Lingyi Lu

A GENOME WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDY FOR DIABETIC NEPHROPATHY GENES IN AFRICAN AMERICANS

A genome-wide association study was performed using the Affymetrix 6.0 chip to identify genes associated with diabetic nephropathy in African Americans. Association analysis was performed adjusting for admixture in 965 type 2 diabetic African American patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and in 1029 African Americans without type 2 diabetes or kidney disease as controls. The top 724 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with evidence of association to diabetic nephropathy were then genotyped in a replication sample of an additional 709 type 2 diabetes-ESRD patients and 690 controls. SNPs with evidence of association in both the original and replication studies were tested in additional African American cohorts consisting of 1246 patients with type 2 diabetes without kidney disease and 1216 with non-diabetic ESRD to differentiate candidate loci for type 2 diabetes-ESRD, type 2 diabetes, and/or all-cause ESRD. Twenty-five SNPs were significantly associated with type 2 diabetes-ESRD in the genome-wide association and initial replication. Although genome-wide significance with type 2 diabetes was not found for any of these 25 SNPs, several genes, including RPS12, LIMK2, and SFI1 are strong candidates for diabetic nephropathy. A combined analysis of all 2890 patients with ESRD showed significant association SNPs in LIMK2 and SFI1 suggesting that they also contribute to all-cause ESRD. Thus, our results suggest that multiple loci underlie susceptibility to kidney disease in African Americans with type 2 diabetes and some may also contribute to all-cause ESRD.

Differential Effects of MYH9 and APOL1 Risk Variants on FRMD3 Association with Diabetic ESRD in African Americans

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in MYH9 and APOL1 on chromosome 22 (c22) are powerfully associated with non-diabetic end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in African Americans (AAs). Many AAs diagnosed with type 2 diabetic nephropathy (T2DN) have non-diabetic kidney disease, potentially masking detection of DN genes. Therefore, genome-wide association analyses were performed using the Affymetrix SNP Array 6.0 in 966 AA with T2DN and 1,032 non-diabetic, non-nephropathy (NDNN) controls, with and without adjustment for c22 nephropathy risk variants. No associations were seen between FRMD3 SNPs and T2DN before adjusting for c22 variants. However, logistic regression analysis revealed seven FRMD3 SNPs significantly interacting with MYH9—a finding replicated in 640 additional AA T2DN cases and 683 NDNN controls. Contrasting all 1,592 T2DN cases with all 1,671 NDNN controls, FRMD3 SNPs appeared to interact with the MYH9 E1 haplotype (e.g., rs942280 interaction p-value = 9.3E−7 additive; odds ratio [OR] 0.67). FRMD3 alleles were associated with increased risk of T2DN only in subjects lacking two MYH9 E1 risk haplotypes (rs942280 OR = 1.28), not in MYH9 E1 risk allele homozygotes (rs942280 OR = 0.80; homogeneity p-value = 4.3E−4). Effects were weaker stratifying on APOL1. FRMD3 SNPS were associated with T2DN, not type 2 diabetes per se, comparing AAs with T2DN to those with diabetes lacking nephropathy. T2DN-associated FRMD3 SNPs were detectable in AAs only after accounting for MYH9, with differential effects for APOL1. These analyses reveal a role for FRMD3 in AA T2DN susceptibility and accounting for c22 nephropathy risk variants can assist in detecting DN susceptibility genes.

APOL1 associations with nephropathy, atherosclerosis, and all-cause mortality in African Americans with type 2 diabetes

Albuminuria and reduced eGFR associate with two apolipoprotein L1 gene (APOL1) variants in non-diabetic African Americans. Whether APOL1 associates with subclinical atherosclerosis and survival remains unclear. To determine this, 717 African American-Diabetes Heart Study participants underwent computed tomography to determine coronary artery, carotid artery, and aorta calcified atherosclerotic plaque mass scores in addition to the urine albumin:creatinine ratio (UACR), eGFR, and C-reactive protein. Associations between mass scores and APOL1 were assessed adjusting for age, gender, African ancestry, BMI, HbA1c, smoking, hypertension, use of statins and ACE inhibitors, albuminuria, and eGFR. Participants were 58.9% female with mean age 56.5 years, eGFR 89.5 ml/min/1.73m2, UACR 169.6 mg/g, coronary artery, carotid artery and aorta calcified plaque mass scores of 610, 171 and 5378, respectively. In fully adjusted models, APOL1 risk variants were significantly associated with lower levels of carotid artery calcified plaque (β −0.42, SE 0.18, dominant model), and marginally lower coronary artery plaque (β −0.36, SE 0.21; dominant model), but not with aorta calcified plaque, C-reactive protein, UACR, or eGFR. After a mean follow-up of 5.0 years, 89 participants died. APOL1 nephropathy risk variants were significantly associated with improved survival (hazard ratio 0.67 for 1 copy; 0.44 for 2 copies). Thus, APOL1 nephropathy variants associate with lower levels of subclinical atherosclerosis and reduced risk of death in African Americans with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Genome-wide association of BMI in African Americans.

Recent genome‐wide association studies (GWAS) have identified multiple novel loci associated with obesity in Europeans but results in other ethnicities are less convincing. Here, we report a two‐stage GWAS of BMI in African Americans. The GWAS was performed using the Affymetrix 6.0 platform in 816 nondiabetic and 899 diabetic nephropathy subjects. 746,626 single‐nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were tested for association with BMI after adjustment for age, gender, disease status, and population structure. Sixty high scoring SNPs that showed nominal association in both GWAS cohorts were further replicated in 3,274 additional subjects in four replication cohorts and a meta‐analysis was computed. Meta‐analysis of 4,989 subjects revealed five SNPs (rs6794092, rs268972, rs2033195, rs815611, and rs6088887) at four loci showing consistent associations in both GWAS (P < 0.0001) and replication cohorts (P < 0.05) with combined P values range from 2.4 × 10−6 to 5 × 10−5. These loci are located near PP13439‐TMEM212, CDH12, MFAP3‐GALNT10, and FER1L4 and had effect sizes between 0.091 and 0.167 s.d. unit (or 0.67–1.24 kg/m2) of BMI for each copy of the effect allele. Our findings suggest the presence of novel loci potentially associated with adiposity in African Americans. Further replication and meta‐analysis in African Americans and other populations will shed light on the role of these loci in different ethnic populations.

Admixture mapping of coronary artery calcified plaque in African Americans with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Background—The presence and severity of coronary artery calcified plaque (CAC) differs markedly between individuals of African and European descent, suggesting that admixture mapping may be informative for identifying genetic variants associated with subclinical cardiovascular disease. Methods and Results—Admixture mapping of CAC was performed in 1040 unrelated African Americans with type 2 diabetes mellitus from the African American-Diabetes Heart Study, Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis and Family Heart Study using the Illumina custom ancestry informative marker panel. All cohorts obtained computed tomography scanning of the coronary arteries using identical protocols. For each ancestry informative marker, the probability of inheriting 0, 1, and 2 copies of a European-derived allele was determined. Linkage analysis was performed by testing for association between each ancestry informative marker using these probabilities and CAC, accounting for global ancestry, age, sex, and study. Markers on 1p32.3 in the GLIS1 gene (rs6663966, logarithm of odds [LOD]=3.7), 1q32.1 near CHIT1 (rs7530895, LOD=3.1), 4q21.2 near PRKG2 (rs1212373, LOD=3.0), and 11q25 in the OPCML gene (rs6590705, LOD=3.4) had statistically significant LOD scores, whereas markers on 8q22.2 (rs6994682, LOD=2.7), 9p21.2 (rs439314, LOD=2.7), and 13p32.1 (rs7492028, LOD=2.8) manifested suggestive evidence of linkage. These regions were uniformly characterized by higher levels of European ancestry associating with higher levels or odds of CAC. Findings were replicated in 1350 African Americans without diabetes mellitus and 2497 diabetic European Americans from Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis and the Diabetes Heart Study. Conclusions—Fine mapping these regions will likely identify novel genetic variants that contribute to CAC and clarify racial differences in susceptibility to subclinical cardiovascular disease.

Genetic association and gene-gene interaction analyses in African American dialysis patients with nondiabetic nephropathy

BACKGROUND African Americans have increased susceptibility to nondiabetic nephropathy relative to European Americans. STUDY DESIGN Follow-up of a pooled genome-wide association study (GWAS) in African American dialysis patients with nondiabetic nephropathy; novel gene-gene interaction analyses. SETTING & PARTICIPANTS Wake Forest sample: 962 African American nondiabetic nephropathy cases, 931 non-nephropathy controls. Replication sample: 668 Family Investigation of Nephropathy and Diabetes (FIND) African American nondiabetic nephropathy cases, 804 non-nephropathy controls. PREDICTORS Individual genotyping of top 1,420 pooled GWAS-associated single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 54 SNPs in 6 nephropathy susceptibility genes. OUTCOMES APOL1 genetic association and additional candidate susceptibility loci interacting with or independently from APOL1. RESULTS The strongest GWAS associations included 2 noncoding APOL1 SNPs, rs2239785 (OR, 0.33; dominant; P = 5.9 × 10(-24)) and rs136148 (OR, 0.54; additive; P = 1.1 × 10(-7)) with replication in FIND (P = 5.0 × 10(-21) and 1.9 × 10(-05), respectively). rs2239785 remained associated significantly after controlling for the APOL1 G1 and G2 coding variants. Additional top hits included a CFH SNP (OR from meta-analysis in the 3,367 African American cases and controls, 0.81; additive; P = 6.8 × 10(-4)). The 1,420 SNPs were tested for interaction with APOL1 G1 and G2 variants. Several interactive SNPs were detected; the most significant was rs16854341 in the podocin gene (NPHS2; P = 0.0001). LIMITATIONS Nonpooled GWASs have not been performed in African American patients with nondiabetic nephropathy. CONCLUSIONS This follow-up of a pooled GWAS provides additional and independent evidence that APOL1 variants contribute to nondiabetic nephropathy in African Americans and identified additional associated and interactive nondiabetic nephropathy susceptibility genes.

Gene–gene interactions in APOL1-associated nephropathy

BACKGROUND Two APOL1 nephropathy variants confer substantial risk for non-diabetic end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) in African Americans (AAs). Since not all genetically high-risk individuals develop ESKD, modifying factors likely contribute. Forty-two potentially interactive single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from a genome-wide association study in non-diabetic ESKD were tested for interaction with APOL1 to identify genes modifying risk for non-diabetic nephropathy. METHODS SNPs were examined in an expanded sample of 1367 AA non-diabetic ESKD cases and 1504 AA non-nephropathy controls, with validation in an independent family-based cohort containing 608 first-degree relatives of index cases with non-diabetic ESKD. Logistic regression and mixed models were fitted to test for interaction effects with APOL1 on ESKD, estimated kidney function and albuminuria. RESULTS Among ESKD samples, 14 of 42 SNPs demonstrated suggestive APOL1 interaction with P-values <0.05. After Bonferroni correction, significant interactions with APOL1 were seen with SNPs in podocin (rs16854341; NPHS2, P = 8.0 × 10(-4)), in SDCCAG8 (rs2802723; P = 5.0 × 10(-4)) and near BMP4 (rs8014363; P = 1.0 × 10(-3)); with trends for ENOX1 (rs9533534; P = 2.2 × 10(-3)) and near TRIB1 (rs4457349; P = 5.7 × 10(-3)). The minor allele in NPHS2 markedly changed the APOL1-ESKD association odds ratio (OR) from 7.03 to 1.76 (∼50% reduction in effect per copy of the minor allele), rs2802723 changed the OR from 5.1 to 10.5, and rs8014363 increased the OR from 4.8 to 9.5. NPHS2 (P = 0.05) and SDCCAG8 (P = 0.03) SNPs demonstrated APOL1 interaction with albuminuria in independent family-based samples. CONCLUSIONS Variants in NPHS2, SDCCAG8 and near BMP4 appear to interact with APOL1 to modulate the risk for non-diabetic ESKD in AAs.

Evaluation of PPP2R2A as a prostate cancer susceptibility gene: a comprehensive germline and somatic study.

