, Maria; Izquierdo, Guillermo; Matesanz, Fuencisla; Hilven, Kelly; Dubois, Bénédicte; Goris, An; Astobiza, Ianire; Alloza, Iraide; Antigüedad, Alfredo; Vandenbroeck, Koen; Akkad, Denis A.; Aktas, Orhan; Blaschke, Paul; Buttmann, Mathias; Chan, Andrew; Epplen, Joerg T.; Gerdes, Lisa-Ann; Kroner, Antje; Kubisch, Christian; Kümpfel, Tania; Lohse, Peter; Rieckmann, Peter; Zettl, Uwe K.; Zipp, Frauke; Bertram, Lars; Lill, Christina M; Fernandez, Oscar; Urbaneja, Patricia; Leyva, Laura; Alvarez-Cermeño, Jose Carlos; Arroyo, Rafael; Garagorri, Aroa M.; García-Martínez, Angel; Villar, Luisa M.; Urcelay, Elena; Malhotra, Sunny; Montalban, Xavier; Comabella, Manuel; Berger, Thomas; Fazekas, Franz; Reindl, Markus; Schmied, Mascha C.; Zimprich, Alexander; Vilariño-Güell, Carles

2016-01-01

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a prevalent neurological disease of complex etiology. Here, we describe the characterization of a multi-incident MS family that nominated a rare missense variant (p.G420D) in plasminogen (PLG) as a putative genetic risk factor for MS. Genotyping of PLG p.G420D (rs139071351) in 2160 MS patients, and 886 controls from Canada, identified 10 additional probands, two sporadic patients and one control with the variant. Segregation in families harboring the rs139071351 variant, identified p.G420D in 26 out of 30 family members diagnosed with MS, 14 unaffected parents, and 12 out of 30 family members not diagnosed with disease. Despite considerably reduced penetrance, linkage analysis supports cosegregation of PLG p.G420D and disease. Genotyping of PLG p.G420D in 14446 patients, and 8797 controls from Canada, France, Spain, Germany, Belgium, and Austria failed to identify significant association with disease (P = 0.117), despite an overall higher prevalence in patients (OR = 1.32; 95% CI = 0.93–1.87). To assess whether additional rare variants have an effect on MS risk, we sequenced PLG in 293 probands, and genotyped all rare variants in cases and controls. This analysis identified nine rare missense variants, and although three of them were exclusively observed in MS patients, segregation does not support pathogenicity. PLG is a plausible biological candidate for MS owing to its involvement in immune system response, blood-brain barrier permeability, and myelin degradation. Moreover, components of its activation cascade have been shown to present increased activity or expression in MS patients compared to controls; further studies are needed to clarify whether PLG is involved in MS susceptibility. PMID:27194806

Analysis of Plasminogen Genetic Variants in Multiple Sclerosis Patients

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A. Dessa Sadovnick

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Multiple sclerosis (MS is a prevalent neurological disease of complex etiology. Here, we describe the characterization of a multi-incident MS family that nominated a rare missense variant (p.G420D in plasminogen (PLG as a putative genetic risk factor for MS. Genotyping of PLG p.G420D (rs139071351 in 2160 MS patients, and 886 controls from Canada, identified 10 additional probands, two sporadic patients and one control with the variant. Segregation in families harboring the rs139071351 variant, identified p.G420D in 26 out of 30 family members diagnosed with MS, 14 unaffected parents, and 12 out of 30 family members not diagnosed with disease. Despite considerably reduced penetrance, linkage analysis supports cosegregation of PLG p.G420D and disease. Genotyping of PLG p.G420D in 14446 patients, and 8797 controls from Canada, France, Spain, Germany, Belgium, and Austria failed to identify significant association with disease (P = 0.117, despite an overall higher prevalence in patients (OR = 1.32; 95% CI = 0.93–1.87. To assess whether additional rare variants have an effect on MS risk, we sequenced PLG in 293 probands, and genotyped all rare variants in cases and controls. This analysis identified nine rare missense variants, and although three of them were exclusively observed in MS patients, segregation does not support pathogenicity. PLG is a plausible biological candidate for MS owing to its involvement in immune system response, blood-brain barrier permeability, and myelin degradation. Moreover, components of its activation cascade have been shown to present increased activity or expression in MS patients compared to controls; further studies are needed to clarify whether PLG is involved in MS susceptibility.

Rare copy number variants identified in prune belly syndrome.

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Boghossian, Nansi S; Sicko, Robert J; Giannakou, Andreas; Dimopoulos, Aggeliki; Caggana, Michele; Tsai, Michael Y; Yeung, Edwina H; Pankratz, Nathan; Cole, Benjamin R; Romitti, Paul A; Browne, Marilyn L; Fan, Ruzong; Liu, Aiyi; Kay, Denise M; Mills, James L

2018-03-01

Prune belly syndrome (PBS), also known as Eagle-Barrett syndrome, is a rare congenital disorder characterized by absence or hypoplasia of the abdominal wall musculature, urinary tract anomalies, and cryptorchidism in males. The etiology of PBS is largely unresolved, but genetic factors are implicated given its recurrence in families. We examined cases of PBS to identify novel pathogenic copy number variants (CNVs). A total of 34 cases (30 males and 4 females) with PBS identified from all live births in New York State (1998-2005) were genotyped using Illumina HumanOmni2.5 microarrays. CNVs were prioritized if they were absent from in-house controls, encompassed ≥10 consecutive probes, were ≥20 Kb in size, had ≤20% overlap with common variants in population reference controls, and had ≤20% overlap with any variant previously detected in other birth defect phenotypes screened in our laboratory. We identified 17 candidate autosomal CNVs; 10 cases each had one CNV and four cases each had two CNVs. The CNVs included a 158 Kb duplication at 4q22 that overlaps the BMPR1B gene; duplications of different sizes carried by two cases in the intron of STIM1 gene; a 67 Kb duplication 202 Kb downstream of the NOG gene, and a 1.34 Mb deletion including the MYOCD gene. The identified rare CNVs spanned genes involved in mesodermal, muscle, and urinary tract development and differentiation, which might help in elucidating the genetic contribution to PBS. We did not have parental DNA and cannot identify whether these CNVs were de novo or inherited. Further research on these CNVs, particularly BMP signaling is warranted to elucidate the pathogenesis of PBS. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Rare variants in the neurotrophin signaling pathway implicated in schizophrenia risk.

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Kranz, Thorsten M; Goetz, Ray R; Walsh-Messinger, Julie; Goetz, Deborah; Antonius, Daniel; Dolgalev, Igor; Heguy, Adriana; Seandel, Marco; Malaspina, Dolores; Chao, Moses V

2015-10-01

Multiple lines of evidence corroborate impaired signaling pathways as relevant to the underpinnings of schizophrenia. There has been an interest in neurotrophins, since they are crucial mediators of neurodevelopment and in synaptic connectivity in the adult brain. Neurotrophins and their receptors demonstrate aberrant expression patterns in cortical areas for schizophrenia cases in comparison to control subjects. There is little known about the contribution of neurotrophin genes in psychiatric disorders. To begin to address this issue, we conducted high-coverage targeted exome capture in a subset of neurotrophin genes in 48 comprehensively characterized cases with schizophrenia-related psychosis. We herein report rare missense polymorphisms and novel missense mutations in neurotrophin receptor signaling pathway genes. Furthermore, we observed that several genes have a higher propensity to harbor missense coding variants than others. Based on this initial analysis we suggest that rare variants and missense mutations in neurotrophin genes might represent genetic contributions involved across psychiatric disorders. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Novel genetic variants in miR-191 gene and familial ovarian cancer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shen, Jie; DiCioccio, Richard; Odunsi, Kunle; Lele, Shashikant B; Zhao, Hua

2010-01-01

Half of the familial aggregation of ovarian cancer can't be explained by any known risk genes, suggesting the existence of other genetic risk factors. Some of these unknown factors may not be traditional protein encoding genes. MicroRNA (miRNA) plays a critical role in tumorigenesis, but it is still unknown if variants in miRNA genes lead to predisposition to cancer. Considering the fact that miRNA regulates a number of tumor suppressor genes (TSGs) and oncogenes, genetic variations in miRNA genes could affect the levels of expression of TSGs or oncogenes and, thereby, cancer risk. To test this hypothesis in familial ovarian cancer, we screened for genetic variants in thirty selected miRNA genes, which are predicted to regulate key ovarian cancer genes and are reported to be misexpressed in ovarian tumor tissues, in eighty-three patients with familial ovarian cancer. All of the patients are non-carriers of any known BRCA1/2 or mismatch repair (MMR) gene mutations. Seven novel genetic variants were observed in four primary or precursor miRNA genes. Among them, three rare variants were found in the precursor or primary precursor of the miR-191 gene. In functional assays, the one variant located in the precursor of miR-191 resulted in conformational changes in the predicted secondary structures, and consequently altered the expression of mature miR-191. In further analysis, we found that this particular variant exists in five family members who had ovarian cancer. Our findings suggest that there are novel genetic variants in miRNA genes, and those certain genetic variants in miRNA genes can affect the expression of mature miRNAs and, consequently, might alter the regulation of TSGs or oncogenes. Additionally, the variant might be potentially associated with the development of familial ovarian cancer

Linking genetic variants of the mineralocorticoid receptor and negative memory bias: Interaction with prior life adversity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vogel, S.; Gerritsen, L.; Oostrom, I.I.H. van; Arias Vasquez, A.; Rijpkema, M.J.P.; Joels, M.; Franke, B.; Tendolkar, I.; Fernandez, G.S.E.

2014-01-01

Substantial research has been conducted investigating the association between life adversity and genetic vulnerability for depression, but clear mechanistic links are rarely identified and investigation often focused on single genetic variants. Complex phenotypes like depression, however, are likely

Illustrating, Quantifying, and Correcting for Bias in Post-hoc Analysis of Gene-Based Rare Variant Tests of Association

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Grinde, Kelsey E.; Arbet, Jaron; Green, Alden; O'Connell, Michael; Valcarcel, Alessandra; Westra, Jason; Tintle, Nathan

2017-01-01

To date, gene-based rare variant testing approaches have focused on aggregating information across sets of variants to maximize statistical power in identifying genes showing significant association with diseases. Beyond identifying genes that are associated with diseases, the identification of causal variant(s) in those genes and estimation of their effect is crucial for planning replication studies and characterizing the genetic architecture of the locus. However, we illustrate that straightforward single-marker association statistics can suffer from substantial bias introduced by conditioning on gene-based test significance, due to the phenomenon often referred to as “winner's curse.” We illustrate the ramifications of this bias on variant effect size estimation and variant prioritization/ranking approaches, outline parameters of genetic architecture that affect this bias, and propose a bootstrap resampling method to correct for this bias. We find that our correction method significantly reduces the bias due to winner's curse (average two-fold decrease in bias, p bias and improve inference in post-hoc analysis of gene-based tests under a wide variety of genetic architectures. PMID:28959274

Two novel rare variants of APOA5 gene found in subjects with severe hypertriglyceridemia.

Science.gov (United States)

Pisciotta, Livia; Fresa, Raffaele; Bellocchio, Antonella; Guido, Virgilia; Priore Oliva, Claudio; Calandra, Sebastiano; Bertolini, Stefano

2011-11-20

Common variants of APOA5 gene affect plasma triglyceride (TG) in the population and a number of rare variants APOA5 have been reported in individuals with hypertriglyceridemia (HTG). APOA5 was analysed in 98 HTG individuals (plasma TG >9 mmol/L) in whom no mutations in LPL and APOC2 had been found. Two patients were found to be heterozygous for two novel APOA5 variants. The first variant (p.L253P) was identified in an obese male who consumed a diet rich in fat and simple sugars. He was also a carrier in trans of the common TG-raising p.S19W SNP (5*3 haplotype). The second variant (c.295-297 del GAG, p.E99 del) was found in a lean male with no life style or metabolic factors known to affect plasma TG. He was a carrier in trans of the TG-raising 5*2 haplotype and was homozygous for the rare c.1337T allele of a SNP of GCKR gene. No mutations in other genes affecting plasma TG (LMF1 and GPIHBP1) were found in these patients. These APOA5 variants, resulted to be deleterious in silico, were not found in 350 control subjects. These novel APOA5 variants predispose to HTG in combination with other genetic or nutritional factors. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Rare Coding Variants in ANGPTL6 Are Associated with Familial Forms of Intracranial Aneurysm.

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Bourcier, Romain; Le Scouarnec, Solena; Bonnaud, Stéphanie; Karakachoff, Matilde; Bourcereau, Emmanuelle; Heurtebise-Chrétien, Sandrine; Menguy, Céline; Dina, Christian; Simonet, Floriane; Moles, Alexis; Lenoble, Cédric; Lindenbaum, Pierre; Chatel, Stéphanie; Isidor, Bertrand; Génin, Emmanuelle; Deleuze, Jean-François; Schott, Jean-Jacques; Le Marec, Hervé; Loirand, Gervaise; Desal, Hubert; Redon, Richard

2018-01-04

Intracranial aneurysms (IAs) are acquired cerebrovascular abnormalities characterized by localized dilation and wall thinning in intracranial arteries, possibly leading to subarachnoid hemorrhage and severe outcome in case of rupture. Here, we identified one rare nonsense variant (c.1378A>T) in the last exon of ANGPTL6 (Angiopoietin-Like 6)-which encodes a circulating pro-angiogenic factor mainly secreted from the liver-shared by the four tested affected members of a large pedigree with multiple IA-affected case subjects. We showed a 50% reduction of ANGPTL6 serum concentration in individuals heterozygous for the c.1378A>T allele (p.Lys460Ter) compared to relatives homozygous for the normal allele, probably due to the non-secretion of the truncated protein produced by the c.1378A>T transcripts. Sequencing ANGPTL6 in a series of 94 additional index case subjects with familial IA identified three other rare coding variants in five case subjects. Overall, we detected a significant enrichment (p = 0.023) in rare coding variants within this gene among the 95 index case subjects with familial IA, compared to a reference population of 404 individuals with French ancestry. Among the 6 recruited families, 12 out of 13 (92%) individuals carrying IA also carry such variants in ANGPTL6, versus 15 out of 41 (37%) unaffected ones. We observed a higher rate of individuals with a history of high blood pressure among affected versus healthy individuals carrying ANGPTL6 variants, suggesting that ANGPTL6 could trigger cerebrovascular lesions when combined with other risk factors such as hypertension. Altogether, our results indicate that rare coding variants in ANGPTL6 are causally related to familial forms of IA. Copyright © 2017 American Society of Human Genetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

International Cooperation to Enable the Diagnosis of All Rare Genetic Diseases.

Science.gov (United States)

Boycott, Kym M; Rath, Ana; Chong, Jessica X; Hartley, Taila; Alkuraya, Fowzan S; Baynam, Gareth; Brookes, Anthony J; Brudno, Michael; Carracedo, Angel; den Dunnen, Johan T; Dyke, Stephanie O M; Estivill, Xavier; Goldblatt, Jack; Gonthier, Catherine; Groft, Stephen C; Gut, Ivo; Hamosh, Ada; Hieter, Philip; Höhn, Sophie; Hurles, Matthew E; Kaufmann, Petra; Knoppers, Bartha M; Krischer, Jeffrey P; Macek, Milan; Matthijs, Gert; Olry, Annie; Parker, Samantha; Paschall, Justin; Philippakis, Anthony A; Rehm, Heidi L; Robinson, Peter N; Sham, Pak-Chung; Stefanov, Rumen; Taruscio, Domenica; Unni, Divya; Vanstone, Megan R; Zhang, Feng; Brunner, Han; Bamshad, Michael J; Lochmüller, Hanns

2017-05-04

Provision of a molecularly confirmed diagnosis in a timely manner for children and adults with rare genetic diseases shortens their "diagnostic odyssey," improves disease management, and fosters genetic counseling with respect to recurrence risks while assuring reproductive choices. In a general clinical genetics setting, the current diagnostic rate is approximately 50%, but for those who do not receive a molecular diagnosis after the initial genetics evaluation, that rate is much lower. Diagnostic success for these more challenging affected individuals depends to a large extent on progress in the discovery of genes associated with, and mechanisms underlying, rare diseases. Thus, continued research is required for moving toward a more complete catalog of disease-related genes and variants. The International Rare Diseases Research Consortium (IRDiRC) was established in 2011 to bring together researchers and organizations invested in rare disease research to develop a means of achieving molecular diagnosis for all rare diseases. Here, we review the current and future bottlenecks to gene discovery and suggest strategies for enabling progress in this regard. Each successful discovery will define potential diagnostic, preventive, and therapeutic opportunities for the corresponding rare disease, enabling precision medicine for this patient population. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The pathogenicity of genetic variants previously associated with left ventricular non-compaction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Abbasi, Yeganeh; Jabbari, Javad; Jabbari, Reza

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND: Left ventricular non-compaction (LVNC) is a rare cardiomyopathy. Many genetic variants have been associated with LVNC. However, the number of the previous LVNC-associated variants that are common in the background population remains unknown. The aim of this study was to provide...... an updated list of previously reported LVNC-associated variants with biologic description and investigate the prevalence of LVNC variants in healthy general population to find false-positive LVNC-associated variants. METHODS AND RESULTS: The Human Gene Mutation Database and PubMed were systematically...... searched to identify all previously reported LVNC-associated variants. Thereafter, the Exome Sequencing Project (ESP) and the Exome Aggregation Consortium (ExAC), that both represent the background population, was searched for all variants. Four in silico prediction tools were assessed to determine...

Analysis of rare variants in the CFH gene in patients with the cuticular drusen subtype of age-related macular degeneration

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Duvvari, M.R.; Saksens, N.T.M.; Ven, J.P.H. van de; Jong-Hesse, Y. de; Schick, T.; Nillesen, W.M.; Fauser, S.; Hoefsloot, L.H.; Hoyng, C.B.; Jong, E.K.; Hollander, A.I. den

2015-01-01

PURPOSE: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and cuticular drusen (CD), a clinical subtype of AMD, have been linked to genetic variants in the complement factor H (CFH) gene. In this study, we aimed to investigate the frequency of rare variants in the CFH gene in 180 cases with CD. In addition,

ABCA7 rare variants and Alzheimer disease risk.

Science.gov (United States)

Le Guennec, Kilan; Nicolas, Gaël; Quenez, Olivier; Charbonnier, Camille; Wallon, David; Bellenguez, Céline; Grenier-Boley, Benjamin; Rousseau, Stéphane; Richard, Anne-Claire; Rovelet-Lecrux, Anne; Bacq, Delphine; Garnier, Jean-Guillaume; Olaso, Robert; Boland, Anne; Meyer, Vincent; Deleuze, Jean-François; Amouyel, Philippe; Munter, Hans Markus; Bourque, Guillaume; Lathrop, Mark; Frebourg, Thierry; Redon, Richard; Letenneur, Luc; Dartigues, Jean-François; Pasquier, Florence; Rollin-Sillaire, Adeline; Génin, Emmanuelle; Lambert, Jean-Charles; Hannequin, Didier; Campion, Dominique

2016-06-07

To study the association between ABCA7 rare coding variants and Alzheimer disease (AD) in a case-control setting. We conducted a whole exome analysis among 484 French patients with early-onset AD and 590 ethnically matched controls. After collapsing rare variants (minor allele frequency ≤1%), we detected an enrichment of ABCA7 loss of function (LOF) and predicted damaging missense variants in cases (odds ratio [OR] 3.40, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.68-7.35, p = 0.0002). Performing a meta-analysis with previously published data, we found that in a combined sample of 1,256 patients and 1,347 controls from France and Belgium, the OR was 2.81 (95% CI 1.89-4.20, p = 3.60 × 10(-7)). These results confirm that ABCA7 LOF variants are enriched in patients with AD and extend this finding to predicted damaging missense variants. © 2016 American Academy of Neurology.

Perforating pilomatrixoma showing atypical presentation: A rare clinical variant

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nevra Seyhan

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Pilomatrixoma, also known as calcifying epithelioma of Malherbe, is a rare benign skin tumor arising from hair follicle stem cells. The most common localization is the head and neck region. Female/male ratio is 3/2. It shows deep subcutaneous placement and occurs in the first two decades of life. Its diameter ranges from 0.5 cm to 3 cm. Multiple lesions are rarely seen. Histopathologically it is characterized by basoloid and ghost cells. Perforating type is a rare clinical variant. Treatment is surgical excision. Our case is presented to draw attention to a rare clinical variant of pilomatrixioma.

New exome data question the pathogenicity of genetic variants previously associated with catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jabbari, Javad; Jabbari, Reza; Nielsen, Morten Wagner

2013-01-01

Catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT) is a lethal, rare hereditary disease with an estimated prevalence of 1:10 000. The genetic variants that cause CPVT are usually highly penetrant. To date, about 189 variants in 5 genes (RYR2, CASQ2, CALM1, TRND, and KCNJ2) have been...

Rare coding variants associated with blood pressure variation in 15 914 individuals of African ancestry.

Science.gov (United States)

Nandakumar, Priyanka; Lee, Dongwon; Richard, Melissa A; Tekola-Ayele, Fasil; Tayo, Bamidele O; Ware, Erin; Sung, Yun J; Salako, Babatunde; Ogunniyi, Adesola; Gu, C Charles; Grove, Megan L; Fornage, Myriam; Kardia, Sharon; Rotimi, Charles; Cooper, Richard S; Morrison, Alanna C; Ehret, Georg; Chakravarti, Aravinda

2017-07-01

Hypertension is a major risk factor for all cardiovascular diseases, especially among African Americans. This study focuses on identifying specific blood pressure (BP) genes using 15 914 individuals of African ancestry from eight cohorts (Africa America Diabetes Mellitus, Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study, Coronary Artery Risk Development in young Adults, Genetics Network, Genetic Epidemiology Network of Arteriopathy, Howard University Family Study, Hypertension Genetic Epidemiology Network, and Loyola University Chicago Cohort) to further genetic findings in this population which has generally been underrepresented in BP studies. We genotyped and performed various single variant and gene-based exome-wide analyses on 15 914 individuals on the Illumina HumanExome Beadchip v1.0 or v1.1 to test association with SBP and DBP long-term average residuals that were adjusted for age, age-squared, sex, and BMI. We identified rare variants affecting SBP and DBP in 10 genes: AFF1, GAPDHS, SLC28A3, COL6A1, CRYBA2, KRBA1, SEL1L3, YOD1, CCDC13, and QSOX1. Prior experimental evidence for six of these 10 candidate genes supports their involvement in cardiovascular mechanisms, corroborating their potential roles in BP regulation. Although our results require replication or validation due to their low numbers of carriers, and an ethnicity-specific genotyping array may be more informative, this study, which has identified several candidate genes in this population most susceptible to hypertension, presents one of the largest African-ancestry BP studies to date and the largest including analysis of rare variants.

Novel and ultra-rare damaging variants in neuropeptide signaling are associated with disordered eating behaviors.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael Lutter

Full Text Available Eating disorders develop through a combination of genetic vulnerability and environmental stress, however the genetic basis of this risk is unknown.To understand the genetic basis of this risk, we performed whole exome sequencing on 93 unrelated individuals with eating disorders (38 restricted-eating and 55 binge-eating to identify novel damaging variants. Candidate genes with an excessive burden of predicted damaging variants were then prioritized based upon an unbiased, data-driven bioinformatic analysis. One top candidate pathway was empirically tested for therapeutic potential in a mouse model of binge-like eating.An excessive burden of novel damaging variants was identified in 186 genes in the restricted-eating group and 245 genes in the binge-eating group. This list is significantly enriched (OR = 4.6, p<0.0001 for genes involved in neuropeptide/neurotrophic pathways implicated in appetite regulation, including neurotensin-, glucagon-like peptide 1- and BDNF-signaling. Administration of the glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist exendin-4 significantly reduced food intake in a mouse model of 'binge-like' eating.These findings implicate ultra-rare and novel damaging variants in neuropeptide/neurotropic factor signaling pathways in the development of eating disorder behaviors and identify glucagon-like peptide 1-receptor agonists as a potential treatment for binge eating.

Deep sequencing of atrial fibrillation patients with mitral valve regurgitation shows no evidence of mosaicism but reveals novel rare germline variants

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gregers, Emilie; Ahlberg, Gustav; Christensen, Thea

2017-01-01

the HaloPlex Target Enrichment System. MuTect software was used for identification of somatic point variants. We functionally characterized selected variants using electrophysiologic techniques. RESULTS: No somatic variants were identified in the cardiac tissue. Thirty-three patients (75%) had a rare...... patient population undergoing surgery for mitral valve regurgitation (MVR) to determine whether these patients are genetically predisposed to AF. METHODS: DNA was extracted from blood and left atrial tissue from 44 AF patients with MVR. Using next-generation sequencing, we investigated 110 genes using...... germline variation in ≥1 candidate genes. Fourteen variants were novel. Fifteen variants were predicted damaging or likely damaging in ≥6 in silico predictions. We identified rare variants in genes never directly associated with AF: KCNE4, SCN4B, NEURL1, and CAND2. Interestingly, 7 patients (16%) had...

The quest for rare variants: pooled multiplexed next generation sequencing in plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Marroni, Fabio; Pinosio, Sara; Morgante, Michele

2012-01-01

Next generation sequencing (NGS) instruments produce an unprecedented amount of sequence data at contained costs. This gives researchers the possibility of designing studies with adequate power to identify rare variants at a fraction of the economic and labor resources required by individual Sanger sequencing. As of today, few research groups working in plant sciences have exploited this potentiality, showing that pooled NGS provides results in excellent agreement with those obtained by individual Sanger sequencing. The aim of this review is to convey to the reader the general ideas underlying the use of pooled NGS for the identification of rare variants. To facilitate a thorough understanding of the possibilities of the method, we will explain in detail the possible experimental and analytical approaches and discuss their advantages and disadvantages. We will show that information on allele frequency obtained by pooled NGS can be used to accurately compute basic population genetics indexes such as allele frequency, nucleotide diversity, and Tajima's D. Finally, we will discuss applications and future perspectives of the multiplexed NGS approach.

The Quest for Rare Variants: Pooled Multiplexed Next Generation Sequencing in Plants

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fabio eMarroni

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Next generation sequencing (NGS instruments produce an unprecedented amount of sequence data at contained costs. This gives researchers the possibility of designing studies with adequate power to identify rare variants at a fraction of the economic and labor resources required by individual Sanger sequencing. As of today, only three research groups working in plant sciences have exploited this potentiality. They showed that pooled NGS can provide results in excellent agreement with those obtained by individual Sanger sequencing. Aim of this review is to convey to the reader the general ideas underlying the use of pooled NGS for the identification of rare variants. To facilitate a thorough understanding of the possibilities of the method we will explain in detail the variations in study design and discuss their advantages and disadvantages. We will show that information on allele frequency obtained by pooled next generation sequencing can be used to accurately compute basic population genetics indexes such as allele frequency, nucleotide diversity and Tajima’s D. Finally we will discuss applications and future perspectives of the multiplexed NGS approach.

Iron overload in HFE C282Y heterozygotes at first genetic testing: a strategy for identifying rare HFE variants.

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Aguilar-Martinez, Patricia; Grandchamp, Bernard; Cunat, Séverine; Cadet, Estelle; Blanc, François; Nourrit, Marlène; Lassoued, Kaiss; Schved, Jean-François; Rochette, Jacques

2011-04-01

Heterozygotes for the p.Cys282Tyr (C282Y) mutation of the HFE gene do not usually express a hemochromatosis phenotype. Apart from the compound heterozygous state for C282Y and the widespread p.His63Asp (H63D) variant allele, other rare HFE mutations can be found in trans on chromosome 6. We performed molecular investigation of the genes implicated in hereditary hemochromatosis in six patients who presented with iron overload but were simple heterozygotes for the HFE C282Y mutation at first genetic testing. Functional impairment of new variants was deduced from computational methods including molecular modeling studies. We identified four rare HFE mutant alleles, three of which have not been previously described. One mutation is a 13-nucleotide deletion in exon 6 (c.1022_1034del13, p.His341_Ala345 > LeufsX119), which is predicted to lead to an elongated and unstable protein. The second one is a substitution of the last nucleotide of exon 2 (c.340G > A, p.Glu114Lys) which modifies the relative solvent accessibility in a loop interface. The third mutation, p.Arg67Cys, also lies in exon 2 and introduces a destabilization of the secondary structure within a loop of the α1 domain. We also found the previously reported c.548T > C (p.Leu183Pro) missense mutation in exon 3. No other known iron genes were mutated. We present an algorithm at the clinical and genetic levels for identifying patients deserving further investigation. Conclusions Our results suggest that additional mutations in HFE may have a clinical impact in C282Y carriers. In conjunction with results from previously described cases we conclude that an elevated transferrin saturation level and elevated hepatic iron index should indicate the utility of searching for further HFE mutations in C282Y heterozygotes prior to other iron gene studies.

Whole-exome sequencing reveals genetic variants associated with chronic kidney disease characterized by tubulointerstitial damages in North Central Region, Sri Lanka.

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Nanayakkara, Shanika; Senevirathna, S T M L D; Parahitiyawa, Nipuna B; Abeysekera, Tilak; Chandrajith, Rohana; Ratnatunga, Neelakanthi; Hitomi, Toshiaki; Kobayashi, Hatasu; Harada, Kouji H; Koizumi, Akio

2015-09-01

The familial clustering observed in chronic kidney disease of uncertain etiology (CKDu) characterized by tubulointerstitial damages in the North Central Region of Sri Lanka strongly suggests the involvement of genetic factors in its pathogenesis. The objective of the present study is to use whole-exome sequencing to identify the genetic variants associated with CKDu. Whole-exome sequencing of eight CKDu cases and eight controls was performed, followed by direct sequencing of candidate loci in 301 CKDu cases and 276 controls. Association study revealed rs34970857 (c.658G > A/p.V220M) located in the KCNA10 gene encoding a voltage-gated K channel as the most promising SNP with the highest odds ratio of 1.74. Four rare variants were identified in gene encoding Laminin beta2 (LAMB2) which is known to cause congenital nephrotic syndrome. Three out of four variants in LAMB2 were novel variants found exclusively in cases. Genetic investigations provide strong evidence on the presence of genetic susceptibility for CKDu. Possibility of presence of several rare variants associated with CKDu in this population is also suggested.

Integrating common and rare genetic variation in diverse human populations.

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Altshuler, David M; Gibbs, Richard A; Peltonen, Leena; Altshuler, David M; Gibbs, Richard A; Peltonen, Leena; Dermitzakis, Emmanouil; Schaffner, Stephen F; Yu, Fuli; Peltonen, Leena; Dermitzakis, Emmanouil; Bonnen, Penelope E; Altshuler, David M; Gibbs, Richard A; de Bakker, Paul I W; Deloukas, Panos; Gabriel, Stacey B; Gwilliam, Rhian; Hunt, Sarah; Inouye, Michael; Jia, Xiaoming; Palotie, Aarno; Parkin, Melissa; Whittaker, Pamela; Yu, Fuli; Chang, Kyle; Hawes, Alicia; Lewis, Lora R; Ren, Yanru; Wheeler, David; Gibbs, Richard A; Muzny, Donna Marie; Barnes, Chris; Darvishi, Katayoon; Hurles, Matthew; Korn, Joshua M; Kristiansson, Kati; Lee, Charles; McCarrol, Steven A; Nemesh, James; Dermitzakis, Emmanouil; Keinan, Alon; Montgomery, Stephen B; Pollack, Samuela; Price, Alkes L; Soranzo, Nicole; Bonnen, Penelope E; Gibbs, Richard A; Gonzaga-Jauregui, Claudia; Keinan, Alon; Price, Alkes L; Yu, Fuli; Anttila, Verneri; Brodeur, Wendy; Daly, Mark J; Leslie, Stephen; McVean, Gil; Moutsianas, Loukas; Nguyen, Huy; Schaffner, Stephen F; Zhang, Qingrun; Ghori, Mohammed J R; McGinnis, Ralph; McLaren, William; Pollack, Samuela; Price, Alkes L; Schaffner, Stephen F; Takeuchi, Fumihiko; Grossman, Sharon R; Shlyakhter, Ilya; Hostetter, Elizabeth B; Sabeti, Pardis C; Adebamowo, Clement A; Foster, Morris W; Gordon, Deborah R; Licinio, Julio; Manca, Maria Cristina; Marshall, Patricia A; Matsuda, Ichiro; Ngare, Duncan; Wang, Vivian Ota; Reddy, Deepa; Rotimi, Charles N; Royal, Charmaine D; Sharp, Richard R; Zeng, Changqing; Brooks, Lisa D; McEwen, Jean E

2010-09-02

Despite great progress in identifying genetic variants that influence human disease, most inherited risk remains unexplained. A more complete understanding requires genome-wide studies that fully examine less common alleles in populations with a wide range of ancestry. To inform the design and interpretation of such studies, we genotyped 1.6 million common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 1,184 reference individuals from 11 global populations, and sequenced ten 100-kilobase regions in 692 of these individuals. This integrated data set of common and rare alleles, called 'HapMap 3', includes both SNPs and copy number polymorphisms (CNPs). We characterized population-specific differences among low-frequency variants, measured the improvement in imputation accuracy afforded by the larger reference panel, especially in imputing SNPs with a minor allele frequency of variants in global populations supports deeper interrogation of genomic variation and its role in human disease, and serves as a step towards a high-resolution map of the landscape of human genetic variation.

Frequency of rare mutations and common genetic variations in severe hypertriglyceridemia in the general population of Spain.

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Lamiquiz-Moneo, Itziar; Blanco-Torrecilla, Cristian; Bea, Ana M; Mateo-Gallego, Rocío; Pérez-Calahorra, Sofía; Baila-Rueda, Lucía; Cenarro, Ana; Civeira, Fernando; de Castro-Orós, Isabel

2016-04-23

Hypertriglyceridemia (HTG) is a common complex metabolic trait that results of the accumulation of relatively common genetic variants in combination with other modifier genes and environmental factors resulting in increased plasma triglyceride (TG) levels. The majority of severe primary hypertriglyceridemias is diagnosed in adulthood and their molecular bases have not been fully defined yet. The prevalence of HTG is highly variable among populations, possibly caused by differences in environmental factors and genetic background. However, the prevalence of very high TG and the frequency of rare mutations causing HTG in a whole non-selected population have not been previously studied. The total of 23,310 subjects over 18 years from a primary care-district in a middle-class area of Zaragoza (Spain) with TG >500 mg/dL were selected to establish HTG prevalence. Those affected of primary HTG were considered for further genetic analysis. The promoters, coding regions and exon-intron boundaries of LPL, LMF1, APOC2, APOA5, APOE and GPIHBP1 genes were sequenced. The frequency of rare variants identified was studied in 90 controls. One hundred ninety-four subjects (1.04%) had HTG and 90 subjects (46.4%) met the inclusion criteria for primary HTG. In this subgroup, nine patients (12.3%) were carriers of 7 rare variants in LPL, LMF1, APOA5, GPIHBP1 or APOE genes. Three of these mutations are described for the first time in this work. The presence of a rare pathogenic mutation did not confer a differential phenotype or a higher family history of HTG. The prevalence of rare mutations in candidate genes in subjects with primary HTG is low. The low frequency of rare mutations, the absence of a more severe phenotype or the dominant transmission of the HTG would not suggest the use of genetic analysis in the clinical practice in this population.

Functional significance of rare neuroligin 1 variants found in autism.

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Moe Nakanishi

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Genetic mutations contribute to the etiology of autism spectrum disorder (ASD, a common, heterogeneous neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impairments in social interaction, communication, and repetitive and restricted patterns of behavior. Since neuroligin3 (NLGN3, a cell adhesion molecule at the neuronal synapse, was first identified as a risk gene for ASD, several additional variants in NLGN3 and NLGN4 were found in ASD patients. Moreover, synaptopathies are now known to cause several neuropsychiatric disorders including ASD. In humans, NLGNs consist of five family members, and neuroligin1 (NLGN1 is a major component forming a complex on excitatory glutamatergic synapses. However, the significance of NLGN1 in neuropsychiatric disorders remains unknown. Here, we systematically examine five missense variants of NLGN1 that were detected in ASD patients, and show molecular and cellular alterations caused by these variants. We show that a novel NLGN1 Pro89Leu (P89L missense variant found in two ASD siblings leads to changes in cellular localization, protein degradation, and to the impairment of spine formation. Furthermore, we generated the knock-in P89L mice, and we show that the P89L heterozygote mice display abnormal social behavior, a core feature of ASD. These results, for the first time, implicate rare variants in NLGN1 as functionally significant and support that the NLGN synaptic pathway is of importance in the etiology of neuropsychiatric disorders.

gsSKAT: Rapid gene set analysis and multiple testing correction for rare-variant association studies using weighted linear kernels.

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Larson, Nicholas B; McDonnell, Shannon; Cannon Albright, Lisa; Teerlink, Craig; Stanford, Janet; Ostrander, Elaine A; Isaacs, William B; Xu, Jianfeng; Cooney, Kathleen A; Lange, Ethan; Schleutker, Johanna; Carpten, John D; Powell, Isaac; Bailey-Wilson, Joan E; Cussenot, Olivier; Cancel-Tassin, Geraldine; Giles, Graham G; MacInnis, Robert J; Maier, Christiane; Whittemore, Alice S; Hsieh, Chih-Lin; Wiklund, Fredrik; Catalona, William J; Foulkes, William; Mandal, Diptasri; Eeles, Rosalind; Kote-Jarai, Zsofia; Ackerman, Michael J; Olson, Timothy M; Klein, Christopher J; Thibodeau, Stephen N; Schaid, Daniel J

2017-05-01

Next-generation sequencing technologies have afforded unprecedented characterization of low-frequency and rare genetic variation. Due to low power for single-variant testing, aggregative methods are commonly used to combine observed rare variation within a single gene. Causal variation may also aggregate across multiple genes within relevant biomolecular pathways. Kernel-machine regression and adaptive testing methods for aggregative rare-variant association testing have been demonstrated to be powerful approaches for pathway-level analysis, although these methods tend to be computationally intensive at high-variant dimensionality and require access to complete data. An additional analytical issue in scans of large pathway definition sets is multiple testing correction. Gene set definitions may exhibit substantial genic overlap, and the impact of the resultant correlation in test statistics on Type I error rate control for large agnostic gene set scans has not been fully explored. Herein, we first outline a statistical strategy for aggregative rare-variant analysis using component gene-level linear kernel score test summary statistics as well as derive simple estimators of the effective number of tests for family-wise error rate control. We then conduct extensive simulation studies to characterize the behavior of our approach relative to direct application of kernel and adaptive methods under a variety of conditions. We also apply our method to two case-control studies, respectively, evaluating rare variation in hereditary prostate cancer and schizophrenia. Finally, we provide open-source R code for public use to facilitate easy application of our methods to existing rare-variant analysis results. © 2017 WILEY PERIODICALS, INC.

Association between Rare Variants in AP4E1, a Component of Intracellular Trafficking, and Persistent Stuttering.

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Raza, M Hashim; Mattera, Rafael; Morell, Robert; Sainz, Eduardo; Rahn, Rachel; Gutierrez, Joanne; Paris, Emily; Root, Jessica; Solomon, Beth; Brewer, Carmen; Basra, M Asim Raza; Khan, Shaheen; Riazuddin, Sheikh; Braun, Allen; Bonifacino, Juan S; Drayna, Dennis

2015-11-05

Stuttering is a common, highly heritable neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by deficits in the volitional control of speech. Whole-exome sequencing identified two heterozygous AP4E1 coding variants, c.1549G>A (p.Val517Ile) and c.2401G>A (p.Glu801Lys), that co-segregate with persistent developmental stuttering in a large Cameroonian family, and we observed the same two variants in unrelated Cameroonians with persistent stuttering. We found 23 other rare variants, including predicted loss-of-function variants, in AP4E1 in unrelated stuttering individuals in Cameroon, Pakistan, and North America. The rate of rare variants in AP4E1 was significantly higher in unrelated Pakistani and Cameroonian stuttering individuals than in population-matched control individuals, and coding variants in this gene are exceptionally rare in the general sub-Saharan West African, South Asian, and North American populations. Clinical examination of the Cameroonian family members failed to identify any symptoms previously reported in rare individuals carrying homozygous loss-of-function mutations in this gene. AP4E1 encodes the ε subunit of the heterotetrameric (ε-β4-μ4-σ4) AP-4 complex, involved in protein sorting at the trans-Golgi network. We found that the μ4 subunit of AP-4 interacts with NAGPA, an enzyme involved in the synthesis of the mannose 6-phosphate signal that targets acid hydrolases to the lysosome and the product of a gene previously associated with stuttering. These findings implicate deficits in intracellular trafficking in persistent stuttering. Copyright © 2015 The American Society of Human Genetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Contribution of Rare Copy Number Variants to Isolated Human Malformations

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Serra-Juhé, Clara; Rodríguez-Santiago, Benjamín; Cuscó, Ivon; Vendrell, Teresa; Camats, Núria; Torán, Núria; Pérez-Jurado, Luis A.

2012-01-01

Background Congenital malformations are present in approximately 2–3% of liveborn babies and 20% of stillborn fetuses. The mechanisms underlying the majority of sporadic and isolated congenital malformations are poorly understood, although it is hypothesized that the accumulation of rare genetic, genomic and epigenetic variants converge to deregulate developmental networks. Methodology/Principal Findings We selected samples from 95 fetuses with congenital malformations not ascribed to a specific syndrome (68 with isolated malformations, 27 with multiple malformations). Karyotyping and Multiplex Ligation-dependent Probe Amplification (MLPA) discarded recurrent genomic and cytogenetic rearrangements. DNA extracted from the affected tissue (46%) or from lung or liver (54%) was analyzed by molecular karyotyping. Validations and inheritance were obtained by MLPA. We identified 22 rare copy number variants (CNV) [>100 kb, either absent (n = 7) or very uncommon (n = 15, malformations (21%), including 11 deletions and 11 duplications. One of the 9 tested rearrangements was de novo while the remaining were inherited from a healthy parent. The highest frequency was observed in fetuses with heart hypoplasia (8/17, 62.5%), with two events previously related with the phenotype. Double events hitting candidate genes were detected in two samples with brain malformations. Globally, the burden of deletions was significantly higher in fetuses with malformations compared to controls. Conclusions/Significance Our data reveal a significant contribution of rare deletion-type CNV, mostly inherited but also de novo, to human congenital malformations, especially heart hypoplasia, and reinforce the hypothesis of a multifactorial etiology in most cases. PMID:23056206

Combinations of Genetic Variants Occurring Exclusively in Patients

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Erling Mellerup

Full Text Available In studies of polygenic disorders, scanning the genetic variants can be used to identify variant combinations. Combinations that are exclusively found in patients can be separated from those combinations occurring in control persons. Statistical analyses can be performed to determine whether the combinations that occur exclusively among patients are significantly associated with the investigated disorder. This research strategy has been applied in materials from various polygenic disorders, identifying clusters of patient-specific genetic variant combinations that are significant associated with the investigated disorders. Combinations from these clusters are found in the genomes of up to 55% of investigated patients, and are not present in the genomes of any control persons. Keywords: Genetic variants, Polygenic disorder, Combinations of genetic variants, Patient-specific combinations

Application of rare variant transmission disequilibrium tests to epileptic encephalopathy trio sequence data

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

2017-01-01

The classic epileptic encephalopathies, including infantile spasms (IS) and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS), are severe seizure disorders that usually arise sporadically. De novo variants in genes mainly encoding ion channel and synaptic proteins have been found to account for over 15% of patients...... with IS or LGS. The contribution of autosomal recessive genetic variation, however, is less well understood. We implemented a rare variant transmission disequilibrium test (TDT) to search for autosomal recessive epileptic encephalopathy genes in a cohort of 320 outbred patient-parent trios that were generally...... not find evidence of a role for individual autosomal recessive genes, our current sample is insufficiently powered to assess the overall role of autosomal recessive genotypes in an outbred epileptic encephalopathy population....

Efficient utilization of rare variants for detection of disease-related genomic regions.

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Lei Zhang

2010-12-01

Full Text Available When testing association between rare variants and diseases, an efficient analytical approach involves considering a set of variants in a genomic region as the unit of analysis. One factor complicating this approach is that the vast majority of rare variants in practical applications are believed to represent background neutral variation. As a result, analyzing a single set with all variants may not represent a powerful approach. Here, we propose two alternative strategies. In the first, we analyze the subsets of rare variants exhaustively. In the second, we categorize variants selectively into two subsets: one in which variants are overrepresented in cases, and the other in which variants are overrepresented in controls. When the proportion of neutral variants is moderate to large we show, by simulations, that the both proposed strategies improve the statistical power over methods analyzing a single set with total variants. When applied to a real sequencing association study, the proposed methods consistently produce smaller p-values than their competitors. When applied to another real sequencing dataset to study the difference of rare allele distributions between ethnic populations, the proposed methods detect the overrepresentation of variants between the CHB (Chinese Han in Beijing and YRI (Yoruba people of Ibadan populations with small p-values. Additional analyses suggest that there is no difference between the CHB and CHD (Chinese Han in Denver datasets, as expected. Finally, when applied to the CHB and JPT (Japanese people in Tokyo populations, existing methods fail to detect any difference, while it is detected by the proposed methods in several regions.

Illustrating, Quantifying, and Correcting for Bias in Post-hoc Analysis of Gene-Based Rare Variant Tests of Association

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Kelsey E. Grinde

2017-09-01

Full Text Available To date, gene-based rare variant testing approaches have focused on aggregating information across sets of variants to maximize statistical power in identifying genes showing significant association with diseases. Beyond identifying genes that are associated with diseases, the identification of causal variant(s in those genes and estimation of their effect is crucial for planning replication studies and characterizing the genetic architecture of the locus. However, we illustrate that straightforward single-marker association statistics can suffer from substantial bias introduced by conditioning on gene-based test significance, due to the phenomenon often referred to as “winner's curse.” We illustrate the ramifications of this bias on variant effect size estimation and variant prioritization/ranking approaches, outline parameters of genetic architecture that affect this bias, and propose a bootstrap resampling method to correct for this bias. We find that our correction method significantly reduces the bias due to winner's curse (average two-fold decrease in bias, p < 2.2 × 10−6 and, consequently, substantially improves mean squared error and variant prioritization/ranking. The method is particularly helpful in adjustment for winner's curse effects when the initial gene-based test has low power and for relatively more common, non-causal variants. Adjustment for winner's curse is recommended for all post-hoc estimation and ranking of variants after a gene-based test. Further work is necessary to continue seeking ways to reduce bias and improve inference in post-hoc analysis of gene-based tests under a wide variety of genetic architectures.

VaRank: a simple and powerful tool for ranking genetic variants

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Véronique Geoffroy

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Background. Most genetic disorders are caused by single nucleotide variations (SNVs or small insertion/deletions (indels. High throughput sequencing has broadened the catalogue of human variation, including common polymorphisms, rare variations or disease causing mutations. However, identifying one variation among hundreds or thousands of others is still a complex task for biologists, geneticists and clinicians.Results. We have developed VaRank, a command-line tool for the ranking of genetic variants detected by high-throughput sequencing. VaRank scores and prioritizes variants annotated either by Alamut Batch or SnpEff. A barcode allows users to quickly view the presence/absence of variants (with homozygote/heterozygote status in analyzed samples. VaRank supports the commonly used VCF input format for variants analysis thus allowing it to be easily integrated into NGS bioinformatics analysis pipelines. VaRank has been successfully applied to disease-gene identification as well as to molecular diagnostics setup for several hundred patients.Conclusions. VaRank is implemented in Tcl/Tk, a scripting language which is platform-independent but has been tested only on Unix environment. The source code is available under the GNU GPL, and together with sample data and detailed documentation can be downloaded from http://www.lbgi.fr/VaRank/.

Rare ADAR and RNASEH2B variants and a type I interferon signature in glioma and prostate carcinoma risk and tumorigenesis.

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Beyer, Ulrike; Brand, Frank; Martens, Helge; Weder, Julia; Christians, Arne; Elyan, Natalie; Hentschel, Bettina; Westphal, Manfred; Schackert, Gabriele; Pietsch, Torsten; Hong, Bujung; Krauss, Joachim K; Samii, Amir; Raab, Peter; Das, Anibh; Dumitru, Claudia A; Sandalcioglu, I Erol; Hakenberg, Oliver W; Erbersdobler, Andreas; Lehmann, Ulrich; Reifenberger, Guido; Weller, Michael; Reijns, Martin A M; Preller, Matthias; Wiese, Bettina; Hartmann, Christian; Weber, Ruthild G

2017-12-01

In search of novel germline alterations predisposing to tumors, in particular to gliomas, we studied a family with two brothers affected by anaplastic gliomas, and their father and paternal great-uncle diagnosed with prostate carcinoma. In this family, whole-exome sequencing yielded rare, simultaneously heterozygous variants in the Aicardi-Goutières syndrome (AGS) genes ADAR and RNASEH2B co-segregating with the tumor phenotype. AGS is a genetically induced inflammatory disease particularly of the brain, which has not been associated with a consistently increased cancer risk to date. By targeted sequencing, we identified novel ADAR and RNASEH2B variants, and a 3- to 17-fold frequency increase of the AGS mutations ADAR,c.577C>G;p.(P193A) and RNASEH2B,c.529G>A;p.(A177T) in the germline of familial glioma patients as well as in test and validation cohorts of glioblastomas and prostate carcinomas versus ethnicity-matched controls, whereby rare RNASEH2B variants were significantly more frequent in familial glioma patients. Tumors with ADAR or RNASEH2B variants recapitulated features of AGS, such as calcification and increased type I interferon expression. Patients carrying ADAR or RNASEH2B variants showed upregulation of interferon-stimulated gene (ISG) transcripts in peripheral blood as seen in AGS. An increased ISG expression was also induced by ADAR and RNASEH2B variants in tumor cells and was blocked by the JAK inhibitor Ruxolitinib. Our data implicate rare variants in the AGS genes ADAR and RNASEH2B and a type I interferon signature in glioma and prostate carcinoma risk and tumorigenesis, consistent with a genetic basis underlying inflammation-driven malignant transformation in glioma and prostate carcinoma development.

Fine-mapping the HOXB region detects common variants tagging a rare coding allele: evidence for synthetic association in prostate cancer.

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Edward J Saunders

2014-02-01

Full Text Available The HOXB13 gene has been implicated in prostate cancer (PrCa susceptibility. We performed a high resolution fine-mapping analysis to comprehensively evaluate the association between common genetic variation across the HOXB genetic locus at 17q21 and PrCa risk. This involved genotyping 700 SNPs using a custom Illumina iSelect array (iCOGS followed by imputation of 3195 SNPs in 20,440 PrCa cases and 21,469 controls in The PRACTICAL consortium. We identified a cluster of highly correlated common variants situated within or closely upstream of HOXB13 that were significantly associated with PrCa risk, described by rs117576373 (OR 1.30, P = 2.62×10(-14. Additional genotyping, conditional regression and haplotype analyses indicated that the newly identified common variants tag a rare, partially correlated coding variant in the HOXB13 gene (G84E, rs138213197, which has been identified recently as a moderate penetrance PrCa susceptibility allele. The potential for GWAS associations detected through common SNPs to be driven by rare causal variants with higher relative risks has long been proposed; however, to our knowledge this is the first experimental evidence for this phenomenon of synthetic association contributing to cancer susceptibility.

The UK10K project identifies rare variants in health and disease

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Walter, Klaudia; Min, Josine L.; Huang, Jie

2015-01-01

-marker and rare variant aggregation tests. We describe population structure and functional annotation of rare and low-frequency variants, use the data to estimate the benefits of sequencing for association studies, and summarize lessons from disease-specific collections. Finally, we make available an extensive...

Targeted resequencing of regulatory regions at schizophrenia risk loci: Role of rare functional variants at chromatin repressive states.

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González-Peñas, Javier; Amigo, Jorge; Santomé, Luis; Sobrino, Beatriz; Brenlla, Julio; Agra, Santiago; Paz, Eduardo; Páramo, Mario; Carracedo, Ángel; Arrojo, Manuel; Costas, Javier

2016-07-01

There is mounting evidence that regulatory variation plays an important role in genetic risk for schizophrenia. Here, we specifically search for regulatory variants at risk by sequencing promoter regions of twenty-three genes implied in schizophrenia by copy number variant or genome-wide association studies. After strict quality control, a total of 55,206bp per sample were analyzed in 526 schizophrenia cases and 516 controls from Galicia, NW Spain, using the Applied Biosystems SOLiD System. Variants were filtered based on frequency from public databases, chromatin states from the RoadMap Epigenomics Consortium at tissues relevant for schizophrenia, such as fetal brain, mid-frontal lobe, and angular gyrus, and prediction of functionality from RegulomeDB. The proportion of rare variants at polycomb repressive chromatin state at relevant tissues was higher in cases than in controls. The proportion of rare variants with predicted regulatory role was significantly higher in cases than in controls (P=0.0028, OR=1.93, 95% C.I.=1.23-3.04). Combination of information from both sources led to the identification of an excess of carriers of rare variants with predicted regulatory role located at polycomb repressive chromatin state at relevant tissues in cases versus controls (P=0.0016, OR=19.34, 95% C.I.=2.45-2495.26). The variants are located at two genes affected by the 17q12 copy number variant, LHX1 and HNF1B. These data strongly suggest that a specific epigenetic mechanism, chromatin remodeling by histone modification during early development, may be impaired in a subset of schizophrenia patients, in agreement with previous data. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Genetics of nonsyndromic obesity.

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Lee, Yung Seng

2013-12-01

Common obesity is widely regarded as a complex, multifactorial trait influenced by the 'obesogenic' environment, sedentary behavior, and genetic susceptibility contributed by common and rare genetic variants. This review describes the recent advances in understanding the role of genetics in obesity. New susceptibility loci and genetic variants are being uncovered, but the collective effect is relatively small and could not explain most of the BMI heritability. Yet-to-be identified common and rare variants, epistasis, and heritable epigenetic changes may account for part of the 'missing heritability'. Evidence is emerging about the role of epigenetics in determining obesity susceptibility, mediating developmental plasticity, which confers obesity risk from early life experiences. Genetic prediction scores derived from selected genetic variants, and also differential DNA methylation levels and methylation scores, have been shown to correlate with measures of obesity and response to weight loss intervention. Genetic variants, which confer susceptibility to obesity-related morbidities like nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, were also discovered recently. We can expect discovery of more rare genetic variants with the advent of whole exome and genome sequencing, and also greater understanding of epigenetic mechanisms by which environment influences genetic expression and which mediate the gene-environment interaction.

Co-inheritance of the rare β hemoglobin variants Hb Yaounde, Hb Görwihl and Hb City of Hope with other alterations in globin genes: impact in genetic counseling.

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Vinciguerra, Margherita; Passarello, Cristina; Leto, Filippo; Cassarà, Filippo; Cannata, Monica; Maggio, Aurelio; Giambona, Antonino

2015-04-01

Nearly 1183 different molecular defects of the globin genes leading to hemoglobin variants have been identified (http://globin.bx.psu.edu) over the past decades. The purpose of this study was to report three cases, never described in the literature, of co-inheritance of three β hemoglobin variants with other alterations in globin genes and to evaluate the clinical significance to conduct an appropriate genetic counseling. We report the molecular study performed in three probands and their families, sampling during the screening program conducted at the Laboratory for Molecular Prenatal Diagnosis of Hemoglobinopathies at Villa Sofia-Cervello Hospital in Palermo, Italy. This work allowed us to describe the co-inheritance of three rare β hemoglobin variants with other alterations in globin genes: the β hemoglobin variant Hb Yaounde [β134(H12)Val>Ala], found for the first time in combination with ααα(anti3.7) arrangement, and the β hemoglobin variants Hb Görwihl [β5(A2)Pro>Ala] and Hb City of Hope [β69(E13)Gly>Ser], found both in association with β(0) -thalassemia. The present work emphasizes the importance of a careful evaluation of the hematological data, especially in cases of atypical hematological parameters, to carry out an adequate and complete molecular study and to formulate an appropriate genetic counseling for couples at risk. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Rare genomic structural variants in complex disease: lessons from the replication of associations with obesity.

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Robin G Walters

Full Text Available The limited ability of common variants to account for the genetic contribution to complex disease has prompted searches for rare variants of large effect, to partly explain the 'missing heritability'. Analyses of genome-wide genotyping data have identified genomic structural variants (GSVs as a source of such rare causal variants. Recent studies have reported multiple GSV loci associated with risk of obesity. We attempted to replicate these associations by similar analysis of two familial-obesity case-control cohorts and a population cohort, and detected GSVs at 11 out of 18 loci, at frequencies similar to those previously reported. Based on their reported frequencies and effect sizes (OR≥25, we had sufficient statistical power to detect the large majority (80% of genuine associations at these loci. However, only one obesity association was replicated. Deletion of a 220 kb region on chromosome 16p11.2 has a carrier population frequency of 2×10(-4 (95% confidence interval [9.6×10(-5-3.1×10(-4]; accounts overall for 0.5% [0.19%-0.82%] of severe childhood obesity cases (P = 3.8×10(-10; odds ratio = 25.0 [9.9-60.6]; and results in a mean body mass index (BMI increase of 5.8 kg.m(-2 [1.8-10.3] in adults from the general population. We also attempted replication using BMI as a quantitative trait in our population cohort; associations with BMI at or near nominal significance were detected at two further loci near KIF2B and within FOXP2, but these did not survive correction for multiple testing. These findings emphasise several issues of importance when conducting rare GSV association, including the need for careful cohort selection and replication strategy, accurate GSV identification, and appropriate correction for multiple testing and/or control of false discovery rate. Moreover, they highlight the potential difficulty in replicating rare CNV associations across different populations. Nevertheless, we show that such studies are potentially

Rare variants of the 3’-5’ DNA exonuclease TREX1 in early onset small vessel stroke [version 1; referees: 2 approved

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Sarah McGlasson

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Background: Monoallelic and biallelic mutations in the exonuclease TREX1 cause monogenic small vessel diseases (SVD. Given recent evidence for genetic and pathophysiological overlap between monogenic and polygenic forms of SVD, evaluation of TREX1 in small vessel stroke is warranted. Methods: We sequenced the TREX1 gene in an exploratory cohort of patients with lacunar stroke (Edinburgh Stroke Study, n=290 lacunar stroke cases. We subsequently performed a fully blinded case-control study of early onset MRI-confirmed small vessel stroke within the UK Young Lacunar Stroke Resource (990 cases, 939 controls. Results: No patients with canonical disease-causing mutations of TREX1 were identified in cases or controls. Analysis of an exploratory cohort identified a potential association between rare variants of TREX1 and patients with lacunar stroke. However, subsequent controlled and blinded evaluation of TREX1 in a larger and MRI-confirmed patient cohort, the UK Young Lacunar Stroke Resource, identified heterozygous rare variants in 2.1% of cases and 2.3% of controls. No association was observed with stroke risk (odds ratio = 0.90; 95% confidence interval, 0.49-1.65 p=0.74. Similarly no association was seen with rare TREX1 variants with predicted deleterious effects on enzyme function (odds ratio = 1.05; 95% confidence interval, 0.43-2.61 p=0.91. Conclusions: No patients with early-onset lacunar stroke had genetic evidence of a TREX1-associated monogenic microangiopathy. These results show no evidence of association between rare variants of TREX1 and early onset lacunar stroke. This includes rare variants that significantly affect protein and enzyme function. Routine sequencing of the TREX1 gene in patients with early onset lacunar stroke is therefore unlikely to be of diagnostic utility, in the absence of syndromic features or family history.

Performance of genotype imputation for low frequency and rare variants from the 1000 genomes.

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Zheng, Hou-Feng; Rong, Jing-Jing; Liu, Ming; Han, Fang; Zhang, Xing-Wei; Richards, J Brent; Wang, Li

2015-01-01

Genotype imputation is now routinely applied in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and meta-analyses. However, most of the imputations have been run using HapMap samples as reference, imputation of low frequency and rare variants (minor allele frequency (MAF) 1000 Genomes panel) are available to facilitate imputation of these variants. Therefore, in order to estimate the performance of low frequency and rare variants imputation, we imputed 153 individuals, each of whom had 3 different genotype array data including 317k, 610k and 1 million SNPs, to three different reference panels: the 1000 Genomes pilot March 2010 release (1KGpilot), the 1000 Genomes interim August 2010 release (1KGinterim), and the 1000 Genomes phase1 November 2010 and May 2011 release (1KGphase1) by using IMPUTE version 2. The differences between these three releases of the 1000 Genomes data are the sample size, ancestry diversity, number of variants and their frequency spectrum. We found that both reference panel and GWAS chip density affect the imputation of low frequency and rare variants. 1KGphase1 outperformed the other 2 panels, at higher concordance rate, higher proportion of well-imputed variants (info>0.4) and higher mean info score in each MAF bin. Similarly, 1M chip array outperformed 610K and 317K. However for very rare variants (MAF ≤ 0.3%), only 0-1% of the variants were well imputed. We conclude that the imputation of low frequency and rare variants improves with larger reference panels and higher density of genome-wide genotyping arrays. Yet, despite a large reference panel size and dense genotyping density, very rare variants remain difficult to impute.

Rare mutations and potentially damaging missense variants in genes encoding fibrillar collagens and proteins involved in their production are candidates for risk for preterm premature rupture of membranes.

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Modi, Bhavi P; Teves, Maria E; Pearson, Laurel N; Parikh, Hardik I; Chaemsaithong, Piya; Sheth, Nihar U; York, Timothy P; Romero, Roberto; Strauss, Jerome F

2017-01-01

Preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM) is the leading identifiable cause of preterm birth with ~ 40% of preterm births being associated with PPROM and occurs in 1% - 2% of all pregnancies. We hypothesized that multiple rare variants in fetal genes involved in extracellular matrix synthesis would associate with PPROM, based on the assumption that impaired elaboration of matrix proteins would reduce fetal membrane tensile strength, predisposing to unscheduled rupture. We performed whole exome sequencing (WES) on neonatal DNA derived from pregnancies complicated by PPROM (49 cases) and healthy term deliveries (20 controls) to identify candidate mutations/variants. Genotyping for selected variants from the WES study was carried out on an additional 188 PPROM cases and 175 controls. All mothers were self-reported African Americans, and a panel of ancestry informative markers was used to control for genetic ancestry in all genetic association tests. In support of the primary hypothesis, a statistically significant genetic burden (all samples combined, SKAT-O p-value = 0.0225) of damaging/potentially damaging rare variants was identified in the genes of interest-fibrillar collagen genes, which contribute to fetal membrane strength and integrity. These findings suggest that the fetal contribution to PPROM is polygenic, and driven by an increased burden of rare variants that may also contribute to the disparities in rates of preterm birth among African Americans.

Fine-scale patterns of population stratification confound rare variant association tests.

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Timothy D O'Connor

Full Text Available Advances in next-generation sequencing technology have enabled systematic exploration of the contribution of rare variation to Mendelian and complex diseases. Although it is well known that population stratification can generate spurious associations with common alleles, its impact on rare variant association methods remains poorly understood. Here, we performed exhaustive coalescent simulations with demographic parameters calibrated from exome sequence data to evaluate the performance of nine rare variant association methods in the presence of fine-scale population structure. We find that all methods have an inflated spurious association rate for parameter values that are consistent with levels of differentiation typical of European populations. For example, at a nominal significance level of 5%, some test statistics have a spurious association rate as high as 40%. Finally, we empirically assess the impact of population stratification in a large data set of 4,298 European American exomes. Our results have important implications for the design, analysis, and interpretation of rare variant genome-wide association studies.

Genome-wide Polygenic Burden of Rare Deleterious Variants in Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy

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Costin Leu

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP represents the most severe degree of the spectrum of epilepsy severity and is the commonest cause of epilepsy-related premature mortality. The precise pathophysiology and the genetic architecture of SUDEP remain elusive. Aiming to elucidate the genetic basis of SUDEP, we analysed rare, protein-changing variants from whole-exome sequences of 18 people who died of SUDEP, 87 living people with epilepsy and 1479 non-epilepsy disease controls. Association analysis revealed a significantly increased genome-wide polygenic burden per individual in the SUDEP cohort when compared to epilepsy (P = 5.7 × 10−3 and non-epilepsy disease controls (P = 1.2 × 10−3. The polygenic burden was driven both by the number of variants per individual, and over-representation of variants likely to be deleterious in the SUDEP cohort. As determined by this study, more than a thousand genes contribute to the observed polygenic burden within the framework of this study. Subsequent gene-based association analysis revealed five possible candidate genes significantly associated with SUDEP or epilepsy, but no one single gene emerges as common to the SUDEP cases. Our findings provide further evidence for a genetic susceptibility to SUDEP, and suggest an extensive polygenic contribution to SUDEP causation. Thus, an overall increased burden of deleterious variants in a highly polygenic background might be important in rendering a given individual more susceptible to SUDEP. Our findings suggest that exome sequencing in people with epilepsy might eventually contribute to generating SUDEP risk estimates, promoting stratified medicine in epilepsy, with the eventual aim of reducing an individual patient's risk of SUDEP.

Genome-wide Polygenic Burden of Rare Deleterious Variants in Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy.

