Genomics

Wan A, Place E, Pierce EA, Comander J. Characterizing variants of unknown significance in rhodopsin: A functional genomics approach. Hum Mutat 2019;40(8):1127-1144.Abstract
Characterizing the pathogenicity of DNA sequence variants of unknown significance (VUS) is a major bottleneck in human genetics, and is increasingly important in determining which patients with inherited retinal diseases could benefit from gene therapy. A library of 210 rhodopsin (RHO) variants from literature and in-house genetic diagnostic testing were created to efficiently detect pathogenic RHO variants that fail to express on the cell surface. This study, while focused on RHO, demonstrates a streamlined, generalizable method for detecting pathogenic VUS. A relatively simple next-generation sequencing-based readout was developed so that a flow cytometry-based assay could be performed simultaneously on all variants in a pooled format, without the need for barcodes or viral transduction. The resulting dataset characterized the surface expression of every RHO library variant with a high degree of reproducibility (r  = 0.92-0.95), recategorizing 37 variants. For example, three retinitis pigmentosa pedigrees were solved by identifying VUS which showed low expression levels (p.G18D, p.G101V, and p.P180T). Results were validated across multiple assays and correlated with clinical disease severity. This study presents a parallelized, higher-throughput cell-based assay for the functional characterization of VUS in RHO, and can be applied more broadly to other inherited retinal disease genes and other disorders.
Chung DC, Bertelsen M, Lorenz B, Pennesi ME, Leroy BP, Hamel CP, Pierce E, Sallum J, Larsen M, Stieger K, Preising M, Weleber R, Yang P, Place E, Liu E, Schaefer G, DiStefano-Pappas J, Elci OU, McCague S, Wellman JA, High KA, Reape KZ. The Natural History of Inherited Retinal Dystrophy Due to Biallelic Mutations in the RPE65 Gene. Am J Ophthalmol 2019;199:58-70.Abstract
PURPOSE: To delineate the natural history of visual parameters over time in individuals with biallelic RPE65 mutation-associated inherited retinal dystrophy (IRD); describe the range of causative mutations; determine potential genotype/phenotype relationships; and describe the variety of clinical diagnoses. DESIGN: Global, multicenter, retrospective chart review. METHODS: Study Population: Seventy individuals with biallelic RPE65 mutation-associated IRD. PROCEDURES: Data were extracted from patient charts. MEASUREMENTS: Visual acuity (VA), Goldmann visual field (GVF), optical coherence tomography, color vision testing, light sensitivity testing, and electroretinograms (retinal imaging and fundus photography were collected and analyzed when available). RESULTS: VA decreased with age in a nonlinear, positive-acceleration relationship (P < .001). GVF decreased with age (P < .0001 for both V4e and III4e), with faster GVF decrease for III4e stimulus vs V4e (P = .0114, left eye; P = .0076, right eye). On average, a 1-year increase in age decreased III4e GVF by ∼25 sum total degrees in each eye while V4e GVF decreased by ∼37 sum total degrees in each eye, although individual variability was observed. A total of 78 clinical diagnoses and 56 unique RPE65 mutations were recorded, without discernible RPE65 mutation genotype/phenotype relationships. CONCLUSIONS: The number of clinical diagnoses and lack of a consistent RPE65 mutation-to-phenotype correlation underscore the need for genetic testing. Significant relationships between age and worsening VA and GVF highlight the progressive loss of functional retina over time. These data may have implications for optimal timing of treatment for IRD attributable to biallelic RPE65 mutations.
Hudry E, Vandenberghe LH. Therapeutic AAV Gene Transfer to the Nervous System: A Clinical Reality. Neuron 2019;101(5):839-862.Abstract
Gene transfer has long been a compelling yet elusive therapeutic modality. First mainly considered for rare inherited disorders, gene therapy may open treatment opportunities for more challenging and complex diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease. Today, examples of striking clinical proof of concept, the first gene therapy drugs coming onto the market, and the emergence of powerful new molecular tools have broadened the number of avenues to target neurological disorders but have also highlighted safety concerns and technology gaps. The vector of choice for many nervous system targets currently is the adeno-associated viral (AAV) vector due to its desirable safety profile and strong neuronal tropism. In aggregate, the clinical success, the preclinical potential, and the technological innovation have made therapeutic AAV drug development a reality, particularly for nervous system disorders. Here, we discuss the rationale, opportunities, limitations, and progress in clinical AAV gene therapy.
Chan W, Wiggs JL, Sobrin L. The Genetic Influence on Corticosteroid-Induced Ocular Hypertension: A Field Positioned for Discovery. Am J Ophthalmol 2019;202:1-5.Abstract
PURPOSE: To provide evidence that corticosteroid-induced ocular hypertension has a genetic component. DESIGN: Evidence-based perspective. METHODS: We conducted a comprehensive literature search for studies exploring genetic influences on intraocular pressure responses to corticosteroid treatment. RESULTS: Studies demonstrating increased risk of corticosteroid-induced ocular hypertension among first-degree relatives of affected individuals support a genetic contribution to the disease. Family and personal history of primary open-angle glaucoma also increases the risk of corticosteroid-induced intraocular pressure elevation, suggesting common genetic etiologies. A number of studies have attempted to identify predisposing genetic factors; however, reproducible findings have not yet been reported. The recent availability of large data sets with clinical and genetic data for patients affected by corticosteroid-induced ocular hypertension and glaucoma provides new opportunities to study the genetic underpinnings of this important condition. CONCLUSIONS: There is substantial evidence suggesting a genetic component to corticosteroid-related ocular hypertension and glaucoma, but specific genetic risk factors have yet to be identified. The current confluence of large genetic data sets and affordable genetic sequencing technologies has great potential for discovering the genes that increase risk for this blinding complication of corticosteroid therapy.
Maurer AC, Cepeda Diaz AK, Vandenberghe LH. Residues on Adeno-associated Virus Capsid Lumen Dictate Interactions and Compatibility with the Assembly-Activating Protein. J Virol 2019;93(7)Abstract
The adeno-associated virus (AAV) serves as a broadly used vector system for gene delivery. The process of AAV capsid assembly remains poorly understood. The viral cofactor assembly-activating protein (AAP) is required for maximum AAV production and has multiple roles in capsid assembly, namely, trafficking of the structural proteins (VP) to the nuclear site of assembly, promoting the stability of VP against multiple degradation pathways, and facilitating stable interactions between VP monomers. The N-terminal 60 amino acids of AAP (AAPN) are essential for these functions. Presumably, AAP must physically interact with VP to execute its multiple functions, but the molecular nature of the AAP-VP interaction is not well understood. Here, we query how structurally related AAVs functionally engage AAP from AAV serotype 2 (AAP2) toward virion assembly. These studies led to the identification of key residues on the lumenal capsid surface that are important for AAP-VP and for VP-VP interactions. Replacing a cluster of glutamic acid residues with a glutamine-rich motif on the conserved VP beta-barrel structure of variants incompatible with AAP2 creates a gain-of-function mutant compatible with AAP2. Conversely, mutating positively charged residues within the hydrophobic region of AAP2 and conserved core domains within AAPN creates a gain-of-function AAP2 mutant that rescues assembly of the incompatible variant. Our results suggest a model for capsid assembly where surface charge/neutrality dictates an interaction between AAPN and the lumenal VP surface to nucleate capsid assembly. Efforts to engineer the AAV capsid to gain desirable properties for gene therapy (e.g., tropism, reduced immunogenicity, and higher potency) require that capsid modifications do not affect particle assembly. The relationship between VP and the cofactor that facilitates its assembly, AAP, is central to both assembly preservation and vector production. Understanding the requirements for this compatibility can inform manufacturing strategies to maximize production and reduce costs. Additionally, library-based approaches that simultaneously examine a large number of capsid variants would benefit from a universally functional AAP, which could hedge against overlooking variants with potentially valuable phenotypes that were lost during vector library production due to incompatibility with the cognate AAP. Studying interactions between the structural and nonstructural components of AAV enhances our fundamental knowledge of capsid assembly mechanisms and the protein-protein interactions required for productive assembly of the icosahedral capsid.
Iglesias AI, Mishra A, Vitart V, Bykhovskaya Y, Höhn R, Springelkamp H, Cuellar-Partida G, Gharahkhani P, Bailey JCN, Willoughby CE, Li X, Yazar S, Nag A, Khawaja AP, Polašek O, Siscovick D, Mitchell P, Tham YC, Haines JL, Kearns LS, Hayward C, Shi Y, van Leeuwen EM, Taylor KD, Taylor KD, Bonnemaijer P, Rotter JI, Martin NG, Zeller T, Mills RA, Souzeau E, Staffieri SE, Jonas JB, Schmidtmann I, Boutin T, Kang JH, Lucas SEM, Wong TY, Beutel ME, Wilson JF, Wilson JF, Wilson JF, Uitterlinden AG, Vithana EN, Foster PJ, Hysi PG, Hewitt AW, Khor CC, Pasquale LR, Montgomery GW, Klaver CCW, Aung T, Pfeiffer N, Mackey DA, Hammond CJ, Cheng C-Y, Craig JE, Rabinowitz YS, Wiggs JL, Burdon KP, van Duijn CM, Macgregor S. Author Correction: Cross-ancestry genome-wide association analysis of corneal thickness strengthens link between complex and Mendelian eye diseases. Nat Commun 2019;10(1):155.Abstract
Emmanuelle Souzeau, who contributed to analysis of data, was inadvertently omitted from the author list in the originally published version of this Article. This has now been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article.
Huang T, Wang T, Heianza Y, Zheng Y, Sun D, Kang JH, Pasquale LR, Rimm EB, Manson JAE, Hu FB, Qi L. Habitual consumption of long-chain n-3 PUFAs and fish attenuates genetically associated long-term weight gain. Am J Clin Nutr 2019;109(3):665-673.Abstract
BACKGROUND: A growing amount of data suggests that n-3 (ω-3) polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) intake may modify the genetic association with weight change. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to prospectively test interactions of habitual consumption of n-3 PUFAs or fish, the major food source, with overall genetic susceptibility on long-term weight change. DESIGN: Gene-diet interactions were examined in 11,330 women from the Nurses' Health Study (NHS), 6773 men from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS), and 6254 women from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI). RESULTS: In the NHS and HPFS cohorts, food-sourced long-chain n-3 PUFA intake showed directionally consistent interactions with genetic risk score on long-term changes in BMI (P-interaction = 0.01 in the HPFS, 0.15 in the NHS, and 0.01 in both cohorts combined). Such interactions were successfully replicated in the WHI, an independent cohort (P-interaction = 0.02 in the WHI and 0.01 in the combined 3 cohorts). The genetic associations with changes in BMI (in kg/m2) consistently decreased (0.15, 0.10, 0.07, and -0.14 per 10 BMI-increasing alleles) across the quartiles of long-chain n-3 PUFAs in the combined cohorts. In addition, high fish intake also attenuated the genetic associations with long-term changes in BMI in the HPFS (P-interaction = 0.01), NHS (P-interaction = 0.03), WHI (P-interaction = 0.10), and the combined cohorts (P-interaction = 0.01); and the differences in BMI changes per 10 BMI-increasing alleles were 0.16, 0.06, -0.08, and -0.18, respectively, across the categories (≤1, 1∼4, 4∼6, and ≥7 servings/wk) of total fish intake. Similar interactions on body weight were observed for fish intake (P-interaction = 0.003) and long-chain n-3 PUFA intake (P-interaction = 0.12). CONCLUSION: Our study provides replicable evidence to show that high intakes of fish and long-chain n-3 PUFAs are associated with an attenuation of the genetic association with long-term weight gain based on results from 3 prospective cohorts of Caucasians.
Pollack S, Igo RP, Jensen RA, Christiansen M, Li X, Cheng C-Y, Ng MCY, Smith AV, Rossin EJ, Segrè AV, Davoudi S, Tan GS, Chen Y-DI, Kuo JZ, Dimitrov LM, Stanwyck LK, Meng W, Hosseini MS, Imamura M, Nousome D, Kim J, Hai Y, Jia Y, Ahn J, Leong A, Shah K, Park KH, Guo X, Ipp E, Taylor KD, Adler SG, Sedor JR, Freedman BI, Family Investigation of Nephropathy and Diabetes-Eye Research Group DCCT/EDICRG, Lee I-T, Sheu WH-H, Kubo M, Takahashi A, Hadjadj S, Marre M, Tregouet D-A, McKean-Cowdin R, Varma R, McCarthy MI, Groop L, Ahlqvist E, Lyssenko V, Agardh E, Morris A, Doney ASF, Colhoun HM, Toppila I, Sandholm N, Groop P-H, Maeda S, Hanis CL, Penman A, Chen CJ, Hancock H, Mitchell P, Craig JE, Chew EY, Paterson AD, Grassi MA, Palmer C, Bowden DW, Yaspan BL, Siscovick D, Cotch MF, Wang JJ, Burdon KP, Wong TY, Klein BEK, Klein R, Rotter JI, Iyengar SK, Price AL, Sobrin L. Multiethnic Genome-Wide Association Study of Diabetic Retinopathy Using Liability Threshold Modeling of Duration of Diabetes and Glycemic Control. Diabetes 2019;68(2):441-456.Abstract
To identify genetic variants associated with diabetic retinopathy (DR), we performed a large multiethnic genome-wide association study. Discovery included eight European cohorts ( = 3,246) and seven African American cohorts ( = 2,611). We meta-analyzed across cohorts using inverse-variance weighting, with and without liability threshold modeling of glycemic control and duration of diabetes. Variants with a value <1 × 10 were investigated in replication cohorts that included 18,545 European, 16,453 Asian, and 2,710 Hispanic subjects. After correction for multiple testing, the C allele of rs142293996 in an intron of nuclear VCP-like () was associated with DR in European discovery cohorts ( = 2.1 × 10), but did not reach genome-wide significance after meta-analysis with replication cohorts. We applied the Disease Association Protein-Protein Link Evaluator (DAPPLE) to our discovery results to test for evidence of risk being spread across underlying molecular pathways. One protein-protein interaction network built from genes in regions associated with proliferative DR was found to have significant connectivity ( = 0.0009) and corroborated with gene set enrichment analyses. These findings suggest that genetic variation in as well as variation within a protein-protein interaction network that includes genes implicated in inflammation, may influence risk for DR.
Dobyns WB, Aldinger KA, Ishak GE, Mirzaa GM, Timms AE, Grout ME, Dremmen MHG, Schot R, Vandervore L, van Slegtenhorst MA, Wilke M, Kasteleijn E, Lee AS, Barry BJ, Chao KR, Szczałuba K, Kobori J, Hanson-Kahn A, Bernstein JA, Carr L, D'Arco F, Miyana K, Okazaki T, Saito Y, Sasaki M, Das S, Wheeler MM, Bamshad MJ, Nickerson DA, of for Genomics UWCM, for at the of and Harvard CMGBIMIT, Engle EC, Verheijen FW, Doherty D, Mancini GMS. MACF1 Mutations Encoding Highly Conserved Zinc-Binding Residues of the GAR Domain Cause Defects in Neuronal Migration and Axon Guidance. Am J Hum Genet 2018;103(6):1009-1021.Abstract
To date, mutations in 15 actin- or microtubule-associated genes have been associated with the cortical malformation lissencephaly and variable brainstem hypoplasia. During a multicenter review, we recognized a rare lissencephaly variant with a complex brainstem malformation in three unrelated children. We searched our large brain-malformation databases and found another five children with this malformation (as well as one with a less severe variant), analyzed available whole-exome or -genome sequencing data, and tested ciliogenesis in two affected individuals. The brain malformation comprised posterior predominant lissencephaly and midline crossing defects consisting of absent anterior commissure and a striking W-shaped brainstem malformation caused by small or absent pontine crossing fibers. We discovered heterozygous de novo missense variants or an in-frame deletion involving highly conserved zinc-binding residues within the GAR domain of MACF1 in the first eight subjects. We studied cilium formation and found a higher proportion of mutant cells with short cilia than of control cells with short cilia. A ninth child had similar lissencephaly but only subtle brainstem dysplasia associated with a heterozygous de novo missense variant in the spectrin repeat domain of MACF1. Thus, we report variants of the microtubule-binding GAR domain of MACF1 as the cause of a distinctive and most likely pathognomonic brain malformation. A gain-of-function or dominant-negative mechanism appears likely given that many heterozygous mutations leading to protein truncation are included in the ExAC Browser. However, three de novo variants in MACF1 have been observed in large schizophrenia cohorts.
Whitman MC, Nguyen EH, Bell JL, Tenney AP, Gelber A, Engle EC. Loss of CXCR4/CXCL12 Signaling Causes Oculomotor Nerve Misrouting and Development of Motor Trigeminal to Oculomotor Synkinesis. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 2018;59(12):5201-5209.Abstract
Purpose: Proper control of eye movements is critical to vision, but relatively little is known about the molecular mechanisms that regulate development and axon guidance in the ocular motor system or cause the abnormal innervation patterns (oculomotor synkinesis) seen in developmental disorders and after oculomotor nerve palsy. We developed an ex vivo slice assay that allows for live imaging and molecular manipulation of the growing oculomotor nerve, which we used to identify axon guidance cues that affect the oculomotor nerve. Methods: Ex vivo slices were generated from E10.5 IslMN-GFP embryos and grown for 24 to 72 hours. To assess for CXCR4 function, the specific inhibitor AMD3100 was added to the culture media. Cxcr4cko/cko:Isl-Cre:ISLMN-GFP and Cxcl12KO/KO:ISLMN-GFP embryos were cleared and imaged on a confocal microscope. Results: When AMD3100 was added to the slice cultures, oculomotor axons grew dorsally (away from the eye) rather than ventrally (toward the eye). Axons that had already exited the midbrain continued toward the eye. Loss of Cxcr4 or Cxcl12 in vivo caused misrouting of the oculomotor nerve dorsally and motor axons from the trigeminal motor nerve, which normally innervate the muscles of mastication, aberrantly innervated extraocular muscles in the orbit. This represents the first mouse model of trigeminal-oculomotor synkinesis. Conclusions: CXCR4/CXCL12 signaling is critical for the initial pathfinding decisions of oculomotor axons and their proper exit from the midbrain. Failure of the oculomotor nerve to innervate its extraocular muscle targets leads to aberrant innervation by other motor neurons, indicating that muscles lacking innervation may secrete cues that attract motor axons.
Ba-Abbad R, Leys M, Wang X, Chakarova C, Waseem N, Carss KJ, Raymond LF, Bujakowska KM, Pierce EA, Mahroo OA, Mohamed MD, Holder GE, Hummel M, Arno G, Webster AR. Clinical Features of a Retinopathy Associated With a Dominant Allele of the RGR Gene. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 2018;59(12):4812-4820.Abstract
Purpose: We describe the clinical features in two pedigrees with dominantly inherited retinopathy segregating the previously reported frameshifting mutation, c.836dupG (p.Ile280Asn*78) in the terminal exon of the RGR gene, and compare their haplotypes to that of the previously reported pedigree. Methods: The probands were ascertained at West Virginia University Eye Institute (WVU) and Moorfields Eye Hospital (MEH) through next generation sequencing (NGS) and whole genome sequencing (WGS) respectively. Clinical data included visual acuity (VA), visual fields, fundus autofluorescence (FAF), optical coherence tomography (OCT), and electroretinography (ERG). Haplotype analysis was performed using Sanger sequencing of the DNA from the molecularly ascertained individuals from the three pedigrees. Results: Nine heterozygous mutation carriers were identified in two families. Four carriers were asymptomatic; five carriers had variable VA reduction, visual field constriction, and experienced difficulty under dim illumination. Fundus examination of the asymptomatic carriers showed diffuse or reticular pigmentation of the retina; the symptomatic carriers had chorioretinal atrophy. FAF imaging showed widespread signal loss in advanced retinopathy, and reticular hyperautofluorescence in mild cases. OCT showed loss of outer retinal lamina in advanced disease. ERG showed moderate-to-severe rod-cone dysfunction in two symptomatic carriers; and was normal in three asymptomatic carriers. A shared haplotype flanking the mutation of up to 6.67 Mb was identified in both families. Within this region, 1.27 Mb were shared with the first family reported with this retinopathy. Conclusions: The clinical data suggest a variable and slow degeneration of the RPE. A shared chromosomal segment surrounding the RGR gene suggests a single ancestral mutational event underlying all three families.
Buskin A, Zhu L, Chichagova V, Basu B, Mozaffari-Jovin S, Dolan D, Droop A, Collin J, Bronstein R, Mehrotra S, Farkas M, Hilgen G, White K, Pan K-T, Treumann A, Hallam D, Bialas K, Chung G, Mellough C, Ding Y, Krasnogor N, Przyborski S, Zwolinski S, Al-Aama J, Alharthi S, Xu Y, Wheway G, Szymanska K, McKibbin M, Inglehearn CF, Elliott DJ, Lindsay S, Ali RR, Steel DH, Armstrong L, Sernagor E, Urlaub H, Pierce E, Lührmann R, Grellscheid S-N, Johnson CA, Lako M. Disrupted alternative splicing for genes implicated in splicing and ciliogenesis causes PRPF31 retinitis pigmentosa. Nat Commun 2018;9(1):4234.Abstract
Mutations in pre-mRNA processing factors (PRPFs) cause autosomal-dominant retinitis pigmentosa (RP), but it is unclear why mutations in ubiquitously expressed genes cause non-syndromic retinal disease. Here, we generate transcriptome profiles from RP11 (PRPF31-mutated) patient-derived retinal organoids and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), as well as Prpf31 mouse tissues, which revealed that disrupted alternative splicing occurred for specific splicing programmes. Mis-splicing of genes encoding pre-mRNA splicing proteins was limited to patient-specific retinal cells and Prpf31 mouse retinae and RPE. Mis-splicing of genes implicated in ciliogenesis and cellular adhesion was associated with severe RPE defects that include disrupted apical - basal polarity, reduced trans-epithelial resistance and phagocytic capacity, and decreased cilia length and incidence. Disrupted cilia morphology also occurred in patient-derived photoreceptors, associated with progressive degeneration and cellular stress. In situ gene editing of a pathogenic mutation rescued protein expression and key cellular phenotypes in RPE and photoreceptors, providing proof of concept for future therapeutic strategies.
Grant EP, Im K, Ahtam B, Laurentys CT, Chan W-M, Brainard M, Chew S, Drottar M, Robson CD, Drmic I, Engle EC. Altered White Matter Organization in the TUBB3 E410K Syndrome. Cereb Cortex 2018;Abstract
Seven unrelated individuals (four pediatric, three adults) with the TUBB3 E410K syndrome, harboring identical de novo heterozygous TUBB3 c.1228 G>A mutations, underwent neuropsychological testing and neuroimaging. Despite the absence of cortical malformations, they have intellectual and social disabilities. To search for potential etiologies for these deficits, we compared their brain's structural and white matter organization to 22 controls using structural and diffusion magnetic resonance imaging. Diffusion images were processed to calculate fractional anisotropy (FA) and perform tract reconstructions. Cortical parcellation-based network analysis and gyral topology-based FA analyses were performed. Major interhemispheric, projection and intrahemispheric tracts were manually segmented. Subjects had decreased corpus callosum volume and decreased network efficiency. While only pediatric subjects had diffuse decreases in FA predominantly affecting mid- and long-range tracts, only adult subjects had white matter volume loss associated with decreased cortical surface area. All subjects showed aberrant corticospinal tract trajectory and bilateral absence of the dorsal language network long segment. Furthermore, pediatric subjects had more tracts with decreased FA compared with controls than did adult subjects. These findings define a TUBB3 E410K neuroimaging endophenotype and lead to the hypothesis that the age-related changes are due to microscopic intrahemispheric misguided axons that are pruned during maturation.
Bonnemaijer PWM, Iglesias AI, Nadkarni GN, Sanyiwa AJ, Hassan HG, Cook C, Cook C, Simcoe M, Taylor KD, Schurmann C, Belbin GM, Kenny EE, Bottinger EP, van de Laar S, Wiliams SEI, Akafo SK, Ashaye AO, Zangwill LM, Girkin CA, Ng MCY, Rotter JI, Weinreb RN, Li Z, Allingham RR, of Consortium EAG, Nag A, Hysi PG, Meester-Smoor MA, Wiggs JL, Wiggs JL, Hauser MA, Hammond CJ, Lemij HG, Loos RJF, van Duijn CM, Thiadens AAHJ, Klaver CCW. Genome-wide association study of primary open-angle glaucoma in continental and admixed African populations. Hum Genet 2018;137(10):847-862.Abstract
Primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) is a complex disease with a major genetic contribution. Its prevalence varies greatly among ethnic groups, and is up to five times more frequent in black African populations compared to Europeans. So far, worldwide efforts to elucidate the genetic complexity of POAG in African populations has been limited. We conducted a genome-wide association study in 1113 POAG cases and 1826 controls from Tanzanian, South African and African American study samples. Apart from confirming evidence of association at TXNRD2 (rs16984299; OR 1.20; P = 0.003), we found that a genetic risk score combining the effects of the 15 previously reported POAG loci was significantly associated with POAG in our samples (OR 1.56; 95% CI 1.26-1.93; P = 4.79 × 10). By genome-wide association testing we identified a novel candidate locus, rs141186647, harboring EXOC4 (OR 0.48; P = 3.75 × 10), a gene transcribing a component of the exocyst complex involved in vesicle transport. The low frequency and high degree of genetic heterogeneity at this region hampered validation of this finding in predominantly West-African replication sets. Our results suggest that established genetic risk factors play a role in African POAG, however, they do not explain the higher disease load. The high heterogeneity within Africans remains a challenge to identify the genetic commonalities for POAG in this ethnicity, and demands studies of extremely large size.
Ding M, Ellervik C, Huang T, Jensen MK, Curhan GC, Pasquale LR, Kang JH, Wiggs JL, Hunter DJ, Willett WC, Rimm EB, Kraft P, Chasman DI, Qi L, Hu FB, Qi Q. Diet quality and genetic association with body mass index: results from 3 observational studies. Am J Clin Nutr 2018;108(6):1291-1300.Abstract
Background: It is unknown whether dietary quality modifies genetic association with body mass index (BMI). Objective: This study examined whether dietary quality modifies genetic association with BMI. Design: We calculated 3 diet quality scores including the Alternative Healthy Eating Index 2010 (AHEI-2010), the Alternative Mediterranean Diet score (AMED), and the Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet score. We examined the interactions of a genetic risk score (GRS) based on 97 BMI-associated variants with the 3 diet quality scores on BMI in 30,904 participants from 3 large cohorts. Results: We found significant interactions between total GRS and all 3 diet scores on BMI assessed after 2-3 y, with an attenuated genetic effect observed in individuals with healthier diets (AHEI: P-interaction = 0.003; AMED: P = 0.001; DASH: P = 0.004). For example, the difference in BMI (kg/m2) per 10-unit increment of the GRS was smaller among participants in the highest tertile of AHEI score compared with those in the lowest tertile (0.84; 95% CI: 0.72, 0.96 compared with 1.14; 95% CI: 0.99, 1.29). Results were consistent across the 3 cohorts with no significant heterogeneity. The interactions with diet scores on BMI appeared more significant for central nervous system GRSs (P < 0.01 for 3 diet scores) than for non-central nervous system GRSs (P > 0.05 for 3 diet scores). Conclusions: A higher diet quality attenuated genetic predisposition to obesity. These findings underscore the importance of maintaining a healthful diet for the prevention of obesity, particularly for those individuals with a strong genetic predisposition to obesity. This trial was registered with the Clinical Trial Registry as NCT03577639.

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