A Polymorphism in the HLA-DPB1 Gene Is Associated with Susceptibility to Multiple Sclerosis

We conducted an association study across the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) complex to identify loci associated with multiple sclerosis (MS). Comparing 1927 SNPs in 1618 MS cases and 3413 controls of European ancestry, we identified seven SNPs that were independently associated with MS conditional on the others (each ). All associations were significant in an independent replication cohort of 2212 cases and 2251 controls () and were highly significant in the combined dataset (). The associated SNPs included proxies for HLA-DRB1*15:01 and HLA-DRB1*03:01, and SNPs in moderate linkage disequilibrium (LD) with HLA-A*02:01, HLA-DRB1*04:01 and HLA-DRB1*13:03. We also found a strong association with rs9277535 in the class II gene HLA-DPB1 (discovery set , replication set , combined ). HLA-DPB1 is located centromeric of the more commonly typed class II genes HLA-DRB1, -DQA1 and -DQB1. It is separated from these genes by a recombination hotspot, and the association is not affected by conditioning on genotypes at DRB1, DQA1 and DQB1. Hence rs9277535 represents an independent MS-susceptibility locus of genome-wide significance. It is correlated with the HLA-DPB1*03:01 allele, which has been implicated previously in MS in smaller studies. Further genotyping in large datasets is required to confirm and resolve this association

Deletion of the 5-HT(3A)-receptor subunit blunts the induction of cocaine sensitization

Serotonin (5-HT) receptors are classified into seven groups (5-HT1–7), comprising at least 14 structurally and pharmacologically distinct receptor subtypes. Pharma-cological antagonism of ionotropic 5-HT3 receptors has been shown to modulate both behavioral and neuro-chemical aspects of the induction of sensitization to cocaine. It is not known, however, if specific molecular subunits of the 5-HT3 receptor influence the development of cocaine sensitization. To address this question, we studied the effects of acute and chronic intermittent cocaine administration in mice with a targeted deletion of the gene for the 5-HT3A-receptor subunit (5-HT3A ?/?). 5-HT3A (?/?) mice showed blunted induction of cocaine-induced locomotor sensitization as compared with wild-type littermate controls. 5-HT3A (?/?) mice did not differ from wild-type littermate controls on measures of basal motor activity or response to acute cocaine treatment. Enhanced locomotor response to saline injection following cocaine sensitization was observed equally in 5-HT3A (?/?) and wild-type mice suggesting similar conditioned effects associated with chronic cocaine treatment. These data show a role for the 5-HT3A-receptor subunit in the induction of behavioral sensitization to cocaine and suggest that the 5-HT3A molecular subunit modulates neurobehavioral adaptations to cocaine, which may underlie aspects of addiction

Resequencing and fine-mapping of the chromosome 12q13-14 locus associated with multiple sclerosis refines the number of implicated genes

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a common chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system. Susceptibility to the disease is affected by both environmental and genetic factors. Genetic factors include haplotypes in the histocompatibility complex (MHC) and over 50 non-MHC loci reported by genome-wide association studies. Amongst these, we previously reported polymorphisms in chromosome 12q13-14 with a protective effect in individuals of European descent. This locus spans 288 kb and contains 17 genes, including several candidate genes which have potentially significant pathogenic and therapeutic implications. In this study, we aimed to fine-map this locus. We have implemented a two-phase study: a variant discovery phase where we have used next-generation sequencing and two target-enrichment strategies [long-range polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Nimblegen's solution phase hybridization capture] in pools of 25 samples; and a genotyping phase where we genotyped 712 variants in 3577 healthy controls and 3269 MS patients. This study confirmed the association (rs2069502, P = 9.9 × 10(-11), OR = 0.787) and narrowed down the locus of association to an 86.5 kb region. Although the study was unable to pinpoint the key-associated variant, we have identified a 42 (genotyped and imputed) single-nucleotide polymorphism haplotype block likely to harbour the causal variant. No evidence of association at previously reported low-frequency variants in CYP27B1 was observed. As part of the study we compared variant discovery performance using two target-enrichment strategies. We concluded that our pools enriched with Nimblegen's solution phase hybridization capture had better sensitivity to detect true variants than the pools enriched with long-range PCR, whilst specificity was better in the long-range PCR-enriched pools compared with solution phase hybridization capture enriched pools; this result has important implications for the design of future fine-mapping studies

Genome-wide association study identifies new multiple sclerosis susceptibility loci on chromosomes 12 and 20

To identify multiple sclerosis (MS) susceptibility loci, we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in 1,618 cases and used shared data for 3,413 controls. We performed replication in an independent set of 2,256 cases and 2,310 controls, for a total of 3,874 cases and 5,723 controls. We identified risk-associated SNPs on chromosome 12q13–14 (rs703842, P = 5.4 times 10⁻¹¹; rs10876994, P = 2.7 times 10⁻¹⁰; rs12368653, P = 1.0 times 10⁻⁷) and upstream of CD40 on chromosome 20q13 (rs6074022, P = 1.3 times 10⁻⁷; rs1569723, P = 2.9 times 10⁻⁷). Both loci are also associated with other autoimmune diseases. We also replicated several known MS associations (HLA-DR15, P = 7.0 times 10⁻¹⁸⁴; CD58, P = 9.6 times 10⁻⁸; EVI5-RPL5, P = 2.5 times 10⁻⁶; IL2RA, P = 7.4 times 10⁻⁶; CLEC16A, P = 1.1 times 10⁻⁴; IL7R, P = 1.3 times 10⁻³; TYK2, P = 3.5 times 10⁻³) and observed a statistical interaction between SNPs in EVI5-RPL5 and HLA-DR15 (P = 0.001)

Genome-wide association study identifies new multiple sclerosis susceptibility loci on chromosomes 12 and 20

To identify multiple sclerosis (MS) susceptibility loci, we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in 1,618 cases and used shared data for 3,413 controls. We performed replication in an independent set of 2,256 cases and 2,310 controls, for a total of 3,874 cases and 5,723 controls. We identified risk-associated SNPs on chromosome 12q13–14 (rs703842, P = 5.4 times 10-11; rs10876994, P = 2.7 times 10-10; rs12368653, P = 1.0 times 10-7) and upstream of CD40 on chromosome 20q13 (rs6074022, P = 1.3 times 10-7; rs1569723, P = 2.9 times 10-7). Both loci are also associated with other autoimmune diseases1, 2, 3, 4, 5. We also replicated several known MS associations (HLA-DR15, P = 7.0 times 10-184; CD58, P = 9.6 times 10-8; EVI5-RPL5, P = 2.5 times 10-6; IL2RA, P = 7.4 times 10-6; CLEC16A, P = 1.1 times 10-4; IL7R, P = 1.3 times 10-3; TYK2, P = 3.5 times 10-3) and observed a statistical interaction between SNPs in EVI5-RPL5 and HLA-DR15 (P = 0.001)