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Leu, Costin; Balestrini, Simona; Maher, Bridget; Hernández-Hernández, Laura; Gormley, Padhraig; Hämäläinen, Eija; Heggeli, Kristin; Schoeler, Natasha; Novy, Jan; Willis, Joseph; Plagnol, Vincent; Ellis, Rachael; Reavey, Eleanor; O'Regan, Mary; Pickrell, William O; Thomas, Rhys H; Chung, Seo-Kyung; Delanty, Norman; McMahon, Jacinta M; Malone, Stephen; Sadleir, Lynette G; Berkovic, Samuel F; Nashef, Lina; Zuberi, Sameer M; Rees, Mark I; Cavalleri, Gianpiero L; Sander, Josemir W; Hughes, Elaine; Helen Cross, J; Scheffer, Ingrid E; Palotie, Aarno; Sisodiya, Sanjay M

2015-09-01

Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) represents the most severe degree of the spectrum of epilepsy severity and is the commonest cause of epilepsy-related premature mortality. The precise pathophysiology and the genetic architecture of SUDEP remain elusive. Aiming to elucidate the genetic basis of SUDEP, we analysed rare, protein-changing variants from whole-exome sequences of 18 people who died of SUDEP, 87 living people with epilepsy and 1479 non-epilepsy disease controls. Association analysis revealed a significantly increased genome-wide polygenic burden per individual in the SUDEP cohort when compared to epilepsy (P = 5.7 × 10(- 3)) and non-epilepsy disease controls (P = 1.2 × 10(- 3)). The polygenic burden was driven both by the number of variants per individual, and over-representation of variants likely to be deleterious in the SUDEP cohort. As determined by this study, more than a thousand genes contribute to the observed polygenic burden within the framework of this study. Subsequent gene-based association analysis revealed five possible candidate genes significantly associated with SUDEP or epilepsy, but no one single gene emerges as common to the SUDEP cases. Our findings provide further evidence for a genetic susceptibility to SUDEP, and suggest an extensive polygenic contribution to SUDEP causation. Thus, an overall increased burden of deleterious variants in a highly polygenic background might be important in rendering a given individual more susceptible to SUDEP. Our findings suggest that exome sequencing in people with epilepsy might eventually contribute to generating SUDEP risk estimates, promoting stratified medicine in epilepsy, with the eventual aim of reducing an individual patient's risk of SUDEP.

A systems genetics approach provides a bridge from discovered genetic variants to biological pathways in rheumatoid arthritis.

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Hirofumi Nakaoka

Full Text Available Genome-wide association studies (GWAS have yielded novel genetic loci underlying common diseases. We propose a systems genetics approach to utilize these discoveries for better understanding of the genetic architecture of rheumatoid arthritis (RA. Current evidence of genetic associations with RA was sought through PubMed and the NHGRI GWAS catalog. The associations of 15 single nucleotide polymorphisms and HLA-DRB1 alleles were confirmed in 1,287 cases and 1,500 controls of Japanese subjects. Among these, HLA-DRB1 alleles and eight SNPs showed significant associations and all but one of the variants had the same direction of effect as identified in the previous studies, indicating that the genetic risk factors underlying RA are shared across populations. By receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, the area under the curve (AUC for the genetic risk score based on the selected variants was 68.4%. For seropositive RA patients only, the AUC improved to 70.9%, indicating good but suboptimal predictive ability. A simulation study shows that more than 200 additional loci with similar effect size as recent GWAS findings or 20 rare variants with intermediate effects are needed to achieve AUC = 80.0%. We performed the random walk with restart (RWR algorithm to prioritize genes for future mapping studies. The performance of the algorithm was confirmed by leave-one-out cross-validation. The RWR algorithm pointed to ZAP70 in the first rank, in which mutation causes RA-like autoimmune arthritis in mice. By applying the hierarchical clustering method to a subnetwork comprising RA-associated genes and top-ranked genes by the RWR, we found three functional modules relevant to RA etiology: "leukocyte activation and differentiation", "pattern-recognition receptor signaling pathway", and "chemokines and their receptors".These results suggest that the systems genetics approach is useful to find directions of future mapping strategies to illuminate

Association of genetic variants of the incretin-related genes with quantitative traits and occurrence of type 2 diabetes in Japanese

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Mayumi Enya

2014-01-01

Conclusion: Rare variants of GIPR may contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes, possibly through insulin secretory defects. Furthermore, the genetic variant of PCSK1 might influence glucose homeostasis by altered insulin resistance independently of BMI, incretin level or proinsulin conversion, and may be associated with the occurrence of type 2 diabetes in Japanese.

Discovery of rare variants via sequencing: implications for the design of complex trait association studies.

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Bingshan Li

2009-05-01

Full Text Available There is strong evidence that rare variants are involved in complex disease etiology. The first step in implicating rare variants in disease etiology is their identification through sequencing in both randomly ascertained samples (e.g., the 1,000 Genomes Project and samples ascertained according to disease status. We investigated to what extent rare variants will be observed across the genome and in candidate genes in randomly ascertained samples, the magnitude of variant enrichment in diseased individuals, and biases that can occur due to how variants are discovered. Although sequencing cases can enrich for casual variants, when a gene or genes are not involved in disease etiology, limiting variant discovery to cases can lead to association studies with dramatically inflated false positive rates.

A comprehensive analysis of rare genetic variation in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in the UK.

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Morgan, Sarah; Shatunov, Aleksey; Sproviero, William; Jones, Ashley R; Shoai, Maryam; Hughes, Deborah; Al Khleifat, Ahmad; Malaspina, Andrea; Morrison, Karen E; Shaw, Pamela J; Shaw, Christopher E; Sidle, Katie; Orrell, Richard W; Fratta, Pietro; Hardy, John; Pittman, Alan; Al-Chalabi, Ammar

2017-06-01

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a progressive neurodegenerative disease of motor neurons. About 25 genes have been verified as relevant to the disease process, with rare and common variation implicated. We used next generation sequencing and repeat sizing to comprehensively assay genetic variation in a panel of known amyotrophic lateral sclerosis genes in 1126 patient samples and 613 controls. About 10% of patients were predicted to carry a pathological expansion of the C9orf72 gene. We found an increased burden of rare variants in patients within the untranslated regions of known disease-causing genes, driven by SOD1, TARDBP, FUS, VCP, OPTN and UBQLN2. We found 11 patients (1%) carried more than one pathogenic variant (P = 0.001) consistent with an oligogenic basis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. These findings show that the genetic architecture of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is complex and that variation in the regulatory regions of associated genes may be important in disease pathogenesis. © The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain.

Are quantitative trait-dependent sampling designs cost-effective for analysis of rare and common variants?

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Yilmaz, Yildiz E; Bull, Shelley B

2011-11-29

Use of trait-dependent sampling designs in whole-genome association studies of sequence data can reduce total sequencing costs with modest losses of statistical efficiency. In a quantitative trait (QT) analysis of data from the Genetic Analysis Workshop 17 mini-exome for unrelated individuals in the Asian subpopulation, we investigate alternative designs that sequence only 50% of the entire cohort. In addition to a simple random sampling design, we consider extreme-phenotype designs that are of increasing interest in genetic association analysis of QTs, especially in studies concerned with the detection of rare genetic variants. We also evaluate a novel sampling design in which all individuals have a nonzero probability of being selected into the sample but in which individuals with extreme phenotypes have a proportionately larger probability. We take differential sampling of individuals with informative trait values into account by inverse probability weighting using standard survey methods which thus generalizes to the source population. In replicate 1 data, we applied the designs in association analysis of Q1 with both rare and common variants in the FLT1 gene, based on knowledge of the generating model. Using all 200 replicate data sets, we similarly analyzed Q1 and Q4 (which is known to be free of association with FLT1) to evaluate relative efficiency, type I error, and power. Simulation study results suggest that the QT-dependent selection designs generally yield greater than 50% relative efficiency compared to using the entire cohort, implying cost-effectiveness of 50% sample selection and worthwhile reduction of sequencing costs.

Genetics Home Reference: GM2-gangliosidosis, AB variant

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... Resources Genetic Testing (1 link) Genetic Testing Registry: Tay-Sachs disease, variant AB General Information from MedlinePlus (5 links) ... AB variant Activator Deficiency/GM2 Gangliosidosis Activator-deficient Tay-Sachs disease GM2 Activator Deficiency Disease GM2 gangliosidosis, type AB ...

BRCA1 and BRCA2 genetic testing—pitfalls and recommendations for managing variants of uncertain clinical significance

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Eccles, D. M.; Mitchell, G.; Monteiro, A. N. A.; Schmutzler, R.; Couch, F. J.; Spurdle, A. B.; Gómez-García, E. B.

2015-01-01

BackgroundIncreasing use of BRCA1/2 testing for tailoring cancer treatment and extension of testing to tumour tissue for somatic mutation is moving BRCA1/2 mutation screening from a primarily prevention arena delivered by specialist genetic services into mainstream oncology practice. A considerable number of gene tests will identify rare variants where clinical significance cannot be inferred from sequence information alone. The proportion of Variants of Uncertain clinical Significance (VUS) ...

Genetic variants of ghrelin in metabolic disorders.

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Ukkola, Olavi

2011-11-01

An increasing understanding of the role of genes in the development of obesity may reveal genetic variants that, in combination with conventional risk factors, may help to predict an individual's risk for developing metabolic disorders. Accumulating evidence indicates that ghrelin plays a role in regulating food intake and energy homeostasis and it is a reasonable candidate gene for obesity-related co-morbidities. In cross-sectional studies low total ghrelin concentrations and some genetic polymorphisms of ghrelin have been associated with obesity-associated diseases. The present review highlights many of the important problems in association studies of genetic variants and complex diseases. It is known that population-specific differences in reported associations exist. We therefore conclude that more studies on variants of ghrelin gene are needed to perform in different populations to get deeper understanding on the relationship of ghrelin gene and its variants to obesity. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

RareVar: A Framework for Detecting Low-Frequency Single-Nucleotide Variants.

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Hao, Yangyang; Xuei, Xiaoling; Li, Lang; Nakshatri, Harikrishna; Edenberg, Howard J; Liu, Yunlong

2017-07-01

Accurate identification of low-frequency somatic point mutations in tumor samples has important clinical utilities. Although high-throughput sequencing technology enables capturing such variants while sequencing primary tumor samples, our ability for accurate detection is compromised when the variant frequency is close to the sequencer error rate. Most current experimental and bioinformatic strategies target mutations with ≥5% allele frequency, which limits our ability to understand the cancer etiology and tumor evolution. We present an experimental and computational modeling framework, RareVar, to reliably identify low-frequency single-nucleotide variants from high-throughput sequencing data under standard experimental protocols. RareVar protocol includes a benchmark design by pooling DNAs from already sequenced individuals at various concentrations to target variants at desired frequencies, 0.5%-3% in our case. By applying a generalized, linear model-based, position-specific error model, followed by machine-learning-based variant calibration, our approach outperforms existing methods. Our method can be applied on most capture and sequencing platforms without modifying the experimental protocol.

Frequency and distribution of 152 genetic disease variants in over 100,000 mixed breed and purebred dogs.

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Jonas Donner

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Knowledge on the genetic epidemiology of disorders in the dog population has implications for both veterinary medicine and sustainable breeding. Limited data on frequencies of genetic disease variants across breeds exists, and the disease heritage of mixed breed dogs remains poorly explored to date. Advances in genetic screening technologies now enable comprehensive investigations of the canine disease heritage, and generate health-related big data that can be turned into action. We pursued population screening of genetic variants implicated in Mendelian disorders in the largest canine study sample examined to date by examining over 83,000 mixed breed and 18,000 purebred dogs representing 330 breeds for 152 known variants using a custom-designed beadchip microarray. We further announce the creation of MyBreedData (www.mybreeddata.com, an online updated inherited disorder prevalence resource with its foundation in the generated data. We identified the most prevalent, and rare, disease susceptibility variants across the general dog population while providing the first extensive snapshot of the mixed breed disease heritage. Approximately two in five dogs carried at least one copy of a tested disease variant. Most disease variants are shared by both mixed breeds and purebreds, while breed- or line-specificity of others is strongly suggested. Mixed breed dogs were more likely to carry a common recessive disease, whereas purebreds were more likely to be genetically affected with one, providing DNA-based evidence for hybrid vigor. We discovered genetic presence of 22 disease variants in at least one additional breed in which they were previously undescribed. Some mutations likely manifest similarly independently of breed background; however, we emphasize the need for follow up investigations in each case and provide a suggested validation protocol for broader consideration. In conclusion, our study provides unique insight into genetic epidemiology of

Rare variant association analysis in case-parents studies by allowing for missing parental genotypes.

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Li, Yumei; Xiang, Yang; Xu, Chao; Shen, Hui; Deng, Hongwen

2018-01-15

The development of next-generation sequencing technologies has facilitated the identification of rare variants. Family-based design is commonly used to effectively control for population admixture and substructure, which is more prominent for rare variants. Case-parents studies, as typical strategies in family-based design, are widely used in rare variant-disease association analysis. Current methods in case-parents studies are based on complete case-parents data; however, parental genotypes may be missing in case-parents trios, and removing these data may lead to a loss in statistical power. The present study focuses on testing for rare variant-disease association in case-parents study by allowing for missing parental genotypes. In this report, we extended the collapsing method for rare variant association analysis in case-parents studies to allow for missing parental genotypes, and investigated the performance of two methods by using the difference of genotypes between affected offspring and their corresponding "complements" in case-parent trios and TDT framework. Using simulations, we showed that, compared with the methods just only using complete case-parents data, the proposed strategy allowing for missing parental genotypes, or even adding unrelated affected individuals, can greatly improve the statistical power and meanwhile is not affected by population stratification. We conclude that adding case-parents data with missing parental genotypes to complete case-parents data set can greatly improve the power of our strategy for rare variant-disease association.

A rare variant of first branchial cleft fistula.

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Ramnani, S; Mungutwar, V; Goyal, N K; Bansal, A

2009-12-01

We report an extremely rare variant of first branchial cleft anomaly. A 15-year-old girl presented with a history of recurrent mucopurulent discharge from an opening in the left infra-auricular region, since birth. Computed tomography fistulography showed a tortuous tract measuring approximately 4.61 cm, extending anteroinferiorly and medially from the external inframeatal opening to the lateral nasopharyngeal wall (anterior to the fossa of Rosenmuller). The tract was connected to the deep lobe of the parotid gland and lay 0.67 cm anterior to the carotid artery and posterior to the medial pterygoid muscle. This was an extremely rare variant of first branchial cleft fistula. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of its type to be reported. Computed tomography fistulography is the imaging modality of choice for the diagnosis of branchial cleft fistula, and will also assist surgical planning.

Rare Copy Number Variants in a Population Based Investigation of Hypoplastic Right Heart Syndrome

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Dimopoulos, Aggeliki; Sicko, Robert J.; Kay, Denise M.; Rigler, Shannon L.; Druschel, Charlotte M.; Caggana, Michele; Browne, Marilyn L.; Fan, Ruzong; Romitti, Paul A.; Brody, Lawrence C.; Mills, James L.

2016-01-01

Background Hypoplastic right heart syndrome (HRHS) is a rare congenital defect characterized by underdevelopment of the right heart structures commonly accompanied by an atrial septal defect. Familial HRHS reports suggest genetic factor involvement. We examined the role of copy number variants (CNVs) in HRHS. Methods We genotyped 32 HRHS cases identified from all New York State live births (1998–2005) using Illumina HumanOmni2.5 microarrays. CNVs were called with PennCNV and prioritized if they were ≥20Kb, contained ≥10 SNPs and had minimal overlap with CNVs from in-house controls, the Database of Genomic Variants, HapMap3 and CHOP database. Results We identified 28 CNVs in 17 cases; several encompassed genes important for right heart development. One case had a 2p16–2p23 duplication spanning LBH, a limb and heart development transcription factor. Lbh mis-expression results in right ventricular hypoplasia and pulmonary valve defects. This duplication also encompassed SOS1, a factor associated with pulmonary valve stenosis in Noonan syndrome. Sos1−/− mice display thin and poorly trabeculated ventricles. In another case, we identified a 1.5Mb deletion associated with Williams Beuren syndrome, a disorder that includes valvular malformations. A third case had a 24Kb deletion upstream of the TGFβ ligand ITGB8. Embryos genetically null for Itgb8, and its intracellular interactant Band 4.1B, display lethal cardiac phenotypes. Conclusions To our knowledge, this is the first study of CNVs in HRHS. We identified several rare CNVs that overlap genes related to right ventricular wall and valve development, suggesting that genetics plays a role in HRHS and providing clues for further investigation. PMID:28009100

Uncovering the Rare Variants of DLC1 Isoform 1 and Their Functional Effects in a Chinese Sporadic Congenital Heart Disease Cohort

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Wang, Zhen; Tan, Huilian; Kong, Xianghua; Shu, Yang; Zhang, Yuchao; Huang, Yun; Zhu, Yufei; Xu, Heng; Wang, Zhiqiang; Wang, Ping; Ning, Guang; Kong, Xiangyin; Hu, Guohong; Hu, Landian

2014-01-01

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common birth defect affecting the structure and function of fetal hearts. Despite decades of extensive studies, the genetic mechanism of sporadic CHD remains obscure. Deleted in liver cancer 1 (DLC1) gene, encoding a GTPase-activating protein, is highly expressed in heart and essential for heart development according to the knowledge of Dlc1-deficient mice. To determine whether DLC1 is a susceptibility gene for sporadic CHD, we sequenced the coding region of DLC1 isoform 1 in 151 sporadic CHD patients and identified 13 non-synonymous rare variants (including 6 private variants) in the case cohort. Importantly, these rare variants (8/13) were enriched in the N-terminal region of the DLC1 isoform 1 protein. Seven of eight amino acids at the N-terminal variant positions were conserved among the primates. Among the 9 rare variants that were predicted as “damaging”, five were located at the N-terminal region. Ensuing in vitro functional assays showed that three private variants (Met360Lys, Glu418Lys and Asp554Val) impaired the ability of DLC1 to inhibit cell migration or altered the subcellular location of the protein compared to wild-type DLC1 isoform 1. These data suggest that DLC1 might act as a CHD-associated gene in addition to its role as a tumor suppressor in cancer. PMID:24587289

The curation of genetic variants: difficulties and possible solutions.

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Pandey, Kapil Raj; Maden, Narendra; Poudel, Barsha; Pradhananga, Sailendra; Sharma, Amit Kumar

2012-12-01

The curation of genetic variants from biomedical articles is required for various clinical and research purposes. Nowadays, establishment of variant databases that include overall information about variants is becoming quite popular. These databases have immense utility, serving as a user-friendly information storehouse of variants for information seekers. While manual curation is the gold standard method for curation of variants, it can turn out to be time-consuming on a large scale thus necessitating the need for automation. Curation of variants described in biomedical literature may not be straightforward mainly due to various nomenclature and expression issues. Though current trends in paper writing on variants is inclined to the standard nomenclature such that variants can easily be retrieved, we have a massive store of variants in the literature that are present as non-standard names and the online search engines that are predominantly used may not be capable of finding them. For effective curation of variants, knowledge about the overall process of curation, nature and types of difficulties in curation, and ways to tackle the difficulties during the task are crucial. Only by effective curation, can variants be correctly interpreted. This paper presents the process and difficulties of curation of genetic variants with possible solutions and suggestions from our work experience in the field including literature support. The paper also highlights aspects of interpretation of genetic variants and the importance of writing papers on variants following standard and retrievable methods. Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

PhenomeCentral: An Integrated Portal for Sharing and Searching Patient Phenotype Data for Rare Genetic Disorders.

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Brudno, Michael; Girdea, Marta; Dumitriu, Sergiu; Buske, Orion; Köhler, Sebastian; Robinson, Peter N.; Brookes, Andrew J.; Boycott, Kym; Boerkoel, Cornelius F.; Gahl, William A.; CARE RARE, Canadian for Consortium; NIH, Undiagnosed Diseases Program

2014-01-01

The availability of low-cost genome sequencing has allowed for the identification of the molecular cause of hundreds of rare genetic disorders. Solved disorders, however, only represent the “tip of the iceberg”. Because the discovery of disease-causing variants typically requires confirmation of the mutation or gene in multiple unrelated individuals, an even larger number of genetic disorders remain unsolved due to difficulty identifying second families. With many groups now tackling these re...

Rare variants in APP, PSEN1 and PSEN2 increase risk for AD in late-onset Alzheimer's disease families.

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Carlos Cruchaga

Full Text Available Pathogenic mutations in APP, PSEN1, PSEN2, MAPT and GRN have previously been linked to familial early onset forms of dementia. Mutation screening in these genes has been performed in either very small series or in single families with late onset AD (LOAD. Similarly, studies in single families have reported mutations in MAPT and GRN associated with clinical AD but no systematic screen of a large dataset has been performed to determine how frequently this occurs. We report sequence data for 439 probands from late-onset AD families with a history of four or more affected individuals. Sixty sequenced individuals (13.7% carried a novel or pathogenic mutation. Eight pathogenic variants, (one each in APP and MAPT, two in PSEN1 and four in GRN three of which are novel, were found in 14 samples. Thirteen additional variants, present in 23 families, did not segregate with disease, but the frequency of these variants is higher in AD cases than controls, indicating that these variants may also modify risk for disease. The frequency of rare variants in these genes in this series is significantly higher than in the 1,000 genome project (p = 5.09 × 10⁻⁵; OR = 2.21; 95%CI = 1.49-3.28 or an unselected population of 12,481 samples (p = 6.82 × 10⁻⁵; OR = 2.19; 95%CI = 1.347-3.26. Rare coding variants in APP, PSEN1 and PSEN2, increase risk for or cause late onset AD. The presence of variants in these genes in LOAD and early-onset AD demonstrates that factors other than the mutation can impact the age at onset and penetrance of at least some variants associated with AD. MAPT and GRN mutations can be found in clinical series of AD most likely due to misdiagnosis. This study clearly demonstrates that rare variants in these genes could explain an important proportion of genetic heritability of AD, which is not detected by GWAS.

Rare genomic variants link bipolar disorder to CREB regulated intracellular signaling pathways

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Berit eKerner

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Bipolar disorder is a common, complex, and severe psychiatric disorder with cyclical disturbances of mood and a high suicide rate. Here, we describe a family with four siblings, three affected females and one unaffected male. The disease course was characterized by early-onset bipolar disorder and co-morbid anxiety spectrum disorders that followed the onset of bipolar disorder. Genetic risk factors were suggested by the early onset of the disease, the severe disease course, including multiple suicide attempts, and lack of adverse prenatal or early life events. In particular, drug and alcohol abuse did not contribute to the disease onset. Exome sequencing identified very rare, heterozygous, and likely protein-damaging variants in eight brain-expressed genes: IQUB, JMJD1C, GADD45A, GOLGB1, PLSCR5, VRK2, MESDC2, and FGGY. The variants were shared among all three affected family members but absent in the unaffected sibling and in more than 200 controls. The genes encode proteins with significant regulatory roles in the ERK/MAPK and CREB-regulated intracellular signaling pathways. These pathways are central to neuronal and synaptic plasticity, cognition, affect regulation and response to chronic stress. In addition, proteins in these pathways are the target of commonly used mood stabilizing drugs, such as tricyclic antidepressants, lithium and valproic acid. The combination of multiple rare, damaging mutations in these central pathways could lead to reduced resilience and increased vulnerability to stressful life events. Our results support a new model for psychiatric disorders, in which multiple rare, damaging mutations in genes functionally related to a common signaling pathway contribute to the manifestation of bipolar disorder.

Population-based rare variant detection via pooled exome or custom hybridization capture with or without individual indexing.

Science.gov (United States)

Ramos, Enrique; Levinson, Benjamin T; Chasnoff, Sara; Hughes, Andrew; Young, Andrew L; Thornton, Katherine; Li, Allie; Vallania, Francesco L M; Province, Michael; Druley, Todd E

2012-12-06

Rare genetic variation in the human population is a major source of pathophysiological variability and has been implicated in a host of complex phenotypes and diseases. Finding disease-related genes harboring disparate functional rare variants requires sequencing of many individuals across many genomic regions and comparing against unaffected cohorts. However, despite persistent declines in sequencing costs, population-based rare variant detection across large genomic target regions remains cost prohibitive for most investigators. In addition, DNA samples are often precious and hybridization methods typically require large amounts of input DNA. Pooled sample DNA sequencing is a cost and time-efficient strategy for surveying populations of individuals for rare variants. We set out to 1) create a scalable, multiplexing method for custom capture with or without individual DNA indexing that was amenable to low amounts of input DNA and 2) expand the functionality of the SPLINTER algorithm for calling substitutions, insertions and deletions across either candidate genes or the entire exome by integrating the variant calling algorithm with the dynamic programming aligner, Novoalign. We report methodology for pooled hybridization capture with pre-enrichment, indexed multiplexing of up to 48 individuals or non-indexed pooled sequencing of up to 92 individuals with as little as 70 ng of DNA per person. Modified solid phase reversible immobilization bead purification strategies enable no sample transfers from sonication in 96-well plates through adapter ligation, resulting in 50% less library preparation reagent consumption. Custom Y-shaped adapters containing novel 7 base pair index sequences with a Hamming distance of ≥2 were directly ligated onto fragmented source DNA eliminating the need for PCR to incorporate indexes, and was followed by a custom blocking strategy using a single oligonucleotide regardless of index sequence. These results were obtained aligning raw

Population-based rare variant detection via pooled exome or custom hybridization capture with or without individual indexing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ramos Enrique

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Rare genetic variation in the human population is a major source of pathophysiological variability and has been implicated in a host of complex phenotypes and diseases. Finding disease-related genes harboring disparate functional rare variants requires sequencing of many individuals across many genomic regions and comparing against unaffected cohorts. However, despite persistent declines in sequencing costs, population-based rare variant detection across large genomic target regions remains cost prohibitive for most investigators. In addition, DNA samples are often precious and hybridization methods typically require large amounts of input DNA. Pooled sample DNA sequencing is a cost and time-efficient strategy for surveying populations of individuals for rare variants. We set out to 1 create a scalable, multiplexing method for custom capture with or without individual DNA indexing that was amenable to low amounts of input DNA and 2 expand the functionality of the SPLINTER algorithm for calling substitutions, insertions and deletions across either candidate genes or the entire exome by integrating the variant calling algorithm with the dynamic programming aligner, Novoalign. Results We report methodology for pooled hybridization capture with pre-enrichment, indexed multiplexing of up to 48 individuals or non-indexed pooled sequencing of up to 92 individuals with as little as 70 ng of DNA per person. Modified solid phase reversible immobilization bead purification strategies enable no sample transfers from sonication in 96-well plates through adapter ligation, resulting in 50% less library preparation reagent consumption. Custom Y-shaped adapters containing novel 7 base pair index sequences with a Hamming distance of ≥2 were directly ligated onto fragmented source DNA eliminating the need for PCR to incorporate indexes, and was followed by a custom blocking strategy using a single oligonucleotide regardless of index sequence

Protein variants in Hiroshima and Nagasaki: tales of two cities.

Science.gov (United States)

Neel, J V; Satoh, C; Smouse, P; Asakawa, J; Takahashi, N; Goriki, K; Fujita, M; Kageoka, T; Hazama, R

1988-12-01

The results of 1,465,423 allele product determinations based on blood samples from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, involving 30 different proteins representing 32 different gene products, are analyzed in a variety of ways, with the following conclusions: (1) Sibships and their parents are included in the sample. Our analysis reveals that statistical procedures designed to reduce the sample to equivalent independent genomes do not in population comparisons compensate for the familial cluster effect of rare variants. Accordingly, the data set was reduced to one representative of each sibship (937,427 allele products). (2) Both chi 2-type contrasts and a genetic distance measure (delta) reveal that rare variants (P less than .01) are collectively as effective as polymorphisms in establishing genetic differences between the two cities. (3) We suggest that rare variants that individually exhibit significant intercity differences are probably the legacy of tribal private polymorphisms that occurred during prehistoric times. (4) Despite the great differences in the known histories of the two cities, both the overall frequency of rare variants and the number of different rare variants are essentially identical in the two cities. (5) The well-known differences in locus variability are confirmed, now after adjustment for sample size differences for the various locus products; in this large series we failed to detect variants at only three of 29 loci for which sample size exceeded 23,000. (6) The number of alleles identified per locus correlates positively with subunit molecular weight. (7) Loci supporting genetic polymorphisms are characterized by more rare variants than are loci at which polymorphisms were not encountered. (8) Loci whose products do not appear to be essential for health support more variants than do loci the absence of whose product is detrimental to health. (9) There is a striking excess of rare variants over the expectation under the neutral mutation

Common genetic variants influence human subcortical brain structures

Science.gov (United States)

Hibar, Derrek P.; Stein, Jason L.; Renteria, Miguel E.; Arias-Vasquez, Alejandro; Desrivières, Sylvane; Jahanshad, Neda; Toro, Roberto; Wittfeld, Katharina; Abramovic, Lucija; Andersson, Micael; Aribisala, Benjamin S.; Armstrong, Nicola J.; Bernard, Manon; Bohlken, Marc M.; Boks, Marco P.; Bralten, Janita; Brown, Andrew A.; Chakravarty, M. Mallar; Chen, Qiang; Ching, Christopher R. K.; Cuellar-Partida, Gabriel; den Braber, Anouk; Giddaluru, Sudheer; Goldman, Aaron L.; Grimm, Oliver; Guadalupe, Tulio; Hass, Johanna; Woldehawariat, Girma; Holmes, Avram J.; Hoogman, Martine; Janowitz, Deborah; Jia, Tianye; Kim, Sungeun; Klein, Marieke; Kraemer, Bernd; Lee, Phil H.; Olde Loohuis, Loes M.; Luciano, Michelle; Macare, Christine; Mather, Karen A.; Mattheisen, Manuel; Milaneschi, Yuri; Nho, Kwangsik; Papmeyer, Martina; Ramasamy, Adaikalavan; Risacher, Shannon L.; Roiz-Santiañez, Roberto; Rose, Emma J.; Salami, Alireza; Sämann, Philipp G.; Schmaal, Lianne; Schork, Andrew J.; Shin, Jean; Strike, Lachlan T.; Teumer, Alexander; van Donkelaar, Marjolein M. J.; van Eijk, Kristel R.; Walters, Raymond K.; Westlye, Lars T.; Whelan, Christopher D.; Winkler, Anderson M.; Zwiers, Marcel P.; Alhusaini, Saud; Athanasiu, Lavinia; Ehrlich, Stefan; Hakobjan, Marina M. H.; Hartberg, Cecilie B.; Haukvik, Unn K.; Heister, Angelien J. G. A. M.; Hoehn, David; Kasperaviciute, Dalia; Liewald, David C. M.; Lopez, Lorna M.; Makkinje, Remco R. R.; Matarin, Mar; Naber, Marlies A. M.; McKay, D. Reese; Needham, Margaret; Nugent, Allison C.; Pütz, Benno; Royle, Natalie A.; Shen, Li; Sprooten, Emma; Trabzuni, Daniah; van der Marel, Saskia S. L.; van Hulzen, Kimm J. E.; Walton, Esther; Wolf, Christiane; Almasy, Laura; Ames, David; Arepalli, Sampath; Assareh, Amelia A.; Bastin, Mark E.; Brodaty, Henry; Bulayeva, Kazima B.; Carless, Melanie A.; Cichon, Sven; Corvin, Aiden; Curran, Joanne E.; Czisch, Michael; de Zubicaray, Greig I.; Dillman, Allissa; Duggirala, Ravi; Dyer, Thomas D.; Erk, Susanne; Fedko, Iryna O.; Ferrucci, Luigi; Foroud, Tatiana M.; Fox, Peter T.; Fukunaga, Masaki; Gibbs, J. Raphael; Göring, Harald H. H.; Green, Robert C.; Guelfi, Sebastian; Hansell, Narelle K.; Hartman, Catharina A.; Hegenscheid, Katrin; Heinz, Andreas; Hernandez, Dena G.; Heslenfeld, Dirk J.; Hoekstra, Pieter J.; Holsboer, Florian; Homuth, Georg; Hottenga, Jouke-Jan; Ikeda, Masashi; Jack, Clifford R.; Jenkinson, Mark; Johnson, Robert; Kanai, Ryota; Keil, Maria; Kent, Jack W.; Kochunov, Peter; Kwok, John B.; Lawrie, Stephen M.; Liu, Xinmin; Longo, Dan L.; McMahon, Katie L.; Meisenzahl, Eva; Melle, Ingrid; Mohnke, Sebastian; Montgomery, Grant W.; Mostert, Jeanette C.; Mühleisen, Thomas W.; Nalls, Michael A.; Nichols, Thomas E.; Nilsson, Lars G.; Nöthen, Markus M.; Ohi, Kazutaka; Olvera, Rene L.; Perez-Iglesias, Rocio; Pike, G. Bruce; Potkin, Steven G.; Reinvang, Ivar; Reppermund, Simone; Rietschel, Marcella; Romanczuk-Seiferth, Nina; Rosen, Glenn D.; Rujescu, Dan; Schnell, Knut; Schofield, Peter R.; Smith, Colin; Steen, Vidar M.; Sussmann, Jessika E.; Thalamuthu, Anbupalam; Toga, Arthur W.; Traynor, Bryan J.; Troncoso, Juan; Turner, Jessica A.; Valdés Hernández, Maria C.; van ’t Ent, Dennis; van der Brug, Marcel; van der Wee, Nic J. A.; van Tol, Marie-Jose; Veltman, Dick J.; Wassink, Thomas H.; Westman, Eric; Zielke, Ronald H.; Zonderman, Alan B.; Ashbrook, David G.; Hager, Reinmar; Lu, Lu; McMahon, Francis J.; Morris, Derek W.; Williams, Robert W.; Brunner, Han G.; Buckner, Randy L.; Buitelaar, Jan K.; Cahn, Wiepke; Calhoun, Vince D.; Cavalleri, Gianpiero L.; Crespo-Facorro, Benedicto; Dale, Anders M.; Davies, Gareth E.; Delanty, Norman; Depondt, Chantal; Djurovic, Srdjan; Drevets, Wayne C.; Espeseth, Thomas; Gollub, Randy L.; Ho, Beng-Choon; Hoffmann, Wolfgang; Hosten, Norbert; Kahn, René S.; Le Hellard, Stephanie; Meyer-Lindenberg, Andreas; Müller-Myhsok, Bertram; Nauck, Matthias; Nyberg, Lars; Pandolfo, Massimo; Penninx, Brenda W. J. H.; Roffman, Joshua L.; Sisodiya, Sanjay M.; Smoller, Jordan W.; van Bokhoven, Hans; van Haren, Neeltje E. M.; Völzke, Henry; Walter, Henrik; Weiner, Michael W.; Wen, Wei; White, Tonya; Agartz, Ingrid; Andreassen, Ole A.; Blangero, John; Boomsma, Dorret I.; Brouwer, Rachel M.; Cannon, Dara M.; Cookson, Mark R.; de Geus, Eco J. C.; Deary, Ian J.; Donohoe, Gary; Fernández, Guillén; Fisher, Simon E.; Francks, Clyde; Glahn, David C.; Grabe, Hans J.; Gruber, Oliver; Hardy, John; Hashimoto, Ryota; Hulshoff Pol, Hilleke E.; Jönsson, Erik G.; Kloszewska, Iwona; Lovestone, Simon; Mattay, Venkata S.; Mecocci, Patrizia; McDonald, Colm; McIntosh, Andrew M.; Ophoff, Roel A.; Paus, Tomas; Pausova, Zdenka; Ryten, Mina; Sachdev, Perminder S.; Saykin, Andrew J.; Simmons, Andy; Singleton, Andrew; Soininen, Hilkka; Wardlaw, Joanna M.; Weale, Michael E.; Weinberger, Daniel R.; Adams, Hieab H. H.; Launer, Lenore J.; Seiler, Stephan; Schmidt, Reinhold; Chauhan, Ganesh; Satizabal, Claudia L.; Becker, James T.; Yanek, Lisa; van der Lee, Sven J.; Ebling, Maritza; Fischl, Bruce; Longstreth, W. T.; Greve, Douglas; Schmidt, Helena; Nyquist, Paul; Vinke, Louis N.; van Duijn, Cornelia M.; Xue, Luting; Mazoyer, Bernard; Bis, Joshua C.; Gudnason, Vilmundur; Seshadri, Sudha; Ikram, M. Arfan; Martin, Nicholas G.; Wright, Margaret J.; Schumann, Gunter; Franke, Barbara; Thompson, Paul M.; Medland, Sarah E.

2015-01-01

The highly complex structure of the human brain is strongly shaped by genetic influences1. Subcortical brain regions form circuits with cortical areas to coordinate movement2, learning, memory3 and motivation4, and altered circuits can lead to abnormal behaviour and disease2. To investigate how common genetic variants affect the structure of these brain regions, here we conduct genome-wide association studies of the volumes of seven subcortical regions and the intracranial volume derived from magnetic resonance images of 30,717 individuals from 50 cohorts. We identify five novel genetic variants influencing the volumes of the putamen and caudate nucleus. We also find stronger evidence for three loci with previously established influences on hippocampal volume5 and intracranial volume6. These variants show specific volumetric effects on brain structures rather than global effects across structures. The strongest effects were found for the putamen, where a novel intergenic locus with replicable influence on volume (rs945270; P = 1.08 × 10−33; 0.52% variance explained) showed evidence of altering the expression of the KTN1 gene in both brain and blood tissue. Variants influencing putamen volume clustered near developmental genes that regulate apoptosis, axon guidance and vesicle transport. Identification of these genetic variants provides insight into the causes of variability inhuman brain development, and may help to determine mechanisms of neuropsychiatric dysfunction. PMID:25607358

Common genetic variants influence human subcortical brain structures.

Science.gov (United States)

Hibar, Derrek P; Stein, Jason L; Renteria, Miguel E; Arias-Vasquez, Alejandro; Desrivières, Sylvane; Jahanshad, Neda; Toro, Roberto; Wittfeld, Katharina; Abramovic, Lucija; Andersson, Micael; Aribisala, Benjamin S; Armstrong, Nicola J; Bernard, Manon; Bohlken, Marc M; Boks, Marco P; Bralten, Janita; Brown, Andrew A; Chakravarty, M Mallar; Chen, Qiang; Ching, Christopher R K; Cuellar-Partida, Gabriel; den Braber, Anouk; Giddaluru, Sudheer; Goldman, Aaron L; Grimm, Oliver; Guadalupe, Tulio; Hass, Johanna; Woldehawariat, Girma; Holmes, Avram J; Hoogman, Martine; Janowitz, Deborah; Jia, Tianye; Kim, Sungeun; Klein, Marieke; Kraemer, Bernd; Lee, Phil H; Olde Loohuis, Loes M; Luciano, Michelle; Macare, Christine; Mather, Karen A; Mattheisen, Manuel; Milaneschi, Yuri; Nho, Kwangsik; Papmeyer, Martina; Ramasamy, Adaikalavan; Risacher, Shannon L; Roiz-Santiañez, Roberto; Rose, Emma J; Salami, Alireza; Sämann, Philipp G; Schmaal, Lianne; Schork, Andrew J; Shin, Jean; Strike, Lachlan T; Teumer, Alexander; van Donkelaar, Marjolein M J; van Eijk, Kristel R; Walters, Raymond K; Westlye, Lars T; Whelan, Christopher D; Winkler, Anderson M; Zwiers, Marcel P; Alhusaini, Saud; Athanasiu, Lavinia; Ehrlich, Stefan; Hakobjan, Marina M H; Hartberg, Cecilie B; Haukvik, Unn K; Heister, Angelien J G A M; Hoehn, David; Kasperaviciute, Dalia; Liewald, David C M; Lopez, Lorna M; Makkinje, Remco R R; Matarin, Mar; Naber, Marlies A M; McKay, D Reese; Needham, Margaret; Nugent, Allison C; Pütz, Benno; Royle, Natalie A; Shen, Li; Sprooten, Emma; Trabzuni, Daniah; van der Marel, Saskia S L; van Hulzen, Kimm J E; Walton, Esther; Wolf, Christiane; Almasy, Laura; Ames, David; Arepalli, Sampath; Assareh, Amelia A; Bastin, Mark E; Brodaty, Henry; Bulayeva, Kazima B; Carless, Melanie A; Cichon, Sven; Corvin, Aiden; Curran, Joanne E; Czisch, Michael; de Zubicaray, Greig I; Dillman, Allissa; Duggirala, Ravi; Dyer, Thomas D; Erk, Susanne; Fedko, Iryna O; Ferrucci, Luigi; Foroud, Tatiana M; Fox, Peter T; Fukunaga, Masaki; Gibbs, J Raphael; Göring, Harald H H; Green, Robert C; Guelfi, Sebastian; Hansell, Narelle K; Hartman, Catharina A; Hegenscheid, Katrin; Heinz, Andreas; Hernandez, Dena G; Heslenfeld, Dirk J; Hoekstra, Pieter J; Holsboer, Florian; Homuth, Georg; Hottenga, Jouke-Jan; Ikeda, Masashi; Jack, Clifford R; Jenkinson, Mark; Johnson, Robert; Kanai, Ryota; Keil, Maria; Kent, Jack W; Kochunov, Peter; Kwok, John B; Lawrie, Stephen M; Liu, Xinmin; Longo, Dan L; McMahon, Katie L; Meisenzahl, Eva; Melle, Ingrid; Mohnke, Sebastian; Montgomery, Grant W; Mostert, Jeanette C; Mühleisen, Thomas W; Nalls, Michael A; Nichols, Thomas E; Nilsson, Lars G; Nöthen, Markus M; Ohi, Kazutaka; Olvera, Rene L; Perez-Iglesias, Rocio; Pike, G Bruce; Potkin, Steven G; Reinvang, Ivar; Reppermund, Simone; Rietschel, Marcella; Romanczuk-Seiferth, Nina; Rosen, Glenn D; Rujescu, Dan; Schnell, Knut; Schofield, Peter R; Smith, Colin; Steen, Vidar M; Sussmann, Jessika E; Thalamuthu, Anbupalam; Toga, Arthur W; Traynor, Bryan J; Troncoso, Juan; Turner, Jessica A; Valdés Hernández, Maria C; van 't Ent, Dennis; van der Brug, Marcel; van der Wee, Nic J A; van Tol, Marie-Jose; Veltman, Dick J; Wassink, Thomas H; Westman, Eric; Zielke, Ronald H; Zonderman, Alan B; Ashbrook, David G; Hager, Reinmar; Lu, Lu; McMahon, Francis J; Morris, Derek W; Williams, Robert W; Brunner, Han G; Buckner, Randy L; Buitelaar, Jan K; Cahn, Wiepke; Calhoun, Vince D; Cavalleri, Gianpiero L; Crespo-Facorro, Benedicto; Dale, Anders M; Davies, Gareth E; Delanty, Norman; Depondt, Chantal; Djurovic, Srdjan; Drevets, Wayne C; Espeseth, Thomas; Gollub, Randy L; Ho, Beng-Choon; Hoffmann, Wolfgang; Hosten, Norbert; Kahn, René S; Le Hellard, Stephanie; Meyer-Lindenberg, Andreas; Müller-Myhsok, Bertram; Nauck, Matthias; Nyberg, Lars; Pandolfo, Massimo; Penninx, Brenda W J H; Roffman, Joshua L; Sisodiya, Sanjay M; Smoller, Jordan W; van Bokhoven, Hans; van Haren, Neeltje E M; Völzke, Henry; Walter, Henrik; Weiner, Michael W; Wen, Wei; White, Tonya; Agartz, Ingrid; Andreassen, Ole A; Blangero, John; Boomsma, Dorret I; Brouwer, Rachel M; Cannon, Dara M; Cookson, Mark R; de Geus, Eco J C; Deary, Ian J; Donohoe, Gary; Fernández, Guillén; Fisher, Simon E; Francks, Clyde; Glahn, David C; Grabe, Hans J; Gruber, Oliver; Hardy, John; Hashimoto, Ryota; Hulshoff Pol, Hilleke E; Jönsson, Erik G; Kloszewska, Iwona; Lovestone, Simon; Mattay, Venkata S; Mecocci, Patrizia; McDonald, Colm; McIntosh, Andrew M; Ophoff, Roel A; Paus, Tomas; Pausova, Zdenka; Ryten, Mina; Sachdev, Perminder S; Saykin, Andrew J; Simmons, Andy; Singleton, Andrew; Soininen, Hilkka; Wardlaw, Joanna M; Weale, Michael E; Weinberger, Daniel R; Adams, Hieab H H; Launer, Lenore J; Seiler, Stephan; Schmidt, Reinhold; Chauhan, Ganesh; Satizabal, Claudia L; Becker, James T; Yanek, Lisa; van der Lee, Sven J; Ebling, Maritza; Fischl, Bruce; Longstreth, W T; Greve, Douglas; Schmidt, Helena; Nyquist, Paul; Vinke, Louis N; van Duijn, Cornelia M; Xue, Luting; Mazoyer, Bernard; Bis, Joshua C; Gudnason, Vilmundur; Seshadri, Sudha; Ikram, M Arfan; Martin, Nicholas G; Wright, Margaret J; Schumann, Gunter; Franke, Barbara; Thompson, Paul M; Medland, Sarah E

2015-04-09

The highly complex structure of the human brain is strongly shaped by genetic influences. Subcortical brain regions form circuits with cortical areas to coordinate movement, learning, memory and motivation, and altered circuits can lead to abnormal behaviour and disease. To investigate how common genetic variants affect the structure of these brain regions, here we conduct genome-wide association studies of the volumes of seven subcortical regions and the intracranial volume derived from magnetic resonance images of 30,717 individuals from 50 cohorts. We identify five novel genetic variants influencing the volumes of the putamen and caudate nucleus. We also find stronger evidence for three loci with previously established influences on hippocampal volume and intracranial volume. These variants show specific volumetric effects on brain structures rather than global effects across structures. The strongest effects were found for the putamen, where a novel intergenic locus with replicable influence on volume (rs945270; P = 1.08 × 10(-33); 0.52% variance explained) showed evidence of altering the expression of the KTN1 gene in both brain and blood tissue. Variants influencing putamen volume clustered near developmental genes that regulate apoptosis, axon guidance and vesicle transport. Identification of these genetic variants provides insight into the causes of variability in human brain development, and may help to determine mechanisms of neuropsychiatric dysfunction.

Robust logistic regression to narrow down the winner's curse for rare and recessive susceptibility variants.

Science.gov (United States)

Kesselmeier, Miriam; Lorenzo Bermejo, Justo

2017-11-01

Logistic regression is the most common technique used for genetic case-control association studies. A disadvantage of standard maximum likelihood estimators of the genotype relative risk (GRR) is their strong dependence on outlier subjects, for example, patients diagnosed at unusually young age. Robust methods are available to constrain outlier influence, but they are scarcely used in genetic studies. This article provides a non-intimidating introduction to robust logistic regression, and investigates its benefits and limitations in genetic association studies. We applied the bounded Huber and extended the R package 'robustbase' with the re-descending Hampel functions to down-weight outlier influence. Computer simulations were carried out to assess the type I error rate, mean squared error (MSE) and statistical power according to major characteristics of the genetic study and investigated markers. Simulations were complemented with the analysis of real data. Both standard and robust estimation controlled type I error rates. Standard logistic regression showed the highest power but standard GRR estimates also showed the largest bias and MSE, in particular for associated rare and recessive variants. For illustration, a recessive variant with a true GRR=6.32 and a minor allele frequency=0.05 investigated in a 1000 case/1000 control study by standard logistic regression resulted in power=0.60 and MSE=16.5. The corresponding figures for Huber-based estimation were power=0.51 and MSE=0.53. Overall, Hampel- and Huber-based GRR estimates did not differ much. Robust logistic regression may represent a valuable alternative to standard maximum likelihood estimation when the focus lies on risk prediction rather than identification of susceptibility variants. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Whole-Exome Sequencing Identifies Rare and Low-Frequency Coding Variants Associated with LDL Cholesterol

Science.gov (United States)

Lange, Leslie A.; Hu, Youna; Zhang, He; Xue, Chenyi; Schmidt, Ellen M.; Tang, Zheng-Zheng; Bizon, Chris; Lange, Ethan M.; Smith, Joshua D.; Turner, Emily H.; Jun, Goo; Kang, Hyun Min; Peloso, Gina; Auer, Paul; Li, Kuo-ping; Flannick, Jason; Zhang, Ji; Fuchsberger, Christian; Gaulton, Kyle; Lindgren, Cecilia; Locke, Adam; Manning, Alisa; Sim, Xueling; Rivas, Manuel A.; Holmen, Oddgeir L.; Gottesman, Omri; Lu, Yingchang; Ruderfer, Douglas; Stahl, Eli A.; Duan, Qing; Li, Yun; Durda, Peter; Jiao, Shuo; Isaacs, Aaron; Hofman, Albert; Bis, Joshua C.; Correa, Adolfo; Griswold, Michael E.; Jakobsdottir, Johanna; Smith, Albert V.; Schreiner, Pamela J.; Feitosa, Mary F.; Zhang, Qunyuan; Huffman, Jennifer E.; Crosby, Jacy; Wassel, Christina L.; Do, Ron; Franceschini, Nora; Martin, Lisa W.; Robinson, Jennifer G.; Assimes, Themistocles L.; Crosslin, David R.; Rosenthal, Elisabeth A.; Tsai, Michael; Rieder, Mark J.; Farlow, Deborah N.; Folsom, Aaron R.; Lumley, Thomas; Fox, Ervin R.; Carlson, Christopher S.; Peters, Ulrike; Jackson, Rebecca D.; van Duijn, Cornelia M.; Uitterlinden, André G.; Levy, Daniel; Rotter, Jerome I.; Taylor, Herman A.; Gudnason, Vilmundur; Siscovick, David S.; Fornage, Myriam; Borecki, Ingrid B.; Hayward, Caroline; Rudan, Igor; Chen, Y. Eugene; Bottinger, Erwin P.; Loos, Ruth J.F.; Sætrom, Pål; Hveem, Kristian; Boehnke, Michael; Groop, Leif; McCarthy, Mark; Meitinger, Thomas; Ballantyne, Christie M.; Gabriel, Stacey B.; O’Donnell, Christopher J.; Post, Wendy S.; North, Kari E.; Reiner, Alexander P.; Boerwinkle, Eric; Psaty, Bruce M.; Altshuler, David; Kathiresan, Sekar; Lin, Dan-Yu; Jarvik, Gail P.; Cupples, L. Adrienne; Kooperberg, Charles; Wilson, James G.; Nickerson, Deborah A.; Abecasis, Goncalo R.; Rich, Stephen S.; Tracy, Russell P.; Willer, Cristen J.; Gabriel, Stacey B.; Altshuler, David M.; Abecasis, Gonçalo R.; Allayee, Hooman; Cresci, Sharon; Daly, Mark J.; de Bakker, Paul I.W.; DePristo, Mark A.; Do, Ron; Donnelly, Peter; Farlow, Deborah N.; Fennell, Tim; Garimella, Kiran; Hazen, Stanley L.; Hu, Youna; Jordan, Daniel M.; Jun, Goo; Kathiresan, Sekar; Kang, Hyun Min; Kiezun, Adam; Lettre, Guillaume; Li, Bingshan; Li, Mingyao; Newton-Cheh, Christopher H.; Padmanabhan, Sandosh; Peloso, Gina; Pulit, Sara; Rader, Daniel J.; Reich, David; Reilly, Muredach P.; Rivas, Manuel A.; Schwartz, Steve; Scott, Laura; Siscovick, David S.; Spertus, John A.; Stitziel, Nathaniel O.; Stoletzki, Nina; Sunyaev, Shamil R.; Voight, Benjamin F.; Willer, Cristen J.; Rich, Stephen S.; Akylbekova, Ermeg; Atwood, Larry D.; Ballantyne, Christie M.; Barbalic, Maja; Barr, R. Graham; Benjamin, Emelia J.; Bis, Joshua; Boerwinkle, Eric; Bowden, Donald W.; Brody, Jennifer; Budoff, Matthew; Burke, Greg; Buxbaum, Sarah; Carr, Jeff; Chen, Donna T.; Chen, Ida Y.; Chen, Wei-Min; Concannon, Pat; Crosby, Jacy; Cupples, L. Adrienne; D’Agostino, Ralph; DeStefano, Anita L.; Dreisbach, Albert; Dupuis, Josée; Durda, J. Peter; Ellis, Jaclyn; Folsom, Aaron R.; Fornage, Myriam; Fox, Caroline S.; Fox, Ervin; Funari, Vincent; Ganesh, Santhi K.; Gardin, Julius; Goff, David; Gordon, Ora; Grody, Wayne; Gross, Myron; Guo, Xiuqing; Hall, Ira M.; Heard-Costa, Nancy L.; Heckbert, Susan R.; Heintz, Nicholas; Herrington, David M.; Hickson, DeMarc; Huang, Jie; Hwang, Shih-Jen; Jacobs, David R.; Jenny, Nancy S.; Johnson, Andrew D.; Johnson, Craig W.; Kawut, Steven; Kronmal, Richard; Kurz, Raluca; Lange, Ethan M.; Lange, Leslie A.; Larson, Martin G.; Lawson, Mark; Lewis, Cora E.; Levy, Daniel; Li, Dalin; Lin, Honghuang; Liu, Chunyu; Liu, Jiankang; Liu, Kiang; Liu, Xiaoming; Liu, Yongmei; Longstreth, William T.; Loria, Cay; Lumley, Thomas; Lunetta, Kathryn; Mackey, Aaron J.; Mackey, Rachel; Manichaikul, Ani; Maxwell, Taylor; McKnight, Barbara; Meigs, James B.; Morrison, Alanna C.; Musani, Solomon K.; Mychaleckyj, Josyf C.; Nettleton, Jennifer A.; North, Kari; O’Donnell, Christopher J.; O’Leary, Daniel; Ong, Frank; Palmas, Walter; Pankow, James S.; Pankratz, Nathan D.; Paul, Shom; Perez, Marco; Person, Sharina D.; Polak, Joseph; Post, Wendy S.; Psaty, Bruce M.; Quinlan, Aaron R.; Raffel, Leslie J.; Ramachandran, Vasan S.; Reiner, Alexander P.; Rice, Kenneth; Rotter, Jerome I.; Sanders, Jill P.; Schreiner, Pamela; Seshadri, Sudha; Shea, Steve; Sidney, Stephen; Silverstein, Kevin; Smith, Nicholas L.; Sotoodehnia, Nona; Srinivasan, Asoke; Taylor, Herman A.; Taylor, Kent; Thomas, Fridtjof; Tracy, Russell P.; Tsai, Michael Y.; Volcik, Kelly A.; Wassel, Chrstina L.; Watson, Karol; Wei, Gina; White, Wendy; Wiggins, Kerri L.; Wilk, Jemma B.; Williams, O. Dale; Wilson, Gregory; Wilson, James G.; Wolf, Phillip; Zakai, Neil A.; Hardy, John; Meschia, James F.; Nalls, Michael; Singleton, Andrew; Worrall, Brad; Bamshad, Michael J.; Barnes, Kathleen C.; Abdulhamid, Ibrahim; Accurso, Frank; Anbar, Ran; Beaty, Terri; Bigham, Abigail; Black, Phillip; Bleecker, Eugene; Buckingham, Kati; Cairns, Anne Marie; Caplan, Daniel; Chatfield, Barbara; Chidekel, Aaron; Cho, Michael; Christiani, David C.; Crapo, James D.; Crouch, Julia; Daley, Denise; Dang, Anthony; Dang, Hong; De Paula, Alicia; DeCelie-Germana, Joan; Drumm, Allen DozorMitch; Dyson, Maynard; Emerson, Julia; Emond, Mary J.; Ferkol, Thomas; Fink, Robert; Foster, Cassandra; Froh, Deborah; Gao, Li; Gershan, William; Gibson, Ronald L.; Godwin, Elizabeth; Gondor, Magdalen; Gutierrez, Hector; Hansel, Nadia N.; Hassoun, Paul M.; Hiatt, Peter; Hokanson, John E.; Howenstine, Michelle; Hummer, Laura K.; Kanga, Jamshed; Kim, Yoonhee; Knowles, Michael R.; Konstan, Michael; Lahiri, Thomas; Laird, Nan; Lange, Christoph; Lin, Lin; Lin, Xihong; Louie, Tin L.; Lynch, David; Make, Barry; Martin, Thomas R.; Mathai, Steve C.; Mathias, Rasika A.; McNamara, John; McNamara, Sharon; Meyers, Deborah; Millard, Susan; Mogayzel, Peter; Moss, Richard; Murray, Tanda; Nielson, Dennis; Noyes, Blakeslee; O’Neal, Wanda; Orenstein, David; O’Sullivan, Brian; Pace, Rhonda; Pare, Peter; Parker, H. Worth; Passero, Mary Ann; Perkett, Elizabeth; Prestridge, Adrienne; Rafaels, Nicholas M.; Ramsey, Bonnie; Regan, Elizabeth; Ren, Clement; Retsch-Bogart, George; Rock, Michael; Rosen, Antony; Rosenfeld, Margaret; Ruczinski, Ingo; Sanford, Andrew; Schaeffer, David; Sell, Cindy; Sheehan, Daniel; Silverman, Edwin K.; Sin, Don; Spencer, Terry; Stonebraker, Jackie; Tabor, Holly K.; Varlotta, Laurie; Vergara, Candelaria I.; Weiss, Robert; Wigley, Fred; Wise, Robert A.; Wright, Fred A.; Wurfel, Mark M.; Zanni, Robert; Zou, Fei; Nickerson, Deborah A.; Rieder, Mark J.; Green, Phil; Shendure, Jay; Akey, Joshua M.; Bustamante, Carlos D.; Crosslin, David R.; Eichler, Evan E.; Fox, P. Keolu; Fu, Wenqing; Gordon, Adam; Gravel, Simon; Jarvik, Gail P.; Johnsen, Jill M.; Kan, Mengyuan; Kenny, Eimear E.; Kidd, Jeffrey M.; Lara-Garduno, Fremiet; Leal, Suzanne M.; Liu, Dajiang J.; McGee, Sean; O’Connor, Timothy D.; Paeper, Bryan; Robertson, Peggy D.; Smith, Joshua D.; Staples, Jeffrey C.; Tennessen, Jacob A.; Turner, Emily H.; Wang, Gao; Yi, Qian; Jackson, Rebecca; Peters, Ulrike; Carlson, Christopher S.; Anderson, Garnet; Anton-Culver, Hoda; Assimes, Themistocles L.; Auer, Paul L.; Beresford, Shirley; Bizon, Chris; Black, Henry; Brunner, Robert; Brzyski, Robert; Burwen, Dale; Caan, Bette; Carty, Cara L.; Chlebowski, Rowan; Cummings, Steven; Curb, J. David; Eaton, Charles B.; Ford, Leslie; Franceschini, Nora; Fullerton, Stephanie M.; Gass, Margery; Geller, Nancy; Heiss, Gerardo; Howard, Barbara V.; Hsu, Li; Hutter, Carolyn M.; Ioannidis, John; Jiao, Shuo; Johnson, Karen C.; Kooperberg, Charles; Kuller, Lewis; LaCroix, Andrea; Lakshminarayan, Kamakshi; Lane, Dorothy; Lasser, Norman; LeBlanc, Erin; Li, Kuo-Ping; Limacher, Marian; Lin, Dan-Yu; Logsdon, Benjamin A.; Ludlam, Shari; Manson, JoAnn E.; Margolis, Karen; Martin, Lisa; McGowan, Joan; Monda, Keri L.; Kotchen, Jane Morley; Nathan, Lauren; Ockene, Judith; O’Sullivan, Mary Jo; Phillips, Lawrence S.; Prentice, Ross L.; Robbins, John; Robinson, Jennifer G.; Rossouw, Jacques E.; Sangi-Haghpeykar, Haleh; Sarto, Gloria E.; Shumaker, Sally; Simon, Michael S.; Stefanick, Marcia L.; Stein, Evan; Tang, Hua; Taylor, Kira C.; Thomson, Cynthia A.; Thornton, Timothy A.; Van Horn, Linda; Vitolins, Mara; Wactawski-Wende, Jean; Wallace, Robert; Wassertheil-Smoller, Sylvia; Zeng, Donglin; Applebaum-Bowden, Deborah; Feolo, Michael; Gan, Weiniu; Paltoo, Dina N.; Sholinsky, Phyliss; Sturcke, Anne

2014-01-01

Elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) is a treatable, heritable risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified 157 variants associated with lipid levels but are not well suited to assess the impact of rare and low-frequency variants. To determine whether rare or low-frequency coding variants are associated with LDL-C, we exome sequenced 2,005 individuals, including 554 individuals selected for extreme LDL-C (>98th or <2nd percentile). Follow-up analyses included sequencing of 1,302 additional individuals and genotype-based analysis of 52,221 individuals. We observed significant evidence of association between LDL-C and the burden of rare or low-frequency variants in PNPLA5, encoding a phospholipase-domain-containing protein, and both known and previously unidentified variants in PCSK9, LDLR and APOB, three known lipid-related genes. The effect sizes for the burden of rare variants for each associated gene were substantially higher than those observed for individual SNPs identified from GWASs. We replicated the PNPLA5 signal in an independent large-scale sequencing study of 2,084 individuals. In conclusion, this large whole-exome-sequencing study for LDL-C identified a gene not known to be implicated in LDL-C and provides unique insight into the design and analysis of similar experiments. PMID:24507775

Functional genetic variants in the vesicular monoamine transporter 1 (VMAT1) modulate emotion processing

Science.gov (United States)

Lohoff, Falk W.; Hodge, Rachel; Narasimhan, Sneha; Nall, Aleksandra; Ferraro, Thomas N.; Mickey, Brian J.; Heitzeg, Mary M.; Langenecker, Scott A.; Zubieta, Jon-Kar; Bogdan, Ryan; Nikolova, Yuliya S.; Drabant, Emily; Hariri, Ahmad R.; Bevilacqua, Laura; Goldman, David; Doyle, Glenn A.

2012-01-01

SUMMARY Emotional behavior is in part heritable and often disrupted in psychopathology. Identification of specific genetic variants that drive this heritability may provide important new insight into molecular and neurobiological mechanisms involved in emotionality. Our results demonstrate that the presynaptic vesicular monoamine transporter 1 (VMAT1) Thr136Ile (rs1390938) polymorphism is functional in vitro, with the Ile allele leading to increased monoamine transport into presynaptic vesicles. Moreover, we show that the Thr136Ile variant predicts differential responses in emotional brain circuits consistent with its effects in vitro. Lastly, deep sequencing of bipolar disorder (BPD) patients and controls identified several rare novel VMAT1 variants. The variant Phe84Ser was only present in individuals with BPD and leads to marked increase monoamine transport in vitro. Taken together, our data show that VMAT1 polymorphisms influence monoamine signaling, the functional response of emotional brain circuits, and risk for psychopathology. PMID:23337945

The Mendelian inheritance of rare flesh and shell colour variants in the black-lipped pearl oyster (Pinctada margaritifera).

Science.gov (United States)

Ky, Chin-Long; Nakasai, Seiji; Pommier, Steve; Sham Koua, Manaarii; Devaux, Dominique

2016-10-01

Pinctada margaritifera is French Polynesia's most economically important aquaculture species. This pearl oyster has the specific ability to produce cultured pearls with a very wide range of colours, depending on the colour phenotypes of donor oysters used. Its aquaculture is still based on natural spat collection from wild stocks. We investigated three rare colour variants of P. margaritifera - orange flesh, and red and white shell colour phenotypes - in comparison with the wild-type black flesh and shell commonly found in this species. The study aimed to assess the geographic distribution and genetic basis of these colour variants. Colour frequencies were evaluated during transfer and graft processes of pearl oyster seed captured at collector stations. Among the collection locations studied, Mangareva Island showed the highest rate of the orange flesh phenotype, whereas Takaroa and Takume atolls had relatively high rates of red and white shell phenotypes respectively. Broodstocks were made of these rare colour variants, and crosses were performed to produce first- and second-generation progenies to investigate segregation. The results were consistent with Mendelian ratios and suggest a distinct model with no co-dominance: (i) a two-allele model for flesh trait, whereby the orange allele is recessive to the black fleshed type, and (ii) a three-allele model for shell trait, whereby the black wild-type allele is dominant to the red coloration, which is dominant to the white shell. Furthermore, the proposed model provides the basis for producing selected donor pearl oyster lines through hatchery propagation. © 2016 Stichting International Foundation for Animal Genetics.

Multiplexed resequencing analysis to identify rare variants in pooled DNA with barcode indexing using next-generation sequencer.

Science.gov (United States)

Mitsui, Jun; Fukuda, Yoko; Azuma, Kyo; Tozaki, Hirokazu; Ishiura, Hiroyuki; Takahashi, Yuji; Goto, Jun; Tsuji, Shoji

2010-07-01

We have recently found that multiple rare variants of the glucocerebrosidase gene (GBA) confer a robust risk for Parkinson disease, supporting the 'common disease-multiple rare variants' hypothesis. To develop an efficient method of identifying rare variants in a large number of samples, we applied multiplexed resequencing using a next-generation sequencer to identification of rare variants of GBA. Sixteen sets of pooled DNAs from six pooled DNA samples were prepared. Each set of pooled DNAs was subjected to polymerase chain reaction to amplify the target gene (GBA) covering 6.5 kb, pooled into one tube with barcode indexing, and then subjected to extensive sequence analysis using the SOLiD System. Individual samples were also subjected to direct nucleotide sequence analysis. With the optimization of data processing, we were able to extract all the variants from 96 samples with acceptable rates of false-positive single-nucleotide variants.

Candidate gene resequencing to identify rare, pedigree-specific variants influencing healthy aging phenotypes in the long life family study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Druley, Todd E; Wang, Lihua; Lin, Shiow J

2016-01-01

from six pedigrees. OBFC1 (chromosome 10) is involved in telomere maintenance, and falls within a linkage peak recently reported from an analysis of telomere length in LLFS families. Two different algorithms for single gene associations identified three genes with an enrichment of variation......BACKGROUND: The Long Life Family Study (LLFS) is an international study to identify the genetic components of various healthy aging phenotypes. We hypothesized that pedigree-specific rare variants at longevity-associated genes could have a similar functional impact on healthy phenotypes. METHODS......: We performed custom hybridization capture sequencing to identify the functional variants in 464 candidate genes for longevity or the major diseases of aging in 615 pedigrees (4,953 individuals) from the LLFS, using a multiplexed, custom hybridization capture. Variants were analyzed individually...

Using Extreme Phenotype Sampling to Identify the Rare Causal Variants of Quantitative Traits in Association Studies

OpenAIRE

Li, Dalin; Lewinger, Juan Pablo; Gauderman, William J.; Murcray, Cassandra Elizabeth; Conti, David

2011-01-01

Variants identified in recent genome-wide association studies based on the common-disease common-variant hypothesis are far from fully explaining the hereditability of complex traits. Rare variants may, in part, explain some of the missing hereditability. Here, we explored the advantage of the extreme phenotype sampling in rare-variant analysis and refined this design framework for future large-scale association studies on quantitative traits. We first proposed a power calculation approach fo...

Exome genotyping arrays to identify rare and low frequency variants associated with epithelial ovarian cancer risk

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Permuth, Jennifer B; Pirie, Ailith; Ann Chen, Y

2016-01-01

Rare and low frequency variants are not well covered in most germline genotyping arrays and are understudied in relation to epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) risk. To address this gap, we used genotyping arrays targeting rarer protein-coding variation in 8,165 EOC cases and 11,619 controls from...... that is in LD (r(2 )=( )0.90) with a previously identified 'best hit' (rs7651446) mapping to an intron of TIPARP. Suggestive associations (5.0 × 10 (-)  (5 )>( )P≥5.0 ×10 (-)  (7)) were detected for rare and low-frequency variants at 16 novel loci. Four rare missense variants were identified (ACTBL2 rs73757391.......67 × 10 (-)  (4); PSKAT-o = 1.07 × 10 (-)  (5)), reaffirming variant-level analysis. In summary, this large study identified several rare and low-frequency variants and genes that may contribute to EOC susceptibility, albeit with possible small effects. Future studies that integrate epidemiology...

Pooled Sequencing of 531 Genes in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Identifies an Associated Rare Variant in BTNL2 and Implicates Other Immune Related Genes

Science.gov (United States)

Prescott, Natalie J.; Lehne, Benjamin; Stone, Kristina; Lee, James C.; Taylor, Kirstin; Knight, Jo; Papouli, Efterpi; Mirza, Muddassar M.; Simpson, Michael A.; Spain, Sarah L.; Lu, Grace; Fraternali, Franca; Bumpstead, Suzannah J.; Gray, Emma; Amar, Ariella; Bye, Hannah; Green, Peter; Chung-Faye, Guy; Hayee, Bu’Hussain; Pollok, Richard; Satsangi, Jack; Parkes, Miles; Barrett, Jeffrey C.; Mansfield, John C.; Sanderson, Jeremy; Lewis, Cathryn M.; Weale, Michael E.; Schlitt, Thomas; Mathew, Christopher G.

2015-01-01

The contribution of rare coding sequence variants to genetic susceptibility in complex disorders is an important but unresolved question. Most studies thus far have investigated a limited number of genes from regions which contain common disease associated variants. Here we investigate this in inflammatory bowel disease by sequencing the exons and proximal promoters of 531 genes selected from both genome-wide association studies and pathway analysis in pooled DNA panels from 474 cases of Crohn’s disease and 480 controls. 80 variants with evidence of association in the sequencing experiment or with potential functional significance were selected for follow up genotyping in 6,507 IBD cases and 3,064 population controls. The top 5 disease associated variants were genotyped in an extension panel of 3,662 IBD cases and 3,639 controls, and tested for association in a combined analysis of 10,147 IBD cases and 7,008 controls. A rare coding variant p.G454C in the BTNL2 gene within the major histocompatibility complex was significantly associated with increased risk for IBD (p = 9.65x10−10, OR = 2.3[95% CI = 1.75–3.04]), but was independent of the known common associated CD and UC variants at this locus. Rare (T) or decreased risk (IL12B p.V298F, and NICN p.H191R) of IBD. These results provide additional insights into the involvement of the inhibition of T cell activation in the development of both sub-phenotypes of inflammatory bowel disease. We suggest that although rare coding variants may make a modest overall contribution to complex disease susceptibility, they can inform our understanding of the molecular pathways that contribute to pathogenesis. PMID:25671699

Improving power for rare-variant tests by integrating external controls.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Seunggeun; Kim, Sehee; Fuchsberger, Christian

2017-11-01

Due to the drop in sequencing cost, the number of sequenced genomes is increasing rapidly. To improve power of rare-variant tests, these sequenced samples could be used as external control samples in addition to control samples from the study itself. However, when using external controls, possible batch effects due to the use of different sequencing platforms or genotype calling pipelines can dramatically increase type I error rates. To address this, we propose novel summary statistics based single and gene- or region-based rare-variant tests that allow the integration of external controls while controlling for type I error. Our approach is based on the insight that batch effects on a given variant can be assessed by comparing odds ratio estimates using internal controls only vs. using combined control samples of internal and external controls. From simulation experiments and the analysis of data from age-related macular degeneration and type 2 diabetes studies, we demonstrate that our method can substantially improve power while controlling for type I error rate. © 2017 WILEY PERIODICALS, INC.

Whole-exome sequencing identifies common and rare variant metabolic QTLs in a Middle Eastern population.

Science.gov (United States)

Yousri, Noha A; Fakhro, Khalid A; Robay, Amal; Rodriguez-Flores, Juan L; Mohney, Robert P; Zeriri, Hassina; Odeh, Tala; Kader, Sara Abdul; Aldous, Eman K; Thareja, Gaurav; Kumar, Manish; Al-Shakaki, Alya; Chidiac, Omar M; Mohamoud, Yasmin A; Mezey, Jason G; Malek, Joel A; Crystal, Ronald G; Suhre, Karsten

2018-01-23

Metabolomics-genome-wide association studies (mGWAS) have uncovered many metabolic quantitative trait loci (mQTLs) influencing human metabolic individuality, though predominantly in European cohorts. By combining whole-exome sequencing with a high-resolution metabolomics profiling for a highly consanguineous Middle Eastern population, we discover 21 common variant and 12 functional rare variant mQTLs, of which 45% are novel altogether. We fine-map 10 common variant mQTLs to new metabolite ratio associations, and 11 common variant mQTLs to putative protein-altering variants. This is the first work to report common and rare variant mQTLs linked to diseases and/or pharmacological targets in a consanguineous Arab cohort, with wide implications for precision medicine in the Middle East.

Identifying genetic variants that affect viability in large cohorts.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hakhamanesh Mostafavi

2017-09-01

Full Text Available A number of open questions in human evolutionary genetics would become tractable if we were able to directly measure evolutionary fitness. As a step towards this goal, we developed a method to examine whether individual genetic variants, or sets of genetic variants, currently influence viability. The approach consists in testing whether the frequency of an allele varies across ages, accounting for variation in ancestry. We applied it to the Genetic Epidemiology Research on Adult Health and Aging (GERA cohort and to the parents of participants in the UK Biobank. Across the genome, we found only a few common variants with large effects on age-specific mortality: tagging the APOE ε4 allele and near CHRNA3. These results suggest that when large, even late-onset effects are kept at low frequency by purifying selection. Testing viability effects of sets of genetic variants that jointly influence 1 of 42 traits, we detected a number of strong signals. In participants of the UK Biobank of British ancestry, we found that variants that delay puberty timing are associated with a longer parental life span (P~6.2 × 10-6 for fathers and P~2.0 × 10-3 for mothers, consistent with epidemiological studies. Similarly, variants associated with later age at first birth are associated with a longer maternal life span (P~1.4 × 10-3. Signals are also observed for variants influencing cholesterol levels, risk of coronary artery disease (CAD, body mass index, as well as risk of asthma. These signals exhibit consistent effects in the GERA cohort and among participants of the UK Biobank of non-British ancestry. We also found marked differences between males and females, most notably at the CHRNA3 locus, and variants associated with risk of CAD and cholesterol levels. Beyond our findings, the analysis serves as a proof of principle for how upcoming biomedical data sets can be used to learn about selection effects in contemporary humans.

Genetics Home Reference: Ohdo syndrome, Say-Barber-Biesecker-Young-Simpson variant

Science.gov (United States)

... SBBYS variant Ohdo syndrome, Say-Barber-Biesecker-Young-Simpson variant Printable PDF Open All Close All Enable ... collapse boxes. Description The Say-Barber-Biesecker-Young-Simpson (SBBYS) variant of Ohdo syndrome is a rare ...

SORL1 rare variants: a major risk factor for familial early-onset Alzheimer's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Nicolas, G; Charbonnier, C; Wallon, D; Quenez, O; Bellenguez, C; Grenier-Boley, B; Rousseau, S; Richard, A-C; Rovelet-Lecrux, A; Le Guennec, K; Bacq, D; Garnier, J-G; Olaso, R; Boland, A; Meyer, V; Deleuze, J-F; Amouyel, P; Munter, H M; Bourque, G; Lathrop, M; Frebourg, T; Redon, R; Letenneur, L; Dartigues, J-F; Génin, E; Lambert, J-C; Hannequin, D; Campion, D

2016-06-01

The SORL1 protein plays a protective role against the secretion of the amyloid β peptide, a key event in the pathogeny of Alzheimer's disease. We assessed the impact of SORL1 rare variants in early-onset Alzheimer's disease (EOAD) in a case-control setting. We conducted a whole exome analysis among 484 French EOAD patients and 498 ethnically matched controls. After collapsing rare variants (minor allele frequency ≤1%), we detected an enrichment of disruptive and predicted damaging missense SORL1 variants in cases (odds radio (OR)=5.03, 95% confidence interval (CI)=(2.02-14.99), P=7.49.10(-5)). This enrichment was even stronger when restricting the analysis to the 205 cases with a positive family history (OR=8.86, 95% CI=(3.35-27.31), P=3.82.10(-7)). We conclude that predicted damaging rare SORL1 variants are a strong risk factor for EOAD and that the association signal is mainly driven by cases with positive family history.

Rare human papillomavirus 16 E6 variants reveal significant oncogenic potential

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tommasino Massimo

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract The aim of this study was to determine whether low prevalence human papillomavirus (HPV 16 E6 variants differ from high prevalence types in their functional abilities. We evaluated functions relevant to carcinogenesis for the rarely-detected European variants R8Q, R10G and R48W as compared to the commonly detected L83V. Human immortalized keratinocytes (NIKS stably transduced with the E6 variants were used in most functional assays. Low and high prevalence E6 variants displayed similar abilities in abrogation of growth arrest and inhibition of p53 elevation induced by actinomycin D. Differences were detected in the abilities to dysregulate stratification and differentiation of NIKS in organotypic raft cultures, modulate detachment induced apoptosis (anoikis and hyperactivate Wnt signaling. No distinctive phenotype could be assigned to include all rare variants. Like L83V, raft cultures derived from variants R10G and R48W similarly induced hyperplasia and aberrantly expressed keratin 5 in the suprabasal compartment with significantly lower expression of keratin 10. Unlike L83V, both variants, and particularly R48W, induced increased levels of anoikis upon suspension in semisolid medium. R8Q induced a unique phenotype characterized by thin organotypic raft cultures, low expression of keratin 10, and high expression of keratins 5 and 14 throughout all raft layers. Interestingly, in a reporter based assay R8Q exhibited a higher ability to augment TCF/β-catenin transcription. The data suggests that differences in E6 variant prevalence in cervical carcinoma may not be related to the carcinogenic potential of the E6 protein.

Cerivastatin, Genetic Variants, and the Risk of Rhabdomyolysis

Science.gov (United States)

Marciante, Kristin D.; Durda, Jon P.; Heckbert, Susan R.; Lumley, Thomas; Rice, Ken; McKnight, Barbara; Totah, Rheem A.; Tamraz, Bani; Kroetz, Deanna L.; Fukushima, Hisayo; Kaspera, Rüdiger; Bis, Joshua C.; Glazer, Nicole L.; Li, Guo; Austin, Thomas R.; Taylor, Kent D.; Rotter, Jerome I.; Jaquish, Cashell E.; Kwok, Pui-Yan; Tracy, Russell P.; Psaty, Bruce M.

2011-01-01

Objective The withdrawal of cerivastatin involved an uncommon but serious adverse reaction, rhabdomyolysis. The bimodal response--rhabdomyolysis in a small proportion of users-- points to genetic factors as a potential cause. We conducted a case-control study to evaluate genetic markers for cerivastatin-associated rhabdomyolysis. Methods The study had two components: a candidate gene study to evaluate variants in CYP2C8, UGT1A1, UGT1A3, and SLCO1B1; and a genome-wide association (GWA) study to identify risk factors in other regions of the genome. 185 rhabdomyolysis cases were frequency matched to statin-using controls from the Cardiovascular Health Study (n=374) and the Heart and Vascular Health Study (n=358). Validation relied on functional studies. Results Permutation test results suggested an association between cerivastatin-associated rhabdomyolysis and variants in SLCO1B1 (p = 0.002), but not variants in CYP2C8 (p = 0.073) or the UGTs (p = 0.523). An additional copy of the minor allele of SLCO1B1 rs4149056 (p.Val174Ala) was associated with the risk of rhabdomyolysis (OR: 1.89, 95% CI: 1.40 to 2.56). In transfected cells, this variant reduced cerivastatin transport by 40% compared with the reference transporter (p rhabdomyolysis (OR: 0.48; 95% CI: 0.36 to 0.63). Conclusion We identified modest genetic risk factors for an extreme response to cerivastatin. Disabling genetic variants in the candidate genes were not responsible for the bimodal response to cerivastatin. PMID:21386754

Estimating the contribution of genetic variants to difference in incidence of disease between population groups

Science.gov (United States)

Moonesinghe, Ramal; Ioannidis, John PA; Flanders, W Dana; Yang, Quanhe; Truman, Benedict I; Khoury, Muin J

2012-01-01

Genome-wide association studies have identified multiple genetic susceptibility variants to several complex human diseases. However, risk-genotype frequency at loci showing robust associations might differ substantially among different populations. In this paper, we present methods to assess the contribution of genetic variants to the difference in the incidence of disease between different population groups for different scenarios. We derive expressions for the contribution of a single genetic variant, multiple genetic variants, and the contribution of the joint effect of a genetic variant and an environmental factor to the difference in the incidence of disease. The contribution of genetic variants to the difference in incidence increases with increasing difference in risk-genotype frequency, but declines with increasing difference in incidence between the two populations. The contribution of genetic variants also increases with increasing relative risk and the contribution of joint effect of genetic and environmental factors increases with increasing relative risk of the gene–environmental interaction. The contribution of genetic variants to the difference in incidence between two populations can be expressed as a function of the population attributable risks of the genetic variants in the two populations. The contribution of a group of genetic variants to the disparity in incidence of disease could change considerably by adding one more genetic variant to the group. Any estimate of genetic contribution to the disparity in incidence of disease between two populations at this stage seems to be an elusive goal. PMID:22333905

Estimating the contribution of genetic variants to difference in incidence of disease between population groups.

Science.gov (United States)

Moonesinghe, Ramal; Ioannidis, John P A; Flanders, W Dana; Yang, Quanhe; Truman, Benedict I; Khoury, Muin J

2012-08-01

Genome-wide association studies have identified multiple genetic susceptibility variants to several complex human diseases. However, risk-genotype frequency at loci showing robust associations might differ substantially among different populations. In this paper, we present methods to assess the contribution of genetic variants to the difference in the incidence of disease between different population groups for different scenarios. We derive expressions for the contribution of a single genetic variant, multiple genetic variants, and the contribution of the joint effect of a genetic variant and an environmental factor to the difference in the incidence of disease. The contribution of genetic variants to the difference in incidence increases with increasing difference in risk-genotype frequency, but declines with increasing difference in incidence between the two populations. The contribution of genetic variants also increases with increasing relative risk and the contribution of joint effect of genetic and environmental factors increases with increasing relative risk of the gene-environmental interaction. The contribution of genetic variants to the difference in incidence between two populations can be expressed as a function of the population attributable risks of the genetic variants in the two populations. The contribution of a group of genetic variants to the disparity in incidence of disease could change considerably by adding one more genetic variant to the group. Any estimate of genetic contribution to the disparity in incidence of disease between two populations at this stage seems to be an elusive goal.

Whole-Exome Sequencing of 2,000 Danish Individuals and the Role of Rare Coding Variants in Type 2 Diabetes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lohmueller, Kirk E.; Sparsø, Thomas; Li, Qibin

2013-01-01

number of genes. We applied a series of gene-based tests to detect such susceptibility genes. However, no gene showed a significant association with disease risk after we corrected for the number of genes analyzed. Thus, we could reject a model for the genetic architecture of type 2 diabetes where rare......It has been hypothesized that, in aggregate, rare variants in coding regions of genes explain a substantial fraction of the heritability of common diseases. We sequenced the exomes of 1,000 Danish cases with common forms of type 2 diabetes (including body mass index > 27.5 kg/m2 and hypertension...

ADULT VARIANT BARTTER’S SYNDROME- A CASE REPORT

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Ishwar Sidappa Hasabi

2017-02-01

Full Text Available BACKGROUND Bartter syndrome is a group of channelopathies with different genetic origins and molecular pathophysiologies, but sharing common feature of decreased tubular transport of sodium chloride in thick ascending loop of Henle (TAL, 1 although more common in antenatal group. Classic adult variant of Bartter syndrome is a rare entity. We hereby present a rare adult variant of classic Bartter syndrome.

Basal Cell Ameloblastoma: A Rare Histological Variant of an ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Ameloblastomas are an inscrutable group of oral tumors. Basal cell ameloblastoma is a rare variant of ameloblastoma with very few cases reported until date. The tumor is composed of more primitive cells and has less conspicuous peripheral palisading. It shows remarkable similarity to basal cell carcinoma, basal cell ...

Genetic counseling for a three-generation Chinese family with Waardenburg syndrome type II associated with a rare SOX10 mutation.

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Chen, Kaitian; Zong, Ling; Zhan, Yuan; Wu, Xuan; Liu, Min; Jiang, Hongyan

2015-05-01

Waardenburg syndrome is clinically and genetically heterogeneous. The SOX10 mutation related with Waardenburg syndrome type II is rare in Chinese. This study aimed to uncover the genetic causes of Waardenburg syndrome type II in a three-generation family to improve genetic counseling. Complete clinical and molecular evaluations were conducted in a three-generation Han Chinese family with Waardenburg syndrome type II. Targeted genetic counseling was provided to this family. We identified a rare heterozygous dominant mutation c.621C>A (p.Y207X) in SOX10 gene in this family. The premature termination codon occurs in exon 4, 27 residues downstream of the carboxyl end of the high mobility group box. Bioinformatics prediction suggested this variant to be disease-causing, probably due to nonsense-mediated mRNA decay. Useful genetic counseling was given to the family for prenatal guidance. Identification of a rare dominant heterozygous SOX10 mutation c.621C>A in this family provided an efficient way to understand the causes of Waardenburg syndrome type II and improved genetic counseling. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Whole-genome sequencing and genetic variant analysis of a Quarter Horse mare.

KAUST Repository

Doan, Ryan; Cohen, Noah D; Sawyer, Jason; Ghaffari, Noushin; Johnson, Charlie D; Dindot, Scott V

2012-01-01

BACKGROUND: The catalog of genetic variants in the horse genome originates from a few select animals, the majority originating from the Thoroughbred mare used for the equine genome sequencing project. The purpose of this study was to identify genetic variants, including single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), insertion/deletion polymorphisms (INDELs), and copy number variants (CNVs) in the genome of an individual Quarter Horse mare sequenced by next-generation sequencing. RESULTS: Using massively parallel paired-end sequencing, we generated 59.6 Gb of DNA sequence from a Quarter Horse mare resulting in an average of 24.7X sequence coverage. Reads were mapped to approximately 97% of the reference Thoroughbred genome. Unmapped reads were de novo assembled resulting in 19.1 Mb of new genomic sequence in the horse. Using a stringent filtering method, we identified 3.1 million SNPs, 193 thousand INDELs, and 282 CNVs. Genetic variants were annotated to determine their impact on gene structure and function. Additionally, we genotyped this Quarter Horse for mutations of known diseases and for variants associated with particular traits. Functional clustering analysis of genetic variants revealed that most of the genetic variation in the horse's genome was enriched in sensory perception, signal transduction, and immunity and defense pathways. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first sequencing of a horse genome by next-generation sequencing and the first genomic sequence of an individual Quarter Horse mare. We have increased the catalog of genetic variants for use in equine genomics by the addition of novel SNPs, INDELs, and CNVs. The genetic variants described here will be a useful resource for future studies of genetic variation regulating performance traits and diseases in equids.

Whole-genome sequencing and genetic variant analysis of a Quarter Horse mare.

KAUST Repository

Doan, Ryan

2012-02-17

BACKGROUND: The catalog of genetic variants in the horse genome originates from a few select animals, the majority originating from the Thoroughbred mare used for the equine genome sequencing project. The purpose of this study was to identify genetic variants, including single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), insertion/deletion polymorphisms (INDELs), and copy number variants (CNVs) in the genome of an individual Quarter Horse mare sequenced by next-generation sequencing. RESULTS: Using massively parallel paired-end sequencing, we generated 59.6 Gb of DNA sequence from a Quarter Horse mare resulting in an average of 24.7X sequence coverage. Reads were mapped to approximately 97% of the reference Thoroughbred genome. Unmapped reads were de novo assembled resulting in 19.1 Mb of new genomic sequence in the horse. Using a stringent filtering method, we identified 3.1 million SNPs, 193 thousand INDELs, and 282 CNVs. Genetic variants were annotated to determine their impact on gene structure and function. Additionally, we genotyped this Quarter Horse for mutations of known diseases and for variants associated with particular traits. Functional clustering analysis of genetic variants revealed that most of the genetic variation in the horse\\'s genome was enriched in sensory perception, signal transduction, and immunity and defense pathways. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first sequencing of a horse genome by next-generation sequencing and the first genomic sequence of an individual Quarter Horse mare. We have increased the catalog of genetic variants for use in equine genomics by the addition of novel SNPs, INDELs, and CNVs. The genetic variants described here will be a useful resource for future studies of genetic variation regulating performance traits and diseases in equids.

Symplastic leiomyoma of uterus: a rare histological variant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yasmeen, F.; Hafeez, M.; Hameed, S.; Ibnerasa, S.N.

2008-01-01

Symplastic leiomyoma is a rare histological variant of leiomyoma. This is a case report of a young nulliparous patient who presented with primary infertility for 2 years and swelling in lower abdomen for 6 months. Intramural fibroid was diagnosed during a pelvic ultrasound. Histopathology of that myomectomy showed symplastic leiomyoma with absent mitotic figures. The patient was managed as for a benign tumor. (author)

Rare and Common Variants in CARD14, Encoding an Epidermal Regulator of NF-kappaB, in Psoriasis

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Jordan, Catherine T.; Cao, Li; Roberson, Elisha D.O.; Duan, Shenghui; Helms, Cynthia A.; Nair, Rajan P.; Duffin, Kristina Callis; Stuart, Philip E.; Goldgar, David; Hayashi, Genki; Olfson, Emily H.; Feng, Bing-Jian; Pullinger, Clive R.; Kane, John P.; Wise, Carol A.; Goldbach-Mansky, Raphaela; Lowes, Michelle A.; Peddle, Lynette; Chandran, Vinod; Liao, Wilson; Rahman, Proton; Krueger, Gerald G.; Gladman, Dafna; Elder, James T.; Menter, Alan; Bowcock, Anne M.

2012-01-01

Psoriasis is a common inflammatory disorder of the skin and other organs. We have determined that mutations in CARD14, encoding a nuclear factor of kappa light chain enhancer in B cells (NF-kB) activator within skin epidermis, account for PSORS2. Here, we describe fifteen additional rare missense variants in CARD14, their distribution in seven psoriasis cohorts (>6,000 cases and >4,000 controls), and their effects on NF-kB activation and the transcriptome of keratinocytes. There were more CARD14 rare variants in cases than in controls (burden test p value = 0.0015). Some variants were only seen in a single case, and these included putative pathogenic mutations (c.424G>A [p.Glu142Lys] and c.425A>G [p.Glu142Gly]) and the generalized-pustular-psoriasis mutation, c.413A>C (p.Glu138Ala); these three mutations lie within the coiled-coil domain of CARD14. The c.349G>A (p.Gly117Ser) familial-psoriasis mutation was present at a frequency of 0.0005 in cases of European ancestry. CARD14 variants led to a range of NF-kB activities; in particular, putative pathogenic variants led to levels >2.5× higher than did wild-type CARD14. Two variants (c.511C>A [p.His171Asn] and c.536G>A [p.Arg179His]) required stimulation with tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) to achieve significant increases in NF-kB levels. Transcriptome profiling of wild-type and variant CARD14 transfectants in keratinocytes differentiated probably pathogenic mutations from neutral variants such as polymorphisms. Over 20 CARD14 polymorphisms were also genotyped, and meta-analysis revealed an association between psoriasis and rs11652075 (c.2458C>T [p.Arg820Trp]; p value = 2.1 × 10−6). In the two largest psoriasis cohorts, evidence for association increased when rs11652075 was conditioned on HLA-Cw∗0602 (PSORS1). These studies contribute to our understanding of the genetic basis of psoriasis and illustrate the challenges faced in identifying pathogenic variants in common disease. PMID:22521419

Genetic association study of exfoliation syndrome identifies a protective rare variant at LOXL1 and five new susceptibility loci

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aung, Tin; Ozaki, Mineo; Lee, Mei Chin

2017-01-01

Exfoliation syndrome (XFS) is the most common known risk factor for secondary glaucoma and a major cause of blindness worldwide. Variants in two genes, LOXL1 and CACNA1A, have previously been associated with XFS. To further elucidate the genetic basis of XFS, we collected a global sample of XFS c...

Association of genetic variants of the incretin-related genes with quantitative traits and occurrence of type 2 diabetes in Japanese.

Science.gov (United States)

Enya, Mayumi; Horikawa, Yukio; Iizuka, Katsumi; Takeda, Jun

2014-01-01

None of the high frequency variants of the incretin-related genes has been found by genome-wide association study (GWAS) for association with occurrence of type 2 diabetes in Japanese. However, low frequency and rare and/or high frequency variants affecting glucose metabolic traits remain to be investigated. We screened all exons of the incretin-related genes ( GCG , GLP1R , DPP4 , PCSK1 , GIP , and GIPR ) in 96 patients with type 2 diabetes and investigated for association of genetic variants of these genes with quantitative metabolic traits upon test meal with 38 young healthy volunteers and with the occurrence of type 2 diabetes in Japanese subjects comprising 1303 patients with type 2 diabetes and 1014 controls. Two mutations of GIPR , p.Thr3Alafsx21 and Arg183Gln, were found only in patients with type 2 diabetes, and both of them were treated with insulin. Of ten tagSNPs, we found that risk allele C of SNP393 (rs6235) of PCSK1 was nominally associated with higher fasting insulin and HOMA-R ( P  = 0.034 and P  = 0.030), but not with proinsulin level, incretin level or BMI. The variant showed significant association with occurrence of type 2 diabetes after adjustment for age, sex, and BMI ( P  = 0.0043). Rare variants of GIPR may contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes, possibly through insulin secretory defects. Furthermore, the genetic variant of PCSK1 might influence glucose homeostasis by altered insulin resistance independently of BMI, incretin level or proinsulin conversion, and may be associated with the occurrence of type 2 diabetes in Japanese.

Effect of RareGenetic Variants in the β2 Adrenergic Receptor Geneon the Risk for Exacerbations and Symptom Control During Long-Acting Beta Agonist Treatment in a Multi-Ethnic Asthma Population

Science.gov (United States)

Ortega, Victor E.; Hawkins, Gregory A.; Moore, Wendy C.; Hastie, Annette T.; Ampleford, Elizabeth J.; Busse, William W.; Castro, Mario; Chardon, Domingo; Erzurum, Serpil C.; Israel, Elliot; Montealegre, Federico; Wenzel, Sally E.; Peters, Stephen P.; Meyers, Deborah A.; Bleecker, Eugene R.

2014-01-01

Background Severe adverse life-threatening events associated with long-acting beta agonists (LABA) use have caused the FDA to review LABA safety which has resulted in a boxed warning and a mandatory LABA safety study in 46,800 asthmatics. Identification of an at-risk, susceptible subpopulation using predictive biomarkers is critical in understanding LABA safety. The β2-adrenergic receptor gene (ADRB2) contains a common, nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphism, Gly16Arg, that is unlikely to account for rare, life-threatening events. We hypothesize that rare ADRB2 variants with strong effects modulate therapeutic responses to long-acting beta agonist (LABA) therapy and contribute to rare, severe adverse events. Methods ADRB2 was sequenced in 197 African Americans, 191 non-Hispanic Whites, and 73 Puerto Ricans. Sequencing identified six rare variants which were genotyped in 1,165 asthmatics (total=1,626). The primary hypothesis was that severe asthma exacerbations requiring hospitalization were associated with rare ADRB2 variants. Replication was performed in 659 non-Hispanic White asthma subjects. Findings Asthmatics receiving LABA with a rare variant had increased asthma-related hospitalizations (meta-analysis for all ethnic groups: p=2·83 × 10−4), specifically LABA-treated non-Hispanic Whites with the rare Ile164 allele (only rare variant in Whites, OR4·48, 95% CI 1·40–14·0, p=0·01) and African Americans with a 25 base-pair promoter polynucleotide insertion (OR 13·43, 95% CI 2·02–265·4, p=0·006). The subset of non-Hispanic Whites and African Americans receiving LABAs with these rare variants had increased exacerbations requiring urgent outpatient healthcare visits (non-Hispanic Whites with or without the rare Ile164 allele: 2·6 visits versus 1·1 visits, p=8·4 × 10−7 and African Americans with or without the rare insertion: 3·7 visits versus 2·4 visits, 0·01), and more frequently were treated with chronic systemic corticosteroids (OR4�

Annotating DNA variants is the next major goal for human genetics.

Science.gov (United States)

Cutting, Garry R

2014-01-02

Clinical genetic testing has undergone a dramatic transformation in the past two decades. Diagnostic laboratories that previously tested for well-established disease-causing DNA variants in a handful of genes have evolved into sequencing factories identifying thousands of variants of known and unknown medical consequence. Sorting out what does and does not cause disease in our genomes is the next great challenge in making genetics a central feature of healthcare. I propose that closing the gap in our ability to interpret variation responsible for Mendelian disorders provides a grand and unprecedented opportunity for geneticists. Human geneticists are well placed to coordinate a systematic evaluation of variants in collaboration with basic scientists and clinicians. Sharing of knowledge, data, methods, and tools will aid both researchers and healthcare workers in achieving their common goal of defining the pathogenic potential of variants. Generation of variant annotations will inform genetic testing and will deepen our understanding of gene and protein function, thereby aiding the search for molecular targeted therapies. Copyright © 2014 The American Society of Human Genetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Deleterious genetic variants in ciliopathy genes increase risk of ritodrine-induced cardiac and pulmonary side effects.

Science.gov (United States)

Seo, Heewon; Kwon, Eun Jin; You, Young-Ah; Park, Yoomi; Min, Byung Joo; Yoo, Kyunghun; Hwang, Han-Sung; Kim, Ju Han; Kim, Young Ju

2018-01-24

Ritodrine is a commonly used tocolytic to prevent preterm labour. However, it can cause unexpected serious adverse reactions, such as pulmonary oedema, pulmonary congestion, and tachycardia. It is unknown whether such adverse reactions are associated with pharmacogenomic variants in patients. Whole-exome sequencing of 13 subjects with serious ritodrine-induced cardiac and pulmonary side-effects was performed to identify causal genes and variants. The deleterious impact of nonsynonymous substitutions for all genes was computed and compared between cases (n = 13) and controls (n = 30). The significant genes were annotated with Gene Ontology (GO), and the associated disease terms were categorised into four functional classes for functional enrichment tests. To assess the impact of distributed rare variants in cases with side effects, we carried out rare variant association tests with a minor allele frequency ≤ 1% using the burden test, the sequence Kernel association test (SKAT), and optimised SKAT. We identified 28 genes that showed significantly lower gene-wise deleteriousness scores in cases than in controls. Three of the identified genes-CYP1A1, CYP8B1, and SERPINA7-are pharmacokinetic genes. The significantly identified genes were categorized into four functional classes: ion binding, ATP binding, Ca 2+ -related, and ciliopathies-related. These four classes were significantly enriched with ciliary genes according to SYSCILIA Gold Standard genes (P side effects may be associated with deleterious genetic variants in ciliary and pharmacokinetic genes.

Genetic variants in post myocardial infarction patients presenting with electrical storm of unstable ventricular tachycardia.

Science.gov (United States)

Rangaraju, Advithi; Krishnan, Shuba; Aparna, G; Sankaran, Satish; Mannan, Ashraf U; Rao, B Hygriv

2018-01-30

Electrical storm (ES) is a life threatening clinical situation. Though a few clinical pointers exist, the occurrence of ES in a patient with remote myocardial infarction (MI) is generally unpredictable. Genetic markers for this entity have not been studied. In the present study, we carried out genetic screening in patients with remote myocardial infarction presenting with ES by next generation sequencing and identified 25 rare variants in 19 genes predominantly in RYR2, SCN5A, KCNJ11, KCNE1 and KCNH2, CACNA1B, CACNA1C, CACNA1D and desmosomal genes - DSP and DSG2 that could potentially be implicated in electrical storm. These genes have been previously reported to be associated with inherited syndromes of Sudden Cardiac Death. The present study suggests that the genetic architecture in patients with remote MI and ES of unstable ventricular tachycardia may be similar to that of Ion channelopathies. Identification of these variants may identify post MI patients who are predisposed to develop electrical storm and help in risk stratification. Copyright © 2018 Indian Heart Rhythm Society. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Integrative analysis of functional genomic annotations and sequencing data to identify rare causal variants via hierarchical modeling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marinela eCapanu

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Identifying the small number of rare causal variants contributing to disease has beena major focus of investigation in recent years, but represents a formidable statisticalchallenge due to the rare frequencies with which these variants are observed. In thiscommentary we draw attention to a formal statistical framework, namely hierarchicalmodeling, to combine functional genomic annotations with sequencing data with theobjective of enhancing our ability to identify rare causal variants. Using simulations weshow that in all configurations studied, the hierarchical modeling approach has superiordiscriminatory ability compared to a recently proposed aggregate measure of deleteriousness,the Combined Annotation-Dependent Depletion (CADD score, supportingour premise that aggregate functional genomic measures can more accurately identifycausal variants when used in conjunction with sequencing data through a hierarchicalmodeling approach

Identifying Rare Variation in Cases of Schizophrenia in the Isolated Population of the Faroe Islands using Whole-genome Sequencing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Als, Thomas Damm; Lescai, Francesco; Dahl, Hans

to map risk variants involved in complex traits. We aim at utilizing samples of cases and controls of the isolated population of the Faroe Islands to conduct whole-genome-sequence analysis in order to identify rare genetic variants associated with schizophrenia. We will search for rare genetic variants...... of developing SZ. However, these studies are designed to examining only “the common variant” proportion of the genomic landscape of SZ. Due to increased genetic drift during founding and potential bottlenecks, followed by population expansion, isolated populations may be particularly useful in identifying rare...... disease variants, that may appear at higher frequencies and/or within a more clearly distinct haplotype structure compared to outbred populations. Small isolated populations also typically show reduced phenotypic, genetic and environmental heterogeneity, thus making them advantageous in studies aiming...

Genetic variants in hormone-related genes and risk of breast cancer.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tess Clendenen

Full Text Available Sex hormones play a key role in the development of breast cancer. Certain polymorphic variants (SNPs and repeat polymorphisms in hormone-related genes are associated with sex hormone levels. However, the relationship observed between these genetic variants and breast cancer risk has been inconsistent. We conducted a case-control study nested within two prospective cohorts to assess the relationship between specific genetic variants in hormone-related genes and breast cancer risk. In total, 1164 cases and 2111 individually-matched controls were included in the study. We did not observe an association between potential functional genetic polymorphisms in the estrogen pathway, SHBG rs6259, ESR1 rs2234693, CYP19 rs10046 and rs4775936, and UGT1A1 rs8175347, or the progesterone pathway, PGR rs1042838, with the risk of breast cancer. Our results suggest that these genetic variants do not have a strong effect on breast cancer risk.

Changes in classification of genetic variants in BRCA1 and BRCA2.

Science.gov (United States)

Kast, Karin; Wimberger, Pauline; Arnold, Norbert

2018-02-01

Classification of variants of unknown significance (VUS) in the breast cancer genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 changes with accumulating evidence for clinical relevance. In most cases down-staging towards neutral variants without clinical significance is possible. We searched the database of the German Consortium for Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer (GC-HBOC) for changes in classification of genetic variants as an update to our earlier publication on genetic variants in the Centre of Dresden. Changes between 2015 and 2017 were recorded. In the group of variants of unclassified significance (VUS, Class 3, uncertain), only changes of classification towards neutral genetic variants were noted. In BRCA1, 25% of the Class 3 variants (n = 2/8) changed to Class 2 (likely benign) and Class 1 (benign). In BRCA2, in 50% of the Class 3 variants (n = 16/32), a change to Class 2 (n = 10/16) or Class 1 (n = 6/16) was observed. No change in classification was noted in Class 4 (likely pathogenic) and Class 5 (pathogenic) genetic variants in both genes. No up-staging from Class 1, Class 2 or Class 3 to more clinical significance was observed. All variants with a change in classification in our cohort were down-staged towards no clinical significance by a panel of experts of the German Consortium for Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer (GC-HBOC). Prevention in families with Class 3 variants should be based on pedigree based risks and should not be guided by the presence of a VUS.

Exome sequence analysis and follow up genotyping implicates rare ULK1 variants to be involved in susceptibility to schizophrenia

Science.gov (United States)

Al Eissa, Mariam M.; Fiorentino, Alessia; Sharp, Sally I.; O'Brien, Niamh L.; Wolfe, Kate; Giaroli, Giovanni; Curtis, David; Bass, Nicholas J.

2017-01-01

Summary Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a severe, highly heritable psychiatric disorder. Elucidation of the genetic architecture of the disorder will facilitate greater understanding of the altered underlying neurobiological mechanisms. The aim of this study was to identify likely aetiological variants in subjects affected with SCZ. Exome sequence data from a SCZ cas–control sample from Sweden was analysed for likely aetiological variants using a weighted burden test. Suggestive evidence implicated the UNC‐51‐like kinase (ULK1) gene, and it was observed that four rare variants that were more common in the Swedish SCZ cases were also more common in UK10K SCZ cases, as compared to obesity cases. These three missense variants and one intronic variant were genotyped in the University College London cohort of 1304 SCZ cases and 1348 ethnically matched controls. All four variants were more common in the SCZ cases than controls and combining them produced a result significant at P = 0.02. The results presented here demonstrate the importance of following up exome sequencing studies using additional datasets. The roles of ULK1 in autophagy and mTOR signalling strengthen the case that these pathways may be important in the pathophysiology of SCZ. The findings reported here await independent replication. PMID:29148569

Novel Variants in Individuals with RYR1-Related Congenital Myopathies: Genetic, Laboratory, and Clinical Findings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joshua J. Todd

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The ryanodine receptor 1-related congenital myopathies (RYR1-RM comprise a spectrum of slow, rare neuromuscular diseases. Affected individuals present with a mild-to-severe symptomatology ranging from proximal muscle weakness, hypotonia and joint contractures to scoliosis, ophthalmoplegia, and respiratory involvement. Although there is currently no FDA-approved treatment for RYR1-RM, our group recently conducted the first clinical trial in this patient population (NCT02362425. This study aimed to characterize novel RYR1 variants with regard to genetic, laboratory, muscle magnetic resonance imaging (MRI, and clinical findings. Genetic and histopathology reports were obtained from participant’s medical records. Alamut Visual Software was used to determine if participant’s variants had been previously reported and to assess predicted pathogenicity. Physical exams, pulmonary function tests, T1-weighted muscle MRI scans, and blood measures were completed during the abovementioned clinical trial. Six novel variants (two de novo, three dominant, and one recessive were identified in individuals with RYR1-RM. Consistent with established RYR1-RM histopathology, cores were observed in all biopsies, except Case 6 who exhibited fiber-type disproportion. Muscle atrophy and impaired mobility with Trendelenburg gait were the most common clinical symptoms and were identified in all cases. Muscle MRI revealed substantial inter-individual variation in fatty infiltration corroborating the heterogeneity of the disease. Two individuals with dominant RYR1 variants exhibited respiratory insufficiency: a clinical symptom more commonly associated with recessive RYR1-RM cases. This study demonstrates that a genetics-led approach is suitable for the diagnosis of suspected RYR1-RM which can be corroborated through histopathology, muscle MRI and clinical examination.

m6ASNP: a tool for annotating genetic variants by m6A function.

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Shuai; Xie, Yubin; He, Zhihao; Zhang, Ya; Zhao, Yuli; Chen, Li; Zheng, Yueyuan; Miao, Yanyan; Zuo, Zhixiang; Ren, Jian

2018-04-02

Large-scale genome sequencing projects have identified many genetic variants for diverse diseases. A major goal of these projects is to characterize these genetic variants to provide insight into their function and roles in diseases. N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is one of the most abundant RNA modifications in eukaryotes. Recent studies have revealed that aberrant m6A modifications are involved in many diseases. In this study, we present a user-friendly web server called "m6ASNP" that is dedicated to the identification of genetic variants targeting m6A modification sites. A random forest model was implemented in m6ASNP to predict whether the methylation status of a m6A site is altered by the variants surrounding the site. In m6ASNP, genetic variants in a standard VCF format are accepted as the input data, and the output includes an interactive table containing the genetic variants annotated by m6A function. In addition, statistical diagrams and a genome browser are provided to visualize the characteristics and annotate the genetic variants. We believe that m6ASNP is a highly convenient tool that can be used to boost further functional studies investigating genetic variants. The web server "m6ASNP" is implemented in JAVA and PHP and is freely available at http://m6asnp.renlab.org.

Neurodevelopmental disease-associated de novo mutations and rare sequence variants affect TRIO GDP/GTP exchange factor activity.

Science.gov (United States)

Katrancha, Sara M; Wu, Yi; Zhu, Minsheng; Eipper, Betty A; Koleske, Anthony J; Mains, Richard E

2017-12-01

Bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, autism and intellectual disability are complex neurodevelopmental disorders, debilitating millions of people. Therapeutic progress is limited by poor understanding of underlying molecular pathways. Using a targeted search, we identified an enrichment of de novo mutations in the gene encoding the 330-kDa triple functional domain (TRIO) protein associated with neurodevelopmental disorders. By generating multiple TRIO antibodies, we show that the smaller TRIO9 isoform is the major brain protein product, and its levels decrease after birth. TRIO9 contains two guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) domains with distinct specificities: GEF1 activates both Rac1 and RhoG; GEF2 activates RhoA. To understand the impact of disease-associated de novo mutations and other rare sequence variants on TRIO function, we utilized two FRET-based biosensors: a Rac1 biosensor to study mutations in TRIO (T)GEF1, and a RhoA biosensor to study mutations in TGEF2. We discovered that one autism-associated de novo mutation in TGEF1 (K1431M), at the TGEF1/Rac1 interface, markedly decreased its overall activity toward Rac1. A schizophrenia-associated rare sequence variant in TGEF1 (F1538Intron) was substantially less active, normalized to protein level and expressed poorly. Overall, mutations in TGEF1 decreased GEF1 activity toward Rac1. One bipolar disorder-associated rare variant (M2145T) in TGEF2 impaired inhibition by the TGEF2 pleckstrin-homology domain, resulting in dramatically increased TGEF2 activity. Overall, genetic damage to both TGEF domains altered TRIO catalytic activity, decreasing TGEF1 activity and increasing TGEF2 activity. Importantly, both GEF changes are expected to decrease neurite outgrowth, perhaps consistent with their association with neurodevelopmental disorders. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Exome genotyping arrays to identify rare and low frequency variants associated with epithelial ovarian cancer risk

Science.gov (United States)

Permuth, Jennifer B.; Pirie, Ailith; Ann Chen, Y.; Lin, Hui-Yi; Reid, Brett M.; Chen, Zhihua; Monteiro, Alvaro; Dennis, Joe; Mendoza-Fandino, Gustavo; Anton-Culver, Hoda; Bandera, Elisa V.; Bisogna, Maria; Brinton, Louise; Brooks-Wilson, Angela; Carney, Michael E.; Chenevix-Trench, Georgia; Cook, Linda S.; Cramer, Daniel W.; Cunningham, Julie M.; Cybulski, Cezary; D’Aloisio, Aimee A.; Anne Doherty, Jennifer; Earp, Madalene; Edwards, Robert P.; Fridley, Brooke L.; Gayther, Simon A.; Gentry-Maharaj, Aleksandra; Goodman, Marc T.; Gronwald, Jacek; Hogdall, Estrid; Iversen, Edwin S.; Jakubowska, Anna; Jensen, Allan; Karlan, Beth Y.; Kelemen, Linda E.; Kjaer, Suzanne K.; Kraft, Peter; Le, Nhu D.; Levine, Douglas A.; Lissowska, Jolanta; Lubinski, Jan; Matsuo, Keitaro; Menon, Usha; Modugno, Rosemary; Moysich, Kirsten B.; Nakanishi, Toru; Ness, Roberta B.; Olson, Sara; Orlow, Irene; Pearce, Celeste L.; Pejovic, Tanja; Poole, Elizabeth M.; Ramus, Susan J.; Anne Rossing, Mary; Sandler, Dale P.; Shu, Xiao-Ou; Song, Honglin; Taylor, Jack A.; Teo, Soo-Hwang; Terry, Kathryn L.; Thompson, Pamela J.; Tworoger, Shelley S.; Webb, Penelope M.; Wentzensen, Nicolas; Wilkens, Lynne R.; Winham, Stacey; Woo, Yin-Ling; Wu, Anna H.; Yang, Hannah; Zheng, Wei; Ziogas, Argyrios; Phelan, Catherine M.; Schildkraut, Joellen M.; Berchuck, Andrew; Goode, Ellen L.; Pharoah, Paul D. P.; Sellers, Thomas A.

2016-01-01

Rare and low frequency variants are not well covered in most germline genotyping arrays and are understudied in relation to epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) risk. To address this gap, we used genotyping arrays targeting rarer protein-coding variation in 8,165 EOC cases and 11,619 controls from the international Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (OCAC). Pooled association analyses were conducted at the variant and gene level for 98,543 variants directly genotyped through two exome genotyping projects. Only common variants that represent or are in strong linkage disequilibrium (LD) with previously-identified signals at established loci reached traditional thresholds for exome-wide significance (P  P≥5.0 ×10 − 7) were detected for rare and low-frequency variants at 16 novel loci. Four rare missense variants were identified (ACTBL2 rs73757391 (5q11.2), BTD rs200337373 (3p25.1), KRT13 rs150321809 (17q21.2) and MC2R rs104894658 (18p11.21)), but only MC2R rs104894668 had a large effect size (OR = 9.66). Genes most strongly associated with EOC risk included ACTBL2 (PAML = 3.23 × 10 − 5; PSKAT-o = 9.23 × 10 − 4) and KRT13 (PAML = 1.67 × 10 − 4; PSKAT-o = 1.07 × 10 − 5), reaffirming variant-level analysis. In summary, this large study identified several rare and low-frequency variants and genes that may contribute to EOC susceptibility, albeit with possible small effects. Future studies that integrate epidemiology, sequencing, and functional assays are needed to further unravel the unexplained heritability and biology of this disease. PMID:27378695

Genetic variants in CHI3L1 influencing YKL-40 levels

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kjaergaard, Alisa D; Johansen, Julia S; Nordestgaard, Børge G

2013-01-01

Despite its important role in many serious diseases, the genetic background for plasma YKL-40 has still not been systematically catalogued. Therefore, we aimed at identifying genetic variants in CHI3L1 influencing plasma YKL-40 levels in the general population.......Despite its important role in many serious diseases, the genetic background for plasma YKL-40 has still not been systematically catalogued. Therefore, we aimed at identifying genetic variants in CHI3L1 influencing plasma YKL-40 levels in the general population....

Genetic variants associated with lung function

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thyagarajan, Bharat; Wojczynski, Mary; Minster, Ryan L

2014-01-01

with exceptional longevity have not been identified. METHOD: We conducted a genome wide association study (GWAS) to identify novel genetic variants associated with lung function in the Long Life Family Study (LLFS) (n = 3,899). Replication was performed using data from the CHARGE/SpiroMeta consortia...

Rare Variants in Genes Encoding MuRF1 and MuRF2 Are Modifiers of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

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Ming Su

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Modifier genes contribute to the diverse clinical manifestations of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM, but are still largely unknown. Muscle ring finger (MuRF proteins are a class of muscle-specific ubiquitin E3-ligases that appear to modulate cardiac mass and function by regulating the ubiquitin-proteasome system. In this study we screened all the three members of the MuRF family, MuRF1, MuRF2 and MuRF3, in 594 unrelated HCM patients and 307 healthy controls by targeted resequencing. Identified rare variants were confirmed by capillary Sanger sequencing. The prevalence of rare variants in both MuRF1 and MuRF2 in HCM patients was higher than that in control subjects (MuRF1 13/594 (2.2% vs. 1/307 (0.3%, p = 0.04; MuRF2 22/594 (3.7% vs. 2/307 (0.7%; p = 0.007. Patients with rare variants in MuRF1 or MuRF2 were younger (p = 0.04 and had greater maximum left ventricular wall thickness (p = 0.006 than those without such variants. Mutations in genes encoding sarcomere proteins were present in 19 (55.9% of the 34 HCM patients with rare variants in MuRF1 and MuRF2. These data strongly supported that rare variants in MuRF1 and MuRF2 are associated with higher penetrance and more severe clinical manifestations of HCM. The findings suggest that dysregulation of the ubiquitin-proteasome system contributes to the pathogenesis of HCM.

CT diagnosis of rare histological variant of hepatocellular carcinoma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Huaibo; Feng Zhipeng; Duan Shaoyin; Zhaugn Xiangrong

2009-01-01

Objective: To explore and understand the CT findings of 5 rare histological variants of hepatocellular carcinoma. Methods: CT findings of 31 cases of rare histological variants confirmed by surgery and pathology were analyzed retrospectively. Results: 13 cases were clear cell hepatocellular carcinoma. 3 cases of them showed patchy fat density in plain scans. Enhanced CT showed features of 'fast in fast out' which was similar to the common hepatocellular carcinoma. 4 cases belonged to sclerosis hepatocellular carcinoma. They appeared as heterogeneous, slowly enhancement on arterial phase images, and delay enhancement on portal venous phase and delay phase images. 9 cases belonged to mixed hepatocellular carcinoma. 5 cases of them showed inhomogeneous enhancement and 4 without enhancement during arterial phase, 3 cases showed delay enhancement and 4 without during portal venous and delay phase. 3 cases were fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma. All showed obvious and fastly enhancement on arterial phase images, subsided slowly on the portal venous and delay phase images, showing features of 'fast in slow out', no enhancement was seen in the central scar. Shrinkage phenomenon on the surface of liver could be seen on the CT plain scans in sclerosis, mixed and fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma. 2 cases were the type of dense hepatocellular carcinoma. The surrounding part in the 2 cases were slightly enhanced, while the most part of the center were not enhanced similar to necrosis. Conclusion: The CT findings of rate histological variant of hepatocellular carcinoma are characteristic. Analyzing the CT plain and enhancement finding is helpful to the diagnosis of these types of hepatocellular carcinoma. (authors)

Comparison of gene-based rare variant association mapping methods for quantitative traits in a bovine population with complex familial relationships

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zhang, Qianqian; Guldbrandtsen, Bernt; Calus, Mario P.L.; Lund, Mogens Sandø; Sahana, Goutam

2016-01-01

Background: There is growing interest in the role of rare variants in the variation of complex traits due to increasing evidence that rare variants are associated with quantitative traits. However, association methods that are commonly used for mapping common variants are not effective to map

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors, somatic mutations and candidate genetic risk variants.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katie M O'Brien

Full Text Available Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs are rare but treatable soft tissue sarcomas. Nearly all GISTs have somatic mutations in either the KIT or PDGFRA gene, but there are no known inherited genetic risk factors. We assessed the relationship between KIT/PDGFRA mutations and select deletions or single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs in 279 participants from a clinical trial of adjuvant imatinib mesylate. Given previous evidence that certain susceptibility loci and carcinogens are associated with characteristic mutations, or "signatures" in other cancers, we hypothesized that the characteristic somatic mutations in the KIT and PDGFRA genes in GIST tumors may similarly be mutational signatures that are causally linked to specific mutagens or susceptibility loci. As previous epidemiologic studies suggest environmental risk factors such as dioxin and radiation exposure may be linked to sarcomas, we chose 208 variants in 39 candidate genes related to DNA repair and dioxin metabolism or response. We calculated adjusted odds ratios (ORs and 95% confidence intervals (CIs for the association between each variant and 7 categories of tumor mutation using logistic regression. We also evaluated gene-level effects using the sequence kernel association test (SKAT. Although none of the association p-values were statistically significant after adjustment for multiple comparisons, SNPs in CYP1B1 were strongly associated with KIT exon 11 codon 557-8 deletions (OR = 1.9, 95% CI: 1.3-2.9 for rs2855658 and OR = 1.8, 95% CI: 1.2-2.7 for rs1056836 and wild type GISTs (OR = 2.7, 95% CI: 1.5-4.8 for rs1800440 and OR = 0.5, 95% CI: 0.3-0.9 for rs1056836. CYP1B1 was also associated with these mutations categories in the SKAT analysis (p = 0.002 and p = 0.003, respectively. Other potential risk variants included GSTM1, RAD23B and ERCC2. This preliminary analysis of inherited genetic risk factors for GIST offers some clues about the disease's genetic

BRCA1 and BRCA2 genetic testing—pitfalls and recommendations for managing variants of uncertain clinical significance

Science.gov (United States)

Eccles, D. M.; Mitchell, G.; Monteiro, A. N. A.; Schmutzler, R.; Couch, F. J.; Spurdle, A. B.; Gómez-García, E. B.

2015-01-01

Background Increasing use of BRCA1/2 testing for tailoring cancer treatment and extension of testing to tumour tissue for somatic mutation is moving BRCA1/2 mutation screening from a primarily prevention arena delivered by specialist genetic services into mainstream oncology practice. A considerable number of gene tests will identify rare variants where clinical significance cannot be inferred from sequence information alone. The proportion of variants of uncertain clinical significance (VUS) is likely to grow with lower thresholds for testing and laboratory providers with less experience of BRCA. Most VUS will not be associated with a high risk of cancer but a misinterpreted VUS has the potential to lead to mismanagement of both the patient and their relatives. Design Members of the Clinical Working Group of ENIGMA (Evidence-based Network for the Interpretation of Germline Mutant Alleles) global consortium (www.enigmaconsortium.org) observed wide variation in practices in reporting, disclosure and clinical management of patients with a VUS. Examples from current clinical practice are presented and discussed to illustrate potential pitfalls, explore factors contributing to misinterpretation, and propose approaches to improving clarity. Results and conclusion Clinicians, patients and their relatives would all benefit from an improved level of genetic literacy. Genetic laboratories working with clinical geneticists need to agree on a clinically clear and uniform format for reporting BRCA test results to non-geneticists. An international consortium of experts, collecting and integrating all available lines of evidence and classifying variants according to an internationally recognized system, will facilitate reclassification of variants for clinical use. PMID:26153499

Rare and low-frequency coding variants alter human adult height

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Marouli, Eirini; Graff, Mariaelisa; Medina-Gomez, Carolina

2017-01-01

to 2 centimetres per allele (such as those in IHH, STC2, AR and CRISPLD2), greater than ten times the average effect of common variants. In functional follow-up studies, rare height-increasing alleles of STC2 (giving an increase of 1-2 centimetres per allele) compromised proteolytic inhibition of PAPP...

Association analysis identifies ZNF750 regulatory variants in psoriasis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Birnbaum Ramon Y

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Mutations in the ZNF750 promoter and coding regions have been previously associated with Mendelian forms of psoriasis and psoriasiform dermatitis. ZNF750 encodes a putative zinc finger transcription factor that is highly expressed in keratinocytes and represents a candidate psoriasis gene. Methods We examined whether ZNF750 variants were associated with psoriasis in a large case-control population. We sequenced the promoter and exon regions of ZNF750 in 716 Caucasian psoriasis cases and 397 Caucasian controls. Results We identified a total of 47 variants, including 38 rare variants of which 35 were novel. Association testing identified two ZNF750 haplotypes associated with psoriasis (p ZNF750 promoter and 5' UTR variants displayed a 35-55% reduction of ZNF750 promoter activity, consistent with the promoter activity reduction seen in a Mendelian psoriasis family with a ZNF750 promoter variant. However, the rare promoter and 5' UTR variants identified in this study did not strictly segregate with the psoriasis phenotype within families. Conclusions Two haplotypes of ZNF750 and rare 5' regulatory variants of ZNF750 were found to be associated with psoriasis. These rare 5' regulatory variants, though not causal, might serve as a genetic modifier of psoriasis.

Multiplexed enrichment of rare DNA variants via sequence-selective and temperature-robust amplification

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Lucia R.; Chen, Sherry X.; Wu, Yalei; Patel, Abhijit A.; Zhang, David Yu

2018-01-01

Rare DNA-sequence variants hold important clinical and biological information, but existing detection techniques are expensive, complex, allele-specific, or don’t allow for significant multiplexing. Here, we report a temperature-robust polymerase-chain-reaction method, which we term blocker displacement amplification (BDA), that selectively amplifies all sequence variants, including single-nucleotide variants (SNVs), within a roughly 20-nucleotide window by 1,000-fold over wild-type sequences. This allows for easy detection and quantitation of hundreds of potential variants originally at ≤0.1% in allele frequency. BDA is compatible with inexpensive thermocycler instrumentation and employs a rationally designed competitive hybridization reaction to achieve comparable enrichment performance across annealing temperatures ranging from 56 °C to 64 °C. To show the sequence generality of BDA, we demonstrate enrichment of 156 SNVs and the reliable detection of single-digit copies. We also show that the BDA detection of rare driver mutations in cell-free DNA samples extracted from the blood plasma of lung-cancer patients is highly consistent with deep sequencing using molecular lineage tags, with a receiver operator characteristic accuracy of 95%. PMID:29805844

Rare and common regulatory variation in population-scale sequenced human genomes.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephen B Montgomery

2011-07-01

Full Text Available Population-scale genome sequencing allows the characterization of functional effects of a broad spectrum of genetic variants underlying human phenotypic variation. Here, we investigate the influence of rare and common genetic variants on gene expression patterns, using variants identified from sequencing data from the 1000 genomes project in an African and European population sample and gene expression data from lymphoblastoid cell lines. We detect comparable numbers of expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs when compared to genotypes obtained from HapMap 3, but as many as 80% of the top expression quantitative trait variants (eQTVs discovered from 1000 genomes data are novel. The properties of the newly discovered variants suggest that mapping common causal regulatory variants is challenging even with full resequencing data; however, we observe significant enrichment of regulatory effects in splice-site and nonsense variants. Using RNA sequencing data, we show that 46.2% of nonsynonymous variants are differentially expressed in at least one individual in our sample, creating widespread potential for interactions between functional protein-coding and regulatory variants. We also use allele-specific expression to identify putative rare causal regulatory variants. Furthermore, we demonstrate that outlier expression values can be due to rare variant effects, and we approximate the number of such effects harboured in an individual by effect size. Our results demonstrate that integration of genomic and RNA sequencing analyses allows for the joint assessment of genome sequence and genome function.

Software Application Profile: RVPedigree: a suite of family-based rare variant association tests for normally and non-normally distributed quantitative traits.

Science.gov (United States)

Oualkacha, Karim; Lakhal-Chaieb, Lajmi; Greenwood, Celia Mt

2016-04-01

RVPedigree (Rare Variant association tests in Pedigrees) implements a suite of programs facilitating genome-wide analysis of association between a quantitative trait and autosomal region-based genetic variation. The main features here are the ability to appropriately test for association of rare variants with non-normally distributed quantitative traits, and also to appropriately adjust for related individuals, either from families or from population structure and cryptic relatedness. RVPedigree is available as an R package. The package includes calculation of kinship matrices, various options for coping with non-normality, three different ways of estimating statistical significance incorporating triaging to enable efficient use of the most computationally-intensive calculations, and a parallelization option for genome-wide analysis. The software is available from the Comprehensive R Archive Network [CRAN.R-project.org] under the name 'RVPedigree' and at [https://github.com/GreenwoodLab]. It has been published under General Public License (GPL) version 3 or newer. © The Author 2016; all rights reserved. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association.

CDKL5 variants

Science.gov (United States)

Kalscheuer, Vera M.; Hennig, Friederike; Leonard, Helen; Downs, Jenny; Clarke, Angus; Benke, Tim A.; Armstrong, Judith; Pineda, Mercedes; Bailey, Mark E.S.; Cobb, Stuart R.

2017-01-01

Objective: To provide new insights into the interpretation of genetic variants in a rare neurologic disorder, CDKL5 deficiency, in the contexts of population sequencing data and an updated characterization of the CDKL5 gene. Methods: We analyzed all known potentially pathogenic CDKL5 variants by combining data from large-scale population sequencing studies with CDKL5 variants from new and all available clinical cohorts and combined this with computational methods to predict pathogenicity. Results: The study has identified several variants that can be reclassified as benign or likely benign. With the addition of novel CDKL5 variants, we confirm that pathogenic missense variants cluster in the catalytic domain of CDKL5 and reclassify a purported missense variant as having a splicing consequence. We provide further evidence that missense variants in the final 3 exons are likely to be benign and not important to disease pathology. We also describe benign splicing and nonsense variants within these exons, suggesting that isoform hCDKL5_5 is likely to have little or no neurologic significance. We also use the available data to make a preliminary estimate of minimum incidence of CDKL5 deficiency. Conclusions: These findings have implications for genetic diagnosis, providing evidence for the reclassification of specific variants previously thought to result in CDKL5 deficiency. Together, these analyses support the view that the predominant brain isoform in humans (hCDKL5_1) is crucial for normal neurodevelopment and that the catalytic domain is the primary functional domain. PMID:29264392

RARE DISEASES AND GENETIC DISCRIMINATION

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Mariela Yaneva – Deliverska

2011-04-01

Full Text Available Rare diseases are characterised by their low prevalence (less than 1/2,000 and their heterogeneity. They affect both children and adults anywhere in the world. From the medical perspective, rare diseases are characterised by the large number and broad diversity of disorders and symptoms that vary not only from disease to disease, but also within the same disease.Main characteristics of rare diseases include:· Rare diseases are often chronic, progressive, degenerative, and often life-threatening· Rare diseases are disabling: the quality of life of patients is often compromised by the lack or loss of autonomy· High level of pain and suffering for the patient and his/ her family · No existing effective cure· There are between 6000 and 8000 rare diseases· 75% of rare diseases affect children· 30% of rare disease patients die before the age of 5· 80% of rare diseases have identified genetic origins. Other rare diseases are the result of infections (bacterial or viral, allergies and environmental causes, or are degenerative and proliferative.Beyond the diversity of the diseases, rare disease patients and their families are confronted with the same wide range of difficulties arising directly from the rarity of these pathologies. The period between the emergence of the first symptoms and the appropriate diagnosis involves unacceptable and highly risky delays, as well as wrong diagnosis leading to inaccurate treatments. Living with a rare disease has implications in all areas of life, whether school, choice of future work, leisure time with friends, or affective life. It may lead to stigmatisation, isolation, exclusion from social community, discrimination for insurance subscription (health insurance, travel insurance, mortgage, and often reduced professional opportunities.Innovative treatments are often unevenly available in the EU because of delays in price determination and/or reimbursement decision, lack of experience of the treating

The role of common genetic variants in atrial fibrillation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Paludan-Muller, Christian; Svendsen, Jesper H.; Olesen, Morten S.

2016-01-01

lone AF, has a substantial genetic component. A number of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have indicated that common genetic variants, more precisely the so called single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are associated with AF. Presently more than 10 genomic regions have been identified using...

The evolving genetic risk for sporadic ALS.

Science.gov (United States)

Gibson, Summer B; Downie, Jonathan M; Tsetsou, Spyridoula; Feusier, Julie E; Figueroa, Karla P; Bromberg, Mark B; Jorde, Lynn B; Pulst, Stefan M

2017-07-18

To estimate the genetic risk conferred by known amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)-associated genes to the pathogenesis of sporadic ALS (SALS) using variant allele frequencies combined with predicted variant pathogenicity. Whole exome sequencing and repeat expansion PCR of C9orf72 and ATXN2 were performed on 87 patients of European ancestry with SALS seen at the University of Utah. DNA variants that change the protein coding sequence of 31 ALS-associated genes were annotated to determine which were rare and deleterious as predicted by MetaSVM. The percentage of patients with SALS with a rare and deleterious variant or repeat expansion in an ALS-associated gene was calculated. An odds ratio analysis was performed comparing the burden of ALS-associated genes in patients with SALS vs 324 normal controls. Nineteen rare nonsynonymous variants in an ALS-associated gene, 2 of which were found in 2 different individuals, were identified in 21 patients with SALS. Further, 5 deleterious C9orf72 and 2 ATXN2 repeat expansions were identified. A total of 17.2% of patients with SALS had a rare and deleterious variant or repeat expansion in an ALS-associated gene. The genetic burden of ALS-associated genes in patients with SALS as predicted by MetaSVM was significantly higher than in normal controls. Previous analyses have identified SALS-predisposing variants only in terms of their rarity in normal control populations. By incorporating variant pathogenicity as well as variant frequency, we demonstrated that the genetic risk contributed by these genes for SALS is substantially lower than previous estimates. © 2017 American Academy of Neurology.

Complex Landscape of Germline Variants in Brazilian Patients With Hereditary and Early Onset Breast Cancer

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Giovana T. Torrezan

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Pathogenic variants in known breast cancer (BC predisposing genes explain only about 30% of Hereditary Breast Cancer (HBC cases, whereas the underlying genetic factors for most families remain unknown. Here, we used whole-exome sequencing (WES to identify genetic variants associated to HBC in 17 patients of Brazil with familial BC and negative for causal variants in major BC risk genes (BRCA1/2, TP53, and CHEK2 c.1100delC. First, we searched for rare variants in 27 known HBC genes and identified two patients harboring truncating pathogenic variants in ATM and BARD1. For the remaining 15 negative patients, we found a substantial vast number of rare genetic variants. Thus, for selecting the most promising variants we used functional-based variant prioritization, followed by NGS validation, analysis in a control group, cosegregation analysis in one family and comparison with previous WES studies, shrinking our list to 23 novel BC candidate genes, which were evaluated in an independent cohort of 42 high-risk BC patients. Rare and possibly damaging variants were identified in 12 candidate genes in this cohort, including variants in DNA repair genes (ERCC1 and SXL4 and other cancer-related genes (NOTCH2, ERBB2, MST1R, and RAF1. Overall, this is the first WES study applied for identifying novel genes associated to HBC in Brazilian patients, in which we provide a set of putative BC predisposing genes. We also underpin the value of using WES for assessing the complex landscape of HBC susceptibility, especially in less characterized populations.

[Genetic variants in miRNAs and its association with breast cancer].

Science.gov (United States)

Méndez-Gómez, Susana; Ruiz Esparza-Garrido, Ruth; Velázquez-Flores, Miguel; Dolores-Vergara, Maria; Salamanca-Gómez, Fabio; Arenas-Aranda, Diego Julio

2014-01-01

In Mexico, breast cancer represents the first cause of cancer death in females. At the molecular level, non-coding RNAs and especially microRNAs have played an important role in the origin and development of this neoplasm In the Anglo-Saxon population, diverse genetic variants in microRNA genes and in their targets are associated with the development of this disease. In the Mexican population it is not known if these or other variants exist. Identification of these or new variants in our population is fundamental in order to have a better understanding of cancer development and to help establish a better diagnostic strategy. DNA was isolated from mammary tumors, adjacent tissue and peripheral blood of Mexican females with or without cancer. From DNA, five microRNA genes and three of their targets were amplified and sequenced. Genetic variants associated with breast cancer in an Anglo- Saxon population have been previously identified in these sequences. In the samples studied we identified seven single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Two had not been previously described and were identified only in women with cancer. The new variants may be genetic predisposition factors for the development of breast cancer in our population. Further experiments are needed to determine the involvement of these variants in the development, establishment and progression of breast cancer.

BRCA1 and BRCA2 genetic testing-pitfalls and recommendations for managing variants of uncertain clinical significance.

Science.gov (United States)

Eccles, D M; Mitchell, G; Monteiro, A N A; Schmutzler, R; Couch, F J; Spurdle, A B; Gómez-García, E B

2015-10-01

Increasing use of BRCA1/2 testing for tailoring cancer treatment and extension of testing to tumour tissue for somatic mutation is moving BRCA1/2 mutation screening from a primarily prevention arena delivered by specialist genetic services into mainstream oncology practice. A considerable number of gene tests will identify rare variants where clinical significance cannot be inferred from sequence information alone. The proportion of variants of uncertain clinical significance (VUS) is likely to grow with lower thresholds for testing and laboratory providers with less experience of BRCA. Most VUS will not be associated with a high risk of cancer but a misinterpreted VUS has the potential to lead to mismanagement of both the patient and their relatives. Members of the Clinical Working Group of ENIGMA (Evidence-based Network for the Interpretation of Germline Mutant Alleles) global consortium (www.enigmaconsortium.org) observed wide variation in practices in reporting, disclosure and clinical management of patients with a VUS. Examples from current clinical practice are presented and discussed to illustrate potential pitfalls, explore factors contributing to misinterpretation, and propose approaches to improving clarity. Clinicians, patients and their relatives would all benefit from an improved level of genetic literacy. Genetic laboratories working with clinical geneticists need to agree on a clinically clear and uniform format for reporting BRCA test results to non-geneticists. An international consortium of experts, collecting and integrating all available lines of evidence and classifying variants according to an internationally recognized system, will facilitate reclassification of variants for clinical use. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society for Medical Oncology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

A random forest classifier for detecting rare variants in NGS data from viral populations

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Raunaq Malhotra

Full Text Available We propose a random forest classifier for detecting rare variants from sequencing errors in Next Generation Sequencing (NGS data from viral populations. The method utilizes counts of varying length of k-mers from the reads of a viral population to train a Random forest classifier, called MultiRes, that classifies k-mers as erroneous or rare variants. Our algorithm is rooted in concepts from signal processing and uses a frame-based representation of k-mers. Frames are sets of non-orthogonal basis functions that were traditionally used in signal processing for noise removal. We define discrete spatial signals for genomes and sequenced reads, and show that k-mers of a given size constitute a frame.We evaluate MultiRes on simulated and real viral population datasets, which consist of many low frequency variants, and compare it to the error detection methods used in correction tools known in the literature. MultiRes has 4 to 500 times less false positives k-mer predictions compared to other methods, essential for accurate estimation of viral population diversity and their de-novo assembly. It has high recall of the true k-mers, comparable to other error correction methods. MultiRes also has greater than 95% recall for detecting single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs and fewer false positive SNPs, while detecting higher number of rare variants compared to other variant calling methods for viral populations. The software is available freely from the GitHub link https://github.com/raunaq-m/MultiRes. Keywords: Sequencing error detection, Reference free methods, Next-generation sequencing, Viral populations, Multi-resolution frames, Random forest classifier

Whole-exome sequencing of individuals from an isolated population implicates rare risk variants in bipolar disorder

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lescai, F; Als, T D; Li, Q

2017-01-01

Bipolar disorder affects about 1% of the world's population, and its estimated heritability is about 75%. Only few whole genome or whole-exome sequencing studies in bipolar disorder have been reported, and no rare coding variants have yet been robustly identified. The use of isolated populations...... PITPNM2 missense variant, which is located in a highly significant schizophrenia GWAS locus. Likewise, PIK3C2A identified in the gene-based analysis is located in a combined bipolar and schizophrenia GWAS locus. Our results show support both for existing findings in the literature, as well as for new...... risk genes, and identify rare variants that might provide additional information on the underlying biology of bipolar disorder....

Fine-Mapping of Common Genetic Variants Associated with Colorectal Tumor Risk Identified Potential Functional Variants.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mengmeng Du

Full Text Available Genome-wide association studies (GWAS have identified many common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs associated with colorectal cancer risk. These SNPs may tag correlated variants with biological importance. Fine-mapping around GWAS loci can facilitate detection of functional candidates and additional independent risk variants. We analyzed 11,900 cases and 14,311 controls in the Genetics and Epidemiology of Colorectal Cancer Consortium and the Colon Cancer Family Registry. To fine-map genomic regions containing all known common risk variants, we imputed high-density genetic data from the 1000 Genomes Project. We tested single-variant associations with colorectal tumor risk for all variants spanning genomic regions 250-kb upstream or downstream of 31 GWAS-identified SNPs (index SNPs. We queried the University of California, Santa Cruz Genome Browser to examine evidence for biological function. Index SNPs did not show the strongest association signals with colorectal tumor risk in their respective genomic regions. Bioinformatics analysis of SNPs showing smaller P-values in each region revealed 21 functional candidates in 12 loci (5q31.1, 8q24, 11q13.4, 11q23, 12p13.32, 12q24.21, 14q22.2, 15q13, 18q21, 19q13.1, 20p12.3, and 20q13.33. We did not observe evidence of additional independent association signals in GWAS-identified regions. Our results support the utility of integrating data from comprehensive fine-mapping with expanding publicly available genomic databases to help clarify GWAS associations and identify functional candidates that warrant more onerous laboratory follow-up. Such efforts may aid the eventual discovery of disease-causing variant(s.

Genetic Variants in Transcription Factors Are Associated With the Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of Metformin

Science.gov (United States)

Goswami, S; Yee, SW; Stocker, S; Mosley, JD; Kubo, M; Castro, R; Mefford, JA; Wen, C; Liang, X; Witte, J; Brett, C; Maeda, S; Simpson, MD; Hedderson, MM; Davis, RL; Roden, DM; Giacomini, KM; Savic, RM

2014-01-01

One-third of type 2 diabetes patients do not respond to metformin. Genetic variants in metformin transporters have been extensively studied as a likely contributor to this high failure rate. Here, we investigate, for the first time, the effect of genetic variants in transcription factors on metformin pharmacokinetics (PK) and response. Overall, 546 patients and healthy volunteers contributed their genome-wide, pharmacokinetic (235 subjects), and HbA1c data (440 patients) for this analysis. Five variants in specificity protein 1 (SP1), a transcription factor that modulates the expression of metformin transporters, were associated with changes in treatment HbA1c (P < 0.01) and metformin secretory clearance (P < 0.05). Population pharmacokinetic modeling further confirmed a 24% reduction in apparent clearance in homozygous carriers of one such variant, rs784888. Genetic variants in other transcription factors, peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor-α and hepatocyte nuclear factor 4-α, were significantly associated with HbA1c change only. Overall, our study highlights the importance of genetic variants in transcription factors as modulators of metformin PK and response. PMID:24853734

Evidence for a role of the rare p.A152T variant in MAPT in increasing the risk for FTD-spectrum and Alzheimer's diseases

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Coppola, Giovanni; Chinnathambi, Subashchandrabose; Lee, Jason JiYong; Dombroski, Beth A.; Baker, Matt C.; Soto-Ortolaza, Alexandra I.; Lee, Suzee E.; Klein, Eric; Huang, Alden Y.; Sears, Renee; Lane, Jessica R.; Karydas, Anna M.; Kenet, Robert O.; Biernat, Jacek; Wang, Li-San; Cotman, Carl W.; DeCarli, Charles S.; Levey, Allan I.; Ringman, John M.; Mendez, Mario F.; Chui, Helena C.; Le Ber, Isabelle; Brice, Alexis; Lupton, Michelle K.; Preza, Elisavet; Lovestone, Simon; Powell, John; Graff-Radford, Neill; Petersen, Ronald C.; Boeve, Bradley F.; Lippa, Carol F.; Bigio, Eileen H.; Mackenzie, Ian; Finger, Elizabeth; Kertesz, Andrew; Caselli, Richard J.; Gearing, Marla; Juncos, Jorge L.; Ghetti, Bernardino; Spina, Salvatore; Bordelon, Yvette M.; Tourtellotte, Wallace W.; Frosch, Matthew P.; Vonsattel, Jean Paul G.; Zarow, Chris; Beach, Thomas G.; Albin, Roger L.; Lieberman, Andrew P.; Lee, Virginia M.; Trojanowski, John Q.; Van Deerlin, Vivianna M.; Bird, Thomas D.; Galasko, Douglas R.; Masliah, Eliezer; White, Charles L.; Troncoso, Juan C.; Hannequin, Didier; Boxer, Adam L.; Geschwind, Michael D.; Kumar, Satish; Mandelkow, Eva-Maria; Wszolek, Zbigniew K.; Uitti, Ryan J.; Dickson, Dennis W.; Haines, Jonathan L.; Mayeux, Richard; Pericak-Vance, Margaret A.; Farrer, Lindsay A.; Ross, Owen A.; Rademakers, Rosa; Schellenberg, Gerard D.; Miller, Bruce L.; Mandelkow, Eckhard; Geschwind, Daniel H.

2012-01-01

Rare mutations in the gene encoding for tau (MAPT, microtubule-associated protein tau) cause frontotemporal dementia-spectrum (FTD-s) disorders, including FTD, progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and corticobasal syndrome, and a common extended haplotype spanning across the MAPT locus is associated with increased risk of PSP and Parkinson's disease. We identified a rare tau variant (p.A152T) in a patient with a clinical diagnosis of PSP and assessed its frequency in multiple independent series of patients with neurodegenerative conditions and controls, in a total of 15 369 subjects. Tau p.A152T significantly increases the risk for both FTD-s (n = 2139, OR = 3.0, CI: 1.6–5.6, P = 0.0005) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) (n = 3345, OR = 2.3, CI: 1.3–4.2, P = 0.004) compared with 9047 controls. Functionally, p.A152T (i) decreases the binding of tau to microtubules and therefore promotes microtubule assembly less efficiently; and (ii) reduces the tendency to form abnormal fibers. However, there is a pronounced increase in the formation of tau oligomers. Importantly, these findings suggest that other regions of the tau protein may be crucial in regulating normal function, as the p.A152 residue is distal to the domains considered responsible for microtubule interactions or aggregation. These data provide both the first genetic evidence and functional studies supporting the role of MAPT p.A152T as a rare risk factor for both FTD-s and AD and the concept that rare variants can increase the risk for relatively common, complex neurodegenerative diseases, but since no clear significance threshold for rare genetic variation has been established, some caution is warranted until the findings are further replicated. PMID:22556362

Rare HFE variants are the most frequent cause of hemochromatosis in non-c282y homozygous patients with hemochromatosis.

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Hamdi-Rozé, Houda; Beaumont-Epinette, Marie-Pascale; Ben Ali, Zeineb; Le Lan, Caroline; Loustaud-Ratti, Véronique; Causse, Xavier; Loreal, Olivier; Deugnier, Yves; Brissot, Pierre; Jouanolle, Anne-Marie; Bardou-Jacquet, Edouard

2016-12-01

p.Cys282Tyr (C282Y) homozygosity explains most cases of HFE-related hemochromatosis, but a significant number of patients presenting with typical type I hemochromatosis phenotype remain unexplained. We sought to describe the clinical relevance of rare HFE variants in non-C282Y homozygotes. Patients referred for hemochromatosis to the National Reference Centre for Rare Iron Overload Diseases from 2004 to 2010 were studied. Sequencing was performed for coding region and intronic flanking sequences of HFE, HAMP, HFE2, TFR2, and SLC40A1. Nine private HFE variants were identified in 13 of 206 unrelated patients. Among those, five have not been previously described: p.Leu270Argfs*4, p.Ala271Valfs*25, p.Tyr52*, p.Lys166Asn, and p.Asp141Tyr. Our results show that rare HFE variants are identified more frequently than variants in the other genes associated with iron overload. Rare HFE variants are therefore the most frequent cause of hemochromatosis in non-C282Y homozygote HFE patients. Am. J. Hematol. 91:1202-1205, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Genetic risk factors for the posterior cortical atrophy variant of Alzheimer's disease.

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Schott, Jonathan M; Crutch, Sebastian J; Carrasquillo, Minerva M; Uphill, James; Shakespeare, Tim J; Ryan, Natalie S; Yong, Keir X; Lehmann, Manja; Ertekin-Taner, Nilufer; Graff-Radford, Neill R; Boeve, Bradley F; Murray, Melissa E; Khan, Qurat Ul Ain; Petersen, Ronald C; Dickson, Dennis W; Knopman, David S; Rabinovici, Gil D; Miller, Bruce L; González, Aida Suárez; Gil-Néciga, Eulogio; Snowden, Julie S; Harris, Jenny; Pickering-Brown, Stuart M; Louwersheimer, Eva; van der Flier, Wiesje M; Scheltens, Philip; Pijnenburg, Yolande A; Galasko, Douglas; Sarazin, Marie; Dubois, Bruno; Magnin, Eloi; Galimberti, Daniela; Scarpini, Elio; Cappa, Stefano F; Hodges, John R; Halliday, Glenda M; Bartley, Lauren; Carrillo, Maria C; Bras, Jose T; Hardy, John; Rossor, Martin N; Collinge, John; Fox, Nick C; Mead, Simon

2016-08-01

The genetics underlying posterior cortical atrophy (PCA), typically a rare variant of Alzheimer's disease (AD), remain uncertain. We genotyped 302 PCA patients from 11 centers, calculated risk at 24 loci for AD/DLB and performed an exploratory genome-wide association study. We confirm that variation in/near APOE/TOMM40 (P = 6 × 10(-14)) alters PCA risk, but with smaller effect than for typical AD (PCA: odds ratio [OR] = 2.03, typical AD: OR = 2.83, P = .0007). We found evidence for risk in/near CR1 (P = 7 × 10(-4)), ABCA7 (P = .02) and BIN1 (P = .04). ORs at variants near INPP5D and NME8 did not overlap between PCA and typical AD. Exploratory genome-wide association studies confirmed APOE and identified three novel loci: rs76854344 near CNTNAP5 (P = 8 × 10(-10) OR = 1.9 [1.5-2.3]); rs72907046 near FAM46A (P = 1 × 10(-9) OR = 3.2 [2.1-4.9]); and rs2525776 near SEMA3C (P = 1 × 10(-8), OR = 3.3 [2.1-5.1]). We provide evidence for genetic risk factors specifically related to PCA. We identify three candidate loci that, if replicated, may provide insights into selective vulnerability and phenotypic diversity in AD. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Rare variants in MYD88, IRAK4 and IKBKG and susceptibility to invasive pneumococcal disease: a population-based case-control study.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Magda K Ellis

Full Text Available Although rare variants within the Toll-like receptor signalling pathway genes have been found to underlie human primary immunodeficiencies associated with selective predisposition to invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD, the contribution of variants in these genes to IPD susceptibility at the population level remains unknown. Complete re-sequencing of IRAK4, MYD88 and IKBKG genes was undertaken in 164 IPD cases from the UK and 164 geographically-matched population-based controls. 233 single-nucleotide variants (SNVs were identified, of which ten were in coding regions. Four rare coding variants were predicted to be deleterious, two variants in MYD88 and two in IRAK4. The predicted deleterious variants in MYD88 were observed as two heterozygote cases but not seen in controls. Frequencies of predicted deleterious IRAK4 SNVs were the same in cases and controls. Our findings suggest that rare, functional variants in MYD88, IRAK4 or IKBKG do not significantly contribute to IPD susceptibility in adults at the population level.

Diversity and impact of rare variants in genes encoding the platelet G protein-coupled receptors.

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Matthew L; Norman, Jane E; Morgan, Neil V; Mundell, Stuart J; Lordkipanidzé, Marie; Lowe, Gillian C; Daly, Martina E; Simpson, Michael A; Drake, Sian; Watson, Steve P; Mumford, Andrew D

2015-04-01

Platelet responses to activating agonists are influenced by common population variants within or near G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) genes that affect receptor activity. However, the impact of rare GPCR gene variants is unknown. We describe the rare single nucleotide variants (SNVs) in the coding and splice regions of 18 GPCR genes in 7,595 exomes from the 1,000-genomes and Exome Sequencing Project databases and in 31 cases with inherited platelet function disorders (IPFDs). In the population databases, the GPCR gene target regions contained 740 SNVs (318 synonymous, 410 missense, 7 stop gain and 6 splice region) of which 70 % had global minor allele frequency (MAF) < 0.05 %. Functional annotation using six computational algorithms, experimental evidence and structural data identified 156/740 (21 %) SNVs as potentially damaging to GPCR function, most commonly in regions encoding the transmembrane and C-terminal intracellular receptor domains. In 31 index cases with IPFDs (Gi-pathway defect n=15; secretion defect n=11; thromboxane pathway defect n=3 and complex defect n=2) there were 256 SNVs in the target regions of 15 stimulatory platelet GPCRs (34 unique; 12 with MAF< 1 % and 22 with MAF≥ 1 %). These included rare variants predicting R122H, P258T and V207A substitutions in the P2Y12 receptor that were annotated as potentially damaging, but only partially explained the platelet function defects in each case. Our data highlight that potentially damaging variants in platelet GPCR genes have low individual frequencies, but are collectively abundant in the population. Potentially damaging variants are also present in pedigrees with IPFDs and may contribute to complex laboratory phenotypes.

Novel human CRYGD rare variant in a Brazilian family with congenital cataract

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Giordano, Gabriel Gorgone; Tavares, Anderson; da Silva, Márcio José; de Vasconcellos, José Paulo Cabral; Arieta, Carlos Eduardo Leite; de Melo, Mônica Barbosa

2011-01-01

Purpose To describe a novel polymorphism in the γD-crystallin (CRYGD) gene in a Brazilian family with congenital cataract. Methods A Brazilian four-generation family was analyzed. The proband had bilateral lamellar cataract and the phenotypes were classified by slit lamp examination. Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood and coding regions and intron/exon boundaries of the αA-crystallin (CRYAA), γC-crystallin (CRYGC), and CRYGD genes were amplified by polymerase chain reaction and directly sequenced. Results Sequencing of the coding regions of CRYGD showed the presence of a heterozygous A→G transversion at c.401 position, which results in the substitution of a tyrosine to a cysteine (Y134C). The polymorphism was identified in three individuals, two affected and one unaffected. Conclusions A novel rare variant in CRYGD (Y134C) was detected in a Brazilian family with congenital cataract. Because there is no segregation between the substitution and the phenotypes in this family, other genetic alterations are likely to be present. PMID:21866214

The UK10K project identifies rare variants in health and disease

NARCIS (Netherlands)

K. Walter (Klaudia); J.L. Min (Josine L.); J. Huang (Jie); L. Crooks (Lucy); Y. Memari (Yasin); S. McCarthy (Shane); J.R.B. Perry (John); C. Xu (Changjiang); M. Futema (Marta); D. Lawson (Daniel); V. Iotchkova (Valentina); S. Schiffels (Stephan); A.E. Hendricks (Audrey E.); P. Danecek (Petr); R. Li (Rui); J. Floyd (James); L.V. Wain (Louise); I.E. Barroso (Inês); S.E. Humphries (Steve); M.E. Hurles (Matthew); E. Zeggini (Eleftheria); J.C. Barrett (Jeffrey); V. Plagnol (Vincent); J.B. Richards (Brent); C.M.T. Greenwood (Celia); N.J. Timpson (Nicholas); R. Durbin (Richard); S. Bala (Senduran); P. Clapham (Peter); G. Coates (Guy); T. Cox (Tony); A. Daly (Allan); Y. Du (Yuanping); T. Edkins (Ted); P. Ellis (Peter); P. Flicek (Paul); X. Guo (Xiaosen); X. Guo (Xueqin); L. Huang (Liren); D.K. Jackson (David K.); C. Joyce (Chris); T. Keane (Thomas); A. Kolb-Kokocinski (Anja); C. Langford (Cordelia); Y. Li (Yingrui); J. Liang (Jieqin); H. Lin (Hong); R. Liu (Ryan); J. Maslen (John); D. Muddyman (Dawn); M.A. Quail (Michael A.); J. Stalker (Jim); J. Sun (Jianping); J. Tian (Jing); G. Wang (Guangbiao); J. Wang (Jun); Y. Wang (Yu); K. Wong (Kim); P. Zhang (Pingbo); E. Birney (Ewan); C. Boustred (Chris); L. Chen (Lu); G. Clement (Gail); M. Cocca (Massimiliano); G.D. Smith; I.N.M. Day (Ian N.M.); A.G. Day-Williams (Aaron); T. Down (Thomas); D.M. Dunham (David); D.M. Evans (David M.); T.R. Gaunt (Tom); M. Geihs (Matthias); D. Hart (Deborah); B. Howie (Bryan); T. Hubbard (Tim); P.G. Hysi (Pirro); Y. Jamshidi (Yalda); K.J. Karczewski (Konrad); J.P. Kemp (John); G. Lachance (Genevieve); M. Lek (Monkol); M.C. Lopes (Margarida); D.G. MacArthur (Daniel G.); J. Marchini (Jonathan); M. Mangino (Massimo); I. Mathieson (Iain); S. Metrustry (Sarah); A. Moayyeri (Alireza); K. Northstone (Kate); K. Panoutsopoulou (Kalliope); L. Paternoster (Lavinia); L. Quaye (Lydia); S. Ring (Susan); G.R.S. Ritchie (Graham R.S.); H.A. Shihab (Hashem A.); S.-Y. Shin (So-Youn); K.S. Small (Kerrin); M.S. Artigas; N. Soranzo (Nicole); L. Southam (Lorraine); T.D. Spector (Timothy); B. St Pourcain (Beate); G. Surdulescu (Gabriela); I. Tachmazidou (Ioanna); M.D. Tobin (Martin); A.M. Valdes; P.M. Visscher (Peter); K. Ward (Kirsten); S.G. Wilson (Scott); J. Yang (Joanna); F. Zhang (Feng); H.-F. Zheng (Hou-Feng); R. Anney (Richard); M. Ayub (Muhammad); D.H.R. Blackwood (Douglas); P.F. Bolton (Patrick F.); G. Breen (Gerome); D.A. Collier (David); N.J. Craddock (Nick); S. Curran (Sarah); D. Curtis (David); L. Gallagher (Louise); D. Geschwind (Daniel); H. Gurling (Hugh); P.A. Holmans (Peter A.); I. Lee (Irene); J. Lönnqvist (Jouko); P. McGuffin (Peter); A.M. McIntosh (Andrew); A.G. McKechanie (Andrew G.); A. McQuillin (Andrew); J. Morris (James); M.C. O'donovan (Michael); M.J. Owen (Michael); A. Palotie (Aarno); J.R. Parr (Jeremy R.); T. Paunio (Tiina); O.P.H. Pietiläinen (Olli); K. Rehnström (Karola); S.I. Sharp (Sally I.); D. Skuse (David); D. St. Clair (David); J. Suvisaari (Jaana); J.T. Walters (James); H.J. Williams (Hywel J.); E. Bochukova (Elena); R. Bounds (Rebecca); A. Dominiczak (Anna); I.S. Farooqi (I. Sadaf); J. Keogh (Julia); G. Marenne (Gaëlle); A.D. Morris (Andrew); S. O'Rahilly (Stephen); D.J. Porteous (David J.); B.H. Smith (Blair); E. Wheeler (Eleanor); S.H. Al Turki (Saeed); C. Anderson (Carl); D. Antony (Dinu); P.L. Beales (Philip); J. Bentham (Jamie); S. Bhattacharya (Shoumo); M. Calissano (Mattia); K. Carss (Keren); K. Chatterjee (Krishna); S. Cirak (Sebahattin); C. Cosgrove (Catherine); D.R. Fitzpatrick (David R.); A.R. Foley (A. Reghan); C.S. Franklin (Christopher S.); D. Grozeva (Detelina); H.M. Mitchison (Hannah M.); F. Muntoni; A. Onoufriadis (Alexandros); V. Parker (Victoria); F. Payne (Felicity); F.L. Raymond (F. Lucy); N. Roberts (Nicola); D.B. Savage (David); P.J. Scambler (Peter); M. Schmidts (Miriam); N. Schoenmakers (Nadia); R.K. Semple (Robert K.); E. Serra (Eva); O. Spasic-Boskovic (Olivera); E. Stevens (Elizabeth); M. Van Kogelenberg (Margriet); P. Vijayarangakannan (Parthiban); K.A. Williamson (Kathleen); C. Wilson (Crispian); T. Whyte (Tamieka); A. Ciampi (Antonio); K. Oualkacha (Karim); M. Bobrow (Martin); H. Griffin (Heather); J. Kaye (Jane); K. Kennedy (Karen); A. Kent (Alastair); C. Smee (Carol); R. Charlton (Ruth); R. Ekong (Rosemary); F. Khawaja (Farrah); L.R. Lopes (Luis R.); N. Migone (Nicola); S.J. Payne (Stewart J.); R.C. Pollitt (Rebecca C.); S. Povey (Sue); C.K. Ridout (Cheryl K.); R.L. Robinson (Rachel L.); R.H. Scott (Richard H.); A. Shaw (Adam); P. Syrris (Petros); R. Taylor (Rohan); A.M. Vandersteen (Anthony M.); A. Amuzu (Antoinette); J.P. Casas (Juan); J.C. Chambers (John); G.V. Dedoussis (George); G. Gambaro (Giovanni); P. Gasparini (Paolo); A. Isaacs (Aaron); J. Johnson (Jon); M.E. Kleber (Marcus); J.S. Kooner (Jaspal S.); C. Langenberg (Claudia); J. Luan; G. Malerba (Giovanni); W. März (Winfried); A. Matchan (Angela); R. Morris (Richard); B.G. Nordestgaard (Børge); M. Benn (Marianne); R.A. Scott (Robert); D. Toniolo (Daniela); M. Traglia (Michela); A. Tybjaerg-Hansen; C.M. van Duijn (Cornelia); E.M. van Leeuwen (Elisa); A. Varbo (Anette); P.H. Whincup (Peter); G. Zaza (Gianluigi); W. Zhang (Weihua)

2015-01-01

textabstractThe contribution of rare and low-frequency variants to human traits is largely unexplored. Here we describe insights from sequencing whole genomes (low read depth, 7×) or exomes (high read depth, 80×) of nearly 10,000 individuals from population-based and disease collections. In

Novel Genetic Variants in BAG3 and TNNT2 in a Swedish Family with a History of Dilated Cardiomyopathy and Sudden Cardiac Death.

Science.gov (United States)

Fernlund, Eva; Österberg, A Wålinder; Kuchinskaya, E; Gustafsson, M; Jansson, K; Gunnarsson, C

2017-08-01

Familial dilated cardiomyopathy is a rare cause of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), especially in childhood. Our aim was to describe the clinical course and the genetic variants in a family where the proband was a four-month-old infant presenting with respiratory problems due to DCM. In the family, there was a strong family history of DCM and sudden cardiac death in four generations. DNA was analyzed initially from the deceased girl using next-generation sequencing including 50 genes involved in cardiomyopathy. A cascade family screening was performed in the family after identification of the TNNT2 and the BAG3 variants in the proband. The first-degree relatives underwent clinical examination including biochemistry panel, cardiac ultrasound, Holter ECG, exercise stress test, and targeted genetic testing. The index patient presented with advanced DCM. After a severe clinical course, the baby had external left ventricular assist as a bridge to heart transplantation. 1.5 months after transplantation, the baby suffered sudden cardiac death (SCD) despite maximal treatment in the pediatric intensive care unit. The patient was shown to carry two heterozygous genetic variants in the TNNT2 gene [TNNT2 c.518G>A(p.Arg173Gln)] and BAG3 [BAG3 c.785C>T(p.Ala262Val)]. Two of the screened individuals (two females) appeared to carry both the familial variants. All the individuals carrying the TNNT2 variant presented with DCM, the two adult patients had mild or moderate symptoms of heart failure and reported palpitations but no syncope or presyncopal attacks prior to the genetic diagnosis. The female carriers of TNNT2 and BAG3 variants had more advanced DCM. In the family history, there were three additional cases of SCD due to DCM, diagnosed by autopsy, but no genetic analysis was possible in these cases. Our findings suggest that the variants in TNNT2 and BAG3 are associated with a high propensity to life-threatening cardiomyopathy presenting from childhood and young adulthood.

A systematic approach to assessing the clinical significance of genetic variants.

Science.gov (United States)

Duzkale, H; Shen, J; McLaughlin, H; Alfares, A; Kelly, M A; Pugh, T J; Funke, B H; Rehm, H L; Lebo, M S

2013-11-01

Molecular genetic testing informs diagnosis, prognosis, and risk assessment for patients and their family members. Recent advances in low-cost, high-throughput DNA sequencing and computing technologies have enabled the rapid expansion of genetic test content, resulting in dramatically increased numbers of DNA variants identified per test. To address this challenge, our laboratory has developed a systematic approach to thorough and efficient assessments of variants for pathogenicity determination. We first search for existing data in publications and databases including internal, collaborative and public resources. We then perform full evidence-based assessments through statistical analyses of observations in the general population and disease cohorts, evaluation of experimental data from in vivo or in vitro studies, and computational predictions of potential impacts of each variant. Finally, we weigh all evidence to reach an overall conclusion on the potential for each variant to be disease causing. In this report, we highlight the principles of variant assessment, address the caveats and pitfalls, and provide examples to illustrate the process. By sharing our experience and providing a framework for variant assessment, including access to a freely available customizable tool, we hope to help move towards standardized and consistent approaches to variant assessment. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Electrophoretic variants of blood proteins in Japanese, 7

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Satoh, Chiyoko; Takahashi, Norio; Kimura, Yasukazu; Miura, Akiko; Kaneko, Junko; Fujita, Mikio; Toyama, Kyoko.

1986-11-01

A total of 16,835 children, of whom 11,737 are unrelated, from Hiroshima and Nagasaki were examined for erythrocyte cytoplasmic glutamate-oxaloacetate transaminase (GOT1) by starch gel electrophoresis. A variant allele named GOT1*2HR1 which seems to be identical with GOT1*2 was encountered in polymorphic frequency. Five kinds of rare variants, 3NG1, 4NG1, 5NG1, 6HR1, and 7NG1 were encountered in a total of 109 children. Except for 7NG1 for which complete family study was unable, family studies confirmed the genetic nature of these rare variants, since for all instances in which both parents could be examined, one of the parents exhibited the same variant as that of their child. Thermostability profiles of these six variants were normal. The enzyme activities of five were decreased, while the value of one was normal compared to that of GOT1 1. (author)

Association Between Coronary Artery Disease Genetic Variants and Subclinical Atherosclerosis: An Association Study and Meta-analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Zabalza, Michel; Subirana, Isaac; Lluis-Ganella, Carla; Sayols-Baixeras, Sergi; de Groot, Eric; Arnold, Roman; Cenarro, Ana; Ramos, Rafel; Marrugat, Jaume; Elosua, Roberto

2015-10-01

Recent studies have identified several genetic variants associated with coronary artery disease. Some of these genetic variants are not associated with classical cardiovascular risk factors and the mechanism of such associations is unclear. The aim of the study was to determine whether these genetic variants are related to subclinical atherosclerosis measured by carotid intima media thickness, carotid stiffness, and ankle brachial index. A cross-sectional study nested in the follow-up of the REGICOR cohort was undertaken. The study included 2667 individuals. Subclinical atherosclerosis measurements were performed with standardized methods. Nine genetic variants were genotyped to assess associations with subclinical atherosclerosis, individually and in a weighted genetic risk score. A systematic review and meta-analysis of previous studies that analyzed these associations was undertaken. Neither the selected genetic variants nor the genetic risk score were significantly associated with subclinical atherosclerosis. In the meta-analysis, the rs1746048 (CXCL12; n = 10581) risk allele was directly associated with carotid intima-media thickness (β = 0.008; 95% confidence interval, 0.001-0.015), whereas the rs6725887 (WDR12; n = 7801) risk allele was inversely associated with this thickness (β = -0.013; 95% confidence interval, -0.024 to -0.003). The analyzed genetic variants seem to mediate their association with coronary artery disease through different mechanisms. Our results generate the hypothesis that the CXCL12 variant appears to influence coronary artery disease risk through arterial remodeling and thickening, whereas the WDR12 risk variant could be related to higher plaque vulnerability. Copyright © 2014 Sociedad Española de Cardiología. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Rare coding variants in PLCG2, ABI3 and TREM2 implicate microglial-mediated innate immunity in Alzheimer’s disease

Science.gov (United States)

Sims, Rebecca; van der Lee, Sven J.; Naj, Adam C.; Bellenguez, Céline; Badarinarayan, Nandini; Jakobsdottir, Johanna; Kunkle, Brian W.; Boland, Anne; Raybould, Rachel; Bis, Joshua C.; Martin, Eden R.; Grenier-Boley, Benjamin; Heilmann-Heimbach, Stefanie; Chouraki, Vincent; Kuzma, Amanda B.; Sleegers, Kristel; Vronskaya, Maria; Ruiz, Agustin; Graham, Robert R.; Olaso, Robert; Hoffmann, Per; Grove, Megan L.; Vardarajan, Badri N.; Hiltunen, Mikko; Nöthen, Markus M.; White, Charles C.; Hamilton-Nelson, Kara L.; Epelbaum, Jacques; Maier, Wolfgang; Choi, Seung-Hoan; Beecham, Gary W.; Dulary, Cécile; Herms, Stefan; Smith, Albert V.; Funk, Cory C.; Derbois, Céline; Forstner, Andreas J.; Ahmad, Shahzad; Li, Hongdong; Bacq, Delphine; Harold, Denise; Satizabal, Claudia L.; Valladares, Otto; Squassina, Alessio; Thomas, Rhodri; Brody, Jennifer A.; Qu, Liming; Sanchez-Juan, Pascual; Morgan, Taniesha; Wolters, Frank J.; Zhao, Yi; Garcia, Florentino Sanchez; Denning, Nicola; Fornage, Myriam; Malamon, John; Naranjo, Maria Candida Deniz; Majounie, Elisa; Mosley, Thomas H.; Dombroski, Beth; Wallon, David; Lupton, Michelle K; Dupuis, Josée; Whitehead, Patrice; Fratiglioni, Laura; Medway, Christopher; Jian, Xueqiu; Mukherjee, Shubhabrata; Keller, Lina; Brown, Kristelle; Lin, Honghuang; Cantwell, Laura B.; Panza, Francesco; McGuinness, Bernadette; Moreno-Grau, Sonia; Burgess, Jeremy D.; Solfrizzi, Vincenzo; Proitsi, Petra; Adams, Hieab H.; Allen, Mariet; Seripa, Davide; Pastor, Pau; Cupples, L. Adrienne; Price, Nathan D; Hannequin, Didier; Frank-García, Ana; Levy, Daniel; Chakrabarty, Paramita; Caffarra, Paolo; Giegling, Ina; Beiser, Alexa S.; Giedraitis, Vimantas; Hampel, Harald; Garcia, Melissa E.; Wang, Xue; Lannfelt, Lars; Mecocci, Patrizia; Eiriksdottir, Gudny; Crane, Paul K.; Pasquier, Florence; Boccardi, Virginia; Henández, Isabel; Barber, Robert C.; Scherer, Martin; Tarraga, Lluis; Adams, Perrie M.; Leber, Markus; Chen, Yuning; Albert, Marilyn S.; Riedel-Heller, Steffi; Emilsson, Valur; Beekly, Duane; Braae, Anne; Schmidt, Reinhold; Blacker, Deborah; Masullo, Carlo; Schmidt, Helena; Doody, Rachelle S.; Spalletta, Gianfranco; Longstreth, WT; Fairchild, Thomas J.; Bossù, Paola; Lopez, Oscar L.; Frosch, Matthew P.; Sacchinelli, Eleonora; Ghetti, Bernardino; Sánchez-Juan, Pascual; Yang, Qiong; Huebinger, Ryan M.; Jessen, Frank; Li, Shuo; Kamboh, M. Ilyas; Morris, John; Sotolongo-Grau, Oscar; Katz, Mindy J.; Corcoran, Chris; Himali, Jayanadra J.; Keene, C. Dirk; Tschanz, JoAnn; Fitzpatrick, Annette L.; Kukull, Walter A.; Norton, Maria; Aspelund, Thor; Larson, Eric B.; Munger, Ron; Rotter, Jerome I.; Lipton, Richard B.; Bullido, María J; Hofman, Albert; Montine, Thomas J.; Coto, Eliecer; Boerwinkle, Eric; Petersen, Ronald C.; Alvarez, Victoria; Rivadeneira, Fernando; Reiman, Eric M.; Gallo, Maura; O’Donnell, Christopher J.; Reisch, Joan S.; Bruni, Amalia Cecilia; Royall, Donald R.; Dichgans, Martin; Sano, Mary; Galimberti, Daniela; St George-Hyslop, Peter; Scarpini, Elio; Tsuang, Debby W.; Mancuso, Michelangelo; Bonuccelli, Ubaldo; Winslow, Ashley R.; Daniele, Antonio; Wu, Chuang-Kuo; Peters, Oliver; Nacmias, Benedetta; Riemenschneider, Matthias; Heun, Reinhard; Brayne, Carol; Rubinsztein, David C; Bras, Jose; Guerreiro, Rita; Hardy, John; Al-Chalabi, Ammar; Shaw, Christopher E; Collinge, John; Mann, David; Tsolaki, Magda; Clarimón, Jordi; Sussams, Rebecca; Lovestone, Simon; O’Donovan, Michael C; Owen, Michael J; Behrens, Timothy W.; Mead, Simon; Goate, Alison M.; Uitterlinden, Andre G.; Holmes, Clive; Cruchaga, Carlos; Ingelsson, Martin; Bennett, David A.; Powell, John; Golde, Todd E.; Graff, Caroline; De Jager, Philip L.; Morgan, Kevin; Ertekin-Taner, Nilufer; Combarros, Onofre; Psaty, Bruce M.; Passmore, Peter; Younkin, Steven G; Berr, Claudine; Gudnason, Vilmundur; Rujescu, Dan; Dickson, Dennis W.; Dartigues, Jean-Francois; DeStefano, Anita L.; Ortega-Cubero, Sara; Hakonarson, Hakon; Campion, Dominique; Boada, Merce; Kauwe, John “Keoni”; Farrer, Lindsay A.; Van Broeckhoven, Christine; Ikram, M. Arfan; Jones, Lesley; Haines, Johnathan; Tzourio, Christophe; Launer, Lenore J.; Escott-Price, Valentina; Mayeux, Richard; Deleuze, Jean-François; Amin, Najaf; Holmans, Peter A; Pericak-Vance, Margaret A.; Amouyel, Philippe; van Duijn, Cornelia M.; Ramirez, Alfredo; Wang, Li-San; Lambert, Jean-Charles; Seshadri, Sudha; Williams, Julie; Schellenberg, Gerard D.

2017-01-01

Introduction We identified rare coding variants associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in a 3-stage case-control study of 85,133 subjects. In stage 1, 34,174 samples were genotyped using a whole-exome microarray. In stage 2, we tested associated variants (P<1×10-4) in 35,962 independent samples using de novo genotyping and imputed genotypes. In stage 3, an additional 14,997 samples were used to test the most significant stage 2 associations (P<5×10-8) using imputed genotypes. We observed 3 novel genome-wide significant (GWS) AD associated non-synonymous variants; a protective variant in PLCG2 (rs72824905/p.P522R, P=5.38×10-10, OR=0.68, MAFcases=0.0059, MAFcontrols=0.0093), a risk variant in ABI3 (rs616338/p.S209F, P=4.56×10-10, OR=1.43, MAFcases=0.011, MAFcontrols=0.008), and a novel GWS variant in TREM2 (rs143332484/p.R62H, P=1.55×10-14, OR=1.67, MAFcases=0.0143, MAFcontrols=0.0089), a known AD susceptibility gene. These protein-coding changes are in genes highly expressed in microglia and highlight an immune-related protein-protein interaction network enriched for previously identified AD risk genes. These genetic findings provide additional evidence that the microglia-mediated innate immune response contributes directly to AD development. PMID:28714976

Improving accuracy of rare variant imputation with a two-step imputation approach

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kreiner-Møller, Eskil; Medina-Gomez, Carolina; Uitterlinden, André G

2015-01-01

not being comprehensively scrutinized. Next-generation arrays ensuring sufficient coverage together with new reference panels, as the 1000 Genomes panel, are emerging to facilitate imputation of low frequent single-nucleotide polymorphisms (minor allele frequency (MAF) ... reference sample genotyped on a dense array and hereafter to the 1000 Genomes reference panel. We show that mean imputation quality, measured by the r(2) using this approach, increases by 28% for variants with a MAF between 1 and 5% as compared with direct imputation to 1000 Genomes reference. Similarly......Genotype imputation has been the pillar of the success of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for identifying common variants associated with common diseases. However, most GWAS have been run using only 60 HapMap samples as reference for imputation, meaning less frequent and rare variants...

Rare GABRA3 variants are associated with epileptic seizures, encephalopathy and dysmorphic features.

Science.gov (United States)

Niturad, Cristina Elena; Lev, Dorit; Kalscheuer, Vera M; Charzewska, Agnieszka; Schubert, Julian; Lerman-Sagie, Tally; Kroes, Hester Y; Oegema, Renske; Traverso, Monica; Specchio, Nicola; Lassota, Maria; Chelly, Jamel; Bennett-Back, Odeya; Carmi, Nirit; Koffler-Brill, Tal; Iacomino, Michele; Trivisano, Marina; Capovilla, Giuseppe; Striano, Pasquale; Nawara, Magdalena; Rzonca, Sylwia; Fischer, Ute; Bienek, Melanie; Jensen, Corinna; Hu, Hao; Thiele, Holger; Altmüller, Janine; Krause, Roland; May, Patrick; Becker, Felicitas; Balling, Rudi; Biskup, Saskia; Haas, Stefan A; Nürnberg, Peter; van Gassen, Koen L I; Lerche, Holger; Zara, Federico; Maljevic, Snezana; Leshinsky-Silver, Esther

2017-11-01

Genetic epilepsies are caused by mutations in a range of different genes, many of them encoding ion channels, receptors or transporters. While the number of detected variants and genes increased dramatically in the recent years, pleiotropic effects have also been recognized, revealing that clinical syndromes with various degrees of severity arise from a single gene, a single mutation, or from different mutations showing similar functional defects. Accordingly, several genes coding for GABAA receptor subunits have been linked to a spectrum of benign to severe epileptic disorders and it was shown that a loss of function presents the major correlated pathomechanism. Here, we identified six variants in GABRA3 encoding the α3-subunit of the GABAA receptor. This gene is located on chromosome Xq28 and has not been previously associated with human disease. Five missense variants and one microduplication were detected in four families and two sporadic cases presenting with a range of epileptic seizure types, a varying degree of intellectual disability and developmental delay, sometimes with dysmorphic features or nystagmus. The variants co-segregated mostly but not completely with the phenotype in the families, indicating in some cases incomplete penetrance, involvement of other genes, or presence of phenocopies. Overall, males were more severely affected and there were three asymptomatic female mutation carriers compared to only one male without a clinical phenotype. X-chromosome inactivation studies could not explain the phenotypic variability in females. Three detected missense variants are localized in the extracellular GABA-binding NH2-terminus, one in the M2-M3 linker and one in the M4 transmembrane segment of the α3-subunit. Functional studies in Xenopus laevis oocytes revealed a variable but significant reduction of GABA-evoked anion currents for all mutants compared to wild-type receptors. The degree of current reduction correlated partially with the phenotype

Rare coding variants in PLCG2, ABI3, and TREM2 implicate microglial-mediated innate immunity in Alzheimer's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Sims, Rebecca; van der Lee, Sven J; Naj, Adam C; Bellenguez, Céline; Badarinarayan, Nandini; Jakobsdottir, Johanna; Kunkle, Brian W; Boland, Anne; Raybould, Rachel; Bis, Joshua C; Martin, Eden R; Grenier-Boley, Benjamin; Heilmann-Heimbach, Stefanie; Chouraki, Vincent; Kuzma, Amanda B; Sleegers, Kristel; Vronskaya, Maria; Ruiz, Agustin; Graham, Robert R; Olaso, Robert; Hoffmann, Per; Grove, Megan L; Vardarajan, Badri N; Hiltunen, Mikko; Nöthen, Markus M; White, Charles C; Hamilton-Nelson, Kara L; Epelbaum, Jacques; Maier, Wolfgang; Choi, Seung-Hoan; Beecham, Gary W; Dulary, Cécile; Herms, Stefan; Smith, Albert V; Funk, Cory C; Derbois, Céline; Forstner, Andreas J; Ahmad, Shahzad; Li, Hongdong; Bacq, Delphine; Harold, Denise; Satizabal, Claudia L; Valladares, Otto; Squassina, Alessio; Thomas, Rhodri; Brody, Jennifer A; Qu, Liming; Sánchez-Juan, Pascual; Morgan, Taniesha; Wolters, Frank J; Zhao, Yi; Garcia, Florentino Sanchez; Denning, Nicola; Fornage, Myriam; Malamon, John; Naranjo, Maria Candida Deniz; Majounie, Elisa; Mosley, Thomas H; Dombroski, Beth; Wallon, David; Lupton, Michelle K; Dupuis, Josée; Whitehead, Patrice; Fratiglioni, Laura; Medway, Christopher; Jian, Xueqiu; Mukherjee, Shubhabrata; Keller, Lina; Brown, Kristelle; Lin, Honghuang; Cantwell, Laura B; Panza, Francesco; McGuinness, Bernadette; Moreno-Grau, Sonia; Burgess, Jeremy D; Solfrizzi, Vincenzo; Proitsi, Petra; Adams, Hieab H; Allen, Mariet; Seripa, Davide; Pastor, Pau; Cupples, L Adrienne; Price, Nathan D; Hannequin, Didier; Frank-García, Ana; Levy, Daniel; Chakrabarty, Paramita; Caffarra, Paolo; Giegling, Ina; Beiser, Alexa S; Giedraitis, Vilmantas; Hampel, Harald; Garcia, Melissa E; Wang, Xue; Lannfelt, Lars; Mecocci, Patrizia; Eiriksdottir, Gudny; Crane, Paul K; Pasquier, Florence; Boccardi, Virginia; Henández, Isabel; Barber, Robert C; Scherer, Martin; Tarraga, Lluis; Adams, Perrie M; Leber, Markus; Chen, Yuning; Albert, Marilyn S; Riedel-Heller, Steffi; Emilsson, Valur; Beekly, Duane; Braae, Anne; Schmidt, Reinhold; Blacker, Deborah; Masullo, Carlo; Schmidt, Helena; Doody, Rachelle S; Spalletta, Gianfranco; Longstreth, W T; Fairchild, Thomas J; Bossù, Paola; Lopez, Oscar L; Frosch, Matthew P; Sacchinelli, Eleonora; Ghetti, Bernardino; Yang, Qiong; Huebinger, Ryan M; Jessen, Frank; Li, Shuo; Kamboh, M Ilyas; Morris, John; Sotolongo-Grau, Oscar; Katz, Mindy J; Corcoran, Chris; Dunstan, Melanie; Braddel, Amy; Thomas, Charlene; Meggy, Alun; Marshall, Rachel; Gerrish, Amy; Chapman, Jade; Aguilar, Miquel; Taylor, Sarah; Hill, Matt; Fairén, Mònica Díez; Hodges, Angela; Vellas, Bruno; Soininen, Hilkka; Kloszewska, Iwona; Daniilidou, Makrina; Uphill, James; Patel, Yogen; Hughes, Joseph T; Lord, Jenny; Turton, James; Hartmann, Annette M; Cecchetti, Roberta; Fenoglio, Chiara; Serpente, Maria; Arcaro, Marina; Caltagirone, Carlo; Orfei, Maria Donata; Ciaramella, Antonio; Pichler, Sabrina; Mayhaus, Manuel; Gu, Wei; Lleó, Alberto; Fortea, Juan; Blesa, Rafael; Barber, Imelda S; Brookes, Keeley; Cupidi, Chiara; Maletta, Raffaele Giovanni; Carrell, David; Sorbi, Sandro; Moebus, Susanne; Urbano, Maria; Pilotto, Alberto; Kornhuber, Johannes; Bosco, Paolo; Todd, Stephen; Craig, David; Johnston, Janet; Gill, Michael; Lawlor, Brian; Lynch, Aoibhinn; Fox, Nick C; Hardy, John; Albin, Roger L; Apostolova, Liana G; Arnold, Steven E; Asthana, Sanjay; Atwood, Craig S; Baldwin, Clinton T; Barnes, Lisa L; Barral, Sandra; Beach, Thomas G; Becker, James T; Bigio, Eileen H; Bird, Thomas D; Boeve, Bradley F; Bowen, James D; Boxer, Adam; Burke, James R; Burns, Jeffrey M; Buxbaum, Joseph D; Cairns, Nigel J; Cao, Chuanhai; Carlson, Chris S; Carlsson, Cynthia M; Carney, Regina M; Carrasquillo, Minerva M; Carroll, Steven L; Diaz, Carolina Ceballos; Chui, Helena C; Clark, David G; Cribbs, David H; Crocco, Elizabeth A; DeCarli, Charles; Dick, Malcolm; Duara, Ranjan; Evans, Denis A; Faber, Kelley M; Fallon, Kenneth B; Fardo, David W; Farlow, Martin R; Ferris, Steven; Foroud, Tatiana M; Galasko, Douglas R; Gearing, Marla; Geschwind, Daniel H; Gilbert, John R; Graff-Radford, Neill R; Green, Robert C; Growdon, John H; Hamilton, Ronald L; Harrell, Lindy E; Honig, Lawrence S; Huentelman, Matthew J; Hulette, Christine M; Hyman, Bradley T; Jarvik, Gail P; Abner, Erin; Jin, Lee-Way; Jun, Gyungah; Karydas, Anna; Kaye, Jeffrey A; Kim, Ronald; Kowall, Neil W; Kramer, Joel H; LaFerla, Frank M; Lah, James J; Leverenz, James B; Levey, Allan I; Li, Ge; Lieberman, Andrew P; Lunetta, Kathryn L; Lyketsos, Constantine G; Marson, Daniel C; Martiniuk, Frank; Mash, Deborah C; Masliah, Eliezer; McCormick, Wayne C; McCurry, Susan M; McDavid, Andrew N; McKee, Ann C; Mesulam, Marsel; Miller, Bruce L; Miller, Carol A; Miller, Joshua W; Morris, John C; Murrell, Jill R; Myers, Amanda J; O'Bryant, Sid; Olichney, John M; Pankratz, Vernon S; Parisi, Joseph E; Paulson, Henry L; Perry, William; Peskind, Elaine; Pierce, Aimee; Poon, Wayne W; Potter, Huntington; Quinn, Joseph F; Raj, Ashok; Raskind, Murray; Reisberg, Barry; Reitz, Christiane; Ringman, John M; Roberson, Erik D; Rogaeva, Ekaterina; Rosen, Howard J; Rosenberg, Roger N; Sager, Mark A; Saykin, Andrew J; Schneider, Julie A; Schneider, Lon S; Seeley, William W; Smith, Amanda G; Sonnen, Joshua A; Spina, Salvatore; Stern, Robert A; Swerdlow, Russell H; Tanzi, Rudolph E; Thornton-Wells, Tricia A; Trojanowski, John Q; Troncoso, Juan C; Van Deerlin, Vivianna M; Van Eldik, Linda J; Vinters, Harry V; Vonsattel, Jean Paul; Weintraub, Sandra; Welsh-Bohmer, Kathleen A; Wilhelmsen, Kirk C; Williamson, Jennifer; Wingo, Thomas S; Woltjer, Randall L; Wright, Clinton B; Yu, Chang-En; Yu, Lei; Garzia, Fabienne; Golamaully, Feroze; Septier, Gislain; Engelborghs, Sebastien; Vandenberghe, Rik; De Deyn, Peter P; Fernadez, Carmen Muñoz; Benito, Yoland Aladro; Thonberg, Hakan; Forsell, Charlotte; Lilius, Lena; Kinhult-Stählbom, Anne; Kilander, Lena; Brundin, RoseMarie; Concari, Letizia; Helisalmi, Seppo; Koivisto, Anne Maria; Haapasalo, Annakaisa; Dermecourt, Vincent; Fievet, Nathalie; Hanon, Olivier; Dufouil, Carole; Brice, Alexis; Ritchie, Karen; Dubois, Bruno; Himali, Jayanadra J; Keene, C Dirk; Tschanz, JoAnn; Fitzpatrick, Annette L; Kukull, Walter A; Norton, Maria; Aspelund, Thor; Larson, Eric B; Munger, Ron; Rotter, Jerome I; Lipton, Richard B; Bullido, María J; Hofman, Albert; Montine, Thomas J; Coto, Eliecer; Boerwinkle, Eric; Petersen, Ronald C; Alvarez, Victoria; Rivadeneira, Fernando; Reiman, Eric M; Gallo, Maura; O'Donnell, Christopher J; Reisch, Joan S; Bruni, Amalia Cecilia; Royall, Donald R; Dichgans, Martin; Sano, Mary; Galimberti, Daniela; St George-Hyslop, Peter; Scarpini, Elio; Tsuang, Debby W; Mancuso, Michelangelo; Bonuccelli, Ubaldo; Winslow, Ashley R; Daniele, Antonio; Wu, Chuang-Kuo; Peters, Oliver; Nacmias, Benedetta; Riemenschneider, Matthias; Heun, Reinhard; Brayne, Carol; Rubinsztein, David C; Bras, Jose; Guerreiro, Rita; Al-Chalabi, Ammar; Shaw, Christopher E; Collinge, John; Mann, David; Tsolaki, Magda; Clarimón, Jordi; Sussams, Rebecca; Lovestone, Simon; O'Donovan, Michael C; Owen, Michael J; Behrens, Timothy W; Mead, Simon; Goate, Alison M; Uitterlinden, Andre G; Holmes, Clive; Cruchaga, Carlos; Ingelsson, Martin; Bennett, David A; Powell, John; Golde, Todd E; Graff, Caroline; De Jager, Philip L; Morgan, Kevin; Ertekin-Taner, Nilufer; Combarros, Onofre; Psaty, Bruce M; Passmore, Peter; Younkin, Steven G; Berr, Claudine; Gudnason, Vilmundur; Rujescu, Dan; Dickson, Dennis W; Dartigues, Jean-François; DeStefano, Anita L; Ortega-Cubero, Sara; Hakonarson, Hakon; Campion, Dominique; Boada, Merce; Kauwe, John Keoni; Farrer, Lindsay A; Van Broeckhoven, Christine; Ikram, M Arfan; Jones, Lesley; Haines, Jonathan L; Tzourio, Christophe; Launer, Lenore J; Escott-Price, Valentina; Mayeux, Richard; Deleuze, Jean-François; Amin, Najaf; Holmans, Peter A; Pericak-Vance, Margaret A; Amouyel, Philippe; van Duijn, Cornelia M; Ramirez, Alfredo; Wang, Li-San; Lambert, Jean-Charles; Seshadri, Sudha; Williams, Julie; Schellenberg, Gerard D

2017-09-01

We identified rare coding variants associated with Alzheimer's disease in a three-stage case-control study of 85,133 subjects. In stage 1, we genotyped 34,174 samples using a whole-exome microarray. In stage 2, we tested associated variants (P < 1 × 10 -4 ) in 35,962 independent samples using de novo genotyping and imputed genotypes. In stage 3, we used an additional 14,997 samples to test the most significant stage 2 associations (P < 5 × 10 -8 ) using imputed genotypes. We observed three new genome-wide significant nonsynonymous variants associated with Alzheimer's disease: a protective variant in PLCG2 (rs72824905: p.Pro522Arg, P = 5.38 × 10 -10 , odds ratio (OR) = 0.68, minor allele frequency (MAF) cases = 0.0059, MAF controls = 0.0093), a risk variant in ABI3 (rs616338: p.Ser209Phe, P = 4.56 × 10 -10 , OR = 1.43, MAF cases = 0.011, MAF controls = 0.008), and a new genome-wide significant variant in TREM2 (rs143332484: p.Arg62His, P = 1.55 × 10 -14 , OR = 1.67, MAF cases = 0.0143, MAF controls = 0.0089), a known susceptibility gene for Alzheimer's disease. These protein-altering changes are in genes highly expressed in microglia and highlight an immune-related protein-protein interaction network enriched for previously identified risk genes in Alzheimer's disease. These genetic findings provide additional evidence that the microglia-mediated innate immune response contributes directly to the development of Alzheimer's disease.

Imaging findings in the rare catastrophic variant of the primary antiphospholipid syndrome

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Thuerl, Christina; Altehoefer, Carsten; Laubenberger, Joerg [Freiburg Univ. (Germany). Abt. Radiologie; Spyridonidis, Alexandros [Freiburg Univ. (DE). Abt. Innere Medizin 1 (Haematologie und Onkologie)

2002-03-01

We report imaging findings in a case of the rare catastrophic variant of antiphospholipid syndrome (CAPS) characterized by widespread microvascular occlusions, which may lead to multiple organ failure. We present a case of a 66-year-old woman with bone marrow necrosis, acute acalculous cholecystitis (AAC), focal liver necrosis, subtle patchy splenic infarctions, and bilateral adrenal infarction. The demonstration of multiple microvascular organ involvement (three or more) is crucial for the diagnosis of the catastrophic variant of APS. This can be performed radiologically intra-vitam. Imaging can even reveal subclinical microinfarctions, which are often only diagnosed at autopsy. (orig.)

Imaging findings in the rare catastrophic variant of the primary antiphospholipid syndrome

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thuerl, Christina; Altehoefer, Carsten; Laubenberger, Joerg

2002-01-01

We report imaging findings in a case of the rare catastrophic variant of antiphospholipid syndrome (CAPS) characterized by widespread microvascular occlusions, which may lead to multiple organ failure. We present a case of a 66-year-old woman with bone marrow necrosis, acute acalculous cholecystitis (AAC), focal liver necrosis, subtle patchy splenic infarctions, and bilateral adrenal infarction. The demonstration of multiple microvascular organ involvement (three or more) is crucial for the diagnosis of the catastrophic variant of APS. This can be performed radiologically intra-vitam. Imaging can even reveal subclinical microinfarctions, which are often only diagnosed at autopsy. (orig.)

Genetic variants in periodontal health and disease

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dumitrescu, Alexandrina L [Tromsoe Univ. (Norway). Inst. of Clinical Dentistry; Kobayashi, Junya [Kyoto Univ. (Japan). Dept. of Genome Repair Dynamics

2010-07-01

Periodontitis is a complex, multifactorial disease and its susceptibility is genetically determined. The present book systematically reviews the evidence of the association between the genetic variants and periodontitis progression and/or treatment outcomes. Genetic syndromes known to be associated with periodontal disease, the candidate gene polymorphisms investigated in relation to periodontitis, the heritability of chronic and aggressive periodontitis, as well as common guidelines for association studies are described. This growing understanding of the role of genetic variation in inflammation and periodontal chronic disease presents opportunities to identify healthy persons who are at increased risk of disease and to potentially modify the trajectory of disease to prolong healthy aging. The book represents a new concept in periodontology with its pronounced focus on understanding through knowledge rather than presenting the presently valid answers. Connections between genetics and periodontology are systematically reviewed and covered in detail. (orig.)

An Efficient Stepwise Statistical Test to Identify Multiple Linked Human Genetic Variants Associated with Specific Phenotypic Traits.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iksoo Huh

Full Text Available Recent advances in genotyping methodologies have allowed genome-wide association studies (GWAS to accurately identify genetic variants that associate with common or pathological complex traits. Although most GWAS have focused on associations with single genetic variants, joint identification of multiple genetic variants, and how they interact, is essential for understanding the genetic architecture of complex phenotypic traits. Here, we propose an efficient stepwise method based on the Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel test (for stratified categorical data to identify causal joint multiple genetic variants in GWAS. This method combines the CMH statistic with a stepwise procedure to detect multiple genetic variants associated with specific categorical traits, using a series of associated I × J contingency tables and a null hypothesis of no phenotype association. Through a new stratification scheme based on the sum of minor allele count criteria, we make the method more feasible for GWAS data having sample sizes of several thousands. We also examine the properties of the proposed stepwise method via simulation studies, and show that the stepwise CMH test performs better than other existing methods (e.g., logistic regression and detection of associations by Markov blanket for identifying multiple genetic variants. Finally, we apply the proposed approach to two genomic sequencing datasets to detect linked genetic variants associated with bipolar disorder and obesity, respectively.

A population-specific uncommon variant in GRIN3A associated with schizophrenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Takata, Atsushi; Iwayama, Yoshimi; Fukuo, Yasuhisa; Ikeda, Masashi; Okochi, Tomo; Maekawa, Motoko; Toyota, Tomoko; Yamada, Kazuo; Hattori, Eiji; Ohnishi, Tetsuo; Toyoshima, Manabu; Ujike, Hiroshi; Inada, Toshiya; Kunugi, Hiroshi; Ozaki, Norio; Nanko, Shinichiro; Nakamura, Kazuhiko; Mori, Norio; Kanba, Shigenobu; Iwata, Nakao; Kato, Tadafumi; Yoshikawa, Takeo

2013-03-15

Genome-wide association studies have successfully identified several common variants showing robust association with schizophrenia. However, individually, these variants only produce a weak effect. To identify genetic variants with larger effect sizes, increasing attention is now being paid to uncommon and rare variants. From the 1000 Genomes Project data, we selected 47 candidate single nucleotide variants (SNVs), which were: 1) uncommon (minor allele frequency way to discover risk variants with larger effects. Copyright © 2013 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

PCSK9 genetic variants and risk of type 2 diabetes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schmidt, Amand F; Swerdlow, Daniel I; Holmes, Michael V

2017-01-01

used data from cohort studies, randomised controlled trials, case control studies, and genetic consortia to estimate associations of PCSK9 genetic variants with LDL cholesterol, fasting blood glucose, HbA1c, fasting insulin, bodyweight, waist-to-hip ratio, BMI, and risk of type 2 diabetes, using...... diabetes, which in no way offsets their substantial benefits. We sought to investigate the associations of LDL cholesterol-lowering PCSK9 variants with type 2 diabetes and related biomarkers to gauge the likely effects of PCSK9 inhibitors on diabetes risk. METHODS: In this mendelian randomisation study, we...... a standardised analysis plan, meta-analyses, and weighted gene-centric scores. FINDINGS: Data were available for more than 550 000 individuals and 51 623 cases of type 2 diabetes. Combined analyses of four independent PCSK9 variants (rs11583680, rs11591147, rs2479409, and rs11206510) scaled to 1 mmol/L lower LDL...

wANNOVAR: annotating genetic variants for personal genomes via the web.

