Browsing by Author "Michailidou, Kyriaki"

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    Genomic analyses identify hundreds of variants associated with age at menarche and support a role for puberty timing in cancer risk
    (Nature, 2017) Day, Felix R.; Thompson, Deborah J.; Helgason, Hannes; Chasman, Daniel I.; Finucane, Hilary; Sulem, Patrick; Ruth, Katherine S.; Whalen, Sean; Sarkar, Abhishek K.; Albrecht, Eva; Altmaier, Elisabeth; Amini, Marzyeh; Barbieri, Caterina M.; Boutin, Thibaud; Campbell, Archie; Demerath, Ellen; Giri, Ayush; He, Chunyan; Hottenga, Jouke J.; Karlsson, Robert; Kolchic, Ivana; Loh, Po-Ru; Lunetta, Kathryn L.; Mangino, Massimo; Marco, Brumat; McMahon, George; Medland, Sarah E.; Nolte, Ilja M.; Noordam, Raymond; Nutile, Teresa; Paternoster, Lavinia; Perjakova, Natalia; Porcu, Eleonora; Rose, Lynda M.; Schraut, Katharina E.; Segrè, Ayellet V.; Smith, Albert V.; Stolk, Lisette; Teumer, Alexander; Andrulis, Irene L.; Bandinelli, Stefania; Beckmann, Matthias W.; Benitez, Javier; Bergmann, Sven; Bochud, Murielle; Boerwinkle, Eric; Bojesen, Stig E.; Bolla, Manjeet K.; Brand, Judith S.; Brauch, Hiltrud; Brenner, Hermann; Broer, Linda; Brüning, Thomas; Buring, Julie E.; Campbell, Harry; Catamo, Eulalia; Chanock, Stephen; Chenevix-Trench, Georgia; Corre, Tanguy; Couch, Fergus J.; Cousminer, Diana L.; Cox, Angela; Crisponi, Laura; Czene, Kamila; Davey-Smith, George; de Geus, Eco J. C. N.; de Mutsert, Renée; De Vivo, Immaculata; Dennis, Joe; Devilee, Peter; dos-Santos-Silva, Isabel; Dunning, Alison M.; Eriksson, Johan G.; Fasching, Peter A.; Fernández-Rhodes, Lindsay; Ferrucci, Luigi; Flesch-Janys, Dieter; Franke, Lude; Gabrielson, Marike; Gandin, Ilaria; Giles, Graham G.; Grallert, Harald; Gudbjartsson, Daniel F.; Guéne, Pascal; Hall, Perr; Hallberg, Emily; Hamann, Ute; Harris, Tamara B.; Hartman, Catharina A.; Heiss, Gerardo; Hooning, Maartje J.; Hopper, John L.; Hu, Frank; Hunter, David; