UMP, SCUN seal bilateral collaborations

Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP) fortified its international networking when it sealed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China’s South-Central University for Nationalities (SCUN) in Beijing, China, on June 1

Admixture mapping implicates 13q33.3 as ancestry-of-origin locus for Alzheimer disease in Hispanic and Latino populations

Alzheimer disease (AD) is the most common form of senile dementia, with high incidence late in life in many populations including Caribbean Hispanic (CH) populations. Such admixed populations, descended from more than one ancestral population, can present challenges for genetic studies, including limited sample sizes and unique analytical constraints. Therefore, CH populations and other admixed populations have not been well represented in studies of AD, and much of the genetic variation contributing to AD risk in these populations remains unknown. Here, we conduct genome-wide analysis of AD in multiplex CH families from the Alzheimer Disease Sequencing Project (ADSP). We developed, validated, and applied an implementation of a logistic mixed model for admixture mapping with binary traits that leverages genetic ancestry to identify ancestry-of-origin loci contributing to AD. We identified three loci on chromosome 13q33.3 associated with reduced risk of AD, where associations were driven by Native American (NAM) ancestry. This AD admixture mapping signal spans the FAM155A, ABHD13, TNFSF13B, LIG4, and MYO16 genes and was supported by evidence for association in an independent sample from the Alzheimer's Genetics in Argentina—Alzheimer Argentina consortium (AGA-ALZAR) study with considerable NAM ancestry. We also provide evidence of NAM haplotypes and key variants within 13q33.3 that segregate with AD in the ADSP whole-genome sequencing data. Interestingly, the widely used genome-wide association study approach failed to identify associations in this region. Our findings underscore the potential of leveraging genetic ancestry diversity in recently admixed populations to improve genetic mapping, in this case for AD-relevant loci.Fil: Horimoto, Andrea R.V.R.. University of Washington; Estados UnidosFil: Boyken, Lisa A.. University of Washington; Estados UnidosFil: Blue, Elizabeth E.. University of Washington; Estados Unidos. Brotman Baty Institute for Precision Medicine; Estados UnidosFil: Grinde, Kelsey E.. University of Washington; Estados Unidos. Macalester College; Estados UnidosFil: Nafikov, Rafael A.. University of Washington; Estados UnidosFil: Sohi, Harkirat K.. University of Washington; Estados UnidosFil: Nato, Alejandro Q.. University of Washington; Estados Unidos. Marshall University; Estados UnidosFil: Bis, Joshua C.. University of Washington; Estados UnidosFil: Brusco, Luis Ignacio. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Morelli, Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires. Fundación Instituto Leloir. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Ramirez, Alfredo Jose. University Of Cologne; Alemania. Universitat Bonn; Alemania. German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases; Alemania. University Of Texas Health Science Center At San Antonio (ut Health San Antonio) ; University Of Texas At San Antonio; . Universidad Nacional Arturo Jauretche. Unidad Ejecutora de Estudios en Neurociencias y Sistemas Complejos. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Ministerio de Salud. Hospital Alta Complejidad en Red El Cruce Dr. Néstor Carlos Kirchner Samic. Unidad Ejecutora de Estudios en Neurociencias y Sistemas Complejos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Unidad Ejecutora de Estudios en Neurociencias y Sistemas Complejos; ArgentinaFil: Dalmasso, Maria Carolina. Universidad Nacional Arturo Jauretche. Unidad Ejecutora de Estudios en Neurociencias y Sistemas Complejos. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Ministerio de Salud. Hospital Alta Complejidad en Red El Cruce Dr. Néstor Carlos Kirchner Samic. Unidad Ejecutora de Estudios en Neurociencias y Sistemas Complejos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Unidad Ejecutora de Estudios en Neurociencias y Sistemas Complejos; Argentina. University Of Cologne; AlemaniaFil: Temple, Seth. University of Washington; Estados UnidosFil: Satizabal, Claudia. University Of Texas Health Science Center At San Antonio (ut Health San Antonio) ; University Of Texas At San Antonio; . University of Texas at San Antonio; Estados UnidosFil: Browning, Sharon R.. University of Washington; Estados UnidosFil: Seshadri, Sudha. University Of Texas Health Science Center At San Antonio (ut Health San Antonio) ; University Of Texas At San Antonio; . University of Texas at San Antonio; Estados UnidosFil: Wijsman, Ellen M.. University of Washington; Estados UnidosFil: Thornton, Timothy A.. University of Washington; Estados Unido

Genome-wide analysis of dental caries and periodontitis combining clinical and self-reported data

Dental caries and periodontitis account for a vast burden of morbidity and healthcare spending, yet their genetic basis remains largely uncharacterized. Here, we identify self-reported dental disease proxies which have similar underlying genetic contributions to clinical disease measures and then combine these in a genome-wide association study meta-analysis, identifying 47 novel and conditionally-independent risk loci for dental caries. We show that the heritability of dental caries is enriched for conserved genomic regions and partially overlapping with a range of complex traits including smoking, education, personality traits and metabolic measures. Using cardio-metabolic traits as an example in Mendelian randomization analysis, we estimate causal relationships and provide evidence suggesting that the processes contributing to dental caries may have undesirable downstream effects on health

Generalizing polygenic risk scores from Europeans to Hispanics/Latinos

Polygenic risk scores (PRSs) are weighted sums of risk allele counts of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with a disease or trait. PRSs are typically constructed based on published results from Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWASs), and the majority of which has been performed in large populations of European ancestry (EA) individuals. Although many genotype-trait associations have generalized across populations, the optimal choice of SNPs and weights for PRSs may differ between populations due to different linkage disequilibrium (LD) and allele frequency patterns. We compare various approaches for PRS construction, using GWAS results from both large EA studies and a smaller study in Hispanics/Latinos: The Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL, n=12,803 ). We consider multiple approaches for selecting SNPs and for computing SNP weights. We study the performance of the resulting PRSs in an independent study of Hispanics/Latinos from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI, n=3,582 ). We support our investigation with simulation studies of potential genetic architectures in a single locus. We observed that selecting variants based on EA GWASs generally performs well, except for blood pressure trait. However, the use of EA GWASs for weight estimation was suboptimal. Using non-EA GWAS results to estimate weights improved results

Genome-wide analysis of dental caries and periodontitis combining clinical and self-reported data

Abstract Dental caries and periodontitis account for a vast burden of morbidity and healthcare spending, yet their genetic basis remains largely uncharacterized. Here, we identify self-reported dental disease proxies which have similar underlying genetic contributions to clinical disease measures and then combine these in a genome-wide association study meta-analysis, identifying 47 novel and conditionally-independent risk loci for dental caries. We show that the heritability of dental caries is enriched for conserved genomic regions and partially overlapping with a range of complex traits including smoking, education, personality traits and metabolic measures. Using cardio-metabolic traits as an example in Mendelian randomization analysis, we estimate causal relationships and provide evidence suggesting that the processes contributing to dental caries may have undesirable downstream effects on health

Whole genome sequence analyses of eGFR in 23,732 people representing multiple ancestries in the NHLBI trans-omics for precision medicine (TOPMed) consortium

BackgroundGenetic factors that influence kidney traits have been understudied for low frequency and ancestry-specific variants.MethodsWe combined whole genome sequencing (WGS) data from 23,732 participants from 10 NHLBI Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) Program multi-ethnic studies to identify novel loci for estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). Participants included European, African, East Asian, and Hispanic ancestries. We applied linear mixed models using a genetic relationship matrix estimated from the WGS data and adjusted for age, sex, study, and ethnicity.FindingsWhen testing single variants, we identified three novel loci driven by low frequency variants more commonly observed in non-European ancestry (PRKAA2, rs180996919, minor allele frequency [MAF] 0.04%, P = 6.1 × 10-11; METTL8, rs116951054, MAF 0.09%, P = 4.5 × 10-9; and MATK, rs539182790, MAF 0.05%, P = 3.4 × 10-9). We also replicated two known loci for common variants (rs2461702, MAF=0.49, P = 1.2 × 10-9, nearest gene GATM, and rs71147340, MAF=0.34, P = 3.3 × 10-9, CDK12). Testing aggregated variants within a gene identified the MAF gene. A statistical approach based on local ancestry helped to identify replication samples for ancestry-specific variants.InterpretationThis study highlights challenges in studying variants influencing kidney traits that are low frequency in populations and more common in non-European ancestry