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Xiao; Wang, Kai

2012-07-01

High-throughput DNA sequencing platforms have become widely available. As a result, personal genomes are increasingly being sequenced in research and clinical settings. However, the resulting massive amounts of variants data pose significant challenges to the average biologists and clinicians without bioinformatics skills. We developed a web server called wANNOVAR to address the critical needs for functional annotation of genetic variants from personal genomes. The server provides simple and intuitive interface to help users determine the functional significance of variants. These include annotating single nucleotide variants and insertions/deletions for their effects on genes, reporting their conservation levels (such as PhyloP and GERP++ scores), calculating their predicted functional importance scores (such as SIFT and PolyPhen scores), retrieving allele frequencies in public databases (such as the 1000 Genomes Project and NHLBI-ESP 5400 exomes), and implementing a 'variants reduction' protocol to identify a subset of potentially deleterious variants/genes. We illustrated how wANNOVAR can help draw biological insights from sequencing data, by analysing genetic variants generated on two Mendelian diseases. We conclude that wANNOVAR will help biologists and clinicians take advantage of the personal genome information to expedite scientific discoveries. The wANNOVAR server is available at http://wannovar.usc.edu, and will be continuously updated to reflect the latest annotation information.

Involvement of genetic variants associated with primary open-angle glaucoma in pathogenic mechanisms and family history of glaucoma.

Science.gov (United States)

Mabuchi, Fumihiko; Sakurada, Yoichi; Kashiwagi, Kenji; Yamagata, Zentaro; Iijima, Hiroyuki; Tsukahara, Shigeo

2015-03-01

To investigate the associations between the non-intraocular pressure (IOP)-related genetic variants (genetic variants associated with vulnerability of the optic nerve independent of IOP) and primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG), including normal-tension glaucoma (NTG) and high-tension glaucoma (HTG), and between the non-IOP-related genetic variants and a family history of glaucoma. Case-control study. Japanese patients with NTG (n = 213) and HTG (n = 212) and 191 control subjects were genotyped for 5 non-IOP-related genetic variants predisposing to POAG near the SRBD1, ELOVL5, CDKN2B/CDKN2B-AS1, SIX1/SIX6, and ATOH7 genes. The load of these genetic variants was compared between the control subjects and patients with NTG or HTG and between the POAG patients with and without a family history of glaucoma. The total number of POAG risk alleles and the product of the odds ratios (POAG risk) of these genetic variants were significantly larger (P product of the odds ratios increased (P = .012 and P = .047, respectively). Non-IOP-related genetic variants contribute to the pathogenesis of HTG as well as NTG. A positive family history of glaucoma in cases of POAG is thought to reflect the influence of genetic variants predisposing to POAG. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Combinations of Genetic Variants Occurring Exclusively in Patients

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mellerup, Erling Thyge; Møller, Gert Lykke

2017-01-01

The main objective of the study was to find genetic variants that in combination are significantly associated with bipolar disorder. In previous studies of bipolar disorder, combinations of three and four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) genotypes taken from 803 SNPs were analyzed, and five ...

Identification of Rare Variants in TNNI3 with Atrial Fibrillation in a Chinese GeneID Population

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Chuchu; Wu, Manman; Qian, Jin; Li, Bin; Tu, Xin; Xu, Chengqi; Li, Sisi; Chen, Shanshan; Zhao, Yuanyuan; Huang, Yufeng; Shi, Lisong; Cheng, Xiang; Liao, Yuhua; Chen, Qiuyun; Xia, Yunlong; Yao, Wei; Wu, Gang; Cheng, Mian; Wang, Qing K.

2015-01-01

Despite advances by genome-wide association studies (GWAS), much of heritability of common human diseases remains missing, a phenomenon referred to as ‘missing heritability’. One potential cause for ‘missing heritability’ is the rare susceptibility variants overlooked by GWAS. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia seen at hospitals and increases risk of stroke by 5-fold and doubles risk of heart failure and sudden death. Here we studied one large Chinese family with AF and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Whole-exome sequencing analysis identified a mutation in TNNI3, R186Q, that co-segregated with the disease in the family, but did not exist in >1,583 controls, suggesting that R186Q causes AF and HCM. High-resolution melting curve analysis and direct DNA sequence analysis were then used to screen mutations in all exons and exon-intron boundaries of TNNI3 in a panel of 1,127 unrelated AF patients and 1,583 non-AF subjects. Four novel missense variants were identified in TNNI3, including E64G, M154L, E187G and D196G in four independent AF patients, but no variant was found in 1,583 non-AF subjects. All variants were not found in public databases, including the ExAC Browser database with 60,706 exomes. These data suggests that rare TNNI3 variants are associated with AF (P=0.03). TNNI3 encodes troponin I, a key regulator of the contraction-relaxation function of cardiac muscle and was not previously implicated in AF. Thus, this study may identify a new biological pathway for the pathogenesis of AF and provides evidence to support the rare variant hypothesis for missing heritability. PMID:26169204

An Exome Sequencing Study to Assess the Role of Rare Genetic Variation in Pulmonary Fibrosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Petrovski, Slavé; Todd, Jamie L; Durheim, Michael T; Wang, Quanli; Chien, Jason W; Kelly, Fran L; Frankel, Courtney; Mebane, Caroline M; Ren, Zhong; Bridgers, Joshua; Urban, Thomas J; Malone, Colin D; Finlen Copeland, Ashley; Brinkley, Christie; Allen, Andrew S; O'Riordan, Thomas; McHutchison, John G; Palmer, Scott M; Goldstein, David B

2017-07-01

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is an increasingly recognized, often fatal lung disease of unknown etiology. The aim of this study was to use whole-exome sequencing to improve understanding of the genetic architecture of pulmonary fibrosis. We performed a case-control exome-wide collapsing analysis including 262 unrelated individuals with pulmonary fibrosis clinically classified as IPF according to American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society/Japanese Respiratory Society/Latin American Thoracic Association guidelines (81.3%), usual interstitial pneumonia secondary to autoimmune conditions (11.5%), or fibrosing nonspecific interstitial pneumonia (7.2%). The majority (87%) of case subjects reported no family history of pulmonary fibrosis. We searched 18,668 protein-coding genes for an excess of rare deleterious genetic variation using whole-exome sequence data from 262 case subjects with pulmonary fibrosis and 4,141 control subjects drawn from among a set of individuals of European ancestry. Comparing genetic variation across 18,668 protein-coding genes, we found a study-wide significant (P RTEL1, and PARN. A model qualifying ultrarare, deleterious, nonsynonymous variants implicated TERT and RTEL1, and a model specifically qualifying loss-of-function variants implicated RTEL1 and PARN. A subanalysis of 186 case subjects with sporadic IPF confirmed TERT, RTEL1, and PARN as study-wide significant contributors to sporadic IPF. Collectively, 11.3% of case subjects with sporadic IPF carried a qualifying variant in one of these three genes compared with the 0.3% carrier rate observed among control subjects (odds ratio, 47.7; 95% confidence interval, 21.5-111.6; P = 5.5 × 10 -22 ). We identified TERT, RTEL1, and PARN-three telomere-related genes previously implicated in familial pulmonary fibrosis-as significant contributors to sporadic IPF. These results support the idea that telomere dysfunction is involved in IPF pathogenesis.

Three new genetic loci (R1210C in CFH, variants in COL8A1 and RAD51B are independently related to progression to advanced macular degeneration.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Johanna M Seddon

Full Text Available To assess the independent impact of new genetic variants on conversion to advanced stages of AMD, controlling for established risk factors, and to determine the contribution of genes in predictive models.In this prospective longitudinal study of 2765 individuals, 777 subjects progressed to neovascular disease (NV or geographic atrophy (GA in either eye over 12 years. Recently reported genetic loci were assessed for their independent effects on incident advanced AMD after controlling for 6 established loci in 5 genes, and demographic, behavioral, and macular characteristics. New variants which remained significantly related to progression were then added to a final multivariate model to assess their independent effects. The contribution of genes to risk models was assessed using reclassification tables by determining risk within cross-classified quintiles for alternative models.THREE NEW GENETIC VARIANTS WERE SIGNIFICANTLY RELATED TO PROGRESSION: rare variant R1210C in CFH (hazard ratio (HR 2.5, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.2-5.3, P = 0.01, and common variants in genes COL8A1 (HR 2.0, 95% CI 1.1-3.5, P = 0.02 and RAD51B (HR 0.8, 95% CI 0.60-0.97, P = 0.03. The area under the curve statistic (AUC was significantly higher for the 9 gene model (.884 vs the 0 gene model (.873, P = .01. AUC's for the 9 vs 6 gene models were not significantly different, but reclassification analyses indicated significant added information for more genes, with adjusted odds ratios (OR for progression within 5 years per one quintile increase in risk score of 2.7, P<0.001 for the 9 vs 6 loci model, and OR 3.5, P<0.001 for the 9 vs. 0 gene model. Similar results were seen for NV and GA.Rare variant CFH R1210C and common variants in COL8A1 and RAD51B plus six genes in previous models contribute additional predictive information for advanced AMD beyond macular and behavioral phenotypes.

Genome-wide meta-analysis of observational studies shows common genetic variants associated with macronutrient intake

NARCIS (Netherlands)

T. Tanaka (Toshiko); J.S. Ngwa; F.J.A. van Rooij (Frank); M.C. Zillikens (Carola); M.K. Wojczynski (Mary ); A.C. Frazier-Wood (Alexis); D.K. Houston (Denise); S. Kanoni (Stavroula); R.N. Lemaitre (Rozenn ); J. Luan; V. Mikkilä (Vera); F. Renström (Frida); E. Sonestedt (Emily); J.H. Zhao (Jing Hua); A.Y. Chu (Audrey); L. Qi (Lu); D.I. Chasman (Daniel); M.C. De Oliveira Otto (Marcia); E.J. Dhurandhar (Emily); M.F. Feitosa (Mary Furlan); I. Johansson (Ingegerd); K-T. Khaw (Kay-Tee); K. Lohman (Kurt); A. Manichaikul (Ani); N.M. McKeown (Nicola ); D. Mozaffarian (Dariush); A.B. Singleton (Andrew); K. Stirrups (Kathy); J. Viikari (Jorma); Z. Ye (Zheng); S. Bandinelli (Stefania); I.E. Barroso (Inês); P. Deloukas (Panagiotis); N.G. Forouhi (Nita); A. Hofman (Albert); Y. Liu (YongMei); L.-P. Lyytikäinen (Leo-Pekka); K.E. North (Kari); M. Dimitriou (Maria); G. Hallmans (Göran); M. Kähönen (Mika); C. Langenberg (Claudia); J.M. Ordovas (Jose); A.G. Uitterlinden (André); F.B. Hu (Frank); I.-P. Kalafati (Ioanna-Panagiota); O. Raitakari (Olli); O.H. Franco (Oscar); A. Johnson (Anthony); V. Emilsson (Valur); J.A. Schrack (Jennifer); R.D. Semba; D.S. Siscovick (David); D.K. Arnett (Donna); I.B. Borecki (Ingrid); P.W. Franks (Paul); S.B. Kritchevsky (Stephen); R.J.F. Loos (Ruth); M. Orho-Melander (Marju); J.I. Rotter (Jerome); N.J. Wareham (Nick); J.C.M. Witteman (Jacqueline); L. Ferrucci (Luigi); G.V. Dedoussis (George); L.A. Cupples (Adrienne); J.A. Nettleton (Jennifer )

2013-01-01

textabstractBackground: Macronutrient intake varies substantially between individuals, and there is evidence that this variation is partly accounted for by genetic variants. Objective: The objective of the study was to identify common genetic variants that are associated with macronutrient intake.

Rare Variant Analysis of Human and Rodent Obesity Genes in Individuals with Severe Childhood Obesity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hendricks, Audrey E.; Bochukova, Elena G.; Marenne, Gaëlle; Keogh, Julia M.; Atanassova, Neli; Bounds, Rebecca; Wheeler, Eleanor; Mistry, Vanisha; Henning, Elana; Körner, Antje; Muddyman, Dawn; McCarthy, Shane; Hinney, Anke; Hebebrand, Johannes; Scott, Robert A.; Langenberg, Claudia; Wareham, Nick J.; Surendran, Praveen; Howson, Joanna M M; Butterworth, Adam S.; Danesh, John; Nordestgaard, Børge G.; Nielsen, Sune F.; Afzal, Shoaib; Papadia, Sofia; Ashford, Sofie; Garg, Sumedha; Millhauser, Glenn L.; Palomino, Rafael I.; Kwasniewska, Alexandra; Tachmazidou, Ioanna; O'Rahilly, Stephen; Zeggini, Eleftheria; Barroso, Inês; Farooqi, I. Sadaf; Benzeval, Michaela; Burton, Jonathan; Buck, Nicholas; Jäckle, Annette; Kumari, Meena; Laurie, Heather; Lynn, Peter; Pudney, Stephen; Rabe, Birgitta; Wolke, Dieter; Overvad, Kim; Tjønneland, Anne; Clavel-Chapelon, Francoise; Kaaks, Rudolf; Boeing, Heiner; Trichopoulou, Antonia; Ferrari, Pietro; Palli, Domenico; Krogha, Vittorio; Panico, Salvatore; Tuminoa, Rosario; Matullo, Giuseppe; Boer, Jolanda Ma; Van Der Schouw, Yvonne; Weiderpass, Elisabete; Quiros, J. Ramon; Sánchez, María José; Navarro, Carmen; Moreno-Iribas, Conchi; Arriola, Larraitz; Melander, Olle; Wennberg, Patrik; Key, Timothy J.; Riboli, Elio; Al-Turki, Saeed; Anderson, Carl A; Anney, Richard; Antony, Dinu; Soler Artigas, María; Ayub, Muhammad; Bala, Senduran; Barrett, Jeffrey C; Beales, Phil; Bentham, Jamie; Bhattacharyaa, Shoumo; Birney, Ewan; Blackwooda, Douglas; Bobrow, Martin; Bolton, Patrick F.; Boustred, Chris; Breen, Gerome; Calissanoa, Mattia; Carss, Keren; Charlton, Ruth; Chatterjee, Krishna; Chen, Lu; Ciampia, Antonio; Cirak, Sebahattin; Clapham, Peter; Clement, Gail; Coates, Guy; Coccaa, Massimiliano; Collier, David A; Cosgrove, Catherine; Coxa, Tony; Craddock, Nick; Crooks, Lucy; Curran, Sarah; Curtis, David; Daly, Allan; Danecek, Petr; Day, Ian N M; Day-Williams, Aaron G; Dominiczak, Anna; Down, Thomas; Du, Yuanping; Dunham, Ian; Durbin, Richard; Edkins, Sarah; Ekong, Rosemary; Ellis, Peter; Evansa, David M.; FitzPatrick, David R.; Flicek, Paul; Floyd, James S.; Foley, A. Reghan; Franklin, Christopher S.; Futema, Marta; Gallagher, Louise; Gaunt, Tom R.; Geihs, Matthias; Geschwind, Daniel H.; Greenwood, Celia M.T.; Griffin, Heather; Grozeva, Detelina; Guo, Xiaosen; Guo, Xueqin; Gurling, Hugh; Hart, Deborah J.; Holmans, Peter A; Howie, Bryan; Huang, Jie; Huang, Liren; Hubbard, Tim; Humphries, Steve E.; Hurles, Matthew E.; Hysi, Pirro G.; Iotchkova, Valentina; Jackson, David K.; Jamshidi, Yalda; Joyce, Chris; Karczewski, Konrad J.; Kaye, Jane; Keane, Thomas; Kemp, John P.; Kennedy, Karen; Kent, Alastair; Khawaja, Farrah; Van Kogelenberg, Margriet; Kolb-Kokocinski, Anja; Lachance, Genevieve; Langford, Cordelia; Lawson, Daniel; Lee, Irene; Lek, Monkol; Li, Rui; Li, Yingrui; Liang, Jieqin; Lin, Hong; Liu, Ryan; Lönnqvist, Jouko; Lopes, Luis R.; Lopes, Margarida; MacArthur, Daniel G.; Mangino, Massimo; Marchini, Jonathan; Maslen, John; Mathieson, Iain; McGuffin, Peter; McIntosh, Andrew M.; McKechanie, Andrew G.; McQuillin, Andrew; Memari, Yasin; Metrustry, Sarah; Migone, Nicola; Min, Josine L.; Mitchison, Hannah M; Moayyeri, Alireza; Morris, Andrew D.; Morris, James; Muntoni, Francesco; Northstone, Kate; O'Donovan, Michael C.; Onoufriadis, Alexandros; Oualkacha, Karim; Owen, Michael J; Palotie, Aarno; Panoutsopoulou, Kalliope; Parker, Victoria; Parr, Jeremy R.; Paternoster, Lavinia; Paunio, Tiina; Payne, Felicity; Payne, Stewart J.; Perry, John R. B.; Pietilainen, Olli; Plagnol, Vincent; Pollitt, Rebecca C.; Porteous, David J.; Povey, Sue; Quail, Michael A.; Quaye, Lydia; Raymond, F. Lucy; Rehnström, Karola; Richards, J Brent; Ridout, Cheryl K.; Ring, Susan M.; Ritchie, Graham R.S.; Roberts, Nicola; Robinson, Rachel L.; Savage, David B.; Scambler, Peter; Schiffels, Stephan; Schmidts, Miriam; Schoenmakers, Nadia; Scott, Richard H.; Semple, Robert K.; Serra, Eva; Sharp, Sally I.; Shaw, Adam; Shihab, Hashem A.; Shin, So Youn; Skuse, David; Small, Kerrin S; Smee, Carol; Smith, Blair H.; Davey Smith, George; Soranzo, Nicole; Southam, Lorraine; Spasic-Boskovic, Olivera; Spector, Timothy D; St Clair, David; St Pourcain, Beate; Stalker, Jim; Stevens, Elizabeth; Sun, Jianping; Surdulescu, Gabriela L; Suvisaari, Jaana; Syrris, Petros; Taylor, Rohan; Tian, Jing; Timpson, Nicholas J.; Tobin, Martin D; Valdes, Ana M.; Vandersteen, Anthony M.; Vijayarangakannan, Parthiban; Visscher, Peter M.; Wain, Louise V.; Walter, Klaudia; Walters, James T.R.; Wang, Guangbiao; Wang, Jun; Wang, Nai-Yu; Ward, Kirsten; Whyte, Tamieka; Williams, Hywel J.; Williamson, Kathleen A.; Wilson, Crispian; Wilson, Scott G.; Wong, Kim; Xu, Changjiang; Yang, Jian; Zhang, Feng; Zhang, Pingbo; Zheng, Hou Feng

2017-01-01

Obesity is a genetically heterogeneous disorder. Using targeted and whole-exome sequencing, we studied 32 human and 87 rodent obesity genes in 2,548 severely obese children and 1,117 controls. We identified 52 variants contributing to obesity in 2% of cases including multiple novel variants in GNAS,

Rare variant analysis of human and rodent obesity genes in individuals with severe childhood obesity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hendricks, Audrey E.; Bochukova, Elena G.; Marenne, Gaëlle

2017-01-01

Obesity is a genetically heterogeneous disorder. Using targeted and whole-exome sequencing, we studied 32 human and 87 rodent obesity genes in 2,548 severely obese children and 1,117 controls. We identified 52 variants contributing to obesity in 2% of cases including multiple novel variants in GN...

Invited commentary: genetic variants and individual- and societal-level risk factors.

Science.gov (United States)

Coughlin, Steven S

2010-01-01

Over the past decade, leading epidemiologists have noted the importance of social factors in studying and understanding the distribution and determinants of disease in human populations; but to what extent are epidemiologic studies integrating genetic information and other biologic variables with information about individual-level risk factors and group-level or societal factors related to the broader residential, behavioral, or cultural context? There remains a need to consider ways to integrate genetic information with social and contextual information in epidemiologic studies, partly to combat the overemphasis on the importance of genetic factors as determinants of disease in human populations. Even in genome-wide association studies of coronary heart disease and other common complex diseases, only a small proportion of heritability is explained by the genetic variants identified to date. It is possible that familial clustering due to genetic factors has been overestimated and that important environmental or social influences (acting alone or in combination with genetic variants) have been overlooked. The accompanying article by Bressler et al. (Am J Epidemiol. 2010;171(1):14-23) highlights some of these important issues.

Genetic characterization of natural variants of Vpu from HIV-1 infected individuals from Northern India and their impact on virus release and cell death.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sachin Verma

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Genetic studies reveal that vpu is one of the most variable regions in HIV-1 genome. Functional studies have been carried out mostly with Vpu derived from laboratory adapted subtype B pNL 4-3 virus. The rationale of this study was to characterize genetic variations that are present in the vpu gene from HIV-1 infected individuals from North-India (Punjab/Haryana and determine their functional relevance. METHODS: Functionally intact vpu gene variants were PCR amplified from genomic DNA of HIV-1 infected individuals. These variants were then subjected to genetic analysis and unique representative variants were cloned under CMV promoter containing expression vector as well as into pNL 4-3 HIV-1 virus for intracellular expression studies. These variants were characterized with respect to their ability to promote virus release as well as cell death. RESULTS: Based on phylogenetic analysis and extensive polymorphisms with respect to consensus Vpu B and C, we were able to arbitrarily assign variants into two major groups (B and C. The group B variants always showed significantly higher virus release activity and exhibited moderate levels of cell death. On the other hand, group C variants displayed lower virus release activity but greater cell death potential. Interestingly, Vpu variants with a natural S61A mutation showed greater intracellular stability. These variants also exhibited significant reduction in their intracellular ubiquitination and caused greater virus release. Another group C variant that possessed a non-functional β-TrcP binding motif due to two critical serine residues (S52 and S56 being substituted with isoleucine residues, showed reduced virus release activity but modest cytotoxic activity. CONCLUSIONS: The natural variations exhibited by our Vpu variants involve extensive polymorphism characterized by substitution and deletions that contribute toward positive selection. We identified two major groups and an extremely

Association of Genetic Variants With Response to Anti-Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Therapy in Age-Related Macular Degeneration.

Science.gov (United States)

Lorés-Motta, Laura; Riaz, Moeen; Grunin, Michelle; Corominas, Jordi; van Asten, Freekje; Pauper, Marc; Leenders, Mathieu; Richardson, Andrea J; Muether, Philipp; Cree, Angela J; Griffiths, Helen L; Pham, Connie; Belanger, Marie-Claude; Meester-Smoor, Magda A; Ali, Manir; Heid, Iris M; Fritsche, Lars G; Chakravarthy, Usha; Gale, Richard; McKibbin, Martin; Inglehearn, Chris F; Schlingemann, Reinier O; Omar, Amer; Chen, John; Koenekoop, Robert K; Fauser, Sascha; Guymer, Robyn H; Hoyng, Carel B; de Jong, Eiko K; Lotery, Andrew J; Mitchell, Paul; den Hollander, Anneke I; Baird, Paul N; Chowers, Itay

2018-05-31

gain, 1.7; β, 0.034; SE, 0.008; P = 1.38 × 10-5). Genome-wide gene-based optimal unified sequence kernel association test of rare variants showed genome-wide significant associations for the C10orf88 (P = 4.22 × 10-7) and UNC93B1 (P = 6.09 × 10-7) genes, in both cases leading to a worse treatment outcome. Patients carrying rare variants in the C10orf88 and UNC93B1 genes lost a mean (SD) VA of 30.6 (17.4) ETDRS score letters (ie, loss of 6.09 lines) and 26.5 (13.8) ETDRS score letters (ie, loss of 5.29 lines), respectively, after 3 months of anti-VEGF treatment. We propose that there is a limited contribution of common genetic variants to variability in nAMD treatment response. Our results suggest that rare protein-altering variants in the C10orf88 and UNC93B1 genes are associated with a worse response to anti-VEGF therapy in patients with nAMD, but these results require further validation in other cohorts.

Relations of mitochondrial genetic variants to measures of vascular function.

Science.gov (United States)

Fetterman, Jessica L; Liu, Chunyu; Mitchell, Gary F; Vasan, Ramachandran S; Benjamin, Emelia J; Vita, Joseph A; Hamburg, Naomi M; Levy, Daniel

2018-05-01

Mitochondrial genetic variation with resultant alterations in oxidative phosphorylation may influence vascular function and contribute to cardiovascular disease susceptibility. We assessed relations of peptide-encoding variants in the mitochondrial genome with measures of vascular function in Framingham Heart Study participants. Of 258 variants assessed, 40 were predicted to have functional consequences by bioinformatics programs. A maternal pattern of heritability was estimated to contribute to the variability of aortic stiffness. A putative association with a microvascular function measure was identified that requires replication. The methods we have developed can be applied to assess the relations of mitochondrial genetic variation to other phenotypes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. and Mitochondria Research Society. All rights reserved.

Genetic variants in IL-6/JAK/STAT3 pathway and the risk of CRC.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Shuwei; Zhang, Weidong

2016-05-01

Interleukin (IL)-6 and the downstream Janus kinase (JAK)/signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) pathway have previously been reported to be important in the development of colorectal cancer (CRC), and several studies have shown the relationship between the polymorphisms of related genes in this pathway with the risk of CRC. However, the findings of these related studies are inconsistent. Moreover, there has no systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the relationship between genetic variants in IL-6/JAK/STAT3 pathway and CRC susceptibility. Hence, we conducted a meta-analysis to explore the relationship between polymorphisms in IL-6/JAK/STAT3 pathway genes and CRC risk. Eighteen eligible studies with a total of 13,795 CRC cases and 18,043 controls were identified by searching PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and the Cochrane Library databases for the period up to September 15, 2015. Odds ratios (ORs) and their 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) were used to calculate the strength of the association. Our results indicated that IL-6 genetic variants in allele additive model (OR = 1.05, 95 % CI = 1.00, 1.09) and JAK2 genetic variants (OR = 1.40, 95 % CI = 1.15, 1.65) in genotype recessive model were significantly associated with CRC risk. Moreover, the pooled data revealed that IL-6 rs1800795 polymorphism significantly increased the risk of CRC in allele additive model in Europe (OR = 1.07, 95 % CI = 1.01, 1.14). In conclusion, the present findings indicate that IL-6 and JAK2 genetic variants are associated with the increased risk of CRC while STAT3 genetic variants not. We need more well-designed clinical studies covering more countries and population to definitively establish the association between genetic variants in IL-6/JAK/STAT3 pathway and CRC susceptibility.

A rare variant of α 1 antitrypsin mutations detected in Vietnamese children with liver disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoàng, Thu Hà; Phạm, Thiên Ngọc; Nguyễn, Gia Khánh; Lê, Quang Huấn

2013-07-01

Alpha 1 antitrypsin (A1AT) is the major plasma serine protease inhibitor that is produced in liver cells. A1AT deficiency is recognized globally as a common genetic cause of liver disease in children, which results from mutations in the SERine Protease INhibitor A1 (SERPINA1) gene. The importance of A1AT deficiency in Viet Nam is unclear. The aim of this study was to determine the A1AT variants present in paediatric patients with liver diseases in order to clarify whether A1AT deficiency is present in Viet Nam. A1AT studies were carried out in 130 children with liver disease of indeterminate aetiology. A1AT levels were determined by immunoturbidimetry. Phenotype analysis of A1AT was performed by isoelectric focusing (IEF) in all patients. Genotype analyses to determine A1AT mutations were performed by direct sequencing. We identified a rare variant of A1AT named Zbristol. The Zbristol appeared to be deficient in the plasma to about the same degree as the PI S protein resulting in low concentration of A1AT in one of these two Vietnamese patients. No other deficient A1AT allele was detected, although 11 patients (8.5%) showed a reduced serum concentration of A1AT. These are the first two cases of a rare A1AT deficiency allele to be found in Viet Nam clearly inferring that A1AT deficiency is not just a disease of Caucasians. As such, the laboratory diagnosis of A1AT deficiency including A1AT concentration determination and phenotype and genotype testing should form part of the routine differential diagnosis of paediatric liver disease of indeterminate aetiology in Vietnamese patients.

Quantitative determination of casein genetic variants in goat milk: Application in Girgentana dairy goat breed.

Science.gov (United States)

Montalbano, Maria; Segreto, Roberta; Di Gerlando, Rosalia; Mastrangelo, Salvatore; Sardina, Maria Teresa

2016-02-01

The study was conducted to develop a high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method to quantify casein genetic variants (αs2-, β-, and κ-casein) in milk of homozygous individuals of Girgentana goat breed. For calibration experiments, pure genetic variants were extracted from individual milk samples of animals with known genotypes. The described HPLC approach was precise, accurate and highly suitable for quantification of goat casein genetic variants of homozygous individuals. The amount of each casein per allele was: αs2-casein A = 2.9 ± 0.8 g/L and F = 1.8 ± 0.4 g/L; β-casein C = 3.0 ± 0.8 g/L and C1 = 2.0 ± 0.7 g/L and κ-casein A = 1.6 ± 0.3 g/L and B = 1.1 ± 0.2 g/L. A good correlation was found between the quantities of αs2-casein genetic variants A and F, and β-casein C and C1 with other previously described method. The main important result was obtained for κ-casein because, till now, no data were available on quantification of single genetic variants for this protein. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Genome-wide association scan shows genetic variants in the FTO gene are associated with obesity-related traits.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Angelo Scuteri

2007-07-01

Full Text Available The obesity epidemic is responsible for a substantial economic burden in developed countries and is a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The disease is the result not only of several environmental risk factors, but also of genetic predisposition. To take advantage of recent advances in gene-mapping technology, we executed a genome-wide association scan to identify genetic variants associated with obesity-related quantitative traits in the genetically isolated population of Sardinia. Initial analysis suggested that several SNPs in the FTO and PFKP genes were associated with increased BMI, hip circumference, and weight. Within the FTO gene, rs9930506 showed the strongest association with BMI (p = 8.6 x10(-7, hip circumference (p = 3.4 x 10(-8, and weight (p = 9.1 x 10(-7. In Sardinia, homozygotes for the rare "G" allele of this SNP (minor allele frequency = 0.46 were 1.3 BMI units heavier than homozygotes for the common "A" allele. Within the PFKP gene, rs6602024 showed very strong association with BMI (p = 4.9 x 10(-6. Homozygotes for the rare "A" allele of this SNP (minor allele frequency = 0.12 were 1.8 BMI units heavier than homozygotes for the common "G" allele. To replicate our findings, we genotyped these two SNPs in the GenNet study. In European Americans (N = 1,496 and in Hispanic Americans (N = 839, we replicated significant association between rs9930506 in the FTO gene and BMI (p-value for meta-analysis of European American and Hispanic American follow-up samples, p = 0.001, weight (p = 0.001, and hip circumference (p = 0.0005. We did not replicate association between rs6602024 and obesity-related traits in the GenNet sample, although we found that in European Americans, Hispanic Americans, and African Americans, homozygotes for the rare "A" allele were, on average, 1.0-3.0 BMI units heavier than homozygotes for the more common "G" allele. In summary, we have completed a whole genome-association scan for

Contribution to Alzheimer's disease risk of rare variants in TREM2, SORL1, and ABCA7 in 1779 cases and 1273 controls.

Science.gov (United States)

Bellenguez, Céline; Charbonnier, Camille; Grenier-Boley, Benjamin; Quenez, Olivier; Le Guennec, Kilan; Nicolas, Gaël; Chauhan, Ganesh; Wallon, David; Rousseau, Stéphane; Richard, Anne Claire; Boland, Anne; Bourque, Guillaume; Munter, Hans Markus; Olaso, Robert; Meyer, Vincent; Rollin-Sillaire, Adeline; Pasquier, Florence; Letenneur, Luc; Redon, Richard; Dartigues, Jean-François; Tzourio, Christophe; Frebourg, Thierry; Lathrop, Mark; Deleuze, Jean-François; Hannequin, Didier; Genin, Emmanuelle; Amouyel, Philippe; Debette, Stéphanie; Lambert, Jean-Charles; Campion, Dominique

2017-11-01

We performed whole-exome and whole-genome sequencing in 927 late-onset Alzheimer disease (LOAD) cases, 852 early-onset AD (EOAD) cases, and 1273 controls from France. We assessed the evidence for gene-based association of rare variants with AD in 6 genes for which an association with such variants was previously claimed. When aggregating protein-truncating and missense-predicted damaging variants, we found exome-wide significant association between EOAD risk and rare variants in SORL1, TREM2, and ABCA7. No exome-wide significant signal was obtained in the LOAD sample, and significance of the order of 10 -6 was observed in the whole AD group for TREM2. Our study confirms previous gene-level results for TREM2, SORL1, and ABCA7 and provides a clearer insight into the classes of rare variants involved. Despite different effect sizes and varying cumulative minor allele frequencies, the rare protein-truncating and missense-predicted damaging variants in TREM2, SORL1, and ABCA7 contribute similarly to the heritability of EOAD and explain between 1.1% and 1.5% of EOAD heritability each, compared with 9.12% for APOE ε4. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Genetic variant as a marker for bladder cancer therapy

Science.gov (United States)

Patients who have inherited a specific common genetic variant develop bladder cancer tumors that strongly express a protein known as prostate stem cell antigen (PSCA), which is also expressed in many pancreatic and prostate tumors, according to research a

Effect of Two Lipoprotein (a-Associated Genetic Variants on Plasminogen Levels and Fibrinolysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hong Wang

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Two genetic variants (rs3798220 and rs10455872 in the apolipoprotein (a gene (LPA have been implicated in cardiovascular disease (CVD, presumably through their association with lipoprotein (a [Lp(a] levels. While Lp(a is recognized as a lipoprotein with atherogenic and thrombogenic characteristics, it is unclear whether or not the two Lp(a-associated genetic variants are also associated with markers of thrombosis (i.e., plasminogen levels and fibrinolysis. In the present study, we genotyped the two genetic variants in 2919 subjects of the Old Order Amish (OOA and recruited 146 subjects according to the carrier and noncarrier status for rs3798220 and rs10455872, and also matched for gender and age. We measured plasma Lp(a and plasminogen levels in these subjects, and found that the concentrations of plasma Lp(a were 2.62- and 1.73-fold higher in minor allele carriers of rs3798220 and rs10455872, respectively, compared with noncarriers (P = 2.04 × 10−17 and P = 1.64 × 10−6, respectively. By contrast, there was no difference in plasminogen concentrations between carriers and noncarriers of rs3798220 and rs10455872. Furthermore, we observed no association between carrier status of rs3798220 or rs10455872 with clot lysis time. Finally, plasminogen mRNA expression in liver samples derived from 76 Caucasian subjects was not significantly different between carriers and noncarriers of these two genetic variants. Our results provide further insight into the mechanism of action behind two genetic variants previously implicated in CVD risk and show that these polymorphisms are not major modulating factors for plasma plasminogen levels and fibrinolysis.

A large genome-wide association study of age-related macular degeneration highlights contributions of rare and common variants

NARCIS (Netherlands)

L.G. Fritsche (Lars); W. Igl (Wilmar); J.N. Cooke Bailey (Jessica N.); F. Grassmann (Felix); S. Sengupta (Sebanti); J.L. Bragg-Gresham (Jennifer L.); Burdon, K.P. (Kathryn P.); S.J. Hebbring (Scott J.); Wen, C. (Cindy); M. Gorski (Mathias); I.K. Kim (Ivana); Cho, D. (David); Zack, D. (Donald); E.H. Souied (Eric); H.P.N. Scholl (Hendrik); E. Bala (Elisa); ELee, K. (Kristine); D. Hunter (David); Sardell, R.J. (Rebecca J.); P. Mitchell (Paul); J.E. Merriam (Joanna); F. Cipriani (Francesco); Hoffman, J.D. (Joshua D.); T. Schick (Tina); Y.T.E. Lechanteur (Yara T. E.); R.H. Guymer (Robyn); M.P. Johnson (Matthew); Y. Jiang; C.M. Stanton (Chloe); G.H.S. Buitendijk (Gabrielle); X. Zhan (Xiaowei); Kwong, A.M. (Alan M.); A. Boleda (Alexis); M. Brooks (Matthew); L. Gieser (Linn); R. Ratna Priya (Rinki); K.E. Branham (Kari); Foerster, J.R. (Johanna R.); J.R. Heckenlively (John); M.I. Othman (Mohammad); B.J. Vote (Brendan J.); Liang, H.H. (Helena Hai); E. Souzeau (Emmanuelle); McAllister, I.L. (Ian L.); T. Isaacs (Timothy); Hall, J. (Janette); Lake, S. (Stewart); D.A. Mackey (David); Constable, I.J. (Ian J.); J.E. Craig (Jamie E.); T.E. Kitchner (Terrie E.); Yang, Z. (Zhenglin); Su, Z. (Zhiguang); Luo, H. (Hongrong); Chen, D. (Daniel); Ouyang, H. (Hong); K. Flagg (Ken); Lin, D. (Danni); Mao, G. (Guanping); H.A. Ferreyra (Henry); K. Stark (Klaus); C. von Strachwitz (Claudia); Wolf, A. (Armin); C. Brandl (Caroline); Rudolph, G. (Guenther); M. Olden (Matthias); M.A. Morrison (Margaux); D.J. Morgan (Denise); M. Schu (Matthew); Ahn, J. (Jeeyun); G. Silvestri (Giuliana); E.E. Tsironi (Evangelia); Park, K.H. (Kyu Hyung); L.A. Farrer (Lindsay); A. Orlin (Anton); Brucker, A. (Alexander); X. Li (Xiaohui); C.A. Curcio (Christine A.); Mohand-Sa'd, S. (Saddek); J.-A. Sahel (José-Alain); I. Audo (Isabelle); M. Benchaboune (Mustapha); A.J. Cree (Angela); Rennie, C.A. (Christina A.); Goverdhan, S.V. (Srinivas V.); M. Grunin (Michelle); S. Hagbi-Levi (Shira); B. Campochiaro (Betsy); N. Katsanis (Nicholas); J.-B. Holz; F. Blond (Frédéric); Blanché, H. (Hél'ne); Deleuze, J.-F. (Jean-Fran'ois); R.P. Igo Jr. (Robert); B.J. Truitt (Barbara); N.S. Peachey (Neal ); S.M. Meuer (Stacy); C.E. Myers (Chelsea); Moore, E.L. (Emily L.); R. Klein (Ronald); M.A. Hauser (Michael); E.A. Postel (Eric); M.D. Courtenay (Monique D.); S.M. Schwartz (Stephen); J.L. Kovach (Jaclyn); W.K. Scott (William); Liew, G. (Gerald); Tan, A.G. (Ava G.); B. Gopinath (Bamini); J.E. Merriam (Joanna); T. Smith (Tim); J.C. Khan (Jane); M. Shahid (Mohammad); A.T. Moore (Anthony); J.A. McGrath (J Allie); R. Laux (Reneé); M.A. Brantley (Milam); A. Agarwal (Anita); L. Ersoy (Lebriz); A. Caramoy (Albert); T. Langmann (Thomas); N.T.M. Saksens (Nicole T.); Jong, E.K. (Eiko Kde); C. Hoyng (Carel); M.S. Cain (Melinda); A.J. Richardson (Andrea); T.M. Martin (Tammy M.); J. Blangero (John); D.E. Weeks (Daniel); Dhillon, B. (Bal); C.M. van Duijn (Cornelia); K.F. Doheny (Kimberly); Romm, J. (Jane); C.C.W. Klaver (Caroline); C. Hayward (Caroline); Gorin, M.B. (Michael B.); M.L. Klein (Michael); P.N. Baird (Paul); A.I. Hollander (Anneke); Fauser, S. (Sascha); WYates, J.R. (John R.); R. Allikmets (Rando); J.J. Wang (Jie Jin); D.A. Schaumberg (Debra); B.E.K. Klein (Barbara); S.A. Hagstrom (Stephanie); Y. Chowers (Yehuda); A.J. Lotery (Andrew); T. Léveillard (Thierry); K. Zhang (Kang); M.H. Brilliant (Murray H.); A.W. Hewit (Alex); A. Swaroop (Anand); Chew, E.Y. (Emily Y.); M.A. Pericak-Vance (Margaret); M.M. DeAngelis (Margaret); D. Stambolian (Dwight); J.L. Haines (Jonathan); S.K. Iyengar (Sudha); B.H.F. Weber (Bernhard); G.R. Abecasis (Gonçalo); I.M. Heid (Iris)

2016-01-01

textabstractAdvanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness in the elderly, with limited therapeutic options. Here we report on a study of >12 million variants, including 163,714 directly genotyped, mostly rare, protein-altering variants. Analyzing 16,144 patients

Korean Variant Archive (KOVA): a reference database of genetic variations in the Korean population.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Sangmoon; Seo, Jihae; Park, Jinman; Nam, Jae-Yong; Choi, Ahyoung; Ignatius, Jason S; Bjornson, Robert D; Chae, Jong-Hee; Jang, In-Jin; Lee, Sanghyuk; Park, Woong-Yang; Baek, Daehyun; Choi, Murim

2017-06-27

Despite efforts to interrogate human genome variation through large-scale databases, systematic preference toward populations of Caucasian descendants has resulted in unintended reduction of power in studying non-Caucasians. Here we report a compilation of coding variants from 1,055 healthy Korean individuals (KOVA; Korean Variant Archive). The samples were sequenced to a mean depth of 75x, yielding 101 singleton variants per individual. Population genetics analysis demonstrates that the Korean population is a distinct ethnic group comparable to other discrete ethnic groups in Africa and Europe, providing a rationale for such independent genomic datasets. Indeed, KOVA conferred 22.8% increased variant filtering power in addition to Exome Aggregation Consortium (ExAC) when used on Korean exomes. Functional assessment of nonsynonymous variant supported the presence of purifying selection in Koreans. Analysis of copy number variants detected 5.2 deletions and 10.3 amplifications per individual with an increased fraction of novel variants among smaller and rarer copy number variable segments. We also report a list of germline variants that are associated with increased tumor susceptibility. This catalog can function as a critical addition to the pre-existing variant databases in pursuing genetic studies of Korean individuals.

Annotating pathogenic non-coding variants in genic regions.

Science.gov (United States)

Gelfman, Sahar; Wang, Quanli; McSweeney, K Melodi; Ren, Zhong; La Carpia, Francesca; Halvorsen, Matt; Schoch, Kelly; Ratzon, Fanni; Heinzen, Erin L; Boland, Michael J; Petrovski, Slavé; Goldstein, David B

2017-08-09

Identifying the underlying causes of disease requires accurate interpretation of genetic variants. Current methods ineffectively capture pathogenic non-coding variants in genic regions, resulting in overlooking synonymous and intronic variants when searching for disease risk. Here we present the Transcript-inferred Pathogenicity (TraP) score, which uses sequence context alterations to reliably identify non-coding variation that causes disease. High TraP scores single out extremely rare variants with lower minor allele frequencies than missense variants. TraP accurately distinguishes known pathogenic and benign variants in synonymous (AUC = 0.88) and intronic (AUC = 0.83) public datasets, dismissing benign variants with exceptionally high specificity. TraP analysis of 843 exomes from epilepsy family trios identifies synonymous variants in known epilepsy genes, thus pinpointing risk factors of disease from non-coding sequence data. TraP outperforms leading methods in identifying non-coding variants that are pathogenic and is therefore a valuable tool for use in gene discovery and the interpretation of personal genomes.While non-coding synonymous and intronic variants are often not under strong selective constraint, they can be pathogenic through affecting splicing or transcription. Here, the authors develop a score that uses sequence context alterations to predict pathogenicity of synonymous and non-coding genetic variants, and provide a web server of pre-computed scores.

New population-based exome data are questioning the pathogenicity of previously cardiomyopathy-associated genetic variants

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andreasen, Charlotte Hartig; Nielsen, Jonas B; Refsgaard, Lena

2013-01-01

Cardiomyopathies are a heterogeneous group of diseases with various etiologies. We focused on three genetically determined cardiomyopathies: hypertrophic (HCM), dilated (DCM), and arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC). Eighty-four genes have so far been associated with these card......Cardiomyopathies are a heterogeneous group of diseases with various etiologies. We focused on three genetically determined cardiomyopathies: hypertrophic (HCM), dilated (DCM), and arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC). Eighty-four genes have so far been associated...... with these cardiomyopathies, but the disease-causing effect of reported variants is often dubious. In order to identify possible false-positive variants, we investigated the prevalence of previously reported cardiomyopathy-associated variants in recently published exome data. We searched for reported missense and nonsense...... variants in the NHLBI-Go Exome Sequencing Project (ESP) containing exome data from 6500 individuals. In ESP, we identified 94 variants out of 687 (14%) variants previously associated with HCM, 58 out of 337 (17%) variants associated with DCM, and 38 variants out of 209 (18%) associated with ARVC...

A large genome-wide association study of age-related macular degeneration highlights contributions of rare and common variants

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Fritsche, L.G.; Igl, W.; Bailey, J.N.; Grassmann, F.; Sengupta, S; Bragg-Gresham, J.L.; Burdon, K.P.; Hebbring, S.J.; Wen, C.; Gorski, M.; Kim, I.K.; Cho, D.; Zack, D.; Souied, E.; Scholl, H.P.; Bala, E.; Lee, K.E.; Hunter, D.J.; Sardell, R.J.; Mitchell, P.; Merriam, J.E.; Cipriani, V.; Hoffman, J.D.; Schick, T.; Lechanteur, Y.T.; Guymer, R.H.; Johnson, M.P.; Jiang, Y.; Stanton, C.M.; Buitendijk, G.H.; Zhan, X.; Kwong, A.M.; Boleda, A.; Brooks, M.; Gieser, L.; Ratnapriya, R.; Branham, K.E.; Foerster, J.R.; Heckenlively, J.R.; Othman, M.I.; Vote, B.J.; Liang, H.H.; Souzeau, E.; McAllister, I.L.; Isaacs, T.; Hall, J.; Lake, S.; Mackey, D.A.; Constable, I.J.; Craig, J.E.; Kitchner, T.E.; Yang, Z; Su, Z.; Luo, H.; Chen, D.; Ouyang, H.; Flagg, K.; Lin, D.; Mao, G.; Ferreyra, H.; Stark, K.; Strachwitz, C.N. von; Wolf, A.; Brandl, C.; Rudolph, G.; Olden, M.; Morrison, M.A.; Morgan, D.J.; Schu, M.; Ahn, J.; Silvestri, G.; Tsironi, E.E.; Park, K.H.; Farrer, L.A.; Orlin, A.; Brucker, A.; Li, M.; Curcio, C.A.; Mohand-Said, S.; Sahel, J.A.; Audo, I.; Benchaboune, M.; Cree, A.J.; Rennie, C.A.; Goverdhan, S.V.; Grunin, M.; Hagbi-Levi, S.; Campochiaro, P.; Katsanis, N.; Holz, F.G.; Blond, F.; Blanche, H.; Deleuze, J.F.; Igo, R.P., Jr.; Truitt, B.; Peachey, N.S.; Meuer, S.M.; Myers, C.E.; Moore, E.L.; Klein, R.; Hollander, A.I. den; Saksens, N.T.M.; Hoyng, C.B.; Jong, E.K.; et al.,

2016-01-01

Advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness in the elderly, with limited therapeutic options. Here we report on a study of >12 million variants, including 163,714 directly genotyped, mostly rare, protein-altering variants. Analyzing 16,144 patients and 17,832

Common and rare variants in SCN10A modulate the risk of atrial fibrillation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jabbari, Javad; Olesen, Morten S; Yuan, Lei

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND: Genome-wide association studies have shown that the common single nucleotide polymorphism rs6800541 located in SCN10A, encoding the voltage-gated Nav1.8 sodium channel, is associated with PR-interval prolongation and atrial fibrillation (AF). Single nucleotide polymorphism rs6800541...... is in high linkage disequilibrium with the nonsynonymous variant in SCN10A, rs6795970 (V1073A, r(2)=0.933). We therefore sought to determine whether common and rare SCN10A variants are associated with early onset AF. METHODS AND RESULTS: SCN10A was sequenced in 225 AF patients in whom there was no evidence...... of other cardiovascular disease or dysfunction (lone AF). In an association study of the rs6795970 single nucleotide polymorphism variant, we included 515 AF patients and 2 control cohorts of 730 individuals free of AF and 6161 randomly sampled individuals. Functional characterization of SCN10A variants...

Stroke genetics: prospects for personalized medicine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Markus Hugh S

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Epidemiologic evidence supports a genetic predisposition to stroke. Recent advances, primarily using the genome-wide association study approach, are transforming what we know about the genetics of multifactorial stroke, and are identifying novel stroke genes. The current findings are consistent with different stroke subtypes having different genetic architecture. These discoveries may identify novel pathways involved in stroke pathogenesis, and suggest new treatment approaches. However, the already identified genetic variants explain only a small proportion of overall stroke risk, and therefore are not currently useful in predicting risk for the individual patient. Such risk prediction may become a reality as identification of a greater number of stroke risk variants that explain the majority of genetic risk proceeds, and perhaps when information on rare variants, identified by whole-genome sequencing, is also incorporated into risk algorithms. Pharmacogenomics may offer the potential for earlier implementation of 'personalized genetic' medicine. Genetic variants affecting clopidogrel and warfarin metabolism may identify non-responders and reduce side-effects, but these approaches have not yet been widely adopted in clinical practice.

Genetic variants of the unsaturated fatty acid receptor GPR120 relating to obesity in dogs.

Science.gov (United States)

Miyabe, Masahiro; Gin, Azusa; Onozawa, Eri; Daimon, Mana; Yamada, Hana; Oda, Hitomi; Mori, Akihiro; Momota, Yutaka; Azakami, Daigo; Yamamoto, Ichiro; Mochizuki, Mariko; Sako, Toshinori; Tamura, Katsutoshi; Ishioka, Katsumi

2015-10-01

G protein-coupled receptor (GPR) 120 is an unsaturated fatty acid receptor, which is associated with various physiological functions. It is reported that the genetic variant of GPR120, p.Arg270His, is detected more in obese people, and this genetic variation functionally relates to obesity in humans. Obesity is a common nutritional disorder also in dogs, but the genetic factors have not ever been identified in dogs. In this study, we investigated the molecular structure of canine GPR120 and searched for candidate genetic variants which may relate to obesity in dogs. Canine GPR120 was highly homologous to those of other species, and seven transmembrane domains and two N-glycosylation sites were conserved. GPR120 mRNA was expressed in lung, jejunum, ileum, colon, hypothalamus, hippocampus, spinal cord, bone marrow, dermis and white adipose tissues in dogs, as those in mice and humans. Genetic variants of GPR120 were explored in client-owned 141 dogs, resulting in that 5 synonymous and 4 non-synonymous variants were found. The variant c.595C>A (p.Pro199Thr) was found in 40 dogs, and the gene frequency was significantly higher in dogs with higher body condition scores, i.e. 0.320 in BCS4-5 dogs, 0.175 in BCS3 dogs and 0.000 in BCS2 dogs. We conclude that c.595C>A (p.Pro199Thr) is a candidate variant relating to obesity, which may be helpful for nutritional management of dogs.

Whole-exome sequencing identifies rare and low-frequency coding variants associated with LDL cholesterol

NARCIS (Netherlands)

L.A. Lange (Leslie); Y. Hu (Youna); H. Zhang (He); C. Xue (Chenyi); E.M. Schmidt (Ellen); Z.-Z. Tang (Zheng-Zheng); C. Bizon (Chris); E.M. Lange (Ethan); G.D. Smith; E.H. Turner (Emily); Y. Jun (Yang); H.M. Kang (Hyun Min); G.M. Peloso (Gina); P. Auer (Paul); K.-P. Li (Kuo-Ping); J. Flannick (Jason); J. Zhang (Ji); C. Fuchsberger (Christian); K. Gaulton (Kyle); C.M. Lindgren (Cecilia); A. Locke (Adam); A.K. Manning (Alisa); X. Sim (Xueling); M.A. Rivas (Manuel); O.L. Holmen (Oddgeir); R.F. Gottesman (Rebecca); Y. Lu (Yingchang); D. Ruderfer (Douglas); E.A. Stahl (Eli); Q. Duan (Qing); Y. Li (Yun); P. Durda (Peter); S. Jiao (Shuo); A.J. Isaacs (Aaron); A. Hofman (Albert); J.C. Bis (Joshua); D.D. Correa; M.D. Griswold (Michael); M. Jakobsdottir (Margret); G.D. Smith; P.J. Schreiner (Pamela); M.F. Feitosa (Mary Furlan); Q. Zhang (Qunyuan); J.E. Huffman (Jennifer); S. Crosby; C.L. Wassel (Christina); R. Do (Ron); N. Franceschini (Nora); L.W. Martin (Lisa); J.G. Robinson (Jennifer); T.L. Assimes (Themistocles); D.R. Crosslin (David); E.A. Rosenthal (Elisabeth); M.Y. Tsai (Michael); M. Rieder (Mark); D.N. Farlow (Deborah); A.R. Folsom (Aaron); T. Lumley (Thomas); E.R. Fox (Ervin); C.S. Carlson (Christopher); U. Peters (Ulrike); R.D. Jackson (Rebecca); C.M. van Duijn (Cornelia); A.G. Uitterlinden (André); D. Levy (Daniel); J.I. Rotter (Jerome); H.A. Taylor (Herman); V. Gudnason (Vilmundur); D.S. Siscovick (David); M. Fornage (Myriam); I.B. Borecki (Ingrid); C. Hayward (Caroline); I. Rudan (Igor); Y.E. Chen (Y. Eugene); E.P. Bottinger (Erwin); R.J.F. Loos (Ruth); P. Sætrom (Pål); K. Hveem (Kristian); M. Boehnke (Michael); L. Groop (Leif); M.I. McCarthy (Mark); T. Meitinger (Thomas); C. Ballantyne (Christie); S.B. Gabriel (Stacey); C.J. O'Donnell (Christopher); W.S. Post (Wendy S.); K.E. North (Kari); A. Reiner (Alexander); E.A. Boerwinkle (Eric); B.M. Psaty (Bruce); D. Altshuler (David); S. Kathiresan (Sekar); D.Y. Lin (Dan); G.P. Jarvik (Gail); L.A. Cupples (Adrienne); C. Kooperberg (Charles); J.G. Wilson (James); D.A. Nickerson (Deborah); G.R. Abecasis (Gonçalo); S.S. Rich (Stephen); R.P. Tracy (Russell); C.J. Willer (Cristen)

2014-01-01

textabstractElevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) is a treatable, heritable risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified 157 variants associated with lipid levels but are not well suited to assess the impact of rare and low-frequency

Genetic variants influencing lipid levels and risk of dyslipidemia in ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

HUAICHAO LUO

2017-12-18

Dec 18, 2017 ... total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and triglycerides. (TG) in 1900 ... in Chinese population, especially relationship between these genetic variants ...

Genetic epidemiology of motor neuron disease-associated variants in the Scottish population.

Science.gov (United States)

Black, Holly A; Leighton, Danielle J; Cleary, Elaine M; Rose, Elaine; Stephenson, Laura; Colville, Shuna; Ross, David; Warner, Jon; Porteous, Mary; Gorrie, George H; Swingler, Robert; Goldstein, David; Harms, Matthew B; Connick, Peter; Pal, Suvankar; Aitman, Timothy J; Chandran, Siddharthan

2017-03-01

Genetic understanding of motor neuron disease (MND) has evolved greatly in the past 10 years, including the recent identification of association between MND and variants in TBK1 and NEK1. Our aim was to determine the frequency of pathogenic variants in known MND genes and to assess whether variants in TBK1 and NEK1 contribute to the burden of MND in the Scottish population. SOD1, TARDBP, OPTN, TBK1, and NEK1 were sequenced in 441 cases and 400 controls. In addition to 44 cases known to carry a C9orf72 hexanucleotide repeat expansion, we identified 31 cases and 2 controls that carried a loss-of-function or pathogenic variant. Loss-of-function variants were found in TBK1 in 3 cases and no controls and, separately, in NEK1 in 3 cases and no controls. This study provides an accurate description of the genetic epidemiology of MND in Scotland and provides support for the contribution of both TBK1 and NEK1 to MND susceptibility in the Scottish population. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

FTO genetic variants, dietary intake and body mass index

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Qi, Qibin; Kilpeläinen, Tuomas O; Downer, Mary K

2014-01-01

FTO is the strongest known genetic susceptibility locus for obesity. Experimental studies in animals suggest the potential roles of FTO in regulating food intake. The interactive relation among FTO variants, dietary intake and body mass index (BMI) is complex and results from previous often small...

Psoriasis Patients Are Enriched for Genetic Variants That Protect against HIV-1 Disease

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Haoyan; Hayashi, Genki; Lai, Olivia Y.; Dilthey, Alexander; Kuebler, Peter J.; Wong, Tami V.; Martin, Maureen P.; Fernandez Vina, Marcelo A.; McVean, Gil; Wabl, Matthias; Leslie, Kieron S.; Maurer, Toby; Martin, Jeffrey N.; Deeks, Steven G.; Carrington, Mary; Bowcock, Anne M.; Nixon, Douglas F.; Liao, Wilson

2012-01-01

An important paradigm in evolutionary genetics is that of a delicate balance between genetic variants that favorably boost host control of infection but which may unfavorably increase susceptibility to autoimmune disease. Here, we investigated whether patients with psoriasis, a common immune-mediated disease of the skin, are enriched for genetic variants that limit the ability of HIV-1 virus to replicate after infection. We analyzed the HLA class I and class II alleles of 1,727 Caucasian psoriasis cases and 3,581 controls and found that psoriasis patients are significantly more likely than controls to have gene variants that are protective against HIV-1 disease. This includes several HLA class I alleles associated with HIV-1 control; amino acid residues at HLA-B positions 67, 70, and 97 that mediate HIV-1 peptide binding; and the deletion polymorphism rs67384697 associated with high surface expression of HLA-C. We also found that the compound genotype KIR3DS1 plus HLA-B Bw4-80I, which respectively encode a natural killer cell activating receptor and its putative ligand, significantly increased psoriasis susceptibility. This compound genotype has also been associated with delay of progression to AIDS. Together, our results suggest that genetic variants that contribute to anti-viral immunity may predispose to the development of psoriasis. PMID:22577363

Common Gene Variants Account for Most Genetic Risk for Autism

Science.gov (United States)

... gene variants account for most genetic risk for autism Roles of heritability, mutations, environment estimated – NIH-funded study. The bulk of risk, or liability, for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) was traced to inherited variations ...

A targeted sequencing panel identifies rare damaging variants in multiple genes in the cranial neural tube defect, anencephaly.

Science.gov (United States)

Ishida, M; Cullup, T; Boustred, C; James, C; Docker, J; English, C; Lench, N; Copp, A J; Moore, G E; Greene, N D E; Stanier, P

2018-04-01

Neural tube defects (NTDs) affecting the brain (anencephaly) are lethal before or at birth, whereas lower spinal defects (spina bifida) may lead to lifelong neurological handicap. Collectively, NTDs rank among the most common birth defects worldwide. This study focuses on anencephaly, which despite having a similar frequency to spina bifida and being the most common type of NTD observed in mouse models, has had more limited inclusion in genetic studies. A genetic influence is strongly implicated in determining risk of NTDs and a molecular diagnosis is of fundamental importance to families both in terms of understanding the origin of the condition and for managing future pregnancies. Here we used a custom panel of 191 NTD candidate genes to screen 90 patients with cranial NTDs (n = 85 anencephaly and n = 5 craniorachischisis) with a targeted exome sequencing platform. After filtering and comparing to our in-house control exome database (N = 509), we identified 397 rare variants (minor allele frequency, MAF < 1%), 21 of which were previously unreported and predicted damaging. This included 1 frameshift (PDGFRA), 2 stop-gained (MAT1A; NOS2) and 18 missense variations. Together with evidence for oligogenic inheritance, this study provides new information on the possible genetic causation of anencephaly. © 2017 The Authors. Clinical Genetics published by John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Germline genetic variants in the Wnt/beta-catenin pathway as predictors of colorectal cancer risk

Science.gov (United States)

Hildebrandt, Michelle A.T.; Reyes, Monica E.; Lin, Moubin; He, Yonggang; Nguyen, Son V.; Hawk, Ernest T.; Wu, Xifeng

2016-01-01

Background The Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway plays a key role in stem cell maintenance in the colorectum. Rare high penetrance genetic mutations in components of this pathway result in familial colorectal cancer, yet the impact of common, germline variants remains unknown. Methods We assessed 172 variants in 26 genes from the Wnt/beta-catenin pathway in 809 CRC cases and 814 healthy controls, followed by replication of the top findings in another 691 cases and 775 controls. In silico informatic tools were used to predict functional effects of variants. Results Eighteen SNPs in the pathway were significantly associated with CRC risk (P <0.05) in the discovery phase. We observed a significant dose-response increase in CRC risk by number of risk genotypes carried (P = 4.19 × 10−8). Gene-based analysis implicated CSNK1D (P = 0.014), FZD3 (P = 0.023), and APC (P = 0.027) as significant for CRC risk. In the replication phase, FZD3:rs11775139 remained significantly associated with reduced risk with a pooled OR of 0.85 (95% CI: 0.76–0.94, P = 0.001). Although borderline significant in the replication population, APC:rs2545162 was highly significant in the pooled analysis - OR: 1.42, 95% CI: 1.16–1.74, P =0.00085. Functional assessment identified several potential biological mechanisms underlying these associations. Conclusions Our findings suggest that common germline variants in the Wnt/beta-catenin pathway maybe involved in CRC development. Impact These variants may be informative in CRC risk assessment to identify individuals at increased risk who would be candidates for screening. PMID:26809274

Coronary artery disease-associated genetic variants and biomarkers of inflammation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christiansen, Morten Krogh; Larsen, Sanne Bøjet; Nyegaard, Mette

2017-01-01

score was calculated to assess the combined risk associated with all the genetic variants. A multiple linear regression model was used to assess associations between the genetic risk score, single SNPs, and the five inflammatory biomarkers. RESULTS:The minor allele (G) (CAD risk allele) of rs2075650......INTRODUCTION:Genetic constitution and inflammation both contribute to development of coronary artery disease (CAD). Several CAD-associated single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have recently been identified, but their functions are largely unknown. We investigated the associations between CAD...

Comparing genetic variants detected in the 1000 genomes project ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) determined based on SNP arrays from the international HapMap consortium (HapMap) and the genetic variants detected in the 1000 genomes project (1KGP) can serve as two references for genomewide association studies (GWAS). We conducted comparative analyses to provide ...

Genetic Variants in HSD17B3, SMAD3, and IPO11 Impact Circulating Lipids in Response to Fenofibrate in Individuals With Type 2 Diabetes.

Science.gov (United States)

Rotroff, Daniel M; Pijut, Sonja S; Marvel, Skylar W; Jack, John R; Havener, Tammy M; Pujol, Aurora; Schluter, Agatha; Graf, Gregory A; Ginsberg, Henry N; Shah, Hetal S; Gao, He; Morieri, Mario-Luca; Doria, Alessandro; Mychaleckyi, Josyf C; McLeod, Howard L; Buse, John B; Wagner, Michael J; Motsinger-Reif, Alison A

2018-04-01

Individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and dyslipidemia are at an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Fibrates are a class of drugs prescribed to treat dyslipidemia, but variation in response has been observed. To evaluate common and rare genetic variants that impact lipid responses to fenofibrate in statin-treated patients with T2D, we examined lipid changes in response to fenofibrate therapy using a genomewide association study (GWAS). Associations were followed-up using gene expression studies in mice. Common variants in SMAD3 and IPO11 were marginally associated with lipid changes in black subjects (P < 5 × 10 -6 ). Rare variant and gene expression changes were assessed using a false discovery rate approach. AKR7A3 and HSD17B13 were associated with lipid changes in white subjects (q < 0.2). Mice fed fenofibrate displayed reductions in Hsd17b13 gene expression (q < 0.1). Associations of variants in SMAD3, IPO11, and HSD17B13, with gene expression changes in mice indicate that transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) and NRF2 signaling pathways may influence fenofibrate effects on dyslipidemia in patients with T2D. © 2017 American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics.

The association of XRCC3 Thr241Met genetic variant with risk of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

genetic variant could be potentially associated with the risk of prostate cancer. However ... Results: Overall, significant associations were detected in the heterozygote comparison genetic model. (CT versus (vs.) ..... Quantifying hetero- geneity in ...

