Association of common genetic variants with brain microbleeds

OBJECTIVE: To identify common genetic variants associated with the presence of brain microbleeds (BMBs). METHODS: We performed geno

Publisher Correction: Multiancestry genome-wide association study of 520,000 subjects identifies 32 loci associated with stroke and stroke subtypes

In the HTML version of this article initially published, the author groups ‘AFGen Consortium’, ‘Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) Consortium’, ‘International Genomics of Blood Pressure (iGEN-BP) Consortium’, ‘INVENT Consortium’, ‘STARNET’, ‘BioBank Japan Cooperative Hospital Group’, ‘COMPASS Consortium’, ‘EPIC-CVD Consortium’, ‘EPIC-InterAct Consortium’, ‘International Stroke Genetics Consortium (ISGC)’, ‘METASTROKE Consortium’, ‘Neurology Working Group of the CHARGE Consortium’, ‘NINDS Stroke Genetics Network (SiGN)’, ‘UK Young Lacunar DNA Study’ and ‘MEGASTROKE Consortium’ appeared at the end of the author list but should have appeared earlier in the list. In addition, the author group ‘MEGASTROKE Consortium’ was duplicated, and its members were not displayed in the ‘Author information’ section. The errors have been corrected in the HTML version of the article

Multi-phenotype analyses of hemostatic traits with cardiovascular events reveal novel genetic associations

Background: Multi-phenotype analysis of genetically correlated phenotypes can increase the statistical power to detect loci associated with multiple traits, leading to the discovery of novel loci. This is the first study to date to comprehensively analyze the shared genetic effects within different hemostatic traits, and between these and their associated disease outcomes. Objectives: To discover novel genetic associations by combining summary data of correlated hemostatic traits and disease events. Methods: Summary statistics from genome wide-association studies (GWAS) from seven hemostatic traits (factor VII [FVII], factor VIII [FVIII], von Willebrand factor [VWF] factor XI [FXI], fibrinogen, tissue plasminogen activator [tPA], plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 [PAI-1]) and three major cardiovascular (CV) events (venous thromboembolism [VTE], coronary artery disease [CAD], ischemic stroke [IS]), were combined in 27 multi-trait combinations using metaUSAT. Genetic correlations between phenotypes were calculated using Linkage Disequilibrium Score Regression (LDSC). Newly associated loci were investigated for colocalization. We considered a significance threshold of 1.85 × 10−9 obtained after applying Bonferroni correction for the number of multi-trait combinations performed (n = 27). Results: Across the 27 multi-trait analyses, we found 4 novel pleiotropic loci (XXYLT1, KNG1, SUGP1/MAU2, TBL2/MLXIPL) that were not significant in the original individual datasets, were not described in previous GWAS for the individual traits, and that presented a common associated variant between the studied phenotypes. Conclusions: The discovery of four novel loci contributes to the understanding of the relationship between hemostasis and CV events and elucidate common genetic factors between these traits

GWAS and colocalization analyses implicate carotid intima-media thickness and carotid plaque loci in cardiovascular outcomes.

Carotid artery intima media thickness (cIMT) and carotid plaque are measures of subclinical atherosclerosis associated with ischemic stroke and coronary heart disease (CHD). Here, we undertake meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in 71,128 individuals for cIMT, and 48,434 individuals for carotid plaque traits. We identify eight novel susceptibility loci for cIMT, one independent association at the previously-identified PINX1 locus, and one novel locus for carotid plaque. Colocalization analysis with nearby vascular expression quantitative loci (cis-eQTLs) derived from arterial wall and metabolic tissues obtained from patients with CHD identifies candidate genes at two potentially additional loci, ADAMTS9 and LOXL4. LD score regression reveals significant genetic correlations between cIMT and plaque traits, and both cIMT and plaque with CHD, any stroke subtype and ischemic stroke. Our study provides insights into genes and tissue-specific regulatory mechanisms linking atherosclerosis both to its functional genomic origins and its clinical consequences in humans