Multiethnic Meta-Analysis Identifies Ancestry-Specific and Cross-Ancestry Loci for Pulmonary Function

Nearly 100 loci have been identified for pulmonary function, almost exclusively in studies of European ancestry populations. We extend previous research by meta-analyzing genome-wide association studies of 1000 Genomes imputed variants in relation to pulmonary function in a multiethnic population of 90,715 individuals of European (N = 60,552), African (N = 8429), Asian (N = 9959), and Hispanic/Latino (N = 11,775) ethnicities. We identify over 50 additional loci at genome-wide significance in ancestry-specific or multiethnic meta-analyses. Using recent fine-mapping methods incorporating functional annotation, gene expression, and differences in linkage disequilibrium between ethnicities, we further shed light on potential causal variants and genes at known and newly identified loci. Several of the novel genes encode proteins with predicted or established drug targets, including KCNK2 and CDK12. Our study highlights the utility of multiethnic and integrative genomics approaches to extend existing knowledge of the genetics of lung function and clinical relevance of implicated loci

Activated TNF-α/NF-κB signaling via down-regulation of Fas-associated factor 1 in asbestos-induced mesotheliomas from Arf knockout mice

The human CDKN2A locus encodes 2 distinct proteins, p16(INK4A) and p14(ARF) [mouse p19(Arf)], designated INK4A (inhibitor of cyclin dependent kinase 4) and ARF (alternative reading frame) here, that are translated from alternatively spliced mRNAs. Human ARF is implicated as a tumor suppressor gene, mainly in association with the simultaneous deletion of INK4A. However, questions remain as to whether loss of ARF alone is sufficient to drive tumorigenesis. Here, we report that mice deficient for Arf are susceptible to accelerated asbestos-induced malignant mesothelioma (MM). MMs arising in Arf (+/−) mice consistently exhibit biallelic inactivation of Arf, but, unexpectedly, do not acquire additional recurrent genetic alterations that we previously identified in asbestos-induced MMs arising in Nf2 (+/−) mice. Array CGH analysis was used to detect a recurrent deletion at chromosome 4C6 in MMs from Arf (+/−) mice. A candidate gene in this region, Faf1 (FAS-associated factor 1), was further explored, because it encodes a protein implicated in tumor cell survival and in the pathogenesis of some human tumor types. We confirmed hemizygous loss of Faf1 and down-regulation of Faf1 protein in a series of MMs from Arf (+/−) mice, and we then showed that Faf1 regulates TNF-α-mediated NF-κB signaling, a pathway previously implicated in asbestos-induced oncogenesis of human mesothelial cells. Collectively, these data indicate that Arf inactivation has a significant role in driving MM pathogenesis, and implicate Faf1 as a key component in the TNF-α/NF-κB signaling node that has now been independently implicated in asbestos-induced oncogenesis