Genetic and molecular functional characterization of variants within TNFSF13B, a positional candidate preeclampsia susceptibility gene on 13q.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mona H Fenstad

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Preeclampsia is a serious pregnancy complication, demonstrating a complex pattern of inheritance. The elucidation of genetic liability to preeclampsia remains a major challenge in obstetric medicine. We have adopted a positional cloning approach to identify maternal genetic components, with linkages previously demonstrated to chromosomes 2q, 5q and 13q in an Australian/New Zealand familial cohort. The current study aimed to identify potential functional and structural variants in the positional candidate gene TNFSF13B under the 13q linkage peak and assess their association status with maternal preeclampsia genetic susceptibility. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The proximal promoter and coding regions of the positional candidate gene TNFSF13B residing within the 13q linkage region was sequenced using 48 proband or founder individuals from Australian/New Zealand families. Ten sequence variants (nine SNPs and one single base insertion were identified and seven SNPs were successfully genotyped in the total Australian/New Zealand family cohort (74 families/480 individuals. Borderline association to preeclampsia (p = 0.0153 was observed for three rare SNPs (rs16972194, rs16972197 and rs56124946 in strong linkage disequilibrium with each other. Functional evaluation by electrophoretic mobility shift assays showed differential nuclear factor binding to the minor allele of the rs16972194 SNP, residing upstream of the translation start site, making this a putative functional variant. The observed genetic associations were not replicated in a Norwegian case/control cohort (The Nord-Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT2, 851 preeclamptic and 1,440 non-preeclamptic women. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: TNFSF13B has previously been suggested to contribute to the normal immunological adaption crucial for a successful pregnancy. Our observations support TNFSF13B as a potential novel preeclampsia susceptibility gene. We discuss a possible role for TNFSF13B in

Combined analysis of six lipoprotein lipase genetic variants on triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein, and ischemic heart disease

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wittrup, Hans H; Andersen, Rolf V; Tybjaerg-Hansen, Anne

2006-01-01

Genetic variants in lipoprotein lipase may affect triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), and risk of ischemic heart disease (IHD).......Genetic variants in lipoprotein lipase may affect triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), and risk of ischemic heart disease (IHD)....

Late onset Pompe disease- new genetic variant: Case report ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The patient was not given enzyme replacement therapy due to cost but received high protein therapy and Oxygen supplementation using Oxygen extractor machine. She is worsening due to respiratory failure. Conclusion: This is a new genetic variant isolated of late-onset Pompe disease which presents with almost pure ...

Rapid screening for targeted genetic variants via high-resolution melting curve analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Chambliss, Allison B; Resnick, Molly; Petrides, Athena K; Clarke, William A; Marzinke, Mark A

2017-03-01

Current methods for the detection of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with aberrant drug-metabolizing enzyme function are hindered by long turnaround times and specialized techniques and instrumentation. In this study, we describe the development and validation of a high-resolution melting (HRM) curve assay for the rapid screening of variant genotypes for targeted genetic polymorphisms in the cytochrome P450 enzymes CYP2C9, CYP2C19, and CYP3A5. Sequence-specific primers were custom-designed to flank nine SNPs within the genetic regions of aforementioned drug metabolizing enzymes. PCR amplification was performed followed by amplicon denaturation by precise temperature ramping in order to distinguish genotypes by melting temperature (Tm). A standardized software algorithm was used to assign amplicons as 'reference' or 'variant' as compared to duplicate reference sequence DNA controls for each SNP. Intra-assay (n=5) precision of Tms for all SNPs was ≤0.19%, while inter-assay (n=20) precision ranged from 0.04% to 0.21%. When compared to a reference method of Sanger sequencing, the HRM assay produced no false negative results, and overcall frequency ranged from 0% to 26%, depending on the SNP. Furthermore, HRM genotyping displayed accuracy over input DNA concentrations ranging from 10 to 200 ng/μL. The presented assay provides a rapid method for the screening for genetic variants in targeted CYP450 regions with a result of 'reference' or 'variant' available within 2 h from receipt of extracted DNA. The method can serve as a screening approach to rapidly identify individuals with variant sequences who should be further investigated by reflexed confirmatory testing for aberrant cytochrome P450 enzymatic activity. Rapid knowledge of variant status may aid in the avoidance of adverse clinical events by allowing for dosing of normal metabolizer patients immediately while identifying the need to wait for confirmatory testing in those patients who are

Genetic Variants Associated with Circulating Parathyroid Hormone.

Science.gov (United States)

Robinson-Cohen, Cassianne; Lutsey, Pamela L; Kleber, Marcus E; Nielson, Carrie M; Mitchell, Braxton D; Bis, Joshua C; Eny, Karen M; Portas, Laura; Eriksson, Joel; Lorentzon, Mattias; Koller, Daniel L; Milaneschi, Yuri; Teumer, Alexander; Pilz, Stefan; Nethander, Maria; Selvin, Elizabeth; Tang, Weihong; Weng, Lu-Chen; Wong, Hoi Suen; Lai, Dongbing; Peacock, Munro; Hannemann, Anke; Völker, Uwe; Homuth, Georg; Nauk, Matthias; Murgia, Federico; Pattee, Jack W; Orwoll, Eric; Zmuda, Joseph M; Riancho, Jose Antonio; Wolf, Myles; Williams, Frances; Penninx, Brenda; Econs, Michael J; Ryan, Kathleen A; Ohlsson, Claes; Paterson, Andrew D; Psaty, Bruce M; Siscovick, David S; Rotter, Jerome I; Pirastu, Mario; Streeten, Elizabeth; März, Winfried; Fox, Caroline; Coresh, Josef; Wallaschofski, Henri; Pankow, James S; de Boer, Ian H; Kestenbaum, Bryan

2017-05-01

Parathyroid hormone (PTH) is a primary calcium regulatory hormone. Elevated serum PTH concentrations in primary and secondary hyperparathyroidism have been associated with bone disease, hypertension, and in some studies, cardiovascular mortality. Genetic causes of variation in circulating PTH concentrations are incompletely understood. We performed a genome-wide association study of serum PTH concentrations among 29,155 participants of European ancestry from 13 cohort studies ( n =22,653 and n =6502 in discovery and replication analyses, respectively). We evaluated the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with natural log-transformed PTH concentration adjusted for age, sex, season, study site, and principal components of ancestry. We discovered associations of SNPs from five independent regions with serum PTH concentration, including the strongest association with rs6127099 upstream of CYP24A1 ( P =4.2 × 10 -53 ), a gene that encodes the primary catabolic enzyme for 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D and 25-dihydroxyvitamin D. Each additional copy of the minor allele at this SNP associated with 7% higher serum PTH concentration. The other SNPs associated with serum PTH concentration included rs4074995 within RGS14 ( P =6.6 × 10 -17 ), rs219779 adjacent to CLDN14 ( P =3.5 × 10 -16 ), rs4443100 near RTDR1 ( P =8.7 × 10 -9 ), and rs73186030 near CASR ( P =4.8 × 10 -8 ). Of these five SNPs, rs6127099, rs4074995, and rs219779 replicated. Thus, common genetic variants located near genes involved in vitamin D metabolism and calcium and renal phosphate transport associated with differences in circulating PTH concentrations. Future studies could identify the causal variants at these loci, and the clinical and functional relevance of these variants should be pursued. Copyright © 2017 by the American Society of Nephrology.

Genetic diversity among endangered rare Dalbergia ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Genetic diversity among endangered rare Dalbergia cochinchinensis (Fabaceae) genotypes in Vietnam revealed by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) ... The number of amplified fragments varied from 1 (OPR15, OPB05, RA142, OPR08, UBC348, OPE14 and OPO04) to 8 (OPP19) and their sizes ranged from 250 ...

Rare GABRA3 variants are associated with epileptic seizures, encephalopathy and dysmorphic features

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Niturad, Cristina Elena; Lev, Dorit; Kalscheuer, Vera M; Charzewska, Agnieszka; Schubert, Julian; Lerman-Sagie, Tally; Kroes, Hester Y.; Oegema, Renske; Traverso, Monica; Specchio, Nicola; Lassota, Maria; Chelly, Jamel; Bennett-Back, Odeya; Carmi, Nirit; Koffler-Brill, Tal; Iacomino, Michele; Trivisano, Marina; Capovilla, Giuseppe; Striano, Pasquale; Nawara, Magdalena; Rzoca, Sylwia; Fischer, Ute; Bienek, Melanie; Jensen, Corinna; Hu, Hao; Thiele, Holger; Altmüller, Janine; Krause, Roland; May, Patrick; Becker, Felicitas; Balling, Rudi; Biskup, Saskia; Haas, Stefan A.; Nürnberg, Peter; Van Gassen, Koen L.I.; Lerche, Holger; Zara, Federico; Maljevic, Snezana; Leshinsky-Silver, Esther

2017-01-01

Genetic epilepsies are caused by mutations in a range of different genes, many of them encoding ion channels, receptors or transporters. While the number of detected variants and genes increased dramatically in the recent years, pleiotropic effects have also been recognized, revealing that clinical

Gain-of-function HCN2 variants in genetic epilepsy.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Melody; Maljevic, Snezana; Phillips, A Marie; Petrovski, Slave; Hildebrand, Michael S; Burgess, Rosemary; Mount, Therese; Zara, Federico; Striano, Pasquale; Schubert, Julian; Thiele, Holger; Nürnberg, Peter; Wong, Michael; Weisenberg, Judith L; Thio, Liu Lin; Lerche, Holger; Scheffer, Ingrid E; Berkovic, Samuel F; Petrou, Steven; Reid, Christopher A

2018-02-01

Genetic generalized epilepsy (GGE) is a common epilepsy syndrome that encompasses seizure disorders characterized by spike-and-wave discharges (SWDs). Pacemaker hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated channels (HCN) are considered integral to SWD genesis, making them an ideal gene candidate for GGE. We identified HCN2 missense variants from a large cohort of 585 GGE patients, recruited by the Epilepsy Phenome-Genome Project (EPGP), and performed functional analysis using two-electrode voltage clamp recordings from Xenopus oocytes. The p.S632W variant was identified in a patient with idiopathic photosensitive occipital epilepsy and segregated in the family. This variant was also independently identified in an unrelated patient with childhood absence seizures from a European cohort of 238 familial GGE cases. The p.V246M variant was identified in a patient with photo-sensitive GGE and his father diagnosed with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy. Functional studies revealed that both p.S632W and p.V246M had an identical functional impact including a depolarizing shift in the voltage dependence of activation that is consistent with a gain-of-function. In contrast, no biophysical changes resulted from the introduction of common population variants, p.E280K and p.A705T, and the p.R756C variant from EPGP that did not segregate with disease. Our data suggest that HCN2 variants can confer susceptibility to GGE via a gain-of-function mechanism. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Protein-altering variants associated with body mass index implicate pathways that control energy intake and expenditure in obesity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Turcot, Valérie; Lu, Yingchang; Highland, Heather M

2018-01-01

,734 individuals to discover rare and low-frequency (minor allele frequency (MAF) obesity, 2 variants...... were in genes (MC4R and KSR2) previously observed to be mutated in extreme obesity and 2 variants were in GIPR. The effect sizes of rare variants are ~10 times larger than those of common variants, with the largest effect observed in carriers of an MC4R mutation introducing a stop codon (p.Tyr35Ter......, MAF = 0.01%), who weighed ~7 kg more than non-carriers. Pathway analyses based on the variants associated with BMI confirm enrichment of neuronal genes and provide new evidence for adipocyte and energy expenditure biology, widening the potential of genetically supported therapeutic targets in obesity....

The Quest for Rare Variants: Pooled Multiplexed Next Generation Sequencing in Plants

OpenAIRE

Fabio eMarroni; Sara ePinosio; Sara ePinosio; Michele eMorgante

2012-01-01

Next generation sequencing (NGS) instruments produce an unprecedented amount of sequence data at contained costs. This gives researchers the possibility of designing studies with adequate power to identify rare variants at a fraction of the economic and labor resources required by individual Sanger sequencing. As of today, only three research groups working in plant sciences have exploited this potentiality. They showed that pooled NGS can provide results in excellent agreement with those obt...

The Quest for Rare Variants: Pooled Multiplexed Next Generation Sequencing in Plants

OpenAIRE

Marroni, Fabio; Pinosio, Sara; Morgante, Michele

2012-01-01

Next generation sequencing (NGS) instruments produce an unprecedented amount of sequence data at contained costs. This gives researchers the possibility of designing studies with adequate power to identify rare variants at a fraction of the economic and labor resources required by individual Sanger sequencing. As of today, few research groups working in plant sciences have exploited this potentiality, showing that pooled NGS provides results in excellent agreement with those obtained by indiv...

Genetic variants of retinol-binding protein 4 in adolescents are ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

2015-09-03

Sep 3, 2015 ... associated with T2D and serum triglyceride levels in another study of a Chinese ... Japan). Serum levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol .... a positive correlation between RBP genetic variants and obe- sity, IR or MetS ...

Mapping genetic variations to three-dimensional protein structures to enhance variant interpretation: a proposed framework.

Science.gov (United States)

Glusman, Gustavo; Rose, Peter W; Prlić, Andreas; Dougherty, Jennifer; Duarte, José M; Hoffman, Andrew S; Barton, Geoffrey J; Bendixen, Emøke; Bergquist, Timothy; Bock, Christian; Brunk, Elizabeth; Buljan, Marija; Burley, Stephen K; Cai, Binghuang; Carter, Hannah; Gao, JianJiong; Godzik, Adam; Heuer, Michael; Hicks, Michael; Hrabe, Thomas; Karchin, Rachel; Leman, Julia Koehler; Lane, Lydie; Masica, David L; Mooney, Sean D; Moult, John; Omenn, Gilbert S; Pearl, Frances; Pejaver, Vikas; Reynolds, Sheila M; Rokem, Ariel; Schwede, Torsten; Song, Sicheng; Tilgner, Hagen; Valasatava, Yana; Zhang, Yang; Deutsch, Eric W

2017-12-18

The translation of personal genomics to precision medicine depends on the accurate interpretation of the multitude of genetic variants observed for each individual. However, even when genetic variants are predicted to modify a protein, their functional implications may be unclear. Many diseases are caused by genetic variants affecting important protein features, such as enzyme active sites or interaction interfaces. The scientific community has catalogued millions of genetic variants in genomic databases and thousands of protein structures in the Protein Data Bank. Mapping mutations onto three-dimensional (3D) structures enables atomic-level analyses of protein positions that may be important for the stability or formation of interactions; these may explain the effect of mutations and in some cases even open a path for targeted drug development. To accelerate progress in the integration of these data types, we held a two-day Gene Variation to 3D (GVto3D) workshop to report on the latest advances and to discuss unmet needs. The overarching goal of the workshop was to address the question: what can be done together as a community to advance the integration of genetic variants and 3D protein structures that could not be done by a single investigator or laboratory? Here we describe the workshop outcomes, review the state of the field, and propose the development of a framework with which to promote progress in this arena. The framework will include a set of standard formats, common ontologies, a common application programming interface to enable interoperation of the resources, and a Tool Registry to make it easy to find and apply the tools to specific analysis problems. Interoperability will enable integration of diverse data sources and tools and collaborative development of variant effect prediction methods.

Novel and rare functional genomic variants in multiple autoimmune syndrome and Sjögren's syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Johar, Angad S; Mastronardi, Claudio; Rojas-Villarraga, Adriana; Patel, Hardip R; Chuah, Aaron; Peng, Kaiman; Higgins, Angela; Milburn, Peter; Palmer, Stephanie; Silva-Lara, Maria Fernanda; Velez, Jorge I; Andrews, Dan; Field, Matthew; Huttley, Gavin; Goodnow, Chris; Anaya, Juan-Manuel; Arcos-Burgos, Mauricio

2015-06-02

Multiple autoimmune syndrome (MAS), an extreme phenotype of autoimmune disorders, is a very well suited trait to tackle genomic variants of these conditions. Whole exome sequencing (WES) is a widely used strategy for detection of protein coding and splicing variants associated with inherited diseases. The DNA of eight patients affected by MAS [all of whom presenting with Sjögren's syndrome (SS)], four patients affected by SS alone and 38 unaffected individuals, were subject to WES. Filters to identify novel and rare functional (pathogenic-deleterious) homozygous and/or compound heterozygous variants in these patients and controls were applied. Bioinformatics tools such as the Human gene connectome as well as pathway and network analysis were applied to test overrepresentation of genes harbouring these variants in critical pathways and networks involved in autoimmunity. Eleven novel and rare functional variants were identified in cases but not in controls, harboured in: MACF1, KIAA0754, DUSP12, ICA1, CELA1, LRP1/STAT6, GRIN3B, ANKLE1, TMEM161A, and FKRP. These were subsequently subject to network analysis and their functional relatedness to genes already associated with autoimmunity was evaluated. Notably, the LRP1/STAT6 novel mutation was homozygous in one MAS affected patient and heterozygous in another. LRP1/STAT6 disclosed the strongest plausibility for autoimmunity. LRP1/STAT6 are involved in extracellular and intracellular anti-inflammatory pathways that play key roles in maintaining the homeostasis of the immune system. Further; networks, pathways, and interaction analyses showed that LRP1 is functionally related to the HLA-B and IL10 genes and it has a substantial impact within immunological pathways and/or reaction to bacterial and other foreign proteins (phagocytosis, regulation of phospholipase A2 activity, negative regulation of apoptosis and response to lipopolysaccharides). Further, ICA1 and STAT6 were also closely related to AIRE and IRF5, two very

Rare genetic diseases: update on diagnosis, treatment and online resources.

Science.gov (United States)

Pogue, Robert E; Cavalcanti, Denise P; Shanker, Shreya; Andrade, Rosangela V; Aguiar, Lana R; de Carvalho, Juliana L; Costa, Fabrício F

2018-01-01

Rare genetic diseases collectively impact a significant portion of the world's population. For many diseases there is limited information available, and clinicians can find difficulty in differentiating between clinically similar conditions. This leads to problems in genetic counseling and patient treatment. The biomedical market is affected because pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries do not see advantages in addressing rare disease treatments, or because the cost of the treatments is too high. By contrast, technological advances including DNA sequencing and analysis, together with computer-aided tools and online resources, are allowing a more thorough understanding of rare disorders. Here, we discuss how the collection of various types of information together with the use of new technologies is facilitating diagnosis and, consequently, treatment of rare diseases. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Prehepatocholedochal proper hepatic artery. Rare anatomical variant. Surgical considerations. Case report.

Science.gov (United States)

Ardeleanu, V; Chicoş, S; Tutunaru, D; Georgescu, C

2014-01-01

In classical anatomic variants, the proper hepatic artery (PHA)continues the common hepatic artery (CHA) after the gastroduodenal artery (GDA) detaches itself and divides into the right hepatic artery (RHA) and left hepatic artery (LHA), the proper hepatic artery being located to the left of the hepatocholedochal duct (HCD). This paper presents an abnormal positioning of the PHA placed before the HCD with an increased diameter of about 5-7 mm, which could be confused with the HCD. We present the case of a 57 year-old woman diagnosed with acute lithiasic cholecystitis, associated with hypersplenism and hypertension. The literature mentions manifold anatomical variants of arterial liver vascularization,including PHA. For this reason, this paper presents an overview of similar cases that can be found in medical literature. The aforementioned case is a rare topographic anatomy for the PHA that can easily pass for HCD especially during celioscopy, therefore it is crucial for this to be acknowledged by all surgeons. Celsius.

A genome-wide copy number variant study of suicidal behavior.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jeffrey A Gross

Full Text Available Suicide and suicide attempts are complex behaviors that result from the interaction of different factors, including genetic variants that increase the predisposition to suicidal behaviors. Copy number variations (CNVs are deletions or duplications of a segment of DNA usually larger than one kilobase. These structural genetic changes, although quite rare, have been associated with genetic liability to mental disorders, such as autism, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. No genome-wide level studies have been published investigating the potential role of CNVs in suicidal behaviors. Based on single-nucleotide polymorphism array data, we followed the Penn-CNV standards to detect CNVs in 1,608 subjects, comprising 475 suicide and suicide attempt cases and 1,133 controls. Although the initial algorithms determined the presence of CNVs on chromosomes 6 and 12 in seven and eight cases, respectively, compared with none of the controls, visual inspection of the raw data did not support this finding. Furthermore we were unable to validate these findings by CNV-specific real-time polymerase chain reaction. Additionally, rare CNV burden analysis did not find an association between the frequency or length of rare CNVs and suicidal behavior in our sample population. Although our findings suggest CNVs do not play an important role in the etiology of suicidal behaviors, they are not inconsistent with the strong evidence from the literature suggesting that other genetic variants account for a portion of the total phenotypic variability in suicidal behavior.

Evaluation of type 2 diabetes genetic risk variants in Chinese adults

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gan, Wei; Walters, Robin G; Holmes, Michael V

2016-01-01

: Association signals were directionally consistent between CKB and the original discovery GWAS: of 56 variants passing quality control, 48 showed the same direction of effect (binomial test, p = 2.3 × 10(-8)). We observed a consistent overall trend towards lower risk variant effect sizes in CKB than in case......-control samples of GWAS meta-analyses (mean 19-22% decrease in log odds, p ≤ 0.0048), likely to reflect correction of both 'winner's curse' and spectrum bias effects. The association with risk of diabetes of a genetic risk score, based on lead variants at 25 loci considered to act through beta cell function...

Diagnosis of a rare double heterozygous Hb D Punjab/Hb Q India hemoglobinopathy using Sebia capillary zone electrophoresis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sushama Parab

2014-01-01

Full Text Available In India, hemoglobinopathies constitute a major genetic disorder and hemoglobin variants such as Hb S, Hb D Punjab, and Hb E are the most common ones. Other variants include Hb Q India, Hb Lepore, Hb J Meerut, Hb D Iran, etc. These variants show heterozygous state along with beta thalassemia. However, compound heterozygosities among these variants are very rare. Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid whole blood sample received for routine thalassemia screening was subjected to alkaline electrophoresis using automated capillary zone electrophoresis. Suspecting the presence of rare variants, further analysis was carried out using Bio-Rad D10 and Tosoh G8 high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC systems. Capillary zone electrophoretograms showed the presence of peaks in zone Hb A, Hb D, a fused peak in Hb A2, and a small peak in Z1 zone. Bio-Rad and Tosoh chromatograms also indicated the presence of four peaks which are identified as Hb A, Hb D Punjab, Hb Q India, and hybrid of Hb D Punjab/Hb Q India. A peak in Hb D zone of capillary was due to co-migration of Hb D Punjab and Hb Q India variants. Small peak in Z1 zone indicated the presence of alpha chain variant Hb Q India. The findings were further confirmed by HPLC results and molecular genetic studies. The present study reports for the 1 st time a rare hemoglobinopathy of double heterozygosity for Hb D Punjab, Hb Q India on Capillarys 2 Flex Piercing analyzer and is forth reported case for this rare hemoglobinopathy.

Incidental and clinically actionable genetic variants in 1005 whole exomes and genomes from Qatar

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abhinav Jain

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Next generation sequencing (NGS technologies such as whole genome and whole exome sequencing has enabled accurate diagnosis of genetic diseases through identification of variations at the genome wide level. While many large populations have been adequately covered in global sequencing efforts little is known on the genomic architecture of populations from Middle East, and South Asia and Africa. Incidental findings and their prevalence in populations have been extensively studied in populations of Caucasian descent. The recent emphasis on genomics and availability of genome-scale datasets in public domain for ethnic population in the Middle East prompted us to estimate the prevalence of incidental findings for this population. In this study, we used whole genome and exome data for a total 1005 non-related healthy individuals from Qatar population dataset which contained 20,930,177 variants. Systematic analysis of the variants in 59 genes recommended by the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics for reporting of incidental findings revealed a total of 2 pathogenic and 2 likely pathogenic variants. Our analysis suggests the prevalence of incidental variants in population-scale datasets is approx. 0.6%, much lower than those reported for global populations. Our study underlines the essentiality to study population-scale genomes from ethnic groups to understand systematic differences in genetic variants associated with disease predisposition.

Genetic analysis of rare disorders

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

van den Berg, Stéphanie M; von Bornemann Hjelmborg, Jacob

2012-01-01

Twin concordance rates provide insight into the possibility of a genetic background for a disease. These concordance rates are usually estimated within a frequentistic framework. Here we take a Bayesian approach. For rare diseases, estimation methods based on asymptotic theory cannot be applied due....... The Bayesian method is able to include prior information on both concordance rates and prevalence rates at the same time and is illustrated using twin data on cleft lip and rheumatoid arthritis....

Combinations of genetic variants associated with bipolar disorder

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mellerup, Erling; Andreassen, Ole A; Bennike, Bente

2017-01-01

The main objective of the study was to find genetic variants that in combination are significantly associated with bipolar disorder. In previous studies of bipolar disorder, combinations of three and four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) genotypes taken from 803 SNPs were analyzed, and five...... clusters of combinations were found to be significantly associated with bipolar disorder. In the present study, combinations of ten SNP genotypes taken from the same 803 SNPs were analyzed, and one cluster of combinations was found to be significantly associated with bipolar disorder. Combinations from......, heterozygote or variant homozygote. In the combinations containing 10 SNP genotypes almost all the genotypes were the normal homozygote. Such a finding may indicate that accumulation in the genome of combinations containing few SNP genotypes may be a risk factor for bipolar disorder when those combinations...

Genetic polymorphisms of pharmacogenomic VIP variants in the Yi population from China.

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Yan, Mengdan; Li, Dianzhen; Zhao, Guige; Li, Jing; Niu, Fanglin; Li, Bin; Chen, Peng; Jin, Tianbo

2018-03-30

Drug response and target therapeutic dosage are different among individuals. The variability is largely genetically determined. With the development of pharmacogenetics and pharmacogenomics, widespread research have provided us a wealth of information on drug-related genetic polymorphisms, and the very important pharmacogenetic (VIP) variants have been identified for the major populations around the world whereas less is known regarding minorities in China, including the Yi ethnic group. Our research aims to screen the potential genetic variants in Yi population on pharmacogenomics and provide a theoretical basis for future medication guidance. In the present study, 80 VIP variants (selected from the PharmGKB database) were genotyped in 100 unrelated and healthy Yi adults recruited for our research. Through statistical analysis, we made a comparison between the Yi and other 11 populations listed in the HapMap database for significant SNPs detection. Two specific SNPs were subsequently enrolled in an observation on global allele distribution with the frequencies downloaded from ALlele FREquency Database. Moreover, F-statistics (Fst), genetic structure and phylogenetic tree analyses were conducted for determination of genetic similarity between the 12 ethnic groups. Using the χ2 tests, rs1128503 (ABCB1), rs7294 (VKORC1), rs9934438 (VKORC1), rs1540339 (VDR) and rs689466 (PTGS2) were identified as the significantly different loci for further analysis. The global allele distribution revealed that the allele "A" of rs1540339 and rs9934438 were more frequent in Yi people, which was consistent with the most populations in East Asia. F-statistics (Fst), genetic structure and phylogenetic tree analyses demonstrated that the Yi and CHD shared a closest relationship on their genetic backgrounds. Additionally, Yi was considered similar to the Han people from Shaanxi province among the domestic ethnic populations in China. Our results demonstrated significant differences on

A rare variant P507L in TPP1 interrupts TPP1-TIN2 interaction, influences telomere length, and confers colorectal cancer risk in Chinese population.

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Li, Jiaoyuan; Chang, Jiang; Tian, Jianbo; Ke, Juntao; Zhu, Ying; Yang, Yang; Gong, Yajie; Zou, Danyi; Peng, Xiating; Yang, Nan; Mei, Shufang; Wang, Xiaoyang; Cheng, Liming; Hu, Weiguo; Gong, Jing; Zhong, Rong; Miao, Xiaoping

2018-06-11

Telomere dysfunction triggers cellular senescence and constitutes a driving force for cancer initiation. Genetic variants in genes involved in telomere maintenance may contribute to colorectal cancer (CRC) susceptibility. In this study, we firstly captured germline mutations in 192 CRC patients by sequencing the coding regions of 13 core components implicated in telomere biology. Five potential functional variants were then genotyped and assessed in a case-control set with 3,761 CRC cases and 3,839 healthy controls. The promising association was replicated in additional 6,765 cases and 6,906 controls. Functional experiments were used to further clarify the potential function of the significant variant and uncover the underlying mechanism in CRC development. The two-stage association studies showed that a rare missense variant rs149418249 (c.C1520T, p.P507L) in the 11th exon of TPP1 (also known as ACD, gene ID 65057) was significantly associated with CRC risk with the ORs being 2.90 (95% CI:1.04-8.07, P=0.041), 2.50 (95% CI:1.04-6.04, P=0.042), and 2.66 (95%CI:1.36-5.18, P=0.004) in discovery, replication, and the combined samples, respectively. Further functional annotation indicated that the TPP1 P507L substitution interrupted TPP1-TIN2 interaction, impaired telomerase processivity, and shortened telomere length, which subsequently facilitated cell proliferation and promoted CRC development. A rare variant P507L in TPP1 confers increased risk of CRC through interrupting TPP1-TIN2 interaction, impairing telomerase processivity, and shrinking telomere length. These findings emphasize the important role of telomere dysfunction in CRC development, and provide new insights about the prevention of this type of cancer. Copyright ©2018, American Association for Cancer Research.

PALB2, CHEK2 and ATM rare variants and cancer risk

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Southey, Melissa C; Goldgar, David E; Winqvist, Robert

2016-01-01

2 mutations. We aimed to estimate the relative risks associated with specific rare variants in PALB2, CHEK2 and ATM via a multicentre case-control study. METHODS: We genotyped 10 rare mutations using the custom iCOGS array: PALB2 c.1592delT, c.2816T>G and c.3113G>A, CHEK2 c.349A>G, c.538C>T, c.715G...

Genetic evidence and integration of various data sources for classifying uncertain variants into a single model.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Goldgar, D.E.; Easton, D.F.; Byrnes, G.B.; Spurdle, A.B.; Iversen, E.S.; Greenblatt, M.S.; Boffetta, P.; Couch, F.J.; Wind, N. de; Eccles, D.; Foulkes, W.D.; Genuardi, M.; Hofstra, R.M.; Hogervorst, F.; Hoogerbrugge-van der Linden, N.; Plon, S.E.; Radice, P.; Rasmussen, L.; Sinilnikova, O.M.; Tavtigian, S.V.

2008-01-01

Genetic testing often results in the finding of a variant whose clinical significance is unknown. A number of different approaches have been employed in the attempt to classify such variants. For some variants, case-control, segregation, family history, or other statistical studies can provide

Genetic Variants Contribute to Gene Expression Variability in Humans

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Hulse, Amanda M.; Cai, James J.

2013-01-01

Expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) studies have established convincing relationships between genetic variants and gene expression. Most of these studies focused on the mean of gene expression level, but not the variance of gene expression level (i.e., gene expression variability). In the present study, we systematically explore genome-wide association between genetic variants and gene expression variability in humans. We adapt the double generalized linear model (dglm) to simultaneously fit the means and the variances of gene expression among the three possible genotypes of a biallelic SNP. The genomic loci showing significant association between the variances of gene expression and the genotypes are termed expression variability QTL (evQTL). Using a data set of gene expression in lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) derived from 210 HapMap individuals, we identify cis-acting evQTL involving 218 distinct genes, among which 8 genes, ADCY1, CTNNA2, DAAM2, FERMT2, IL6, PLOD2, SNX7, and TNFRSF11B, are cross-validated using an extra expression data set of the same LCLs. We also identify ∼300 trans-acting evQTL between >13,000 common SNPs and 500 randomly selected representative genes. We employ two distinct scenarios, emphasizing single-SNP and multiple-SNP effects on expression variability, to explain the formation of evQTL. We argue that detecting evQTL may represent a novel method for effectively screening for genetic interactions, especially when the multiple-SNP influence on expression variability is implied. The implication of our results for revealing genetic mechanisms of gene expression variability is discussed. PMID:23150607

Genetics of bipolar disorder

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kerner B

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Berit Kerner Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA Abstract: Bipolar disorder is a common, complex genetic disorder, but the mode of transmission remains to be discovered. Many researchers assume that common genomic variants carry some risk for manifesting the disease. The research community has celebrated the first genome-wide significant associations between common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs and bipolar disorder. Currently, attempts are under way to translate these findings into clinical practice, genetic counseling, and predictive testing. However, some experts remain cautious. After all, common variants explain only a very small percentage of the genetic risk, and functional consequences of the discovered SNPs are inconclusive. Furthermore, the associated SNPs are not disease specific, and the majority of individuals with a “risk” allele are healthy. On the other hand, population-based genome-wide studies in psychiatric disorders have rediscovered rare structural variants and mutations in genes, which were previously known to cause genetic syndromes and monogenic Mendelian disorders. In many Mendelian syndromes, psychiatric symptoms are prevalent. Although these conditions do not fit the classic description of any specific psychiatric disorder, they often show nonspecific psychiatric symptoms that cross diagnostic boundaries, including intellectual disability, behavioral abnormalities, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, attention deficit, impulse control deficit, and psychosis. Although testing for chromosomal disorders and monogenic Mendelian disorders is well established, testing for common variants is still controversial. The standard concept of genetic testing includes at least three broad criteria that need to be fulfilled before new genetic tests should be introduced: analytical validity, clinical validity, and clinical utility. These criteria are

Rare endocrine cancers have novel genetic alterations

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A molecular characterization of adrenocortical carcinoma, a rare cancer of the adrenal cortex, analyzed 91 cases for alterations in the tumor genomes and identified several novel genetic mutations as likely mechanisms driving the disease as well as whole genome doubling as a probable driver of the disease.

Characterization of a rare variant (c.2635-2A>G) of the MSH2 gene in a family with Lynch syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Cariola, Filomena; Disciglio, Vittoria; Valentini, Anna M; Lotesoriere, Claudio; Fasano, Candida; Forte, Giovanna; Russo, Luciana; Di Carlo, Antonio; Guglielmi, Floranna; Manghisi, Andrea; Lolli, Ivan; Caruso, Maria L; Simone, Cristiano

2018-04-01

Lynch syndrome is caused by germline mutations in one of the mismatch repair genes ( MLH1, MSH2, MSH6, and PMS2) or in the EPCAM gene. Lynch syndrome is defined on the basis of clinical, pathological, and genetic findings. Accordingly, the identification of predisposing genes allows for accurate risk assessment and tailored screening protocols. Here, we report a family case with three family members manifesting the Lynch syndrome phenotype, all of which harbor the rare variant c.2635-2A>G affecting the splice site consensus sequence of intron 15 of the MSH2 gene. This mutation was previously described only in one family with Lynch syndrome, in which mismatch repair protein expression in tumor tissues was not assessed. In this study, we report for the first time the molecular characterization of the MSH2 c.2635-2A>G variant through in silico prediction analysis, microsatellite instability, and mismatch repair protein expression experiments on tumor tissues of Lynch syndrome patients. The potential effect of the splice site variant was revealed by three splicing prediction bioinformatics tools, which suggested the generation of a new cryptic splicing site. The potential pathogenic role of this variant was also revealed by the presence of microsatellite instability and the absence of MSH2/MSH6 heterodimer protein expression in the tumor cells of cancer tissues of the affected family members. We provide compelling evidence in favor of the pathogenic role of the MSH2 variant c.2635-2A>G, which could induce an alteration of the canonical splice site and consequently an aberrant form of the protein product (MSH2).

Common variants in mendelian kidney disease genes and their association with renal function

NARCIS (Netherlands)

A. Parsa (Afshin); C. Fuchsberger (Christian); A. Köttgen (Anna); C.M. O'Seaghdha (Conall); C. Pattaro (Cristian); M. de Andrade (Mariza); D.I. Chasman (Daniel); A. Teumer (Alexander); K. Endlich (Karlhans); M. Olden (Matthias); M-H. Chen (Ming-Huei); A. Tin (Adrienne); Y-J. Kim (Yong-Jin); D. Taliun (Daniel); M. Li (Man); M.F. Feitosa (Mary Furlan); M. Gorski (Mathias); Q. Yang (Qiong); C. Hundertmark (Claudia); M.C. Foster (Michael); N. Glazer (Nicole); A.J. Isaacs (Aaron); M. Rao (Madhumathi); G.D. Smith; J.R. O´Connell; M.V. Struchalin (Maksim); T. Tanaka (Toshiko); G. Li (Guo); S.J. Hwang; E.J. Atkinson (Elizabeth); K. Lohman (Kurt); M. Cornelis (Marilyn); A. Johansson (Åsa); A. Tönjes (Anke); A. Dehghan (Abbas); V. Couraki (Vincent); E.G. Holliday (Elizabeth); R. Sorice; Z. Kutalik (Zoltán); T. Lehtimäki (Terho); T. Esko (Tõnu); H. Deshmukh (Harshal); S. Ulivi (Shelia); A.Y. Chu (Audrey); D. Murgia (Daniela); S. Trompet (Stella); M. Imboden (Medea); B. Kollerits (Barbara); G. Pistis (Giorgio); T.B. Harris (Tamara); L.J. Launer (Lenore); T. Aspelund (Thor); G. Eiriksdottir (Gudny); B.D. Mitchell (Braxton); E.A. Boerwinkle (Eric); H. Schmidt (Helena); E. Hofer (Edith); F.B. Hu (Frank); A. Demirkan (Ayşe); B.A. Oostra (Ben); S.T. Turner (Stephen); J. Ding (Jingzhong); J.S. Andrews (Jeanette); B.I. Freedman (Barry); F. Giulianini (Franco); W. Koenig (Wolfgang); T. Illig (Thomas); A. Döring (Angela); H.E. Wichmann (Heinz Erich); L. Zgaga (Lina); T. Zemunik (Tatijana); M. Boban (Mladen); C. Minelli (Cosetta); H.E. Wheeler (Heather); W. Igl (Wilmar); G. Zaboli (Ghazal); S.H. Wild (Sarah); A.F. Wright (Alan); H. Campbell (Harry); D. Ellinghaus (David); U. Nöthlings (Ute); G. Jacobs (Gunnar); R. Biffar (Reiner); F.D.J. Ernst (Florian); G. Homuth (Georg); H.K. Kroemer (Heyo); M. Nauck (Matthias); S. Stracke (Sylvia); U. Vol̈ker (Uwe); H. Völzke (Henry); P. Kovacs (Peter); M. Stumvoll (Michael); R. Mägi (Reedik); A. Hofman (Albert); A.G. Uitterlinden (André); F. Rivadeneira Ramirez (Fernando); Y.S. Aulchenko (Yurii); O. Polasek (Ozren); N. Hastie (Nick); V. Vitart (Veronique); C. Helmer (Catherine); J.J. Wang (Jie Jin); B. Stengel (Bernd); D. Ruggiero; S.M. Bergmann (Sven); M. Kähönen (Mika); J. Viikari (Jorma); T. Nikopensius (Tiit); M.A. Province (Mike); H.M. Colhoun (H.); A.S.F. Doney (Alex); A. Robino (Antonietta); B.K. Krämer (Bernhard); L. Portas (Laura); I. Ford (Ian); B.M. Buckley (Brendan M.); M. Adam (Martin); G.-A. Thun (Gian-Andri); B. Paulweber (Bernhard); M. Haun (Margot); C. Sala (Cinzia); P. Mitchell (Paul); M. Ciullo; P. Vollenweider (Peter); O. Raitakari (Olli); A. Metspalu (Andres); C.N.A. Palmer (Colin); P. Gasparini (Paolo); M. Pirastu (Mario); J.W. Jukema (Jan Wouter); N.M. Probst-Hensch (Nicole M.); F. Kronenberg (Florian); D. Toniolo (Daniela); V. Gudnason (Vilmundur); A.R. Shuldiner (Alan); J. Coresh (Josef); R. Schmidt (Reinhold); L. Ferrucci (Luigi); C.M. van Duijn (Cornelia); I.B. Borecki (Ingrid); S.L.R. Kardia (Sharon); Y. Liu (YongMei); G.C. Curhan (Gary); I. Rudan (Igor); U. Gyllensten (Ulf); J.F. Wilson (James); A. Franke (Andre); P.P. Pramstaller (Peter Paul); R. Rettig (Rainer); I. Prokopenko (Inga); J.C.M. Witteman (Jacqueline); C. Hayward (Caroline); P.M. Ridker (Paul); M. Bochud (Murielle); I.M. Heid (Iris); D.S. Siscovick (David); C.S. Fox (Caroline); W.H.L. Kao (Wen); C.A. Böger (Carsten)

2013-01-01

textabstractMany common genetic variants identified by genome-wide association studies for complex traitsmap to genes previously linked to rare inherited Mendelian disorders. A systematic analysis of common single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes responsible for Mendelian diseases with

Screening of whole genome sequences identified high-impact variants for stallion fertility.

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Schrimpf, Rahel; Gottschalk, Maren; Metzger, Julia; Martinsson, Gunilla; Sieme, Harald; Distl, Ottmar

2016-04-14

Stallion fertility is an economically important trait due to the increase of artificial insemination in horses. The availability of whole genome sequence data facilitates identification of rare high-impact variants contributing to stallion fertility. The aim of our study was to genotype rare high-impact variants retrieved from next-generation sequencing (NGS)-data of 11 horses in order to unravel harmful genetic variants in large samples of stallions. Gene ontology (GO) terms and search results from public databases were used to obtain a comprehensive list of human und mice genes predicted to participate in the regulation of male reproduction. The corresponding equine orthologous genes were searched in whole genome sequence data of seven stallions and four mares and filtered for high-impact genetic variants using SnpEFF, SIFT and Polyphen 2 software. All genetic variants with the missing homozygous mutant genotype were genotyped on 337 fertile stallions of 19 breeds using KASP genotyping assays or PCR-RFLP. Mixed linear model analysis was employed for an association analysis with de-regressed estimated breeding values of the paternal component of the pregnancy rate per estrus (EBV-PAT). We screened next generation sequenced data of whole genomes from 11 horses for equine genetic variants in 1194 human and mice genes involved in male fertility and linked through common gene ontology (GO) with male reproductive processes. Variants were filtered for high-impact on protein structure and validated through SIFT and Polyphen 2. Only those genetic variants were followed up when the homozygote mutant genotype was missing in the detection sample comprising 11 horses. After this filtering process, 17 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) were left. These SNPs were genotyped in 337 fertile stallions of 19 breeds using KASP genotyping assays or PCR-RFLP. An association analysis in 216 Hanoverian stallions revealed a significant association of the splice-site disruption variant

Genetic association of marbling score with intragenic nucleotide variants at selection signals of the bovine genome.

Science.gov (United States)

Ryu, J; Lee, C

2016-04-01

Selection signals of Korean cattle might be attributed largely to artificial selection for meat quality. Rapidly increased intragenic markers of newly annotated genes in the bovine genome would help overcome limited findings of genetic markers associated with meat quality at the selection signals in a previous study. The present study examined genetic associations of marbling score (MS) with intragenic nucleotide variants at selection signals of Korean cattle. A total of 39 092 nucleotide variants of 407 Korean cattle were utilized in the association analysis. A total of 129 variants were selected within newly annotated genes in the bovine genome. Their genetic associations were analyzed using the mixed model with random polygenic effects based on identical-by-state genetic relationships among animals in order to control for spurious associations produced by population structure. Genetic associations of MS were found (Pdirectional selection for greater MS and remain selection signals in the bovine genome. Further studies of fine mapping would be useful to incorporate favorable alleles in marker-assisted selection for MS of Korean cattle.

Genetics of asthma

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thomsen, Simon F

2015-01-01

Asthma runs in families, and children of asthmatic parents are at increased risk of asthma. Prediction of disease risk is pivotal for the clinician when counselling atopic families. However, this is not always an easy task bearing in mind the vast and ever-increasing knowledge about asthma genetics....... The advent of new genotyping technologies has made it possible to sequence in great detail the human genome for asthma-associated variants, and accordingly, recent decades have witnessed an explosion in the number of rare and common variants associated with disease risk. This review presents an overview...... of methods and advances in asthma genetics in an attempt to help the clinician keep track of the most important knowledge in the field....

NMNAT1 variants cause cone and cone-rod dystrophy.

Science.gov (United States)

Nash, Benjamin M; Symes, Richard; Goel, Himanshu; Dinger, Marcel E; Bennetts, Bruce; Grigg, John R; Jamieson, Robyn V

2018-03-01

Cone and cone-rod dystrophies (CD and CRD, respectively) are degenerative retinal diseases that predominantly affect the cone photoreceptors. The underlying disease gene is not known in approximately 75% of autosomal recessive cases. Variants in NMNAT1 cause a severe, early-onset retinal dystrophy called Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA). We report two patients where clinical phenotyping indicated diagnoses of CD and CRD, respectively. NMNAT1 variants were identified, with Case 1 showing an extremely rare homozygous variant c.[271G > A] p.(Glu91Lys) and Case 2 compound heterozygous variants c.[53 A > G];[769G > A] p.(Asn18Ser);(Glu257Lys). The detailed variant analysis, in combination with the observation of an associated macular atrophy phenotype, indicated that these variants were disease-causing. This report demonstrates that the variants in NMNAT1 may cause CD or CRD associated with macular atrophy. Genetic investigations of the patients with CD or CRD should include NMNAT1 in the genes examined.

Epithelial-myoepithelial carcinoma with myoepithelial anaplasia: report of a case with cytologic findings of a rare variant.

Science.gov (United States)

Suzuki, Takashi; Murata, Shin-ichi; Yamaguchi, Hiroshi; Shimizu, Yoshihiko; Shimizu, Michio

2010-01-01

Epithelial-myoepithelial carcinoma (EMC) is usually a low grade malignancy with rare mortality. Rare aggressive variants of EMC, dedifferentiated EMC and EMC with myoepithelial anaplasia have been reported. An 81-year-old man presented with EMC of the parotid gland showing the classical type at the time of initial presentation and a high grade type with myoepithelial anaplasia at recurrence after 10 years. We compared the histologic and cytologic findings of the initial and recurrent tumors. Aspiration cytology of the initial tumor was typical of classical EMC, represented by a biphasic pattern composed of sheetlike and tubular clusters. In contrast, cytologic specimens of the recurrent tumor, which had a focally biphasic pattern similar to that of the initial tumor, also had many isolated or discohesive piled-up clusters of spindle and polygonal cells with nuclear atypia. The cytologic findings of the recurrent tumor were consistent with a rare variant of EMC with myoepithelial anaplasia. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of the cytologic finding of an EMC with myoepithelial anaplasia.

Cross-Ethnic meta-Analysis of genetic variants for polycystic ovary syndrome

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Y.V. Louwers (Yvonne); L. Stolk (Lisette); A.G. Uitterlinden (André); J.S.E. Laven (Joop)

2013-01-01

textabstractContext: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have revealed new susceptibility loci for Chinese patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Because ethnic background adds to phenotypic diversities in PCOS, it seems plausible that genetic variants associated with PCOS act

Statistical methods to detect novel genetic variants using publicly available GWAS summary data.

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Bin; Wu, Baolin

2018-03-01

We propose statistical methods to detect novel genetic variants using only genome-wide association studies (GWAS) summary data without access to raw genotype and phenotype data. With more and more summary data being posted for public access in the post GWAS era, the proposed methods are practically very useful to identify additional interesting genetic variants and shed lights on the underlying disease mechanism. We illustrate the utility of our proposed methods with application to GWAS meta-analysis results of fasting glucose from the international MAGIC consortium. We found several novel genome-wide significant loci that are worth further study. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ameloblastomatous calcifying odontogenic cyst: A rare histologic variant

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Basavaraj N Kallalli

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Ameloblastoma is a well-known odontogenic tumor that can be associated with calcifying odontogenic cysts (COCs, but only a few reports give its clinical and radiographic features. Calcifying odontogenic cyst was first categorized as a distinct entity by Gorlin et al., and has been named after him since then. Calcifying odontogenic cyst is an uncommon developmental odontogenic lesion that demonstrates histopathologic diversity. It is well known that this lesion can occur in association with odontogenic tumors such as complex odontoma and ameloblastoma. The term COC was not included by the World Health Organization (WHO in its report of 2005 and is called calcifying cystic odontogenic tumor (CCOT. Histopathologic examination of ameloblastomatous CCOT reveals ameloblastic islands containing ghost cells. Although association of ameloblastoma with this lesion is important, only a few cases have been reported in literature. The present case report is of ameloblastomatous calcifying cystic odontogenic tumor, a rare histologic variant, in a 20-year-old male patient in the left mandibular posterior region.

Imaging-Genetics in Dyslexia: Connecting risk genetic variants to brain neuroimaging and ultimately to reading impairments

Science.gov (United States)

Eicher, John D.; Gruen, Jeffrey R.

2013-01-01

Dyslexia is a common pediatric disorder that affects 5-17% of schoolchildren in the United States. It is marked by unexpected difficulties in fluent reading despite adequate intelligence, opportunity, and instruction. Classically, neuropsychologists have studied dyslexia using a variety of neurocognitive batteries to gain insight into the specific deficits and impairments in affected children. Since dyslexia is a complex genetic trait with high heritability, analyses conditioned on performance on these neurocognitive batteries have been used to try to identify associated genes. This has led to some successes in identifying contributing genes, although much of the heritability remains unexplained. Additionally, the lack of relevant human brain tissue for analysis and the challenges of modeling a uniquely human trait in animals are barriers to advancing our knowledge of the underlying pathophysiology. In vivo imaging technologies, however, present new opportunities to examine dyslexia and reading skills in a clearly relevant context in human subjects. Recent investigations have started to integrate these imaging data with genetic data in attempts to gain a more complete and complex understanding of reading processes. In addition to bridging the gap from genetic risk variant to a discernible neuroimaging phenotype and ultimately to the clinical impairments in reading performance, the use of neuroimaging phenotypes will reveal novel risk genes and variants. In this article, we briefly discuss the genetic and imaging investigations and take an in-depth look at the recent imaging-genetics investigations of dyslexia. PMID:23916419

The power of gene-based rare variant methods to detect disease-associated variation and test hypotheses about complex disease.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Loukas Moutsianas

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Genome and exome sequencing in large cohorts enables characterization of the role of rare variation in complex diseases. Success in this endeavor, however, requires investigators to test a diverse array of genetic hypotheses which differ in the number, frequency and effect sizes of underlying causal variants. In this study, we evaluated the power of gene-based association methods to interrogate such hypotheses, and examined the implications for study design. We developed a flexible simulation approach, using 1000 Genomes data, to (a generate sequence variation at human genes in up to 10K case-control samples, and (b quantify the statistical power of a panel of widely used gene-based association tests under a variety of allelic architectures, locus effect sizes, and significance thresholds. For loci explaining ~1% of phenotypic variance underlying a common dichotomous trait, we find that all methods have low absolute power to achieve exome-wide significance (~5-20% power at α = 2.5 × 10(-6 in 3K individuals; even in 10K samples, power is modest (~60%. The combined application of multiple methods increases sensitivity, but does so at the expense of a higher false positive rate. MiST, SKAT-O, and KBAC have the highest individual mean power across simulated datasets, but we observe wide architecture-dependent variability in the individual loci detected by each test, suggesting that inferences about disease architecture from analysis of sequencing studies can differ depending on which methods are used. Our results imply that tens of thousands of individuals, extensive functional annotation, or highly targeted hypothesis testing will be required to confidently detect or exclude rare variant signals at complex disease loci.

Evaluation of regulatory genetic variants in POU5F1 and risk of congenital heart disease in Han Chinese.

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Lin, Yuan; Ding, Chenyue; Zhang, Kai; Ni, Bixian; Da, Min; Hu, Liang; Hu, Yuanli; Xu, Jing; Wang, Xiaowei; Chen, Yijiang; Mo, Xuming; Cui, Yugui; Shen, Hongbing; Sha, Jiahao; Liu, Jiayin; Hu, Zhibin

2015-10-28

OCT4 is a transcription factor of the POU family, which plays a key role in embryonic development and stem cell pluripotency. Previous studies have shown that Oct4 is required for cardiomyocyte differentiation in mice and its depletion could result in cardiac morphogenesis in embryo. However, whether the genetic variations in OCT4 coding gene, POU5F1, confer the predisposition to congenital heart disease (CHD) is unclear. This study sought to investigate the associations between low-frequency (defined here as having minor allele frequency (MAF) between 0.1%-5%) and rare (MAF below 0.1%) variants with potential function in POU5F1 and risk of CHD. We conducted association analysis in a two-stage case-control study with a total of 2,720 CHD cases and 3,331 controls in Chinese. The low-frequency variant rs3130933 was observed to be associated with a significantly increased risk of CHD [additive model: adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 2.15, adjusted P = 3.37 × 10(-6)]. Furthermore, luciferase activity assay showed that the variant A allele led to significantly lower expression levels as compared to the G allele. These findings indicate for the first time that low-frequency functional variant in POU5F1 may contribute to the risk of congenital heart malformations.

Evaluation of regulatory genetic variants in POU5F1 and risk of congenital heart disease in Han Chinese

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Yuan; Ding, Chenyue; Zhang, Kai; Ni, Bixian; da, Min; Hu, Liang; Hu, Yuanli; Xu, Jing; Wang, Xiaowei; Chen, Yijiang; Mo, Xuming; Cui, Yugui; Shen, Hongbing; Sha, Jiahao; Liu, Jiayin; Hu, Zhibin

2015-10-01

OCT4 is a transcription factor of the POU family, which plays a key role in embryonic development and stem cell pluripotency. Previous studies have shown that Oct4 is required for cardiomyocyte differentiation in mice and its depletion could result in cardiac morphogenesis in embryo. However, whether the genetic variations in OCT4 coding gene, POU5F1, confer the predisposition to congenital heart disease (CHD) is unclear. This study sought to investigate the associations between low-frequency (defined here as having minor allele frequency (MAF) between 0.1%-5%) and rare (MAF below 0.1%) variants with potential function in POU5F1 and risk of CHD. We conducted association analysis in a two-stage case-control study with a total of 2,720 CHD cases and 3,331 controls in Chinese. The low-frequency variant rs3130933 was observed to be associated with a significantly increased risk of CHD [additive model: adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 2.15, adjusted P = 3.37 × 10-6]. Furthermore, luciferase activity assay showed that the variant A allele led to significantly lower expression levels as compared to the G allele. These findings indicate for the first time that low-frequency functional variant in POU5F1 may contribute to the risk of congenital heart malformations.

Association Study of Common Genetic Variants and HIV-1 Acquisition in 6,300 Infected Cases and 7,200 Controls

Science.gov (United States)

Ripke, Stephan; van den Berg, Leonard; Buchbinder, Susan; Carrington, Mary; Cossarizza, Andrea; Dalmau, Judith; Deeks, Steven G.; Delaneau, Olivier; De Luca, Andrea; Goedert, James J.; Haas, David; Herbeck, Joshua T.; Kathiresan, Sekar; Kirk, Gregory D.; Lambotte, Olivier; Luo, Ma; Mallal, Simon; van Manen, Daniëlle; Martinez-Picado, Javier; Meyer, Laurence; Miro, José M.; Mullins, James I.; Obel, Niels; O'Brien, Stephen J.; Pereyra, Florencia; Plummer, Francis A.; Poli, Guido; Qi, Ying; Rucart, Pierre; Sandhu, Manj S.; Shea, Patrick R.; Schuitemaker, Hanneke; Theodorou, Ioannis; Vannberg, Fredrik; Veldink, Jan; Walker, Bruce D.; Weintrob, Amy; Winkler, Cheryl A.; Wolinsky, Steven; Telenti, Amalio; Goldstein, David B.; de Bakker, Paul I. W.; Zagury, Jean-François; Fellay, Jacques

2013-01-01

Multiple genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been performed in HIV-1 infected individuals, identifying common genetic influences on viral control and disease course. Similarly, common genetic correlates of acquisition of HIV-1 after exposure have been interrogated using GWAS, although in generally small samples. Under the auspices of the International Collaboration for the Genomics of HIV, we have combined the genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data collected by 25 cohorts, studies, or institutions on HIV-1 infected individuals and compared them to carefully matched population-level data sets (a list of all collaborators appears in Note S1 in Text S1). After imputation using the 1,000 Genomes Project reference panel, we tested approximately 8 million common DNA variants (SNPs and indels) for association with HIV-1 acquisition in 6,334 infected patients and 7,247 population samples of European ancestry. Initial association testing identified the SNP rs4418214, the C allele of which is known to tag the HLA-B*57:01 and B*27:05 alleles, as genome-wide significant (p = 3.6×10−11). However, restricting analysis to individuals with a known date of seroconversion suggested that this association was due to the frailty bias in studies of lethal diseases. Further analyses including testing recessive genetic models, testing for bulk effects of non-genome-wide significant variants, stratifying by sexual or parenteral transmission risk and testing previously reported associations showed no evidence for genetic influence on HIV-1 acquisition (with the exception of CCR5Δ32 homozygosity). Thus, these data suggest that genetic influences on HIV acquisition are either rare or have smaller effects than can be detected by this sample size. PMID:23935489

Association study of common genetic variants and HIV-1 acquisition in 6,300 infected cases and 7,200 controls.

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Paul J McLaren

Full Text Available Multiple genome-wide association studies (GWAS have been performed in HIV-1 infected individuals, identifying common genetic influences on viral control and disease course. Similarly, common genetic correlates of acquisition of HIV-1 after exposure have been interrogated using GWAS, although in generally small samples. Under the auspices of the International Collaboration for the Genomics of HIV, we have combined the genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP data collected by 25 cohorts, studies, or institutions on HIV-1 infected individuals and compared them to carefully matched population-level data sets (a list of all collaborators appears in Note S1 in Text S1. After imputation using the 1,000 Genomes Project reference panel, we tested approximately 8 million common DNA variants (SNPs and indels for association with HIV-1 acquisition in 6,334 infected patients and 7,247 population samples of European ancestry. Initial association testing identified the SNP rs4418214, the C allele of which is known to tag the HLA-B*57:01 and B*27:05 alleles, as genome-wide significant (p = 3.6 × 10⁻¹¹. However, restricting analysis to individuals with a known date of seroconversion suggested that this association was due to the frailty bias in studies of lethal diseases. Further analyses including testing recessive genetic models, testing for bulk effects of non-genome-wide significant variants, stratifying by sexual or parenteral transmission risk and testing previously reported associations showed no evidence for genetic influence on HIV-1 acquisition (with the exception of CCR5Δ32 homozygosity. Thus, these data suggest that genetic influences on HIV acquisition are either rare or have smaller effects than can be detected by this sample size.

Genetic basis for childhood interstitial lung disease among Japanese infants and children.

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Hayasaka, Itaru; Cho, Kazutoshi; Akimoto, Takuma; Ikeda, Masahiko; Uzuki, Yutaka; Yamada, Masafumi; Nakata, Koh; Furuta, Itsuko; Ariga, Tadashi; Minakami, Hisanori

2018-02-01

BackgroundGenetic variants responsible for childhood interstitial lung disease (chILD) have not been studied extensively in Japanese patients.MethodsThe study population consisted of 62 Japanese chILD patients. Twenty-one and four patients had pulmonary hypertension resistant to treatment (PH) and hypothyroidism, respectively. Analyses of genetic variants were performed in all 62 patients for SFTPC and ABCA3, in all 21 PH patients for FOXF1, and in a limited number of patients for NKX2.1.ResultsCausative genetic variants for chILD were identified in 11 (18%) patients: SFTPC variants in six, NKX2.1 variants in three, and FOXF1 variants in two patients. No patients had ABCA3 variants. All three and two patients with NKX2.1 variants had hypothyroidism and developmental delay, respectively. We found six novel variants in this study.ConclusionMutations in SFTPC, NKX2.1, and FOXF1 were identified among Japanese infants and children with chILD, whereas ABCA3 mutations were rare.

European external quality control study on the competence of laboratories to recognize rare sequence variants resulting in unusual genotyping results.

Science.gov (United States)

Márki-Zay, János; Klein, Christoph L; Gancberg, David; Schimmel, Heinz G; Dux, László

2009-04-01

Depending on the method used, rare sequence variants adjacent to the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of interest may cause unusual or erroneous genotyping results. Because such rare variants are known for many genes commonly tested in diagnostic laboratories, we organized a proficiency study to assess their influence on the accuracy of reported laboratory results. Four external quality control materials were processed and sent to 283 laboratories through 3 EQA organizers for analysis of the prothrombin 20210G>A mutation. Two of these quality control materials contained sequence variants introduced by site-directed mutagenesis. One hundred eighty-nine laboratories participated in the study. When samples gave a usual result with the method applied, the error rate was 5.1%. Detailed analysis showed that more than 70% of the failures were reported from only 9 laboratories. Allele-specific amplification-based PCR had a much higher error rate than other methods (18.3% vs 2.9%). The variants 20209C>T and [20175T>G; 20179_20180delAC] resulted in unusual genotyping results in 67 and 85 laboratories, respectively. Eighty-three (54.6%) of these unusual results were not recognized, 32 (21.1%) were attributed to technical issues, and only 37 (24.3%) were recognized as another sequence variant. Our findings revealed that some of the participating laboratories were not able to recognize and correctly interpret unusual genotyping results caused by rare SNPs. Our study indicates that the majority of the failures could be avoided by improved training and careful selection and validation of the methods applied.

Investigating the role of rare heterozygous TREM2 variants in Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cuyvers, Elise; Bettens, Karolien; Philtjens, Stephanie; Van Langenhove, Tim; Gijselinck, Ilse; van der Zee, Julie; Engelborghs, Sebastiaan; Vandenbulcke, Mathieu; Van Dongen, Jasper; Geerts, Nathalie; Maes, Githa; Mattheijssens, Maria; Peeters, Karin; Cras, Patrick; Vandenberghe, Rik; De Deyn, Peter P.; Van Broeckhoven, Christine; Cruts, Marc; Sleegers, Kristel

Homozygous mutations in exon 2 of TREM2, a gene involved in Nasu-Hakola disease, can cause frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Moreover, a rare TREM2 exon 2 variant (p.R47H) was reported to increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) with an odds ratio as strong as that for APOE epsilon 4. We

Direct Correlation of Cell Toxicity to Conformational Ensembles of Genetic Aβ Variants

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Somavarapu, Arun Kumar; Kepp, Kasper Planeta

2015-01-01

We report a systematic analysis of conformational ensembles generated from multiseed molecular dynamics simulations of all 15 known genetic variants of Aβ42. We show that experimentally determined variant toxicities are largely explained by random coil content of the amyloid ensembles (correlatio...

Whole-exome sequencing of individuals from an isolated population implicates rare risk variants in bipolar disorder

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lescai, F; Als, T D; Li, Q

2017-01-01

Bipolar disorder affects about 1% of the world's population, and its estimated heritability is about 75%. Only few whole genome or whole-exome sequencing studies in bipolar disorder have been reported, and no rare coding variants have yet been robustly identified. The use of isolated populations...

Rare Functional Variant in TM2D3 is Associated with Late-Onset Alzheimer's Disease.

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Johanna Jakobsdottir

2016-10-01

Full Text Available We performed an exome-wide association analysis in 1393 late-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD cases and 8141 controls from the CHARGE consortium. We found that a rare variant (P155L in TM2D3 was enriched in Icelanders (~0.5% versus <0.05% in other European populations. In 433 LOAD cases and 3903 controls from the Icelandic AGES sub-study, P155L was associated with increased risk and earlier onset of LOAD [odds ratio (95% CI = 7.5 (3.5-15.9, p = 6.6x10-9]. Mutation in the Drosophila TM2D3 homolog, almondex, causes a phenotype similar to loss of Notch/Presenilin signaling. Human TM2D3 is capable of rescuing these phenotypes, but this activity is abolished by P155L, establishing it as a functionally damaging allele. Our results establish a rare TM2D3 variant in association with LOAD susceptibility, and together with prior work suggests possible links to the β-amyloid cascade.

Genetic Candidate Variants in Two Multigenerational Families with Childhood Apraxia of Speech.

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Beate Peter

Full Text Available Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS is a severe and socially debilitating form of speech sound disorder with suspected genetic involvement, but the genetic etiology is not yet well understood. Very few known or putative causal genes have been identified to date, e.g., FOXP2 and BCL11A. Building a knowledge base of the genetic etiology of CAS will make it possible to identify infants at genetic risk and motivate the development of effective very early intervention programs. We investigated the genetic etiology of CAS in two large multigenerational families with familial CAS. Complementary genomic methods included Markov chain Monte Carlo linkage analysis, copy-number analysis, identity-by-descent sharing, and exome sequencing with variant filtering. No overlaps in regions with positive evidence of linkage between the two families were found. In one family, linkage analysis detected two chromosomal regions of interest, 5p15.1-p14.1, and 17p13.1-q11.1, inherited separately from the two founders. Single-point linkage analysis of selected variants identified CDH18 as a primary gene of interest and additionally, MYO10, NIPBL, GLP2R, NCOR1, FLCN, SMCR8, NEK8, and ANKRD12, possibly with additive effects. Linkage analysis in the second family detected five regions with LOD scores approaching the highest values possible in the family. A gene of interest was C4orf21 (ZGRF1 on 4q25-q28.2. Evidence for previously described causal copy-number variations and validated or suspected genes was not found. Results are consistent with a heterogeneous CAS etiology, as is expected in many neurogenic disorders. Future studies will investigate genome variants in these and other families with CAS.

Genetic Candidate Variants in Two Multigenerational Families with Childhood Apraxia of Speech.

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Peter, Beate; Wijsman, Ellen M; Nato, Alejandro Q; Matsushita, Mark M; Chapman, Kathy L; Stanaway, Ian B; Wolff, John; Oda, Kaori; Gabo, Virginia B; Raskind, Wendy H

2016-01-01

Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a severe and socially debilitating form of speech sound disorder with suspected genetic involvement, but the genetic etiology is not yet well understood. Very few known or putative causal genes have been identified to date, e.g., FOXP2 and BCL11A. Building a knowledge base of the genetic etiology of CAS will make it possible to identify infants at genetic risk and motivate the development of effective very early intervention programs. We investigated the genetic etiology of CAS in two large multigenerational families with familial CAS. Complementary genomic methods included Markov chain Monte Carlo linkage analysis, copy-number analysis, identity-by-descent sharing, and exome sequencing with variant filtering. No overlaps in regions with positive evidence of linkage between the two families were found. In one family, linkage analysis detected two chromosomal regions of interest, 5p15.1-p14.1, and 17p13.1-q11.1, inherited separately from the two founders. Single-point linkage analysis of selected variants identified CDH18 as a primary gene of interest and additionally, MYO10, NIPBL, GLP2R, NCOR1, FLCN, SMCR8, NEK8, and ANKRD12, possibly with additive effects. Linkage analysis in the second family detected five regions with LOD scores approaching the highest values possible in the family. A gene of interest was C4orf21 (ZGRF1) on 4q25-q28.2. Evidence for previously described causal copy-number variations and validated or suspected genes was not found. Results are consistent with a heterogeneous CAS etiology, as is expected in many neurogenic disorders. Future studies will investigate genome variants in these and other families with CAS.

Functional Characterization of Rare RAB12 Variants and Their Role in Musician’s and Other Dystonias

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Eva Hebert

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Mutations in RAB (member of the Ras superfamily genes are increasingly recognized as cause of a variety of disorders including neurological conditions. While musician’s dystonia (MD and writer’s dystonia (WD are task-specific movement disorders, other dystonias persistently affect postures as in cervical dystonia. Little is known about the underlying etiology. Next-generation sequencing revealed a rare missense variant (c.586A>G; p.Ile196Val in RAB12 in two of three MD/WD families. Next, we tested 916 additional dystonia patients; 512 Parkinson’s disease patients; and 461 healthy controls for RAB12 variants and identified 10 additional carriers of rare missense changes among dystonia patients (1.1% but only one carrier in non-dystonic individuals (0.1%; p = 0.005. The detected variants among index patients comprised p.Ile196Val (n = 6; p.Ala174Thr (n = 3; p.Gly13Asp; p.Ala148Thr; and p.Arg181Gln in patients with MD; cervical dystonia; or WD. Two relatives of MD patients with WD also carried p.Ile196Val. The two variants identified in MD patients (p.Ile196Val; p.Gly13Asp were characterized on endogenous levels in patient-derived fibroblasts and in two RAB12-overexpressing cell models. The ability to hydrolyze guanosine triphosphate (GTP, so called GTPase activity, was increased in mutants compared to wildtype. Furthermore, subcellular distribution of RAB12 in mutants was altered in fibroblasts. Soluble Transferrin receptor 1 levels were reduced in the blood of all three tested p.Ile196Val carriers. In conclusion, we demonstrate an enrichment of missense changes among dystonia patients. Functional characterization revealed altered enzyme activity and lysosomal distribution in mutants suggesting a contribution of RAB12 variants to MD and other dystonias.

New population-based exome data question the pathogenicity of some genetic variants previously associated with Marfan syndrome

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Yang, Ren-Qiang; Jabbari, Javad; Cheng, Xiao-Shu

2014-01-01

BACKGROUND: Marfan syndrome (MFS) is a rare autosomal dominantly inherited connective tissue disorder with an estimated prevalence of 1:5,000. More than 1000 variants have been previously reported to be associated with MFS. However, the disease-causing effect of these variants may be questionable...

The Role of Constitutional Copy Number Variants in Breast Cancer

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Walker, Logan C.; Wiggins, George A.R.; Pearson, John F.

2015-01-01

Constitutional copy number variants (CNVs) include inherited and de novo deviations from a diploid state at a defined genomic region. These variants contribute significantly to genetic variation and disease in humans, including breast cancer susceptibility. Identification of genetic risk factors for breast cancer in recent years has been dominated by the use of genome-wide technologies, such as single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-arrays, with a significant focus on single nucleotide variants. To date, these large datasets have been underutilised for generating genome-wide CNV profiles despite offering a massive resource for assessing the contribution of these structural variants to breast cancer risk. Technical challenges remain in determining the location and distribution of CNVs across the human genome due to the accuracy of computational prediction algorithms and resolution of the array data. Moreover, better methods are required for interpreting the functional effect of newly discovered CNVs. In this review, we explore current and future application of SNP array technology to assess rare and common CNVs in association with breast cancer risk in humans. PMID:27600231

Common Variant Burden Contributes to the Familial Aggregation of Migraine in 1,589 Families

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Gormley, Padhraig; Kurki, Mitja I; Hiekkala, Marjo Eveliina; Veerapen, Kumar; Häppölä, Paavo; Mitchell, Adele A; Lal, Dennis; Palta, Priit; Surakka, Ida; Kaunisto, Mari Anneli; Hämäläinen, Eija; Vepsäläinen, Salli; Havanka, Hannele; Harno, Hanna; Ilmavirta, Matti; Nissilä, Markku; Säkö, Erkki; Sumelahti, Marja-Liisa; Liukkonen, Jarmo; Sillanpää, Matti; Metsähonkala, Liisa; Koskinen, Seppo; Lehtimäki, Terho; Raitakari, Olli; Männikkö, Minna; Ran, Caroline; Belin, Andrea Carmine; Jousilahti, Pekka; Anttila, Verneri; Salomaa, Veikko; Artto, Ville; Färkkilä, Markus; Runz, Heiko; Daly, Mark J; Neale, Benjamin M; Ripatti, Samuli; Kallela, Mikko; Wessman, Maija; Palotie, Aarno; Boomsma, D.I.; Ligthart, R.S.L.; Posthuma, Danielle

2018-01-01

Complex traits, including migraine, often aggregate in families, but the underlying genetic architecture behind this is not well understood. The aggregation could be explained by rare, penetrant variants that segregate according to Mendelian inheritance or by the sufficient polygenic accumulation of

Rare variants in calcium homeostasis modulator 1 (CALHM1 found in early onset Alzheimer's disease patients alter calcium homeostasis.

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Fanny Rubio-Moscardo

Full Text Available Calcium signaling in the brain is fundamental to the learning and memory process and there is evidence to suggest that its dysfunction is involved in the pathological pathways underlying Alzheimer's disease (AD. Recently, the calcium hypothesis of AD has received support with the identification of the non-selective Ca(2+-permeable channel CALHM1. A genetic polymorphism (p. P86L in CALHM1 reduces plasma membrane Ca(2+ permeability and is associated with an earlier age-at-onset of AD. To investigate the role of CALHM1 variants in early-onset AD (EOAD, we sequenced all CALHM1 coding regions in three independent series comprising 284 EOAD patients and 326 controls. Two missense mutations in patients (p.G330D and p.R154H and one (p.A213T in a control individual were identified. Calcium imaging analyses revealed that while the mutation found in a control (p.A213T behaved as wild-type CALHM1 (CALHM1-WT, a complete abolishment of the Ca(2+ influx was associated with the mutations found in EOAD patients (p.G330D and p.R154H. Notably, the previously reported p. P86L mutation was associated with an intermediate Ca(2+ influx between the CALHM1-WT and the p.G330D and p.R154H mutations. Since neither expression of wild-type nor mutant CALHM1 affected amyloid ß-peptide (Aß production or Aß-mediated cellular toxicity, we conclude that rare genetic variants in CALHM1 lead to Ca(2+ dysregulation and may contribute to the risk of EOAD through a mechanism independent from the classical Aß cascade.

Genetic variants associated with subjective well-being, depressive symptoms, and neuroticism identified through genome-wide analyses

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Okbay, Aysu; Baselmans, B.M.L. (Bart M.L.); Neve, Jan-Emmanuel; Turley, Patrick; Nivard, Michel; Fontana, M.A. (Mark Alan); Meddens, S.F.W. (S. Fleur W.); Linnér, R.K. (Richard Karlsson); Rietveld, C.A. (Cornelius A); Derringer, J.; Gratten, Jacob; Lee, James J.; Liu, J.Z. (Jimmy Z); Vlaming, Ronald; SAhluwalia, T. (Tarunveer)

2016-01-01

textabstractVery few genetic variants have been associated with depression and neuroticism, likely because of limitations on sample size in previous studies. Subjective well-being, a phenotype that is genetically correlated with both of these traits, has not yet been studied with genome-wide data. We conducted genome-wide association studies of three phenotypes: subjective well-being (n = 298,420), depressive symptoms (n = 161,460), and neuroticism (n = 170,911). We identify 3 variants associ...

Genetic Relationships Between Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, and Schizoaffective Disorder

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Cardno, Alastair G.

2014-01-01

There is substantial evidence for partial overlap of genetic influences on schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, with family, twin, and adoption studies showing a genetic correlation between the disorders of around 0.6. Results of genome-wide association studies are consistent with commonly occurring genetic risk variants, contributing to both the shared and nonshared aspects, while studies of large, rare chromosomal structural variants, particularly copy number variants, show a stronger influence on schizophrenia than bipolar disorder to date. Schizoaffective disorder has been less investigated but shows substantial familial overlap with both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. A twin analysis is consistent with genetic influences on schizoaffective episodes being entirely shared with genetic influences on schizophrenic and manic episodes, while association studies suggest the possibility of some relatively specific genetic influences on broadly defined schizoaffective disorder, bipolar subtype. Further insights into genetic relationships between these disorders are expected as studies continue to increase in sample size and in technical and analytical sophistication, information on phenotypes beyond clinical diagnoses are increasingly incorporated, and approaches such as next-generation sequencing identify additional types of genetic risk variant. PMID:24567502

Identificação e caracterização de variantes novas e raras da hemoglobina humana Identification of characterization of novel and rare variants of human hemoglobin

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Elza M. Kimura

2008-08-01

Full Text Available As anormalidades estruturais da hemoglobina estão entre as doenças genéticas mais comumente encontradas nas populações humanas. O Laboratório de Hemoglobinopatias do Departamento de Patologia Clínica da Faculdade de Ciências Médicas da Universidade Estadual de Campinas - Unicamp, localizado em Campinas, no estado de São Paulo, região Sudeste do Brasil, realizou, em seus 27 anos de existência, cerca de 130.000 diagnósticos. Entre as variantes estruturais detectadas, as hemoglobinas S, C e D-Punjab foram, como esperado, as mais freqüentes, porém um número expressivo de outras hemoglobinas anômalas, novas e raras, também foi encontrado. Esses achados estão sumarizados no presente artigo.Hemoglobin structural abnormalities are among the most commonly found human genetic diseases. The Laboratory of Hemoglobinopathies in the Clinical Pathology Department of the Medical Sciences School of the State University in Campinas - Unicamp, São Paulo, Southeastern Brazil, carried out, in its 27 years of activity, about 130,000 diagnoses. As expected, hemoglobins S, C and D were the most frequently observed variants, but an expressive number of other abnormal, novel and rare hemoglobins, was also detected. These findings are summarized in the present article.

Exceptions to the rule: case studies in the prediction of pathogenicity for genetic variants in hereditary cancer genes.

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Rosenthal, E T; Bowles, K R; Pruss, D; van Kan, A; Vail, P J; McElroy, H; Wenstrup, R J

2015-12-01

Based on current consensus guidelines and standard practice, many genetic variants detected in clinical testing are classified as disease causing based on their predicted impact on the normal expression or function of the gene in the absence of additional data. However, our laboratory has identified a subset of such variants in hereditary cancer genes for which compelling contradictory evidence emerged after the initial evaluation following the first observation of the variant. Three representative examples of variants in BRCA1, BRCA2 and MSH2 that are predicted to disrupt splicing, prematurely truncate the protein, or remove the start codon were evaluated for pathogenicity by analyzing clinical data with multiple classification algorithms. Available clinical data for all three variants contradicts the expected pathogenic classification. These variants illustrate potential pitfalls associated with standard approaches to variant classification as well as the challenges associated with monitoring data, updating classifications, and reporting potentially contradictory interpretations to the clinicians responsible for translating test outcomes to appropriate clinical action. It is important to address these challenges now as the model for clinical testing moves toward the use of large multi-gene panels and whole exome/genome analysis, which will dramatically increase the number of genetic variants identified. © 2015 The Authors. Clinical Genetics published by John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Zeroing in on the Genetics of Intelligence

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Ruben C. Arslan

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Despite the high heritability of intelligence in the normal range, molecular genetic studies have so far yielded many null findings. However, large samples and self-imposed stringent standards have prevented false positives and gradually narrowed down where effects can still be expected. Rare variants and mutations of large effect do not appear to play a main role beyond intellectual disability. Common variants can account for about half the heritability of intelligence and show promise that collaborative efforts will identify more causal genetic variants. Gene–gene interactions may explain some of the remainder, but are only starting to be tapped. Evolutionarily, stabilizing selection and selective (near-neutrality are consistent with the facts known so far.

Eye and rare genetic diseases: Case series and literature review ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Genetic diseases are generally characterised by a multi visceral pathogenesis. Although orphan, these diseases interest many disciplines due to their clinical expression. Eye is sometimes part of the clinical polymorphism of some rare genetic diseases. Ocular signs are in some cases leading to the diagnosis of these ...

When is it MODY? Challenges in the Interpretation of Sequence Variants in MODY Genes

Science.gov (United States)

Althari, Sara; Gloyn, Anna L.

2015-01-01

The genomics revolution has raised more questions than it has provided answers. Big data from large population-scale resequencing studies are increasingly deconstructing classic notions of Mendelian disease genetics, which support a simplistic correlation between mutational severity and phenotypic outcome. The boundaries are being blurred as the body of evidence showing monogenic disease-causing alleles in healthy genomes, and in the genomes of individu-als with increased common complex disease risk, continues to grow. In this review, we focus on the newly emerging challenges which pertain to the interpretation of sequence variants in genes implicated in the pathogenesis of maturity-onset diabetes of the young (MODY), a presumed mono-genic form of diabetes characterized by Mendelian inheritance. These challenges highlight the complexities surrounding the assignments of pathogenicity, in particular to rare protein-alerting variants, and bring to the forefront some profound clinical diagnostic implications. As MODY is both genetically and clinically heterogeneous, an accurate molecular diagnosis and cautious extrapolation of sequence data are critical to effective disease management and treatment. The biological and translational value of sequence information can only be attained by adopting a multitude of confirmatory analyses, which interrogate variant implication in disease from every possible angle. Indeed, studies which have effectively detected rare damaging variants in known MODY genes in normoglycemic individuals question the existence of a sin-gle gene mutation scenario: does monogenic diabetes exist when the genetic culprits of MODY have been systematical-ly identified in individuals without MODY? PMID:27111119

Genome-Wide Interaction Analyses between Genetic Variants and Alcohol Consumption and Smoking for Risk of Colorectal Cancer.

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Jian Gong

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Genome-wide association studies (GWAS have identified many genetic susceptibility loci for colorectal cancer (CRC. However, variants in these loci explain only a small proportion of familial aggregation, and there are likely additional variants that are associated with CRC susceptibility. Genome-wide studies of gene-environment interactions may identify variants that are not detected in GWAS of marginal gene effects. To study this, we conducted a genome-wide analysis for interaction between genetic variants and alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking using data from the Colon Cancer Family Registry (CCFR and the Genetics and Epidemiology of Colorectal Cancer Consortium (GECCO. Interactions were tested using logistic regression. We identified interaction between CRC risk and alcohol consumption and variants in the 9q22.32/HIATL1 (Pinteraction = 1.76×10-8; permuted p-value 3.51x10-8 region. Compared to non-/occasional drinking light to moderate alcohol consumption was associated with a lower risk of colorectal cancer among individuals with rs9409565 CT genotype (OR, 0.82 [95% CI, 0.74-0.91]; P = 2.1×10-4 and TT genotypes (OR,0.62 [95% CI, 0.51-0.75]; P = 1.3×10-6 but not associated among those with the CC genotype (p = 0.059. No genome-wide statistically significant interactions were observed for smoking. If replicated our suggestive finding of a genome-wide significant interaction between genetic variants and alcohol consumption might contribute to understanding colorectal cancer etiology and identifying subpopulations with differential susceptibility to the effect of alcohol on CRC risk.

PALB2, CHEK2 and ATM rare variants and cancer risk: data from COGS.

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Southey, Melissa C; Goldgar, David E; Winqvist, Robert; Pylkäs, Katri; Couch, Fergus; Tischkowitz, Marc; Foulkes, William D; Dennis, Joe; Michailidou, Kyriaki; van Rensburg, Elizabeth J; Heikkinen, Tuomas; Nevanlinna, Heli; Hopper, John L; Dörk, Thilo; Claes, Kathleen Bm; Reis-Filho, Jorge; Teo, Zhi Ling; Radice, Paolo; Catucci, Irene; Peterlongo, Paolo; Tsimiklis, Helen; Odefrey, Fabrice A; Dowty, James G; Schmidt, Marjanka K; Broeks, Annegien; Hogervorst, Frans B; Verhoef, Senno; Carpenter, Jane; Clarke, Christine; Scott, Rodney J; Fasching, Peter A; Haeberle, Lothar; Ekici, Arif B; Beckmann, Matthias W; Peto, Julian; Dos-Santos-Silva, Isabel; Fletcher, Olivia; Johnson, Nichola; Bolla, Manjeet K; Sawyer, Elinor J; Tomlinson, Ian; Kerin, Michael J; Miller, Nicola; Marme, Federik; Burwinkel, Barbara; Yang, Rongxi; Guénel, Pascal; Truong, Thérèse; Menegaux, Florence; Sanchez, Marie; Bojesen, Stig; Nielsen, Sune F; Flyger, Henrik; Benitez, Javier; Zamora, M Pilar; Perez, Jose Ignacio Arias; Menéndez, Primitiva; Anton-Culver, Hoda; Neuhausen, Susan; Ziogas, Argyrios; Clarke, Christina A; Brenner, Hermann; Arndt, Volker; Stegmaier, Christa; Brauch, Hiltrud; Brüning, Thomas; Ko, Yon-Dschun; Muranen, Taru A; Aittomäki, Kristiina; Blomqvist, Carl; Bogdanova, Natalia V; Antonenkova, Natalia N; Lindblom, Annika; Margolin, Sara; Mannermaa, Arto; Kataja, Vesa; Kosma, Veli-Matti; Hartikainen, Jaana M; Spurdle, Amanda B; Investigators, kConFab; Wauters, Els; Smeets, Dominiek; Beuselinck, Benoit; Floris, Giuseppe; Chang-Claude, Jenny; Rudolph, Anja; Seibold, Petra; Flesch-Janys, Dieter; Olson, Janet E; Vachon, Celine; Pankratz, Vernon S; McLean, Catriona; Haiman, Christopher A; Henderson, Brian E; Schumacher, Fredrick; Le Marchand, Loic; Kristensen, Vessela; Alnæs, Grethe Grenaker; Zheng, Wei; Hunter, David J; Lindstrom, Sara; Hankinson, Susan E; Kraft, Peter; Andrulis, Irene; Knight, Julia A; Glendon, Gord; Mulligan, Anna Marie; Jukkola-Vuorinen, Arja; Grip, Mervi; Kauppila, Saila; Devilee, Peter; Tollenaar, Robert A E M; Seynaeve, Caroline; Hollestelle, Antoinette; Garcia-Closas, Montserrat; Figueroa, Jonine; Chanock, Stephen J; Lissowska, Jolanta; Czene, Kamila; Darabi, Hatef; Eriksson, Mikael; Eccles, Diana M; Rafiq, Sajjad; Tapper, William J; Gerty, Sue M; Hooning, Maartje J; Martens, John W M; Collée, J Margriet; Tilanus-Linthorst, Madeleine; Hall, Per; Li, Jingmei; Brand, Judith S; Humphreys, Keith; Cox, Angela; Reed, Malcolm W R; Luccarini, Craig; Baynes, Caroline; Dunning, Alison M; Hamann, Ute; Torres, Diana; Ulmer, Hans Ulrich; Rüdiger, Thomas; Jakubowska, Anna; Lubinski, Jan; Jaworska, Katarzyna; Durda, Katarzyna; Slager, Susan; Toland, Amanda E; Ambrosone, Christine B; Yannoukakos, Drakoulis; Swerdlow, Anthony; Ashworth, Alan; Orr, Nick; Jones, Michael; González-Neira, Anna; Pita, Guillermo; Alonso, M Rosario; Álvarez, Nuria; Herrero, Daniel; Tessier, Daniel C; Vincent, Daniel; Bacot, Francois; Simard, Jacques; Dumont, Martine; Soucy, Penny; Eeles, Rosalind; Muir, Kenneth; Wiklund, Fredrik; Gronberg, Henrik; Schleutker, Johanna; Nordestgaard, Børge G; Weischer, Maren; Travis, Ruth C; Neal, David; Donovan, Jenny L; Hamdy, Freddie C; Khaw, Kay-Tee; Stanford, Janet L; Blot, William J; Thibodeau, Stephen; Schaid, Daniel J; Kelley, Joseph L; Maier, Christiane; Kibel, Adam S; Cybulski, Cezary; Cannon-Albright, Lisa; Butterbach, Katja; Park, Jong; Kaneva, Radka; Batra, Jyotsna; Teixeira, Manuel R; Kote-Jarai, Zsofia; Olama, Ali Amin Al; Benlloch, Sara; Renner, Stefan P; Hartmann, Arndt; Hein, Alexander; Ruebner, Matthias; Lambrechts, Diether; Van Nieuwenhuysen, Els; Vergote, Ignace; Lambretchs, Sandrina; Doherty, Jennifer A; Rossing, Mary Anne; Nickels, Stefan; Eilber, Ursula; Wang-Gohrke, Shan; Odunsi, Kunle; Sucheston-Campbell, Lara E; Friel, Grace; Lurie, Galina; Killeen, Jeffrey L; Wilkens, Lynne R; Goodman, Marc T; Runnebaum, Ingo; Hillemanns, Peter A; Pelttari, Liisa M; Butzow, Ralf; Modugno, Francesmary; Edwards, Robert P; Ness, Roberta B; Moysich, Kirsten B; du Bois, Andreas; Heitz, Florian; Harter, Philipp; Kommoss, Stefan; Karlan, Beth Y; Walsh, Christine; Lester, Jenny; Jensen, Allan; Kjaer, Susanne Krüger; Høgdall, Estrid; Peissel, Bernard; Bonanni, Bernardo; Bernard, Loris; Goode, Ellen L; Fridley, Brooke L; Vierkant, Robert A; Cunningham, Julie M; Larson, Melissa C; Fogarty, Zachary C; Kalli, Kimberly R; Liang, Dong; Lu, Karen H; Hildebrandt, Michelle A T; Wu, Xifeng; Levine, Douglas A; Dao, Fanny; Bisogna, Maria; Berchuck, Andrew; Iversen, Edwin S; Marks, Jeffrey R; Akushevich, Lucy; Cramer, Daniel W; Schildkraut, Joellen; Terry, Kathryn L; Poole, Elizabeth M; Stampfer, Meir; Tworoger, Shelley S; Bandera, Elisa V; Orlow, Irene; Olson, Sara H; Bjorge, Line; Salvesen, Helga B; van Altena, Anne M; Aben, Katja K H; Kiemeney, Lambertus A; Massuger, Leon F A G; Pejovic, Tanja; Bean, Yukie; Brooks-Wilson, Angela; Kelemen, Linda E; Cook, Linda S; Le, Nhu D; Górski, Bohdan; Gronwald, Jacek; Menkiszak, Janusz; Høgdall, Claus K; Lundvall, Lene; Nedergaard, Lotte; Engelholm, Svend Aage; Dicks, Ed; Tyrer, Jonathan; Campbell, Ian; McNeish, Iain; Paul, James; Siddiqui, Nadeem; Glasspool, Rosalind; Whittemore, Alice S; Rothstein, Joseph H; McGuire, Valerie; Sieh, Weiva; Cai, Hui; Shu, Xiao-Ou; Teten, Rachel T; Sutphen, Rebecca; McLaughlin, John R; Narod, Steven A; Phelan, Catherine M; Monteiro, Alvaro N; Fenstermacher, David; Lin, Hui-Yi; Permuth, Jennifer B; Sellers, Thomas A; Chen, Y Ann; Tsai, Ya-Yu; Chen, Zhihua; Gentry-Maharaj, Aleksandra; Gayther, Simon A; Ramus, Susan J; Menon, Usha; Wu, Anna H; Pearce, Celeste L; Van Den Berg, David; Pike, Malcolm C; Dansonka-Mieszkowska, Agnieszka; Plisiecka-Halasa, Joanna; Moes-Sosnowska, Joanna; Kupryjanczyk, Jolanta; Pharoah, Paul Dp; Song, Honglin; Winship, Ingrid; Chenevix-Trench, Georgia; Giles, Graham G; Tavtigian, Sean V; Easton, Doug F; Milne, Roger L

2016-12-01

The rarity of mutations in PALB2, CHEK2 and ATM make it difficult to estimate precisely associated cancer risks. Population-based family studies have provided evidence that at least some of these mutations are associated with breast cancer risk as high as those associated with rare BRCA2 mutations. We aimed to estimate the relative risks associated with specific rare variants in PALB2, CHEK2 and ATM via a multicentre case-control study. We genotyped 10 rare mutations using the custom iCOGS array: PALB2 c.1592delT, c.2816T>G and c.3113G>A, CHEK2 c.349A>G, c.538C>T, c.715G>A, c.1036C>T, c.1312G>T, and c.1343T>G and ATM c.7271T>G. We assessed associations with breast cancer risk (42 671 cases and 42 164 controls), as well as prostate (22 301 cases and 22 320 controls) and ovarian (14 542 cases and 23 491 controls) cancer risk, for each variant. For European women, strong evidence of association with breast cancer risk was observed for PALB2 c.1592delT OR 3.44 (95% CI 1.39 to 8.52, p=7.1×10 -5 ), PALB2 c.3113G>A OR 4.21 (95% CI 1.84 to 9.60, p=6.9×10 -8 ) and ATM c.7271T>G OR 11.0 (95% CI 1.42 to 85.7, p=0.0012). We also found evidence of association with breast cancer risk for three variants in CHEK2, c.349A>G OR 2.26 (95% CI 1.29 to 3.95), c.1036C>T OR 5.06 (95% CI 1.09 to 23.5) and c.538C>T OR 1.33 (95% CI 1.05 to 1.67) (p≤0.017). Evidence for prostate cancer risk was observed for CHEK2 c.1343T>G OR 3.03 (95% CI 1.53 to 6.03, p=0.0006) for African men and CHEK2 c.1312G>T OR 2.21 (95% CI 1.06 to 4.63, p=0.030) for European men. No evidence of association with ovarian cancer was found for any of these variants. This report adds to accumulating evidence that at least some variants in these genes are associated with an increased risk of breast cancer that is clinically important. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Additional mechanisms conferring genetic susceptibility to Alzheimer's disease

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Miguel eCalero

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Familial Alzheimer's disease (AD, mostly associated with early onset, is caused by mutations in three genes (APP, PSEN1 and PSEN2 involved in the production of the amyloid  peptide. In contrast, the molecular mechanisms that trigger the most common late onset sporadic AD remain largely unknown. With the implementation of an increasing number of case-control studies and the upcoming of large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS there is a mounting list of genetic risk factors associated to common genetic variants that have been associated to sporadic AD. Besides APOE, that presents a strong association with the disease (OR~4, the rest of these genes have moderate or low degrees of association, with OR ranging from 0.88 to 1.23. Taking together, these genes may account only for a fraction of the attributable AD risk and therefore, rare variants and epistastic gene interactions should be taken into account in order to get the full picture of the genetic risks associated to AD. Here, we review recent whole-exome studies looking for rare variants, somatic brain mutations with a strong association to the disease, and several studies dealing with epistasis as additional mechanisms conferring genetic susceptibility to AD. Altogether, recent evidence underlines the importance of defining molecular and genetic pathways and networks rather than the contribution of specific genes.

Three new genetic loci (R1210C in CFH, variants in COL8A1 and RAD51B) are independently related to progression to advanced macular degeneration.

Science.gov (United States)

Seddon, Johanna M; Reynolds, Robyn; Yu, Yi; Rosner, Bernard

2014-01-01

To assess the independent impact of new genetic variants on conversion to advanced stages of AMD, controlling for established risk factors, and to determine the contribution of genes in predictive models. In this prospective longitudinal study of 2765 individuals, 777 subjects progressed to neovascular disease (NV) or geographic atrophy (GA) in either eye over 12 years. Recently reported genetic loci were assessed for their independent effects on incident advanced AMD after controlling for 6 established loci in 5 genes, and demographic, behavioral, and macular characteristics. New variants which remained significantly related to progression were then added to a final multivariate model to assess their independent effects. The contribution of genes to risk models was assessed using reclassification tables by determining risk within cross-classified quintiles for alternative models. THREE NEW GENETIC VARIANTS WERE SIGNIFICANTLY RELATED TO PROGRESSION: rare variant R1210C in CFH (hazard ratio (HR) 2.5, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.2-5.3, P = 0.01), and common variants in genes COL8A1 (HR 2.0, 95% CI 1.1-3.5, P = 0.02) and RAD51B (HR 0.8, 95% CI 0.60-0.97, P = 0.03). The area under the curve statistic (AUC) was significantly higher for the 9 gene model (.884) vs the 0 gene model (.873), P = .01. AUC's for the 9 vs 6 gene models were not significantly different, but reclassification analyses indicated significant added information for more genes, with adjusted odds ratios (OR) for progression within 5 years per one quintile increase in risk score of 2.7, Padvanced AMD beyond macular and behavioral phenotypes.

An Evaluation of Factors Associated With Pathogenic PRSS1, SPINK1, CTFR, and/or CTRC Genetic Variants in Patients With Idiopathic Pancreatitis.

Science.gov (United States)

Jalaly, Niloofar Y; Moran, Robert A; Fargahi, Farshid; Khashab, Mouen A; Kamal, Ayesha; Lennon, Anne Marie; Walsh, Christi; Makary, Martin A; Whitcomb, David C; Yadav, Dhiraj; Cebotaru, Liudmila; Singh, Vikesh K

2017-08-01

We evaluated factors associated with pathogenic genetic variants in patients with idiopathic pancreatitis. Genetic testing (PRSS1, CFTR, SPINK1, and CTRC) was performed in all eligible patients with idiopathic pancreatitis between 2010 to 2015. Patients were classified into the following groups based on a review of medical records: (1) acute recurrent idiopathic pancreatitis (ARIP) with or without underlying chronic pancreatitis; (2) idiopathic chronic pancreatitis (ICP) without a history of ARP; (3) an unexplained first episode of acute pancreatitis (AP)pancreatitis. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the factors associated with pathogenic genetic variants. Among 197 ARIP and/or ICP patients evaluated from 2010 to 2015, 134 underwent genetic testing. A total of 88 pathogenic genetic variants were found in 64 (47.8%) patients. Pathogenic genetic variants were identified in 58, 63, and 27% of patients with ARIP, an unexplained first episode of AP <35 years of age, and ICP without ARP, respectively. ARIP (OR: 18.12; 95% CI: 2.16-151.87; P=0.008) and an unexplained first episode of AP<35 years of age (OR: 2.46; 95% CI: 1.18-5.15; P=0.017), but not ICP, were independently associated with pathogenic genetic variants in the adjusted analysis. Pathogenic genetic variants are most likely to be identified in patients with ARIP and an unexplained first episode of AP<35 years of age. Genetic testing in these patient populations may delineate an etiology and prevent unnecessary diagnostic testing and procedures.

Genetic analysis of somaclonal variants and induced mutants of potato ( solanum tuberosum l.) cv. diamant using RAPD markers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Afrasiab, H.; Iqbal, J.

2011-01-01

The objective of this work was to genetically analyze somaclonal variants and gamma induced mutants of potato ( Solanum tuberosum L.) cv. Diamant using RAPD-PCR technique. In the present work, callus was induced from nodes, inter nodes and leaf explants in MS medium supplemented with NAA (1.0 mg/l) and BAP (0.5 mg/l) and plants were regenerated from 14-20 weeks old calli. For gamma irradiation, ten-week old well proliferating calli were exposed to doses ranging from 5-50 Gy. All the four selected somaclonal variants and five gamma induced mutants were differentiated by banding patterns obtained from 22 primers that generated 140 polymorphic bands. The presence of polymorphic bands in variants and mutants suggest that genetic variation occurred in all the treatments as compared to control. Similarity and clustered analysis were conducted using Jaccard's coefficients and the un-weighted pair-group method using arithmetic averages. The results summarized in a dendrogram, show genetic diversity among the variants and mutants. The study shows that RAPD markers were efficient in discriminating somaclonal variants and induced mutants of potato. (author)

Joint Identification of Genetic Variants for Physical Activity in Korean Population

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Jayoun Kim

2014-07-01

Full Text Available There has been limited research on genome-wide association with physical activity (PA. This study ascertained genetic associations between PA and 344,893 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP markers in 8842 Korean samples. PA data were obtained from a validated questionnaire that included information on PA intensity and duration. Metabolic equivalent of tasks were calculated to estimate the total daily PA level for each individual. In addition to single- and multiple-SNP association tests, a pathway enrichment analysis was performed to identify the biological significance of SNP markers. Although no significant SNP was found at genome-wide significance level via single-SNP association tests, 59 genetic variants mapped to 76 genes were identified via a multiple SNP approach using a bootstrap selection stability measure. Pathway analysis for these 59 variants showed that maturity onset diabetes of the young (MODY was enriched. Joint identification of SNPs could enable the identification of multiple SNPs with good predictive power for PA and a pathway enriched for PA.

al mena: a comprehensive resource of human genetic variants integrating genomes and exomes from Arab, Middle Eastern and North African populations.

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Koshy, Remya; Ranawat, Anop; Scaria, Vinod

2017-10-01

Middle East and North Africa (MENA) encompass very unique populations, with a rich history and encompasses characteristic ethnic, linguistic and genetic diversity. The genetic diversity of MENA region has been largely unknown. The recent availability of whole-exome and whole-genome sequences from the region has made it possible to collect population-specific allele frequencies. The integration of data sets from this region would provide insights into the landscape of genetic variants in this region. We integrated genetic variants from multiple data sets systematically, available from this region to create a compendium of over 26 million genetic variations. The variants were systematically annotated and their allele frequencies in the data sets were computed and available as a web interface which enables quick query. As a proof of principle for application of the compendium for genetic epidemiology, we analyzed the allele frequencies for variants in transglutaminase 1 (TGM1) gene, associated with autosomal recessive lamellar ichthyosis. Our analysis revealed that the carrier frequency of selected variants differed widely with significant interethnic differences. To the best of our knowledge, al mena is the first and most comprehensive repertoire of genetic variations from the Arab, Middle Eastern and North African region. We hope al mena would accelerate Precision Medicine in the region.

Schizophrenia genetic variants are not associated with intelligence

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Van Scheltinga, A.F.T.; Bakker, S.C.; Van Haren, N.E.M.

2013-01-01

BACKGROUND: Schizophrenia is associated with lower pre-morbid intelligence (IQ) in addition to (pre-morbid) cognitive decline. Both schizophrenia and IQ are highly heritable traits. Therefore, we hypothesized that genetic variants associated with schizophrenia, including copy number variants (CNVs......) and a polygenic schizophrenia (risk) score (PSS), may influence intelligence. Method IQ was estimated with the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS). CNVs were determined from single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data using the QuantiSNP and PennCNV algorithms. For the PSS, odds ratios for genome-wide SNP data...... significantly more genes were disrupted by deletions in schizophrenia patients compared to controls (p = 0.009), there was no effect of CNV measures on IQ. The PSS was associated with disease status (R 2 = 0.055, p = 2.1 × 10-7) and with IQ in the entire sample (R 2 = 0.018, p = 0.0008) but the effect on IQ...

Influence of genetic variants on toxicity to anti-tubercular agents: a systematic review and meta-analysis (protocol).

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Richardson, Marty; Kirkham, Jamie; Dwan, Kerry; Sloan, Derek; Davies, Geraint; Jorgensen, Andrea

2017-07-13

Tuberculosis patients receiving anti-tuberculosis treatment may experience serious adverse drug reactions, such as hepatotoxicity. Genetic risk factors, such as polymorphisms of the NAT2, CYP2E1 and GSTM1 genes, may increase the risk of experiencing such toxicity events. Many pharmacogenetic studies have investigated the association between genetic variants and anti-tuberculosis drug-related toxicity events, and several meta-analyses have synthesised data from these studies, although conclusions from these meta-analyses are conflicting. Many meta-analyses also have serious methodological limitations, such as applying restrictive inclusion criteria, or not assessing the quality of included studies. Most also only consider hepatotoxicity outcomes and specific genetic variants. The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to give a comprehensive evaluation of the evidence base for associations between any genetic variant and anti-tuberculosis drug-related toxicity. We will search for studies in MEDLINE, EMBASE, BIOSIS and Web of Science. We will also hand search reference lists from relevant studies and contact experts in the field. We will include cohort studies, case-control studies and randomised controlled trials that recruited patients with tuberculosis who were either already established on anti-tuberculosis treatment or were commencing treatment and who were genotyped to investigate the effect of genetic variants on any anti-tuberculosis drug-related toxicity outcome. One author will screen abstracts to identify potentially relevant studies and will then obtain the full text for each potentially relevant study in order to assess eligibility. At each of these stages, a second author will independently screen/assess 10% of studies. Two authors will independently extract data and assess the quality of studies using a pre-piloted data extraction form. If appropriate, we will pool estimates of effect for each genotype on each outcome using meta

Computer-aided identification of polymorphism sets diagnostic for groups of bacterial and viral genetic variants

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Huygens Flavia

2007-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs and genes that exhibit presence/absence variation have provided informative marker sets for bacterial and viral genotyping. Identification of marker sets optimised for these purposes has been based on maximal generalized discriminatory power as measured by Simpson's Index of Diversity, or on the ability to identify specific variants. Here we describe the Not-N algorithm, which is designed to identify small sets of genetic markers diagnostic for user-specified subsets of known genetic variants. The algorithm does not treat the user-specified subset and the remaining genetic variants equally. Rather Not-N analysis is designed to underpin assays that provide 0% false negatives, which is very important for e.g. diagnostic procedures for clinically significant subgroups within microbial species. Results The Not-N algorithm has been incorporated into the "Minimum SNPs" computer program and used to derive genetic markers diagnostic for multilocus sequence typing-defined clonal complexes, hepatitis C virus (HCV subtypes, and phylogenetic clades defined by comparative genome hybridization (CGH data for Campylobacter jejuni, Yersinia enterocolitica and Clostridium difficile. Conclusion Not-N analysis is effective for identifying small sets of genetic markers diagnostic for microbial sub-groups. The best results to date have been obtained with CGH data from several bacterial species, and HCV sequence data.

THE INFLUENCE OF GENETIC VARIANTS OF κ-CASEIN ON MILK COMPONENTS

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Juraj Čuboň

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Milk production of 22 cows of Slovak Pied breed with Holstein-Friesian was analyzed according to the genetic variants of the polymorphic proteins determined by starch gel electrophoresis. The effect of genetic variants of the proteins was analyzed by selected properties of milk (milk yield, proteins, fats and lactose. Differences between the productive characters in testing groups were evaluated according to statistic method of t-test. Evaluation was carried out during throughout lactation. Based on the analyses we have obtained results frequency of genotypes: κ-CN AA in 9 cows (41%, AB in 12 cows (54.5% and BB in one cow, which is 4.5%. The average daily milk production of κ-CN AA was 13.5 l/day and in κ-CN AB 14.2 l/day. Contents of protein of genetic variation κ-CN AA was 3.1% in milk genotype κ-CN AB was found not significant lower protein proportion 3.0%. Based on the analyses, we can assume that cow’s nutrition higher influence the increase in the proportion of protein than polymorphism of κ-CN. In our research was found out the average fat content 4.0% in genetic variation of κ-CN AA and not significant lower in genetic variation κ-CN AB 3.8%. The average lactose content in the cow’s milk with κ-CN AA genotype was 4.9% and κ-CN AB was 5.0%. The difference between fat content wasn’t statistically significant.

Polycystic ovary syndrome is not associated with genetic variants that mark risk of type 2 diabetes.

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Saxena, R; Welt, C K

2013-06-01

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a disorder of irregular menses, hyperandrogenism and/or polycystic ovary morphology. A large proportion of women with PCOS also exhibit insulin resistance, β-cell dysfunction, impaired glucose tolerance and/or type 2 diabetes (T2D). We therefore hypothesized that genetic variants that predispose to risk of T2D also result in risk of PCOS. Variants robustly associated with T2D in candidate gene or genome-wide association studies (GWAS; n = 56 SNPs from 33 loci) were genotyped in women of European ancestry with PCOS (n = 525) and controls (n = 472), aged 18-45 years. Metabolic, reproductive and anthropomorphic data were examined as a function of the T2D variants. All genetic association analyses were adjusted for age, BMI and ancestry and were reported after correction for multiple testing. There was a nominal association between variants in KCNJ11 and risk of PCOS. However, a risk score of 33 independent T2D-associated variants from GWAS was not significantly associated with PCOS. T2D variants were associated with PCOS phenotype parameters including those in THADA and WFS1 with testosterone levels, ENPP/PC1 with triglyceride levels, FTO with glucose levels and KCNJ11 with FSH levels. Diabetes risk variants are not important risk variants for PCOS.

Genome-Wide Interaction Analyses between Genetic Variants and Alcohol Consumption and Smoking for Risk of Colorectal Cancer

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Newcomb, Polly A.; Campbell, Peter T.; Baron, John A.; Berndt, Sonja I.; Bezieau, Stephane; Brenner, Hermann; Casey, Graham; Chan, Andrew T.; Chang-Claude, Jenny; Du, Mengmeng; Figueiredo, Jane C.; Gallinger, Steven; Giovannucci, Edward L.; Haile, Robert W.; Harrison, Tabitha A.; Hayes, Richard B.; Hoffmeister, Michael; Hopper, John L.; Hudson, Thomas J.; Jeon, Jihyoun; Jenkins, Mark A.; Küry, Sébastien; Le Marchand, Loic; Lin, Yi; Lindor, Noralane M.; Nishihara, Reiko; Ogino, Shuji; Potter, John D.; Rudolph, Anja; Schoen, Robert E.; Seminara, Daniela; Slattery, Martha L.; Thibodeau, Stephen N.; Thornquist, Mark; Toth, Reka; Wallace, Robert; White, Emily; Jiao, Shuo; Lemire, Mathieu; Hsu, Li; Peters, Ulrike

2016-01-01

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified many genetic susceptibility loci for colorectal cancer (CRC). However, variants in these loci explain only a small proportion of familial aggregation, and there are likely additional variants that are associated with CRC susceptibility. Genome-wide studies of gene-environment interactions may identify variants that are not detected in GWAS of marginal gene effects. To study this, we conducted a genome-wide analysis for interaction between genetic variants and alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking using data from the Colon Cancer Family Registry (CCFR) and the Genetics and Epidemiology of Colorectal Cancer Consortium (GECCO). Interactions were tested using logistic regression. We identified interaction between CRC risk and alcohol consumption and variants in the 9q22.32/HIATL1 (Pinteraction = 1.76×10−8; permuted p-value 3.51x10-8) region. Compared to non-/occasional drinking light to moderate alcohol consumption was associated with a lower risk of colorectal cancer among individuals with rs9409565 CT genotype (OR, 0.82 [95% CI, 0.74–0.91]; P = 2.1×10−4) and TT genotypes (OR,0.62 [95% CI, 0.51–0.75]; P = 1.3×10−6) but not associated among those with the CC genotype (p = 0.059). No genome-wide statistically significant interactions were observed for smoking. If replicated our suggestive finding of a genome-wide significant interaction between genetic variants and alcohol consumption might contribute to understanding colorectal cancer etiology and identifying subpopulations with differential susceptibility to the effect of alcohol on CRC risk. PMID:27723779

Desmoplastic ameloblastoma in the anterior mandible crossing the midline: A rare variant

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Appaji Athota

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Desmoplastic ameloblastoma (DA is a rare variant of ameloblastoma. One hundred and forty-five cases of desmoplastic ameloblastoma have been reported till 2007 in the literature. This article presents a rare case of desmoplastic ameloblastoma in the parasymphysial region. Review of the literature has revealed that the tumor most commonly occurs in the third to fifth decade of life, with a male predilection of 3:2. The anterior region of the maxilla is the part that is most commonly found to be affected. The radiological features reveal a mixed radiolucent-radiopaque lesion with poorly defined to well-defined borders. However, our case differed from the reviewed cases, as it was found to be with well-defined borders. The histological findings of the case were consistent with the histological appearance of the reviewed cases and showed extensive stromal desmoplasia and small tumor nests of odontogenic epithelium scattered in the stroma.

Comparative linkage meta-analysis reveals regionally-distinct, disparate genetic architectures: application to bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

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Brady Tang

2011-04-01

Full Text Available New high-throughput, population-based methods and next-generation sequencing capabilities hold great promise in the quest for common and rare variant discovery and in the search for "missing heritability." However, the optimal analytic strategies for approaching such data are still actively debated, representing the latest rate-limiting step in genetic progress. Since it is likely a majority of common variants of modest effect have been identified through the application of tagSNP-based microarray platforms (i.e., GWAS, alternative approaches robust to detection of low-frequency (1-5% MAF and rare (<1% variants are of great importance. Of direct relevance, we have available an accumulated wealth of linkage data collected through traditional genetic methods over several decades, the full value of which has not been exhausted. To that end, we compare results from two different linkage meta-analysis methods--GSMA and MSP--applied to the same set of 13 bipolar disorder and 16 schizophrenia GWLS datasets. Interestingly, we find that the two methods implicate distinct, largely non-overlapping, genomic regions. Furthermore, based on the statistical methods themselves and our contextualization of these results within the larger genetic literatures, our findings suggest, for each disorder, distinct genetic architectures may reside within disparate genomic regions. Thus, comparative linkage meta-analysis (CLMA may be used to optimize low-frequency and rare variant discovery in the modern genomic era.

Private mitochondrial DNA variants in danish patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hagen, Christian M; Aidt, Frederik H; Havndrup, Ole

2015-01-01

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a genetic cardiac disease primarily caused by mutations in genes coding for sarcomeric proteins. A molecular-genetic etiology can be established in ~60% of cases. Evolutionarily conserved mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroups are susceptibility factors for HCM......>G, and MT-CYB: m.15024G>A, p.C93Y remained. A detailed analysis of these variants indicated that none of them are likely to cause HCM. In conclusion, private mtDNA mutations are frequent, but they are rarely, if ever, associated with HCM....

A genetic electrophoretic variant of high-sulfur hair proteins for forensic hair comparisons. I. Characterization of variant high-sulfur proteins of human hair.

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Miyake, B

1989-02-01

In a survey of the proteins from human hair, a genetic electrophoretic variant has been observed in the high-sulfur protein region. S-carboxymethylated proteins were examined by 15% polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis at pH 8.9. Out of 150 unrelated samples of Japanese head hairs analyzed, 107 showed 6 major high-sulfur protein bands (normal) and the remaining 43 samples showed an additional high-sulfur protein band (variant). Of 21 Caucasian samples analyzed only one variant sample was found. Characterization of the proteins by two-dimensional electrophoresis evidenced a variant protein spot which showed an apparent molecular weight of 30 k Da. Isoelectric points of the high-sulfur proteins ranged from 3.25-3.55 and that of variant protein band from 3.3-3.4. Family studies of 21 matings resulting in 49 children indicated that this variant was inherited in an autosomal fashion.

Whole-exome sequencing of a rare case of familial childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia reveals putative predisposing mutations in Fanconi anemia genes.

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Spinella, Jean-François; Healy, Jasmine; Saillour, Virginie; Richer, Chantal; Cassart, Pauline; Ouimet, Manon; Sinnett, Daniel

2015-07-23

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common pediatric cancer. While the multi-step model of pediatric leukemogenesis suggests interplay between constitutional and somatic genomes, the role of inherited genetic variability remains largely undescribed. Nonsyndromic familial ALL, although extremely rare, provides the ideal setting to study inherited contributions to ALL. Toward this goal, we sequenced the exomes of a childhood ALL family consisting of mother, father and two non-twinned siblings diagnosed with concordant pre-B hyperdiploid ALL and previously shown to have inherited a rare form of PRDM9, a histone H3 methyltransferase involved in crossing-over at recombination hotspots and Holliday junctions. We postulated that inheritance of additional rare disadvantaging variants in predisposing cancer genes could affect genomic stability and lead to increased risk of hyperdiploid ALL within this family. Whole exomes were captured using Agilent's SureSelect kit and sequenced on the Life Technologies SOLiD System. We applied a data reduction strategy to identify candidate variants shared by both affected siblings. Under a recessive disease model, we focused on rare non-synonymous or frame-shift variants in leukemia predisposing pathways. Though the family was nonsyndromic, we identified a combination of rare variants in Fanconi anemia (FA) genes FANCP/SLX4 (compound heterozygote - rs137976282/rs79842542) and FANCA (rs61753269) and a rare homozygous variant in the Holliday junction resolvase GEN1 (rs16981869). These variants, predicted to affect protein function, were previously identified in familial breast cancer cases. Based on our in-house database of 369 childhood ALL exomes, the sibs were the only patients to carry this particularly rare combination and only a single hyperdiploid patient was heterozygote at both FANCP/SLX4 positions, while no FANCA variant allele carriers were identified. FANCA is the most commonly mutated gene in FA and is essential for

Whole-exome sequencing identified a variant in EFTUD2 gene in establishing a genetic diagnosis.

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Rengasamy Venugopalan, S; Farrow, E G; Lypka, M

2017-06-01

Craniofacial anomalies are complex and have an overlapping phenotype. Mandibulofacial Dysostosis and Oculo-Auriculo-Vertebral Spectrum are conditions that share common craniofacial phenotype and present a challenge in arriving at a diagnosis. In this report, we present a case of female proband who was given a differential diagnosis of Treacher Collins syndrome or Hemifacial Microsomia without certainty. Prior genetic testing reported negative for 22q deletion and FGFR screenings. The objective of this study was to demonstrate the critical role of whole-exome sequencing in establishing a genetic diagnosis of the proband. The participants were 14½-year-old affected female proband/parent trio. Proband/parent trio were enrolled in the study. Surgical tissue sample from the proband and parental blood samples were collected and prepared for whole-exome sequencing. Illumina HiSeq 2500 instrument was used for sequencing (125 nucleotide reads/84X coverage). Analyses of variants were performed using custom-developed software, RUNES and VIKING. Variant analyses following whole-exome sequencing identified a heterozygous de novo pathogenic variant, c.259C>T (p.Gln87*), in EFTUD2 (NM_004247.3) gene in the proband. Previous studies have reported that the variants in EFTUD2 gene were associated with Mandibulofacial Dysostosis with Microcephaly. Patients with facial asymmetry, micrognathia, choanal atresia and microcephaly should be analyzed for variants in EFTUD2 gene. Next-generation sequencing techniques, such as whole-exome sequencing offer great promise to improve the understanding of etiologies of sporadic genetic diseases. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Genetic diagnosis of Mendelian disorders via RNA sequencing.

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Kremer, Laura S; Bader, Daniel M; Mertes, Christian; Kopajtich, Robert; Pichler, Garwin; Iuso, Arcangela; Haack, Tobias B; Graf, Elisabeth; Schwarzmayr, Thomas; Terrile, Caterina; Koňaříková, Eliška; Repp, Birgit; Kastenmüller, Gabi; Adamski, Jerzy; Lichtner, Peter; Leonhardt, Christoph; Funalot, Benoit; Donati, Alice; Tiranti, Valeria; Lombes, Anne; Jardel, Claude; Gläser, Dieter; Taylor, Robert W; Ghezzi, Daniele; Mayr, Johannes A; Rötig, Agnes; Freisinger, Peter; Distelmaier, Felix; Strom, Tim M; Meitinger, Thomas; Gagneur, Julien; Prokisch, Holger

2017-06-12

Across a variety of Mendelian disorders, ∼50-75% of patients do not receive a genetic diagnosis by exome sequencing indicating disease-causing variants in non-coding regions. Although genome sequencing in principle reveals all genetic variants, their sizeable number and poorer annotation make prioritization challenging. Here, we demonstrate the power of transcriptome sequencing to molecularly diagnose 10% (5 of 48) of mitochondriopathy patients and identify candidate genes for the remainder. We find a median of one aberrantly expressed gene, five aberrant splicing events and six mono-allelically expressed rare variants in patient-derived fibroblasts and establish disease-causing roles for each kind. Private exons often arise from cryptic splice sites providing an important clue for variant prioritization. One such event is found in the complex I assembly factor TIMMDC1 establishing a novel disease-associated gene. In conclusion, our study expands the diagnostic tools for detecting non-exonic variants and provides examples of intronic loss-of-function variants with pathological relevance.

Phenome Wide Association Studies demonstrating pleiotropy of genetic variants within FTO with and without adjustment for body mass index

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Robert Michael Cronin

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Phenome-wide association studies (PheWAS have demonstrated utility in validating genetic associations derived from traditional genetic studies as well as identifying novel genetic associations. Here we used an electronic health record (EHR-based PheWAS to explore pleiotropy of genetic variants in the fat mass and obesity associated gene (FTO, some of which have been previously associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D. We used a population of 10,487 individuals of European ancestry with genome-wide genotyping from the Electronic Medical Records and Genomics (eMERGE Network and another population of 13,711 individuals of European ancestry from the BioVU DNA biobank at Vanderbilt genotyped using Illumina HumanExome BeadChip. A meta-analysis of the two study populations replicated the well-described associations between FTO variants and obesity (odds ratio [OR]=1.25, 95% Confidence Interval=1.11-1.24, p=2.10 x 10 9 and FTO variants and T2D (OR=1.14, 95% CI=1.08-1.21, p=2.34 x 10 6. The meta-analysis also demonstrated that FTO variant rs8050136 was significantly associated with sleep apnea (OR=1.14, 95% CI=1.07-1.22, p=3.33 x 10 5; however, the association was attenuated after adjustment for body mass index (BMI. Novel phenotype associations with obesity-associated FTO variants included fibrocystic breast disease (rs9941349, OR=0.81, 95% CI=0.74-0.91, p=5.41x10 5 and trends toward associations with nonalcoholic liver disease and gram-positive bacterial infections. FTO variants not associated with obesity demonstrated other potential disease associations including noninflammatory disorders of the cervix and chronic periodontitis. These results suggest that genetic variants in FTO may have pleiotropic associations, some of which are not mediated by obesity.

Penetrance of NOD2/CARD15 genetic variants in the general population

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yazdanyar, Shiva; Kamstrup, Pia R; Tybjaerg-Hansen, Anne

2010-01-01

In case-control studies of Europeans, heterozygosity for Arg702Trp(rs2066844), Gly908Arg(rs2066845) and Leu1007fsinsC(rs5743293) on the NOD2/CARD15 gene is associated with a 2-fold greater risk of Crohn disease, whereas homozygosity or compound heterozygosity is associated with a 17-fold greater ...... risk. However, the importance of these genetic variants if identified in particular individuals within the general population is unknown. We undertook this study to estimate the penetrance of these variants in the general population....

Exome sequencing in an admixed isolated population indicates NFXL1 variants confer a risk for specific language impairment.

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Pía Villanueva

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Children affected by Specific Language Impairment (SLI fail to acquire age appropriate language skills despite adequate intelligence and opportunity. SLI is highly heritable, but the understanding of underlying genetic mechanisms has proved challenging. In this study, we use molecular genetic techniques to investigate an admixed isolated founder population from the Robinson Crusoe Island (Chile, who are affected by a high incidence of SLI, increasing the power to discover contributory genetic factors. We utilize exome sequencing in selected individuals from this population to identify eight coding variants that are of putative significance. We then apply association analyses across the wider population to highlight a single rare coding variant (rs144169475, Minor Allele Frequency of 4.1% in admixed South American populations in the NFXL1 gene that confers a nonsynonymous change (N150K and is significantly associated with language impairment in the Robinson Crusoe population (p = 2.04 × 10-4, 8 variants tested. Subsequent sequencing of NFXL1 in 117 UK SLI cases identified four individuals with heterozygous variants predicted to be of functional consequence. We conclude that coding variants within NFXL1 confer an increased risk of SLI within a complex genetic model.

Molecular, Phenotypic Aspects and Therapeutic Horizons of Rare Genetic Bone Disorders

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Taha Faruqi

2014-01-01

Full Text Available A rare disease afflicts less than 200,000 individuals, according to the National Organization for Rare Diseases (NORD of the United States. Over 6,000 rare disorders affect approximately 1 in 10 Americans. Rare genetic bone disorders remain the major causes of disability in US patients. These rare bone disorders also represent a therapeutic challenge for clinicians, due to lack of understanding of underlying mechanisms. This systematic review explored current literature on therapeutic directions for the following rare genetic bone disorders: fibrous dysplasia, Gorham-Stout syndrome, fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva, melorheostosis, multiple hereditary exostosis, osteogenesis imperfecta, craniometaphyseal dysplasia, achondroplasia, and hypophosphatasia. The disease mechanisms of Gorham-Stout disease, melorheostosis, and multiple hereditary exostosis are not fully elucidated. Inhibitors of the ACVR1/ALK2 pathway may serve as possible therapeutic intervention for FOP. The use of bisphosphonates and IL-6 inhibitors has been explored to be useful in the treatment of fibrous dysplasia, but more research is warranted. Cell therapy, bisphosphonate polytherapy, and human growth hormone may avert the pathology in osteogenesis imperfecta, but further studies are needed. There are still no current effective treatments for these bone disorders; however, significant promising advances in therapeutic modalities were developed that will limit patient suffering and treat their skeletal disabilities.

Rare variants in SOS2 and LZTR1 are associated with Noonan syndrome.

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Yamamoto, Guilherme Lopes; Aguena, Meire; Gos, Monika; Hung, Christina; Pilch, Jacek; Fahiminiya, Somayyeh; Abramowicz, Anna; Cristian, Ingrid; Buscarilli, Michelle; Naslavsky, Michel Satya; Malaquias, Alexsandra C; Zatz, Mayana; Bodamer, Olaf; Majewski, Jacek; Jorge, Alexander A L; Pereira, Alexandre C; Kim, Chong Ae; Passos-Bueno, Maria Rita; Bertola, Débora Romeo

2015-06-01

Noonan syndrome is an autosomal dominant, multisystemic disorder caused by dysregulation of the RAS/mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway. Heterozygous, pathogenic variants in 11 known genes account for approximately 80% of cases. The identification of novel genes associated with Noonan syndrome has become increasingly challenging, since they might be responsible for very small fractions of the cases. A cohort of 50 Brazilian probands negative for pathogenic variants in the known genes associated with Noonan syndrome was tested through whole-exome sequencing along with the relatives in the familial cases. Families from the USA and Poland with mutations in the newly identified genes were included subsequently. We identified rare, segregating or de novo missense variants in SOS2 and LZTR1 in 4% and 8%, respectively, of the 50 Brazilian probands. SOS2 and LZTR1 variants were also found to segregate in one American and one Polish family. Notably, SOS2 variants were identified in patients with marked ectodermal involvement, similar to patients with SOS1 mutations. We identified two novel genes, SOS2 and LZTR1, associated with Noonan syndrome, thereby expanding the molecular spectrum of RASopathies. Mutations in these genes are responsible for approximately 3% of all patients with Noonan syndrome. While SOS2 is a natural candidate, because of its homology with SOS1, the functional role of LZTR1 in the RAS/MAPK pathway is not known, and it could not have been identified without the large pedigrees. Additional functional studies are needed to elucidate the role of LZTR1 in RAS/MAPK signalling and in the pathogenesis of Noonan syndrome. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Inclusion and exclusion in the globalisation of genomics; the case of rare genetic disease in Brazil.

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Gibbon, Sahra; Aureliano, Waleska

2018-04-01

Within the context of a globalising agenda for genetic research where 'global health' is increasingly seen as necessarily informed by and having to account for genomics, the focus on rare genetic diseases is becoming prominent. Drawing from ethnographic research carried out separately by both authors in Brazil, this paper examines how an emerging focus on two different arenas of rare genetic disease, cancer genetics and a class of degenerative neurological diseases known as Ataxias, is subject to and a product of the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion as this concerns participation in research and access to health care. It examines how in these different cases 'rarenesss' has been diversely situated and differently politicised and how clinicians, patients and their families grapple with the slippery boundaries between research, rights to health and the limits of care, therapy or prevention. It illustrates how attention to rare genetic disease in Brazil emerges at the intersection of a particular history of genetic research and public health infrastructure, densely complicated feedback loops between clinical care and research, patient mobilisation around the 'judicialisation' of health and recent state legislation regarding rare disease in Brazil. It highlights the relevance of local configurations in the way rare genetic disease is being made relevant for and by different communities.

Exome-Wide Association Study Identifies New Low-Frequency and Rare UGT1A1 Coding Variants and UGT1A6 Coding Variants Influencing Serum Bilirubin in Elderly Subjects

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Oussalah, Abderrahim; Bosco, Paolo; Anello, Guido; Spada, Rosario; Guéant-Rodriguez, Rosa-Maria; Chery, Céline; Rouyer, Pierre; Josse, Thomas; Romano, Antonino; Elia, Maurizzio; Bronowicki, Jean-Pierre; Guéant, Jean-Louis

2015-01-01

Abstract Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified loci contributing to total serum bilirubin level. However, no exome-wide approaches have been performed to address this question. Using exome-wide approach, we assessed the influence of protein-coding variants on unconjugated, conjugated, and total serum bilirubin levels in a well-characterized cohort of 773 ambulatory elderly subjects from Italy. Coding variants were replicated in 227 elderly subjects from the same area. We identified 4 missense rare (minor allele frequency, MAF bilirubin level (P = 2.34 × 10−34, P = 7.02 × 10−34, and P = 8.27 × 10−34), as well as unconjugated, and conjugated bilirubin levels. We also identified UGT1A6 variants in association with total (rs6759892, p.Ser7Ala, P = 1.98 × 10−26; rs2070959, p.Thr181Ala, P = 2.87 × 10−27; and rs1105879, p.Arg184Ser, P = 3.27 × 10−29), unconjugated, and conjugated bilirubin levels. All UGT1A1 intronic variants (rs887829, rs6742078, and rs4148325) and UGT1A6 coding variants (rs6759892, rs2070959, and rs1105879) were significantly associated with gallstone-related cholecystectomy risk. The UGT1A6 variant rs2070959 (p.Thr181Ala) was associated with the highest risk of gallstone–related cholecystectomy (OR, 4.58; 95% CI, 1.58–13.28; P = 3.21 × 10−3). Using an exome-wide approach we identified coding variants on UGT1A1 and UGT1A6 genes in association with serum bilirubin level and hyperbilirubinemia risk in elderly subjects. UGT1A1 intronic single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (rs6742078, rs887829, rs4148324) serve as proxy markers for the low-frequency and rare UGT1A1 variants, thereby providing mechanistic explanation to the relationship between UGT1A1 intronic SNPs and the UGT1A1 enzyme activity. UGT1A1 and UGT1A6 variants might be potentially associated with gallstone-related cholecystectomy risk. PMID:26039129

Impact of Genetic Variants on the Individual Potential for Body Fat Loss

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Soyeon Cha

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The past decade has witnessed the discovery of obesity-related genetic variants and their functions through genome-wide association studies. Combinations of risk alleles can influence obesity phenotypes with different degrees of effectiveness across various individuals by interacting with environmental factors. We examined the interaction between genetic variation and changes in dietary habits or exercise that influences body fat loss from a large Korean cohort (n = 8840. Out of 673 obesity-related SNPs, a total of 100 SNPs (37 for carbohydrate intake; 19 for fat intake; 44 for total calories intake; 25 for exercise onset identified to have gene-environment interaction effect in generalized linear model were used to calculate genetic risk scores (GRS. Based on the GRS distribution, we divided the population into four levels, namely, “very insensitive”, “insensitive”, “sensitive”, and “very sensitive” for each of the four categories, “carbohydrate intake”, “fat intake”, “total calories intake”, and “exercise”. Overall, the mean body fat loss became larger when the sensitivity level was increased. In conclusion, genetic variants influence the effectiveness of dietary regimes for body fat loss. Based on our findings, we suggest a platform for personalized body fat management by providing the most suitable and effective nutrition or activity plan specific to an individual.

Comprehensive analysis of RET common and rare variants in a series of Spanish Hirschsprung patients confirms a synergistic effect of both kinds of events

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Castaño Luis

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background RET is the major gene associated to Hirschsprung disease (HSCR with differential contributions of its rare and common, coding and noncoding mutations to the multifactorial nature of this pathology. In the present study, we have performed a comprehensive study of our HSCR series evaluating the involvement of both RET rare variants (RVs and common variants (CVs in the context of the disease. Methods RET mutational screening was performed by dHPLC and direct sequencing for the identification of RVs. In addition Taqman technology was applied for the genotyping of 3 RET CVs previously associated to HSCR, including a variant lying in an enhancer domain within RET intron 1 (rs2435357. Statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS v.17.0 to analyze the distribution of the variants. Results Our results confirm the strongest association to HSCR for the "enhancer" variant, and demonstrate a significantly higher impact of it in male versus female patients. Integration of the RET RVs and CVs analysis showed that in 91.66% of cases with both kinds of mutational events, the enhancer allele is in trans with the allele bearing the RET RV. Conclusions A gender effect exists on both the transmission and distribution of rare coding and common HSCR causing mutations. In addition, these RET CVs and RVs seem to act in a synergistic way leading to HSCR phenotype.