PPP2R2A, mapped to 8p21.2, codes for the α isoform of the regulatory B55 subfamily of protein phosphatase 2 (PP2A). PP2A is one of the four major serine/threonine phosphatases and is implicated in the negative control of cell growth and division. Because of its known functions and location within a chromosomal region where evidence for linkage and somatic loss of heterozygosity was found, we hypothesized that either somatic copy number changes or germline sequence variants in PPP2R2A may increase prostate cancer (PCa) risk. We examined PPP2R2A deletion status in 141 PCa samples using Affymetrix SNP arrays. It was found that PPP2R2A was commonly (67.1%) deleted in tumor samples, including a homozygous deletion in three tumors (2.1%). We performed a mutation screen for PPP2R2A in 96 probands of hereditary prostate cancer families. No high risk mutations were identified. In addition, we re-analyzed 10 SNPs of PPP2R2A in sporadic PCa cases and controls. No significant differences in the allele and genotype frequencies were observed among either PCa cases and controls or PCa aggressive and non-aggressive cases. Taken together, these results suggest that a somatic deletion rather than germline sequence variants of PPP2R2A may play a more important role in PCa susceptibility.

Multiethnic genome-wide meta-analysis of ectopic fat depots identifies loci associated with adipocyte development and differentiation

Variation in body fat distribution contributes to the metabolic sequelae of obesity. The genetic determinants of body fat distribution are poorly understood. The goal of this study was to gain new insights into the underlying genetics of body fat distribution by conducting sample-size-weighted fixed-effects genome-wide association meta-analyses in up to 9,594 women and 8,738 men of European, African, Hispanic and Chinese ancestry, with and without sex stratification, for six traits associated with ectopic fat (hereinafter referred to as ectopic-fat traits). In total, we identified seven new loci associated with ectopic-fat traits (ATXN1, UBE2E2, EBF1, RREB1, GSDMB, GRAMD3 and ENSA; P < 5 × 10−8; false discovery rate < 1%). Functional analysis of these genes showed that loss of function of either Atxn1 or Ube2e2 in primary mouse adipose progenitor cells impaired adipocyte differentiation, suggesting physiological roles for ATXN1 and UBE2E2 in adipogenesis. Future studies are necessary to further explore the mechanisms by which these genes affect adipocyte biology and how their perturbations contribute to systemic metabolic disease.

Genome-wide linkage scan in Gullah-speaking African American families with type 2 diabetes: the Sea Islands Genetic African American Registry (Project SuGAR).

OBJECTIVE—The Gullah-speaking African American population from the Sea Islands of South Carolina is characterized by a low degree of European admixture and high rates of type 2 diabetes and diabetic complications. Affected relative pairs with type 2 diabetes were recruited through the Sea Islands Genetic African American Registry (Project SuGAR). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—We conducted a genome-wide linkage scan, genotyping 5,974 single nucleotide polymorphisms in 471 affected subjects and 50 unaffected relatives from 197 pedigrees. Data were analyzed using a multipoint engine for rapid likelihood inference and ordered subsets analyses (OSAs) for age at type 2 diabetes diagnosis, waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, and BMI. We searched for heterogeneity and interactions using a conditional logistic regression likelihood approach. RESULTS—Linkage peaks on chromosome 14 at 123–124 cM were detected for type 2 diabetes (logarithm of odds [LOD] 2.10) and for the subset with later age at type 2 diabetes diagnosis (maximum LOD 4.05). Two linkage peaks on chromosome 7 were detected at 44–45 cM for type 2 diabetes (LOD 1.18) and at 78 cM for type 2 diabetes (LOD 1.64) and the subset with earlier age at type 2 diabetes diagnosis (maximum LOD 3.93). The chromosome 14 locus and a peak on 7p at 29.5 cM were identified as important in the multilocus model. Other regions that provided modest evidence for linkage included chromosome 1 at 167.5 cM (LOD 1.51) and chromosome 3 at 121.0 cM (LOD 1.61). CONCLUSIONS—This study revealed a novel type 2 diabetes locus in an African American population on 14q that appears to reduce age of disease onset and confirmed two loci on chromosome 7.