Browsing by Author "Kohannim, Omid"

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    Common folate gene variant, MTHFR C677T, is associated with brain structure in two independent cohorts of people with mild cognitive impairment
    (Elsevier, 2012-10-04) Rajagopalan, Priya; Jahanshad, Neda; Stein, Jason L.; Hua, Xue; Madsen, Sarah K.; Kohannim, Omid; Hibar, Derrek P.; Toga, Arthur W.; Jack, Clifford R., Jr.; Saykin, Andrew J.; Green, Robert C.; Weiner, Michael W.; Bis, Joshua C.; Kuller, Lewis H.; Riverol, Mario; Becker, James T.; Lopez, Oscar L.; Thompson, Paul M.; Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI); Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS); Radiology and Imaging Sciences, School of Medicine
    A commonly carried C677T polymorphism in a folate-related gene, MTHFR, is associated with higher plasma homocysteine, a well-known mediator of neuronal damage and brain atrophy. As homocysteine promotes brain atrophy, we set out to discover whether people carrying the C677T MTHFR polymorphism which increases homocysteine, might also show systematic differences in brain structure. Using tensor-based morphometry, we tested this association in 359 elderly Caucasian subjects with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) (mean age: 75 ± 7.1 years) scanned with brain MRI and genotyped as part of Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. We carried out a replication study in an independent, non-overlapping sample of 51 elderly Caucasian subjects with MCI (mean age: 76 ± 5.5 years), scanned with brain MRI and genotyped for MTHFR, as part of the Cardiovascular Health Study. At each voxel in the brain, we tested to see where regional volume differences were associated with carrying one or more MTHFR 'T' alleles. In ADNI subjects, carriers of the MTHFR risk allele had detectable brain volume deficits, in the white matter, of up to 2-8% per risk T allele locally at baseline and showed accelerated brain atrophy of 0.5-1.5% per T allele at 1 year follow-up, after adjusting for age and sex. We replicated these brain volume deficits of up to 5-12% per MTHFR T allele in the independent cohort of CHS subjects. As expected, the associations weakened after controlling for homocysteine levels, which the risk gene affects. The MTHFR risk variant may thus promote brain atrophy by elevating homocysteine levels. This study aims to investigate the spatially detailed effects of this MTHFR polymorphism on brain structure in 3D, pointing to a causal pathway that may promote homocysteine-mediated brain atrophy in elderly people with MCI.
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    Genome-wide association identifies genetic variants associated with lentiform nucleus volume in N=1345 young and elderly subjects
    (Springer, 2013) Hibar, Derrek P.; Stein, Jason L.; Ryles, April B.; Kohannim, Omid; Jahanshad, Neda; Medland, Sarah E.; Hansell, Narelle K.; McMahon, Katie L.; de Zubicaray, Greig I.; Montgomery, Grant W.; Martin, Nicholas G.; Wright, Margaret J.; Saykin, Andrew J.; Jack, Clifford R., Jr.; Weiner, Michael W.; Toga, Arthur W.; Thompson, Paul M.; Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative; Radiology and Imaging Sciences, School of Medicine
    Deficits in lentiform nucleus volume and morphometry are implicated in a number of genetically influenced disorders, including Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia, and ADHD. Here we performed genome-wide searches to discover common genetic variants associated with differences in lentiform nucleus volume in human populations. We assessed structural MRI scans of the brain in two large genotyped samples: the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI; N = 706) and the Queensland Twin Imaging Study (QTIM; N = 639). Statistics of association from each cohort were combined meta-analytically using a fixed-effects model to boost power and to reduce the prevalence of false positive findings. We identified a number of associations in and around the flavin-containing monooxygenase (FMO) gene cluster. The most highly associated SNP, rs1795240, was located in the FMO3 gene; after meta-analysis, it showed genome-wide significant evidence of association with lentiform nucleus volume (P MA = 4.79 × 10(-8)). This commonly-carried genetic variant accounted for 2.68 % and 0.84 % of the trait variability in the ADNI and QTIM samples, respectively, even though the QTIM sample was on average 50 years younger. Pathway enrichment analysis revealed significant contributions of this gene to the cytochrome P450 pathway, which is involved in metabolizing numerous therapeutic drugs for pain, seizures, mania, depression, anxiety, and psychosis. The genetic variants we identified provide replicated, genome-wide significant evidence for the FMO gene cluster's involvement in lentiform nucleus volume differences in human populations.