Genetic Variants Associated with Gestational Hypertriglyceridemia and Pancreatitis.

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Sai-Li Xie

Full Text Available Severe hypertriglyceridemia is a well-known cause of pancreatitis. Usually, there is a moderate increase in plasma triglyceride level during pregnancy. Additionally, certain pre-existing genetic traits may render a pregnant woman susceptible to development of severe hypertriglyceridemia and pancreatitis, especially in the third trimester. To elucidate the underlying mechanism of gestational hypertriglyceridemic pancreatitis, we undertook DNA mutation analysis of the lipoprotein lipase (LPL, apolipoprotein C2 (APOC2, apolipoprotein A5 (APOA5, lipase maturation factor 1 (LMF1, and glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored high-density lipoprotein-binding protein 1 (GPIHBP1 genes in five unrelated pregnant Chinese women with severe hypertriglyceridemia and pancreatitis. DNA sequencing showed that three out of five patients had the same homozygous variation, p.G185C, in APOA5 gene. One patient had a compound heterozygous mutation, p.A98T and p.L279V, in LPL gene. Another patient had a compound heterozygous mutation, p.A98T & p.C14F in LPL and GPIHBP1 gene, respectively. No mutations were seen in APOC2 or LMF1 genes. All patients were diagnosed with partial LPL deficiency in non-pregnant state. As revealed in our study, genetic variants appear to play an important role in the development of severe gestational hypertriglyceridemia, and, p.G185C mutation in APOA5 gene appears to be the most common variant implicated in the Chinese population. Antenatal screening for mutations in susceptible women, combined with subsequent interventions may be invaluable in the prevention of potentially life threatening gestational hypertriglyceridemia-induced pancreatitis.

Genetic Variants Associated with Gestational Hypertriglyceridemia and Pancreatitis

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Huang, Xie-Lin; Chen, Chao; Jin, Rong; Huang, Zhi-Ming; Zhou, Meng-Tao

2015-01-01

Severe hypertriglyceridemia is a well-known cause of pancreatitis. Usually, there is a moderate increase in plasma triglyceride level during pregnancy. Additionally, certain pre-existing genetic traits may render a pregnant woman susceptible to development of severe hypertriglyceridemia and pancreatitis, especially in the third trimester. To elucidate the underlying mechanism of gestational hypertriglyceridemic pancreatitis, we undertook DNA mutation analysis of the lipoprotein lipase (LPL), apolipoprotein C2 (APOC2), apolipoprotein A5 (APOA5), lipase maturation factor 1 (LMF1), and glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored high-density lipoprotein-binding protein 1 (GPIHBP1) genes in five unrelated pregnant Chinese women with severe hypertriglyceridemia and pancreatitis. DNA sequencing showed that three out of five patients had the same homozygous variation, p.G185C, in APOA5 gene. One patient had a compound heterozygous mutation, p.A98T and p.L279V, in LPL gene. Another patient had a compound heterozygous mutation, p.A98T & p.C14F in LPL and GPIHBP1 gene, respectively. No mutations were seen in APOC2 or LMF1 genes. All patients were diagnosed with partial LPL deficiency in non-pregnant state. As revealed in our study, genetic variants appear to play an important role in the development of severe gestational hypertriglyceridemia, and, p.G185C mutation in APOA5 gene appears to be the most common variant implicated in the Chinese population. Antenatal screening for mutations in susceptible women, combined with subsequent interventions may be invaluable in the prevention of potentially life threatening gestational hypertriglyceridemia-induced pancreatitis. PMID:26079787

Genetics of allergy and allergic sensitization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bønnelykke, Klaus; Sparks, Rachel; Waage, Johannes

2015-01-01

information about shared genetics between allergy, related phenotypes and autoimmunity. Studies of monogenic diseases have elucidated critical cellular pathways and protein functions responsible for allergy. These complementary approaches imply genetic mechanisms involved in Th2 immunity, T......Our understanding of the specific genetic lesions in allergy has improved in recent years due to identification of common risk variants from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and studies of rare, monogenic diseases. Large-scale GWAS have identified novel susceptibility loci and provided...

Analysis of protein-altering variants in telomerase genes and their association with MUC5B common variant status in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: a candidate gene sequencing study.

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Dressen, Amy; Abbas, Alexander R; Cabanski, Christopher; Reeder, Janina; Ramalingam, Thirumalai R; Neighbors, Margaret; Bhangale, Tushar R; Brauer, Matthew J; Hunkapiller, Julie; Reeder, Jens; Mukhyala, Kiran; Cuenco, Karen; Tom, Jennifer; Cowgill, Amy; Vogel, Jan; Forrest, William F; Collard, Harold R; Wolters, Paul J; Kropski, Jonathan A; Lancaster, Lisa H; Blackwell, Timothy S; Arron, Joseph R; Yaspan, Brian L

2018-06-08

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) risk has a strong genetic component. Studies have implicated variations at several loci, including TERT, surfactant genes, and a single nucleotide polymorphism at chr11p15 (rs35705950) in the intergenic region between TOLLIP and MUC5B. Patients with IPF who have risk alleles at rs35705950 have longer survival from the time of IPF diagnosis than do patients homozygous for the non-risk allele, whereas patients with shorter telomeres have shorter survival times. We aimed to assess whether rare protein-altering variants in genes regulating telomere length are enriched in patients with IPF homozygous for the non-risk alleles at rs35705950. Between Nov 1, 2014, and Nov 1, 2016, we assessed blood samples from patients aged 40 years or older and of European ancestry with sporadic IPF from three international phase 3 clinical trials (INSPIRE, CAPACITY, ASCEND), one phase 2 study (RIFF), and US-based observational studies (Vanderbilt Clinical Interstitial Lung Disease Registry and the UCSF Interstitial Lung Disease Clinic registry cohorts) at the Broad Institute (Cambridge, MA, USA) and Human Longevity (San Diego, CA, USA). We also assessed blood samples from non-IPF controls in several clinical trials. We did whole-genome sequencing to assess telomere length and identify rare protein-altering variants, stratified by rs35705950 genotype. We also assessed rare functional variation in TERT exons and compared telomere length and disease progression across genotypes. We assessed samples from 1510 patients with IPF and 1874 non-IPF controls. 30 (3%) of 1046 patients with an rs35705950 risk allele had a rare protein-altering variant in TERT compared with 34 (7%) of 464 non-risk allele carriers (odds ratio 0·40 [95% CI 0·24-0·66], p=0·00039). Subsequent analyses identified enrichment of rare protein-altering variants in PARN and RTEL1, and rare variation in TERC in patients with IPF compared with controls. We expanded our study population to

Novel Genetic Variants of Sporadic Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) in a Chinese Population Identified by Whole-Exome Sequencing (WES).

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Liu, Yong; Cao, Yu; Li, Yaxiong; Lei, Dongyun; Li, Lin; Hou, Zong Liu; Han, Shen; Meng, Mingyao; Shi, Jianlin; Zhang, Yayong; Wang, Yi; Niu, Zhaoyi; Xie, Yanhua; Xiao, Benshan; Wang, Yuanfei; Li, Xiao; Yang, Lirong; Wang, Wenju; Jiang, Lihong

2018-03-05

BACKGROUND Recently, mutations in several genes have been described to be associated with sporadic ASD, but some genetic variants remain to be identified. The aim of this study was to use whole-exome sequencing (WES) combined with bioinformatics analysis to identify novel genetic variants in cases of sporadic congenital ASD, followed by validation by Sanger sequencing. MATERIAL AND METHODS Five Han patients with secundum ASD were recruited, and their tissue samples were analyzed by WES, followed by verification by Sanger sequencing of tissue and blood samples. Further evaluation using blood samples included 452 additional patients with sporadic secundum ASD (212 male and 240 female patients) and 519 healthy subjects (252 male and 267 female subjects) for further verification by a multiplexed MassARRAY system. Bioinformatic analyses were performed to identify novel genetic variants associated with sporadic ASD. RESULTS From five patients with sporadic ASD, a total of 181,762 genomic variants in 33 exon loci, validated by Sanger sequencing, were selected and underwent MassARRAY analysis in 452 patients with ASD and 519 healthy subjects. Three loci with high mutation frequencies, the 138665410 FOXL2 gene variant, the 23862952 MYH6 gene variant, and the 71098693 HYDIN gene variant were found to be significantly associated with sporadic ASD (PASD (PASD, and supported the use of WES and bioinformatics analysis to identify disease-associated mutations.

Protein-altering variants associated with body mass index implicate pathways that control energy intake and expenditure underpinning obesity

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Turcot, Valérie; Lu, Yingchang; Highland, Heather M; Schurmann, Claudia; Justice, Anne E; Fine, Rebecca S; Bradfield, Jonathan P; Esko, Tõnu; Giri, Ayush; Graff, Mariaelisa; Guo, Xiuqing; Hendricks, Audrey E; Karaderi, Tugce; Lempradl, Adelheid; Locke, Adam E; Mahajan, Anubha; Marouli, Eirini; Sivapalaratnam, Suthesh; Young, Kristin L; Alfred, Tamuno; Feitosa, Mary F; Masca, Nicholas GD; Manning, Alisa K; Medina-Gomez, Carolina; Mudgal, Poorva; Ng, Maggie CY; Reiner, Alex P; Vedantam, Sailaja; Willems, Sara M; Winkler, Thomas W; Abecasis, Goncalo; Aben, Katja K; Alam, Dewan S; Alharthi, Sameer E; Allison, Matthew; Amouyel, Philippe; Asselbergs, Folkert W; Auer, Paul L; Balkau, Beverley; Bang, Lia E; Barroso, Inês; Bastarache, Lisa; Benn, Marianne; Bergmann, Sven; Bielak, Lawrence F; Blüher, Matthias; Boehnke, Michael; Boeing, Heiner; Boerwinkle, Eric; Böger, Carsten A; Bork-Jensen, Jette; Bots, Michiel L; Bottinger, Erwin P; Bowden, Donald W; Brandslund, Ivan; Breen, Gerome; Brilliant, Murray H; Broer, Linda; Brumat, Marco; Burt, Amber A; Butterworth, Adam S; Campbell, Peter T; Cappellani, Stefania; Carey, David J; Catamo, Eulalia; Caulfield, Mark J; Chambers, John C; Chasman, Daniel I; Chen, Yii-Der Ida; Chowdhury, Rajiv; Christensen, Cramer; Chu, Audrey Y; Cocca, Massimiliano; Collins, Francis S; Cook, James P; Corley, Janie; Galbany, Jordi Corominas; Cox, Amanda J; Crosslin, David S; Cuellar-Partida, Gabriel; D'Eustacchio, Angela; Danesh, John; Davies, Gail; de Bakker, Paul IW; de Groot, Mark CH; de Mutsert, Renée; Deary, Ian J; Dedoussis, George; Demerath, Ellen W; den Heijer, Martin; den Hollander, Anneke I; den Ruijter, Hester M; Dennis, Joe G; Denny, Josh C; Di Angelantonio, Emanuele; Drenos, Fotios; Du, Mengmeng; Dubé, Marie-Pierre; Dunning, Alison M; Easton, Douglas F; Edwards, Todd L; Ellinghaus, David; Ellinor, Patrick T; Elliott, Paul; Evangelou, Evangelos; Farmaki, Aliki-Eleni; Farooqi, I. Sadaf; Faul, Jessica D; Fauser, Sascha; Feng, Shuang; Ferrannini, Ele; Ferrieres, Jean; Florez, Jose C; Ford, Ian; Fornage, Myriam; Franco, Oscar H; Franke, Andre; Franks, Paul W; Friedrich, Nele; Frikke-Schmidt, Ruth; Galesloot, Tessel E.; Gan, Wei; Gandin, Ilaria; Gasparini, Paolo; Gibson, Jane; Giedraitis, Vilmantas; Gjesing, Anette P; Gordon-Larsen, Penny; Gorski, Mathias; Grabe, Hans-Jörgen; Grant, Struan FA; Grarup, Niels; Griffiths, Helen L; Grove, Megan L; Gudnason, Vilmundur; Gustafsson, Stefan; Haessler, Jeff; Hakonarson, Hakon; Hammerschlag, Anke R; Hansen, Torben; Harris, Kathleen Mullan; Harris, Tamara B; Hattersley, Andrew T; Have, Christian T; Hayward, Caroline; He, Liang; Heard-Costa, Nancy L; Heath, Andrew C; Heid, Iris M; Helgeland, Øyvind; Hernesniemi, Jussi; Hewitt, Alex W; Holmen, Oddgeir L; Hovingh, G Kees; Howson, Joanna MM; Hu, Yao; Huang, Paul L; Huffman, Jennifer E; Ikram, M Arfan; Ingelsson, Erik; Jackson, Anne U; Jansson, Jan-Håkan; Jarvik, Gail P; Jensen, Gorm B; Jia, Yucheng; Johansson, Stefan; Jørgensen, Marit E; Jørgensen, Torben; Jukema, J Wouter; Kahali, Bratati; Kahn, René S; Kähönen, Mika; Kamstrup, Pia R; Kanoni, Stavroula; Kaprio, Jaakko; Karaleftheri, Maria; Kardia, Sharon LR; Karpe, Fredrik; Kathiresan, Sekar; Kee, Frank; Kiemeney, Lambertus A; Kim, Eric; Kitajima, Hidetoshi; Komulainen, Pirjo; Kooner, Jaspal S; Kooperberg, Charles; Korhonen, Tellervo; Kovacs, Peter; Kuivaniemi, Helena; Kutalik, Zoltán; Kuulasmaa, Kari; Kuusisto, Johanna; Laakso, Markku; Lakka, Timo A; Lamparter, David; Lange, Ethan M; Lange, Leslie A; Langenberg, Claudia; Larson, Eric B; Lee, Nanette R; Lehtimäki, Terho; Lewis, Cora E; Li, Huaixing; Li, Jin; Li-Gao, Ruifang; Lin, Honghuang; Lin, Keng-Hung; Lin, Li-An; Lin, Xu; Lind, Lars; Lindström, Jaana; Linneberg, Allan; Liu, Ching-Ti; Liu, Dajiang J; Liu, Yongmei; Lo, Ken Sin; Lophatananon, Artitaya; Lotery, Andrew J; Loukola, Anu; Luan, Jian'an; Lubitz, Steven A; Lyytikäinen, Leo-Pekka; Männistö, Satu; Marenne, Gaëlle; Mazul, Angela L; McCarthy, Mark I; McKean-Cowdin, Roberta; Medland, Sarah E; Meidtner, Karina; Milani, Lili; Mistry, Vanisha; Mitchell, Paul; Mohlke, Karen L; Moilanen, Leena; Moitry, Marie; Montgomery, Grant W; Mook-Kanamori, Dennis O; Moore, Carmel; Mori, Trevor A; Morris, Andrew D; Morris, Andrew P; Müller-Nurasyid, Martina; Munroe, Patricia B; Nalls, Mike A; Narisu, Narisu; Nelson, Christopher P; Neville, Matt; Nielsen, Sune F; Nikus, Kjell; Njølstad, Pål R; Nordestgaard, Børge G; Nyholt, Dale R; O'Connel, Jeffrey R; O’Donoghue, Michelle L.; Olde Loohuis, Loes M; Ophoff, Roel A; Owen, Katharine R; Packard, Chris J; Padmanabhan, Sandosh; Palmer, Colin NA; Palmer, Nicholette D; Pasterkamp, Gerard; Patel, Aniruddh P; Pattie, Alison; Pedersen, Oluf; Peissig, Peggy L; Peloso, Gina M; Pennell, Craig E; Perola, Markus; Perry, James A; Perry, John RB; Pers, Tune H; Person, Thomas N; Peters, Annette; Petersen, Eva RB; Peyser, Patricia A; Pirie, Ailith; Polasek, Ozren; Polderman, Tinca J; Puolijoki, Hannu; Raitakari, Olli T; Rasheed, Asif; Rauramaa, Rainer; Reilly, Dermot F; Renström, Frida; Rheinberger, Myriam; Ridker, Paul M; Rioux, John D; Rivas, Manuel A; Roberts, David J; Robertson, Neil R; Robino, Antonietta; Rolandsson, Olov; Rudan, Igor; Ruth, Katherine S; Saleheen, Danish; Salomaa, Veikko; Samani, Nilesh J; Sapkota, Yadav; Sattar, Naveed; Schoen, Robert E; Schreiner, Pamela J; Schulze, Matthias B; Scott, Robert A; Segura-Lepe, Marcelo P; Shah, Svati H; Sheu, Wayne H-H; Sim, Xueling; Slater, Andrew J; Small, Kerrin S; Smith, Albert Vernon; Southam, Lorraine; Spector, Timothy D; Speliotes, Elizabeth K; Starr, John M; Stefansson, Kari; Steinthorsdottir, Valgerdur; Stirrups, Kathleen E; Strauch, Konstantin; Stringham, Heather M; Stumvoll, Michael; Sun, Liang; Surendran, Praveen; Swift, Amy J; Tada, Hayato; Tansey, Katherine E; Tardif, Jean-Claude; Taylor, Kent D; Teumer, Alexander; Thompson, Deborah J; Thorleifsson, Gudmar; Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur; Thuesen, Betina H; Tönjes, Anke; Tromp, Gerard; Trompet, Stella; Tsafantakis, Emmanouil; Tuomilehto, Jaakko; Tybjaerg-Hansen, Anne; Tyrer, Jonathan P; Uher, Rudolf; Uitterlinden, André G; Uusitupa, Matti; van der Laan, Sander W; van Duijn, Cornelia M; van Leeuwen, Nienke; van Setten, Jessica; Vanhala, Mauno; Varbo, Anette; Varga, Tibor V; Varma, Rohit; Velez Edwards, Digna R; Vermeulen, Sita H; Veronesi, Giovanni; Vestergaard, Henrik; Vitart, Veronique; Vogt, Thomas F; Völker, Uwe; Vuckovic, Dragana; Wagenknecht, Lynne E; Walker, Mark; Wallentin, Lars; Wang, Feijie; Wang, Carol A; Wang, Shuai; Wang, Yiqin; Ware, Erin B; Wareham, Nicholas J; Warren, Helen R; Waterworth, Dawn M; Wessel, Jennifer; White, Harvey D; Willer, Cristen J; Wilson, James G; Witte, Daniel R; Wood, Andrew R; Wu, Ying; Yaghootkar, Hanieh; Yao, Jie; Yao, Pang; Yerges-Armstrong, Laura M; Young, Robin; Zeggini, Eleftheria; Zhan, Xiaowei; Zhang, Weihua; Zhao, Jing Hua; Zhao, Wei; Zhao, Wei; Zhou, Wei; Zondervan, Krina T; Rotter, Jerome I; Pospisilik, John A; Rivadeneira, Fernando; Borecki, Ingrid B; Deloukas, Panos; Frayling, Timothy M; Lettre, Guillaume; North, Kari E; Lindgren, Cecilia M; Hirschhorn, Joel N; Loos, Ruth JF

2018-01-01

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified >250 loci for body mass index (BMI), implicating pathways related to neuronal biology. Most GWAS loci represent clusters of common, non-coding variants from which pinpointing causal genes remains challenging. Here, we combined data from 718,734 individuals to discover rare and low-frequency (MAFobesity, two (MC4R, KSR2) previously observed in extreme obesity, and two variants in GIPR. Effect sizes of rare variants are ~10 times larger than of common variants, with the largest effect observed in carriers of an MC4R stop-codon (p.Tyr35Ter, MAF=0.01%), weighing ~7kg more than non-carriers. Pathway analyses confirmed enrichment of neuronal genes and provide new evidence for adipocyte and energy expenditure biology, widening the potential of genetically-supported therapeutic targets to treat obesity. PMID:29273807

Exome sequencing and genetic testing for MODY.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stefan Johansson

Full Text Available Genetic testing for monogenic diabetes is important for patient care. Given the extensive genetic and clinical heterogeneity of diabetes, exome sequencing might provide additional diagnostic potential when standard Sanger sequencing-based diagnostics is inconclusive.The aim of the study was to examine the performance of exome sequencing for a molecular diagnosis of MODY in patients who have undergone conventional diagnostic sequencing of candidate genes with negative results.We performed exome enrichment followed by high-throughput sequencing in nine patients with suspected MODY. They were Sanger sequencing-negative for mutations in the HNF1A, HNF4A, GCK, HNF1B and INS genes. We excluded common, non-coding and synonymous gene variants, and performed in-depth analysis on filtered sequence variants in a pre-defined set of 111 genes implicated in glucose metabolism.On average, we obtained 45 X median coverage of the entire targeted exome and found 199 rare coding variants per individual. We identified 0-4 rare non-synonymous and nonsense variants per individual in our a priori list of 111 candidate genes. Three of the variants were considered pathogenic (in ABCC8, HNF4A and PPARG, respectively, thus exome sequencing led to a genetic diagnosis in at least three of the nine patients. Approximately 91% of known heterozygous SNPs in the target exomes were detected, but we also found low coverage in some key diabetes genes using our current exome sequencing approach. Novel variants in the genes ARAP1, GLIS3, MADD, NOTCH2 and WFS1 need further investigation to reveal their possible role in diabetes.Our results demonstrate that exome sequencing can improve molecular diagnostics of MODY when used as a complement to Sanger sequencing. However, improvements will be needed, especially concerning coverage, before the full potential of exome sequencing can be realized.

Tools for analyzing genetic variants from sequencing data Case study: short tandem repeats

OpenAIRE

Gymrek, Melissa

2016-01-01

This was presented as a BitesizeBio Webinar entitled "Tools for analyzing genetic variants from sequencing data Case study: short tandem repeats"Accompanying scripts can be accessed on github:https://github.com/mgymrek/mgymrek-bitesizebio-webinar 

Heritability estimates of the Big Five personality traits based on common genetic variants.

Science.gov (United States)

Power, R A; Pluess, M

2015-07-14

According to twin studies, the Big Five personality traits have substantial heritable components explaining 40-60% of the variance, but identification of associated genetic variants has remained elusive. Consequently, knowledge regarding the molecular genetic architecture of personality and to what extent it is shared across the different personality traits is limited. Using genomic-relatedness-matrix residual maximum likelihood analysis (GREML), we here estimated the heritability of the Big Five personality factors (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness for experience) in a sample of 5011 European adults from 527,469 single-nucleotide polymorphisms across the genome. We tested for the heritability of each personality trait, as well as for the genetic overlap between the personality factors. We found significant and substantial heritability estimates for neuroticism (15%, s.e. = 0.08, P = 0.04) and openness (21%, s.e. = 0.08, P Big Five personality traits using the GREML approach. Findings should be considered exploratory and suggest that detectable heritability estimates based on common variants is shared between neuroticism and openness to experiences.

Common and rare genetic markers of lipid variation in subjects with type 2 diabetes from the ACCORD clinical trial

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Skylar W. Marvel

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Background Individuals with type 2 diabetes are at an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Alterations in circulating lipid levels, total cholesterol (TC, low-density lipoprotein (LDL, high-density lipoprotein (HDL, and triglycerides (TG are heritable risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Here we conduct a genome-wide association study (GWAS of common and rare variants to investigate associations with baseline lipid levels in 7,844 individuals with type 2 diabetes from the ACCORD clinical trial. Methods DNA extracted from stored blood samples from ACCORD participants were genotyped using the Affymetrix Axiom Biobank 1 Genotyping Array. After quality control and genotype imputation, association of common genetic variants (CV, defined as minor allele frequency (MAF ≥ 3%, with baseline levels of TC, LDL, HDL, and TG was tested using a linear model. Rare variant (RV associations (MAF < 3% were conducted using a suite of methods that collapse multiple RV within individual genes. Results Many statistically significant CV (p < 1 × 10−8 replicate findings in large meta-analyses in non-diabetic subjects. RV analyses also confirmed findings in other studies, whereas significant RV associations with CNOT2, HPN-AS1, and SIRPD appear to be novel (q < 0.1. Discussion Here we present findings for the largest GWAS of lipid levels in people with type 2 diabetes to date. We identified 17 statistically significant (p < 1 × 10−8 associations of CV with lipid levels in 11 genes or chromosomal regions, all of which were previously identified in meta-analyses of mostly non-diabetic cohorts. We also identified 13 associations in 11 genes based on RV, several of which represent novel findings.

ClinGen Pathogenicity Calculator: a configurable system for assessing pathogenicity of genetic variants.

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Patel, Ronak Y; Shah, Neethu; Jackson, Andrew R; Ghosh, Rajarshi; Pawliczek, Piotr; Paithankar, Sameer; Baker, Aaron; Riehle, Kevin; Chen, Hailin; Milosavljevic, Sofia; Bizon, Chris; Rynearson, Shawn; Nelson, Tristan; Jarvik, Gail P; Rehm, Heidi L; Harrison, Steven M; Azzariti, Danielle; Powell, Bradford; Babb, Larry; Plon, Sharon E; Milosavljevic, Aleksandar

2017-01-12

The success of the clinical use of sequencing based tests (from single gene to genomes) depends on the accuracy and consistency of variant interpretation. Aiming to improve the interpretation process through practice guidelines, the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) and the Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) have published standards and guidelines for the interpretation of sequence variants. However, manual application of the guidelines is tedious and prone to human error. Web-based tools and software systems may not only address this problem but also document reasoning and supporting evidence, thus enabling transparency of evidence-based reasoning and resolution of discordant interpretations. In this report, we describe the design, implementation, and initial testing of the Clinical Genome Resource (ClinGen) Pathogenicity Calculator, a configurable system and web service for the assessment of pathogenicity of Mendelian germline sequence variants. The system allows users to enter the applicable ACMG/AMP-style evidence tags for a specific allele with links to supporting data for each tag and generate guideline-based pathogenicity assessment for the allele. Through automation and comprehensive documentation of evidence codes, the system facilitates more accurate application of the ACMG/AMP guidelines, improves standardization in variant classification, and facilitates collaborative resolution of discordances. The rules of reasoning are configurable with gene-specific or disease-specific guideline variations (e.g. cardiomyopathy-specific frequency thresholds and functional assays). The software is modular, equipped with robust application program interfaces (APIs), and available under a free open source license and as a cloud-hosted web service, thus facilitating both stand-alone use and integration with existing variant curation and interpretation systems. The Pathogenicity Calculator is accessible at http

Genetic and functional analysis of the gene encoding GAP-43 in schizophrenia.

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Shen, Yu-Chih; Tsai, Ho-Min; Cheng, Min-Chih; Hsu, Shih-Hsin; Chen, Shih-Fen; Chen, Chia-Hsiang

2012-02-01

In earlier reports, growth-associated protein 43 (GAP-43) has been shown to be critical for initial establishment or reorganization of synaptic connections, a process thought to be disrupted in schizophrenia. Additionally, abnormal GAP-43 expression in different brain regions has been linked to this disorder in postmortem brain studies. In this study, we investigated the involvement of the gene encoding GAP-43 in the susceptibility to schizophrenia. We searched for genetic variants in the promoter region and 3 exons (including both UTR ends) of the GAP-43 gene using direct sequencing in a sample of patients with schizophrenia (n=586) and non-psychotic controls (n=576), both being Han Chinese from Taiwan, and conducted an association and functional study. We identified 11 common polymorphisms in the GAP-43 gene. SNP and haplotype-based analyses displayed no associations with schizophrenia. Additionally, we identified 4 rare variants in 5 out of 586 patients, including 1 variant located at the promoter region (c.-258-4722G>T) and 1 synonymous (V110V) and 2 missense (G150R and P188L) variants located at exon 2. No rare variants were found in the control subjects. The results of the reporter gene assay demonstrated that the regulatory activity of construct containing c.-258-4722T was significantly lower as compared to the wild type construct (c.-258-4722G; panalysis also demonstrated the functional relevance of other rare variants. Our study lends support to the hypothesis of multiple rare mutations in schizophrenia, and it provides genetic clues that indicate the involvement of GAP-43 in this disorder. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Evaluating aggregate effects of rare and common variants in the 1000 Genomes Project exon sequencing data using latent variable structural equation modeling.

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Nock, Nl; Zhang, Lx

2011-11-29

Methods that can evaluate aggregate effects of rare and common variants are limited. Therefore, we applied a two-stage approach to evaluate aggregate gene effects in the 1000 Genomes Project data, which contain 24,487 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 697 unrelated individuals from 7 populations. In stage 1, we identified potentially interesting genes (PIGs) as those having at least one SNP meeting Bonferroni correction using univariate, multiple regression models. In stage 2, we evaluate aggregate PIG effects on trait, Q1, by modeling each gene as a latent construct, which is defined by multiple common and rare variants, using the multivariate statistical framework of structural equation modeling (SEM). In stage 1, we found that PIGs varied markedly between a randomly selected replicate (replicate 137) and 100 other replicates, with the exception of FLT1. In stage 1, collapsing rare variants decreased false positives but increased false negatives. In stage 2, we developed a good-fitting SEM model that included all nine genes simulated to affect Q1 (FLT1, KDR, ARNT, ELAV4, FLT4, HIF1A, HIF3A, VEGFA, VEGFC) and found that FLT1 had the largest effect on Q1 (βstd = 0.33 ± 0.05). Using replicate 137 estimates as population values, we found that the mean relative bias in the parameters (loadings, paths, residuals) and their standard errors across 100 replicates was on average, less than 5%. Our latent variable SEM approach provides a viable framework for modeling aggregate effects of rare and common variants in multiple genes, but more elegant methods are needed in stage 1 to minimize type I and type II error.

Genetic variants and cognitive aging: destiny or a nudge?

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Raz, Naftali; Lustig, Cindy

2014-06-01

One would be hard-pressed to find a human trait that is not heritable at least to some extent, and genetics have played an important role in behavioral science for more than half a century. With the advent of high-throughput molecular methods and the increasing availability of genomic analyses, genetics have acquired a firm foothold in public discourse. However, although the proliferation of genetic association studies and ever-expanding library of single-nucleotide polymorphisms have generated some fascinating results, they have thus far fallen short of delivering the anticipated dramatic breakthroughs. In this collection of eight articles, we present a spectrum of efforts aimed at finding more nuanced and meaningful ways of integrating genomic findings into the study of cognitive aging. The articles present examples of Mendelian randomization in the service of investigating difficult-to-manipulate biochemical properties of human participants. Furthermore, in an important step forward, they acknowledge the interactive effects of genes and physiological risk factors on age-related difference and change in cognitive performance, as well as the possibility of modifying the negative effect of genetic variants by lifestyle changes. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Genetic variants in FGFR2 and FGFR4 genes and skin cancer risk in the Nurses' Health Study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nan, Hongmei; Qureshi, Abrar A; Hunter, David J; Han, Jiali

2009-01-01

The human fibroblast growth factor (FGF) and its receptor (FGFR) play an important role in tumorigenesis. Deregulation of the FGFR2 gene has been identified in a number of cancer sites. Overexpression of the FGFR4 protein has been linked to cutaneous melanoma progression. Previous studies reported associations between genetic variants in the FGFR2 and FGFR4 genes and development of various cancers. We evaluated the associations of four genetic variants in the FGFR2 gene highly related to breast cancer risk and the three common tag-SNPs in the FGFR4 gene with skin cancer risk in a nested case-control study of Caucasians within the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) among 218 melanoma cases, 285 squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) cases, 300 basal cell carcinoma (BCC) cases, and 870 controls. We found no evidence for associations between these seven genetic variants and the risks of melanoma and nonmelanocytic skin cancer. Given the power of this study, we did not detect any contribution of genetic variants in the FGFR2 or FGFR4 genes to inherited predisposition to skin cancer among Caucasian women

Tour de France Champions born or made: where do we take the genetics of performance?

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Moran, Colin N; Pitsiladis, Yannis P

2017-07-01

Cyclists in the Tour de France are endurance specialists. Twin and family studies have shown that approximately 50% of the variance in a number of performance-related phenotypes (whether measured at baseline, i.e., natural talent, or in response to training) including those important to cycling can be explained by genetic variation. Research into the specific genetic variants that are responsible has identified over 200 genes containing common genetic variants involved in the genetic predisposition to physical performance. However, typically these explain only a small portion of the variance, perhaps 1-2% and collectively they rarely explain anything approaching the 50% of the variance identified in the twin and family studies. Thus, there is a gap in our understanding of the relationship between heritability and performance. This gap may be bridged by investigation of rare variants or epigenetic variation or by altering study designs through increased collaborations to pool existing cohorts together. Initial findings from such efforts show promising results. This mini-review will touch on the genetics and epigenetics of sporting performance, how they relate to cyclists in the Tour de France and where best future efforts may be directed as well as discuss some preliminary research findings.

Inclusion and exclusion in the globalisation of genomics; the case of rare genetic disease in Brazil

Science.gov (United States)

Gibbon, Sahra

2018-01-01

ABSTRACT Within the context of a globalising agenda for genetic research where ‘global health’ is increasingly seen as necessarily informed by and having to account for genomics, the focus on rare genetic diseases is becoming prominent. Drawing from ethnographic research carried out separately by both authors in Brazil, this paper examines how an emerging focus on two different arenas of rare genetic disease, cancer genetics and a class of degenerative neurological diseases known as Ataxias, is subject to and a product of the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion as this concerns participation in research and access to health care. It examines how in these different cases ‘rarenesss’ has been diversely situated and differently politicised and how clinicians, patients and their families grapple with the slippery boundaries between research, rights to health and the limits of care, therapy or prevention. It illustrates how attention to rare genetic disease in Brazil emerges at the intersection of a particular history of genetic research and public health infrastructure, densely complicated feedback loops between clinical care and research, patient mobilisation around the ‘judicialisation’ of health and recent state legislation regarding rare disease in Brazil. It highlights the relevance of local configurations in the way rare genetic disease is being made relevant for and by different communities. PMID:29533091

Distinguishing a Rare Variant of Lipidized Dermatofibroma from Nonlipidized Dermatofibromas in a Patient with Hypothyroidism and Alopecia Areata

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Abdulla Farah

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Introduction. Lipidized dermatofibromas represent rare and often underrecognized variants of dermatofibromas. Histologically, dermatofibromas are composed of fibroblast-like spindle cells, foam cells, giant cells, siderophages, lymphocytes, capillaries, collagen fibers, and hyaline dermal collagen fibers. Lipidized dermatofibromas are characterized by numerous foam cells, Touton giant cells, and hyalinized wiry collagen in the stroma. Case report. We present a case of a 31-year-old woman with a history of hypothyroidism and alopecia areata, presenting with an enlarging 8 mm, firm erythematous nodule on her upper-mid back. Biopsy examination showed a cellular proliferation of spindle cells with peripheral collagen trapping and cholesterol clefts with associated foam cells and sclerosis, staining weakly positive for Factor XIIIa and negative for CD34. The diagnosis of a benign lipidized dermatofibroma was rendered. Conclusion. Lipidized dermatofibromas are rare histologic variants of dermatofibromas, biologically indolent, and should be distinguished from other cutaneous foamy histiocytic lesions, particularly xanthomas, which may alter patient management.

Cubic rare-earth compounds: variants of the three-state Potts model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, D.; Levy, P.M.; Uffer, L.F.

1975-01-01

In appropriate cubic fields, rare-earth ions have sixfold degenerate ground states. When the angular momentum of the rare earth is large, the six levels are characterized by states that are directed along the cube edges. Within these states the angular momentum operators J/sub x/, J/sub y/, and J/sub z/ have particularly simple matrix representations. The projection of an isotropic pair coupling between the rare earths onto these sixfold degenerate states leads to an interaction Hamiltonian H = -I Σ/sub (ij)/ sigma/sub i/sigma/sub j/delta/sub l/sub i/sub l/sub j//, where sigma takes on the values +-1 and l the values x, y, and z. This interaction is a variant of the three-state Potts model. Magnetic and quadrupolar anisotropy field terms are added to the Hamiltonian and the symmetry properties of the phase diagram associated with this model are determined. For nonzero quadrupolar anisotropy fields, the model is shown to have the thermodynamic behavior of an Ising model. However, for zero fields a new symmetry appears and in the mean-field approximation the model has tricritical-like exponents. This simple model is able to account for the large specific-heat critical exponent α' = 1 / 2 which has been observed for holmium antimonide in zero external fields. To the extent that the mean-field approximation is an accurate guide, we predict there are many cubic rare-earth compounds which exhibit tricritical-like behavior in zero field. In addition, for pure quadrupole coupling between rare earths in the sixfold degenerate states, the interaction Hamiltonian is exactly the three-state Potts model. In the mean-field approximation this system has a first-order phase transition. However, a small quadrupolar anisotropy field is sufficient to drive the system to a wing critical point. The specific heat has a critical exponent of α = 2 / 3 or 1 depending on the path taken to approach this critical point. (auth)

Common genetic variants are significant risk factors for early menopause: results from the Breakthrough Generations Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Murray, Anna; Bennett, Claire E; Perry, John R B; Weedon, Michael N; Jacobs, Patricia A; Morris, Danielle H; Orr, Nicholas; Schoemaker, Minouk J; Jones, Michael; Ashworth, Alan; Swerdlow, Anthony J

2011-01-01

Women become infertile approximately 10 years before menopause, and as more women delay childbirth into their 30s, the number of women who experience infertility is likely to increase. Tests that predict the timing of menopause would allow women to make informed reproductive decisions. Current predictors are only effective just prior to menopause, and there are no long-range indicators. Age at menopause and early menopause (EM) are highly heritable, suggesting a genetic aetiology. Recent genome-wide scans have identified four loci associated with variation in the age of normal menopause (40-60 years). We aimed to determine whether theses loci are also risk factors for EM. We tested the four menopause-associated genetic variants in a cohort of approximately 2000 women with menopause≤45 years from the Breakthrough Generations Study (BGS). All four variants significantly increased the odds of having EM. Comparing the 4.5% of individuals with the lowest number of risk alleles (two or three) with the 3.0% with the highest number (eight risk alleles), the odds ratio was 4.1 (95% CI 2.4-7.1, P=4.0×10(-7)). In combination, the four variants discriminated EM cases with a receiver operator characteristic area under the curve of 0.6. Four common genetic variants identified by genome-wide association studies, had a significant impact on the odds of having EM in an independent cohort from the BGS. The discriminative power is still limited, but as more variants are discovered they may be useful for predicting reproductive lifespan.

Identification of Inherited Retinal Disease-Associated Genetic Variants in 11 Candidate Genes.

Science.gov (United States)

Astuti, Galuh D N; van den Born, L Ingeborgh; Khan, M Imran; Hamel, Christian P; Bocquet, Béatrice; Manes, Gaël; Quinodoz, Mathieu; Ali, Manir; Toomes, Carmel; McKibbin, Martin; El-Asrag, Mohammed E; Haer-Wigman, Lonneke; Inglehearn, Chris F; Black, Graeme C M; Hoyng, Carel B; Cremers, Frans P M; Roosing, Susanne

2018-01-10

Inherited retinal diseases (IRDs) display an enormous genetic heterogeneity. Whole exome sequencing (WES) recently identified genes that were mutated in a small proportion of IRD cases. Consequently, finding a second case or family carrying pathogenic variants in the same candidate gene often is challenging. In this study, we searched for novel candidate IRD gene-associated variants in isolated IRD families, assessed their causality, and searched for novel genotype-phenotype correlations. Whole exome sequencing was performed in 11 probands affected with IRDs. Homozygosity mapping data was available for five cases. Variants with minor allele frequencies ≤ 0.5% in public databases were selected as candidate disease-causing variants. These variants were ranked based on their: (a) presence in a gene that was previously implicated in IRD; (b) minor allele frequency in the Exome Aggregation Consortium database (ExAC); (c) in silico pathogenicity assessment using the combined annotation dependent depletion (CADD) score; and (d) interaction of the corresponding protein with known IRD-associated proteins. Twelve unique variants were found in 11 different genes in 11 IRD probands. Novel autosomal recessive and dominant inheritance patterns were found for variants in Small Nuclear Ribonucleoprotein U5 Subunit 200 ( SNRNP200 ) and Zinc Finger Protein 513 ( ZNF513 ), respectively. Using our pathogenicity assessment, a variant in DEAH-Box Helicase 32 ( DHX32 ) was the top ranked novel candidate gene to be associated with IRDs, followed by eight medium and lower ranked candidate genes. The identification of candidate disease-associated sequence variants in 11 single families underscores the notion that the previously identified IRD-associated genes collectively carry > 90% of the defects implicated in IRDs. To identify multiple patients or families with variants in the same gene and thereby provide extra proof for pathogenicity, worldwide data sharing is needed.

High prevalence of genetic variants previously associated with LQT syndrome in new exome data

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Refsgaard, Lena; Holst, Anders G; Sadjadieh, Golnaz

2012-01-01

To date, hundreds of variants in 13 genes have been associated with long QT syndrome (LQTS). The prevalence of LQTS is estimated to be between 1:2000 and 1:5000. The knowledge of genetic variation in the general population has until recently been limited, but newly published data from NHLBI GO...... variants KCNH2 P347S; SCN5A: S216L, V1951L; and CAV3 T78M in the control population (n=704) revealed prevalences comparable to those of ESP. Thus, we identified a much higher prevalence of previously LQTS-associated variants than expected in exome data from population studies. Great caution regarding...

SNCA 3'UTR genetic variants in patients with Parkinson's disease and REM sleep behavior disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Toffoli, M; Dreussi, E; Cecchin, E; Valente, M; Sanvilli, N; Montico, M; Gagno, S; Garziera, M; Polano, M; Savarese, M; Calandra-Buonaura, G; Placidi, F; Terzaghi, M; Toffoli, G; Gigli, G L

2017-07-01

REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) is an early marker of Parkinson's disease (PD); however, it is still unclear which patients with RBD will eventually develop PD. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the 3'untranslated region (3'UTR) of alpha-synuclein (SNCA) have been associated with PD, but at present, no data is available about RBD. The 3'UTR hosts regulatory regions involved in gene expression control, such as microRNA binding sites. The aim of this study was to determine RBD specific genetic features associated to an increased risk of progression to PD, by sequencing of the SNCA-3'UTR in patients with "idiopathic" RBD (iRBD) and in patients with PD. We recruited 113 consecutive patients with a diagnosis of iRBD (56 patients) or PD (with or without RBD, 57 patients). Sequencing of SNCA-3'UTR was performed on genomic DNA extracted from peripheral blood samples. Bioinformatic analyses were carried out to predict the potential effect of the identified genetic variants on microRNA binding. We found three SNCA-3'UTR SNPs (rs356165, rs3857053, rs1045722) to be more frequent in PD patients than in iRBD patients (p = 0.014, 0.008, and 0.008, respectively). Four new or previously reported but not annotated specific genetic variants (KP876057, KP876056, NM_000345.3:c*860T>A, NM_000345.3:c*2320A>T) have been observed in the RBD population. The in silico approach highlighted that these variants could affect microRNA-mediated gene expression control. Our data show specific SNPs in the SNCA-3'UTR that may bear a risk for RBD to be associated with PD. Moreover, new genetic variants were identified in patients with iRBD.

Genetic variants of FOXP1 and FOXF1 are associated with the ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

JIE ZHANG

2018-03-01

Mar 1, 2018 ... This study aimed to investigate whether the genetic variants of CRTC1, BARX1, FOXP1 and ... The student's t-test was used to compare FOXP1 expression in the tumour and the adjacent normal tissues. .... Quantitative PCR was carried out ..... Expression (GTEx) pilot analysis: multitissue gene regulation.

Genetic variants associated with subjective well-being, depressive symptoms, and neuroticism identified through genome-wide analyses

NARCIS (Netherlands)

A. Okbay (Aysu); Baselmans, B.M.L. (Bart M.L.); J.E. de Neve (Jan-Emmanuel); P. Turley (Patrick); M. Nivard (Michel); Fontana, M.A. (Mark Alan); Meddens, S.F.W. (S. Fleur W.); Linnér, R.K. (Richard Karlsson); Rietveld, C.A. (Cornelius A); J. Derringer; J. Gratten (Jacob); J.J. Lee (James J.); Liu, J.Z. (Jimmy Z); R. de Vlaming (Ronald); SAhluwalia, T. (Tarunveer); Buchwald, J. (Jadwiga); A. Cavadino (Alana); A.C. Frazier-Wood (Alexis C.); Furlotte, N.A. (Nicholas A); Garfield, V. (Victoria); Geisel, M.H. (Marie Henrike); J.R. Gonzalez (Juan R.); Haitjema, S. (Saskia); R. Karlsson (Robert); Der Laan, S.W. (Sander Wvan); K.-H. Ladwig (Karl-Heinz); J. Lahti (Jari); S.J. van der Lee (Sven); P.A. Lind (Penelope); Liu, T. (Tian); Matteson, L. (Lindsay); E. Mihailov (Evelin); M. Miller (Mike); CMinica, C. (Camelia); MNolte, I. (Ilja); D.O. Mook-Kanamori (Dennis); P.J. van der Most (Peter); C. Oldmeadow (Christopher); Y. Qian (Yong); O. Raitakari (Olli); R. Rawal (R.); A. Realo; Rueedi, R. (Rico); Schmidt, B. (Börge); A.V. Smith (Albert Vernon); E. Stergiakouli (Evangelia); T. Tanaka (Toshiko); K.D. Taylor (Kent); Wedenoja, J. (Juho); Wellmann, J. (Juergen); H.J. Westra (Harm-Jan); MWillems, S. (Sara); Zhao, W. (Wei); L.C. Study (LifeLines Cohort); N. Amin (Najaf); Bakshi, A. (Andrew); P.A. Boyle (Patricia); Cherney, S. (Samantha); Cox, S.R. (Simon R); G. Davies (Gail); O.S.P. Davis (Oliver S.); J. Ding (Jun); N. Direk (Nese); Eibich, P. (Peter); R. Emeny (Rebecca); Fatemifar, G. (Ghazaleh); J.D. Faul; L. Ferrucci (Luigi); A.J. Forstner (Andreas); C. Gieger (Christian); Gupta, R. (Richa); T.B. Harris (Tamara); J.M. Harris (Juliette); E.G. Holliday (Elizabeth); J.J. Hottenga (Jouke Jan); P.L. de Jager (Philip); M. Kaakinen (Marika); E. Kajantie (Eero); Karhunen, V. (Ville); I. Kolcic (Ivana); M. Kumari (Meena); L.J. Launer (Lenore); L. Franke (Lude); Li-Gao, R. (Ruifang); Koini, M. (Marisa); A. Loukola (Anu); P. Marques-Vidal; G.W. Montgomery (Grant); M. Mosing (Miriam); L. Paternoster (Lavinia); A. Pattie (Alison); K. Petrovic (Katja); Pulkki-R'back, L. (Laura); L. Quaye (Lydia); R'ikkönen, K. (Katri); I. Rudan (Igor); R. Scott (Rodney); J.A. Smith (Jennifer A); A.R. Sutin; Trzaskowski, M. (Maciej); Vinkhuyze, A.E. (Anna E.); L. Yu (Lei); D. Zabaneh (Delilah); J. Attia (John); D.A. Bennett (David A.); Berger, K. (Klaus); L. Bertram (Lars); D.I. Boomsma (Dorret); H. Snieder (Harold); Chang, S.-C. (Shun-Chiao); F. Cucca (Francesco); I.J. Deary (Ian J.); C.M. van Duijn (Cornelia); K. Hagen (Knut); U. Bültmann (Ute); E.J.C. de Geus (Eco); P.J.F. Groenen (Patrick); V. Gudnason (Vilmundur); T. Hansen (T.); Hartman, C.A. (Catharine A); C.M.A. Haworth (Claire M.); C. Hayward (Caroline); A.C. Heath (Andrew C.); D.A. Hinds (David A.); E. Hypponen (Elina); W.G. Iacono (William); M.-R. Jarvelin (Marjo-Riitta); K.-H. JöCkel (Karl-Heinz); J. Kaprio (Jaakko); S.L.R. Kardia (Sharon); Keltikangas-J'rvinen, L. (Liisa); P. Kraft (Peter); Kubzansky, L.D. (Laura D.); Lehtim'ki, T. (Terho); P.K. Magnusson (Patrik); N.G. Martin (Nicholas); M. McGue (Matt); A. Metspalu (Andres); M. Mills (Melinda); R. de Mutsert (Reneé); A.J. Oldehinkel (Albertine); G. Pasterkamp (Gerard); N.L. Pedersen (Nancy); R. Plomin (Robert); O. Polasek (Ozren); C. Power (Christopher); S.S. Rich (Stephen); F.R. Rosendaal (Frits); H.M. den Ruijter (Hester ); Schlessinger, D. (David); R. Schmidt (Reinhold); R. Svento (Rauli); R. Schmidt (Reinhold); B.Z. Alizadeh (Behrooz); T.I.A. Sørensen (Thorkild); DSpector, T. (Tim); Steptoe, A. (Andrew); A. Terracciano; A.R. Thurik (Roy); N.J. Timpson (Nicholas); H.W. Tiemeier (Henning); A.G. Uitterlinden (André); P. Vollenweider (Peter); Wagner, G.G. (Gert G.); D.R. Weir (David); J. Yang (Joanna); Conley, D.C. (Dalton C.); G.D. Smith; Hofman, A. (Albert); M. Johannesson (Magnus); D. Laibson (David); S.E. Medland (Sarah Elizabeth); M.N. Meyer (Michelle N.); Pickrell, J.K. (Joseph K.); Esko, T. (T'nu); R.F. Krueger; J.P. Beauchamp (Jonathan); Ph.D. Koellinger (Philipp); D.J. Benjamin (Daniel J.); M. Bartels (Meike); D. Cesarini (David)

2016-01-01

textabstractVery few genetic variants have been associated with depression and neuroticism, likely because of limitations on sample size in previous studies. Subjective well-being, a phenotype that is genetically correlated with both of these traits, has not yet been studied with genome-wide data.

Nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate: Increased burden of rare variants within Gremlin-1, a component of the bone morphogenetic protein 4 pathway.

Science.gov (United States)

Al Chawa, Taofik; Ludwig, Kerstin U; Fier, Heide; Pötzsch, Bernd; Reich, Rudolf H; Schmidt, Gül; Braumann, Bert; Daratsianos, Nikolaos; Böhmer, Anne C; Schuencke, Hannah; Alblas, Margrieta; Fricker, Nadine; Hoffmann, Per; Knapp, Michael; Lange, Christoph; Nöthen, Markus M; Mangold, Elisabeth

2014-06-01

The genes Gremlin-1 (GREM1) and Noggin (NOG) are components of the bone morphogenetic protein 4 pathway, which has been implicated in craniofacial development. Both genes map to recently identified susceptibility loci (chromosomal region 15q13, 17q22) for nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate (nsCL/P). The aim of the present study was to determine whether rare variants in either gene are implicated in nsCL/P etiology. The complete coding regions, untranslated regions, and splice sites of GREM1 and NOG were sequenced in 96 nsCL/P patients and 96 controls of Central European ethnicity. Three burden and four nonburden tests were performed. Statistically significant results were followed up in a second case-control sample (n = 96, respectively). For rare variants observed in cases, segregation analyses were performed. In NOG, four rare sequence variants (minor allele frequency elements. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Three-dimensional spatial analysis of missense variants in RTEL1 identifies pathogenic variants in patients with Familial Interstitial Pneumonia.

Science.gov (United States)

Sivley, R Michael; Sheehan, Jonathan H; Kropski, Jonathan A; Cogan, Joy; Blackwell, Timothy S; Phillips, John A; Bush, William S; Meiler, Jens; Capra, John A

2018-01-23

Next-generation sequencing of individuals with genetic diseases often detects candidate rare variants in numerous genes, but determining which are causal remains challenging. We hypothesized that the spatial distribution of missense variants in protein structures contains information about function and pathogenicity that can help prioritize variants of unknown significance (VUS) and elucidate the structural mechanisms leading to disease. To illustrate this approach in a clinical application, we analyzed 13 candidate missense variants in regulator of telomere elongation helicase 1 (RTEL1) identified in patients with Familial Interstitial Pneumonia (FIP). We curated pathogenic and neutral RTEL1 variants from the literature and public databases. We then used homology modeling to construct a 3D structural model of RTEL1 and mapped known variants into this structure. We next developed a pathogenicity prediction algorithm based on proximity to known disease causing and neutral variants and evaluated its performance with leave-one-out cross-validation. We further validated our predictions with segregation analyses, telomere lengths, and mutagenesis data from the homologous XPD protein. Our algorithm for classifying RTEL1 VUS based on spatial proximity to pathogenic and neutral variation accurately distinguished 7 known pathogenic from 29 neutral variants (ROC AUC = 0.85) in the N-terminal domains of RTEL1. Pathogenic proximity scores were also significantly correlated with effects on ATPase activity (Pearson r = -0.65, p = 0.0004) in XPD, a related helicase. Applying the algorithm to 13 VUS identified from sequencing of RTEL1 from patients predicted five out of six disease-segregating VUS to be pathogenic. We provide structural hypotheses regarding how these mutations may disrupt RTEL1 ATPase and helicase function. Spatial analysis of missense variation accurately classified candidate VUS in RTEL1 and suggests how such variants cause disease. Incorporating

Personalized medicine and human genetic diversity.

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Yi-Fan; Goldstein, David B; Angrist, Misha; Cavalleri, Gianpiero

2014-07-24

Human genetic diversity has long been studied both to understand how genetic variation influences risk of disease and infer aspects of human evolutionary history. In this article, we review historical and contemporary views of human genetic diversity, the rare and common mutations implicated in human disease susceptibility, and the relevance of genetic diversity to personalized medicine. First, we describe the development of thought about diversity through the 20th century and through more modern studies including genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and next-generation sequencing. We introduce several examples, such as sickle cell anemia and Tay-Sachs disease that are caused by rare mutations and are more frequent in certain geographical populations, and common treatment responses that are caused by common variants, such as hepatitis C infection. We conclude with comments about the continued relevance of human genetic diversity in medical genetics and personalized medicine more generally. Copyright © 2014 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press; all rights reserved.

Common genetic variants in the CLDN2 and PRSS1-PRSS2 loci alter risk for alcohol-related and sporadic pancreatitis

Science.gov (United States)

Whitcomb, David C.; LaRusch, Jessica; Krasinskas, Alyssa M.; Klei, Lambertus; Smith, Jill P.; Brand, Randall E.; Neoptolemos, John P.; Lerch, Markus M.; Tector, Matt; Sandhu, Bimaljit S.; Guda, Nalini M.; Orlichenko, Lidiya; Alkaade, Samer; Amann, Stephen T.; Anderson, Michelle A.; Baillie, John; Banks, Peter A.; Conwell, Darwin; Coté, Gregory A.; Cotton, Peter B.; DiSario, James; Farrer, Lindsay A.; Forsmark, Chris E.; Johnstone, Marianne; Gardner, Timothy B.; Gelrud, Andres; Greenhalf, William; Haines, Jonathan L.; Hartman, Douglas J.; Hawes, Robert A.; Lawrence, Christopher; Lewis, Michele; Mayerle, Julia; Mayeux, Richard; Melhem, Nadine M.; Money, Mary E.; Muniraj, Thiruvengadam; Papachristou, Georgios I.; Pericak-Vance, Margaret A.; Romagnuolo, Joseph; Schellenberg, Gerard D.; Sherman, Stuart; Simon, Peter; Singh, Vijay K.; Slivka, Adam; Stolz, Donna; Sutton, Robert; Weiss, Frank Ulrich; Wilcox, C. Mel; Zarnescu, Narcis Octavian; Wisniewski, Stephen R.; O'Connell, Michael R.; Kienholz, Michelle L.; Roeder, Kathryn; Barmada, M. Michael; Yadav, Dhiraj; Devlin, Bernie; Albert, Marilyn S.; Albin, Roger L.; Apostolova, Liana G.; Arnold, Steven E.; Baldwin, Clinton T.; Barber, Robert; Barnes, Lisa L.; Beach, Thomas G.; Beecham, Gary W.; Beekly, Duane; Bennett, David A.; Bigio, Eileen H.; Bird, Thomas D.; Blacker, Deborah; Boxer, Adam; Burke, James R.; Buxbaum, Joseph D.; Cairns, Nigel J.; Cantwell, Laura B.; Cao, Chuanhai; Carney, Regina M.; Carroll, Steven L.; Chui, Helena C.; Clark, David G.; Cribbs, David H.; Crocco, Elizabeth A.; Cruchaga, Carlos; DeCarli, Charles; Demirci, F. Yesim; Dick, Malcolm; Dickson, Dennis W.; Duara, Ranjan; Ertekin-Taner, Nilufer; Faber, Kelley M.; Fallon, Kenneth B.; Farlow, Martin R.; Ferris, Steven; Foroud, Tatiana M.; Frosch, Matthew P.; Galasko, Douglas R.; Ganguli, Mary; Gearing, Marla; Geschwind, Daniel H.; Ghetti, Bernardino; Gilbert, John R.; Gilman, Sid; Glass, Jonathan D.; Goate, Alison M.; Graff-Radford, Neill R.; Green, Robert C.; Growdon, John H.; Hakonarson, Hakon; Hamilton-Nelson, Kara L.; Hamilton, Ronald L.; Harrell, Lindy E.; Head, Elizabeth; Honig, Lawrence S.; Hulette, Christine M.; Hyman, Bradley T.; Jicha, Gregory A.; Jin, Lee-Way; Jun, Gyungah; Kamboh, M. Ilyas; Karydas, Anna; Kaye, Jeffrey A.; Kim, Ronald; Koo, Edward H.; Kowall, Neil W.; Kramer, Joel H.; Kramer, Patricia; Kukull, Walter A.; LaFerla, Frank M.; Lah, James J.; Leverenz, James B.; Levey, Allan I.; Li, Ge; Lin, Chiao-Feng; Lieberman, Andrew P.; Lopez, Oscar L.; Lunetta, Kathryn L.; Lyketsos, Constantine G.; Mack, Wendy J.; Marson, Daniel C.; Martin, Eden R.; Martiniuk, Frank; Mash, Deborah C.; Masliah, Eliezer; McKee, Ann C.; Mesulam, Marsel; Miller, Bruce L.; Miller, Carol A.; Miller, Joshua W.; Montine, Thomas J.; Morris, John C.; Murrell, Jill R.; Naj, Adam C.; Olichney, John M.; Parisi, Joseph E.; Peskind, Elaine; Petersen, Ronald C.; Pierce, Aimee; Poon, Wayne W.; Potter, Huntington; Quinn, Joseph F.; Raj, Ashok; Raskind, Murray; Reiman, Eric M.; Reisberg, Barry; Reitz, Christiane; Ringman, John M.; Roberson, Erik D.; Rosen, Howard J.; Rosenberg, Roger N.; Sano, Mary; Saykin, Andrew J.; Schneider, Julie A.; Schneider, Lon S.; Seeley, William W.; Smith, Amanda G.; Sonnen, Joshua A.; Spina, Salvatore; Stern, Robert A.; Tanzi, Rudolph E.; Trojanowski, John Q.; Troncoso, Juan C.; Tsuang, Debby W.; Valladares, Otto; Van Deerlin, Vivianna M.; Van Eldik, Linda J.; Vardarajan, Badri N.; Vinters, Harry V.; Vonsattel, Jean Paul; Wang, Li-San; Weintraub, Sandra; Welsh-Bohmer, Kathleen A.; Williamson, Jennifer; Woltjer, Randall L.; Wright, Clinton B.; Younkin, Steven G.; Yu, Chang-En; Yu, Lei

2012-01-01

Pancreatitis is a complex, progressively destructive inflammatory disorder. Alcohol was long thought to be the primary causative agent, but genetic contributions have been of interest since the discovery that rare PRSS1, CFTR, and SPINK1 variants were associated with pancreatitis risk. We now report two significant genome-wide associations identified and replicated at PRSS1-PRSS2 (1×10-12) and x-linked CLDN2 (p < 1×10-21) through a two-stage genome-wide study (Stage 1, 676 cases and 4507 controls; Stage 2, 910 cases and 4170 controls). The PRSS1 variant affects susceptibility by altering expression of the primary trypsinogen gene. The CLDN2 risk allele is associated with atypical localization of claudin-2 in pancreatic acinar cells. The homozygous (or hemizygous male) CLDN2 genotype confers the greatest risk, and its alleles interact with alcohol consumption to amplify risk. These results could partially explain the high frequency of alcohol-related pancreatitis in men – male hemizygous frequency is 0.26, female homozygote is 0.07. PMID:23143602

De novo and inherited private variants in MAP1B in periventricular nodular heterotopia.

Science.gov (United States)

Heinzen, Erin L; O'Neill, Adam C; Zhu, Xiaolin; Allen, Andrew S; Bahlo, Melanie; Chelly, Jamel; Dobyns, William B; Freytag, Saskia; Guerrini, Renzo; Leventer, Richard J; Poduri, Annapurna; Robertson, Stephen P; Walsh, Christopher A; Zhang, Mengqi

2018-05-08

Periventricular nodular heterotopia (PVNH) is a malformation of cortical development commonly associated with epilepsy. We exome sequenced 202 individuals with sporadic PVNH to identify novel genetic risk loci. We first performed a trio-based analysis and identified 219 de novo variants. Although no novel genes were implicated in this initial analysis, PVNH cases were found overall to have a significant excess of nonsynonymous de novo variants in intolerant genes (p = 3.27x10-7), suggesting a role for rare new alleles in genes yet to be associated with the condition. Using a gene-level collapsing analysis comparing cases and controls, we identified a genome-wide significant signal driven by four ultra-rare loss-of-function heterozygous variants in MAP1B, including one de novo variant. In at least one instance, the MAP1B variant was inherited from a parent with previously undiagnosed PVNH. The PVNH was frontally predominant and associated with perisylvian polymicrogyria. These results implicate MAP1B in PVNH. More broadly, our findings suggest that detrimental mutations likely arising in immediately preceding generations with incomplete penetrance may also be responsible for some apparently sporadic diseases.

Surfactant proteins gene variants in premature newborn infants with severe respiratory distress syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Somaschini, Marco; Presi, Silvia; Ferrari, Maurizio; Vergani, Barbara; Carrera, Paola

2017-12-19

Genetic surfactant dysfunction causes respiratory failure in term and near-term newborn infants, but little is known of such condition in prematures. We evaluated genetic surfactant dysfunction in premature newborn infants with severe RDS. A total of 68 preterm newborn infants with gestational age ≤32 weeks affected by unusually severe RDS were analysed for mutations in SFTPB, SFTPC and ABCA3. Therapies included oxygen supplementation, nasal CPAP, different modalities of ventilatory support, administration of exogenous surfactant, inhaled nitric oxide and steroids. Molecular analyses were performed on genomic DNA extracted from peripheral blood and Sanger sequencing of whole gene coding regions and intron junctions. In one case histology and electron microscopy on lung tissue was performed. Heterozygous previously described rare or novel variants in surfactant proteins genes ABCA3, SFTPB and SFTPC were identified in 24 newborn infants. In total, 11 infants died at age of 2 to 6 months. Ultrastructural analysis of lung tissue of one infant showed features suggesting ABCA3 dysfunction. Rare or novel genetic variants in genes encoding surfactant proteins were identified in a large proportion (35%) of premature newborn infants with particularly severe RDS. We speculate that interaction of developmental immaturity of surfactant production in association with abnormalities of surfactant metabolism of genetic origin may have a synergic worsening phenotypic effect.

Genetic Factors of the Disease Course After Sepsis: Rare Deleterious Variants Are Predictive

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stefan Taudien

2016-10-01

Sepsis patients with favorable disease course after sepsis, even in the case of unfavorable preconditions, seem to be affected more often by rare deleterious SNVs in cell signaling and innate immunity related pathways, suggesting a protective role of impairments in these processes against a poor disease course.

The relationship between species diversity and genetic structure in the rare Picea chihuahuana tree species community, Mexico.

Science.gov (United States)

Simental-Rodríguez, Sergio Leonel; Quiñones-Pérez, Carmen Zulema; Moya, Daniel; Hernández-Tecles, Enrique; López-Sánchez, Carlos Antonio; Wehenkel, Christian

2014-01-01

Species diversity and genetic diversity, the most basic elements of biodiversity, have long been treated as separate topics, although populations evolve within a community context. Recent studies on community genetics and ecology have suggested that genetic diversity is not completely independent of species diversity. The Mexican Picea chihuahuana Martínez is an endemic species listed as "Endangered" on the Red List. Forty populations of Chihuahua spruce have been identified. This species is often associated with tree species of eight genera in gallery forests. This rare Picea chihuahuana tree community covers an area no more than 300 ha and has been subject of several studies involving different topics such as ecology, genetic structure and climate change. The overall aim of these studies was to obtain a dataset for developing management tools to help decision makers implement preservation and conservation strategies. However, this unique forest tree community may also represent an excellent subject for helping us to understand the interplay between ecological and evolutionary processes in determining community structure and dynamics. The AFLP technique and species composition data were used together to test the hypothesis that species diversity is related to the adaptive genetic structure of some dominant tree species (Picea chihuahuana, Pinus strobiformis, Pseudotsuga menziesii and Populus tremuloides) of the Picea chihuahuana tree community at fourteen locations. The Hill numbers were used as a diversity measure. The results revealed a significant correlation between tree species diversity and genetic structure in Populus tremuloides. Because the relationship between the two levels of diversity was found to be positive for the putative adaptive AFLP detected, genetic and species structures of the tree community were possibly simultaneously adapted to a combination of ecological or environmental factors. The present findings indicate that interactions between