1.
Association of maternal prenatal smoking GFI1-locus and cardio-metabolic phenotypes in 18,212 adults.
Parmar, P, Lowry, E, Cugliari, G, Suderman, M, Wilson, R, Karhunen, V, Andrew, T, Wiklund, P, Wielscher, M, Guarrera, S, et al
EBioMedicine. 2018;:206-216
Abstract
BACKGROUND DNA methylation at the GFI1-locus has been repeatedly associated with exposure to smoking from the foetal period onwards. We explored whether DNA methylation may be a mechanism that links exposure to maternal prenatal smoking with offspring's adult cardio-metabolic health. METHODS We meta-analysed the association between DNA methylation at GFI1-locus with maternal prenatal smoking, adult own smoking, and cardio-metabolic phenotypes in 22 population-based studies from Europe, Australia, and USA (n = 18,212). DNA methylation at the GFI1-locus was measured in whole-blood. Multivariable regression models were fitted to examine its association with exposure to prenatal and own adult smoking. DNA methylation levels were analysed in relation to body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), fasting glucose (FG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), triglycerides (TG), diastolic, and systolic blood pressure (BP). FINDINGS Lower DNA methylation at three out of eight GFI1-CpGs was associated with exposure to maternal prenatal smoking, whereas, all eight CpGs were associated with adult own smoking. Lower DNA methylation at cg14179389, the strongest maternal prenatal smoking locus, was associated with increased WC and BP when adjusted for sex, age, and adult smoking with Bonferroni-corrected P < 0·012. In contrast, lower DNA methylation at cg09935388, the strongest adult own smoking locus, was associated with decreased BMI, WC, and BP (adjusted 1 × 10-7 < P < 0.01). Similarly, lower DNA methylation at cg12876356, cg18316974, cg09662411, and cg18146737 was associated with decreased BMI and WC (5 × 10-8 < P < 0.001). Lower DNA methylation at all the CpGs was consistently associated with higher TG levels. INTERPRETATION Epigenetic changes at the GFI1 were linked to smoking exposure in-utero/in-adulthood and robustly associated with cardio-metabolic risk factors. FUND European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 633595 DynaHEALTH.
2.
An international meta-analysis confirms the association of BNC2 with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.
Ogura, Y, Takeda, K, Kou, I, Khanshour, A, Grauers, A, Zhou, H, Liu, G, Fan, YH, Zhou, T, Wu, Z, et al
Scientific reports. 2018;(1):4730
Abstract
Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is a common spinal deformity with the prevalence of approximately 3%. We previously conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) using a Japanese cohort and identified a novel locus on chromosome 9p22.2. However, a replication study using multi-population cohorts has not been conducted. To confirm the association of 9p22.2 locus with AIS in multi-ethnic populations, we conducted international meta-analysis using eight cohorts. In total, we analyzed 8,756 cases and 27,822 controls. The analysis showed a convincing evidence of association between rs3904778 and AIS. Seven out of eight cohorts had significant P value, and remaining one cohort also had the same trend as the seven. The combined P was 3.28 × 10-18 (odds ratio = 1.19, 95% confidence interval = 1.14-1.24). In silico analyses suggested that BNC2 is the AIS susceptibility gene in this locus.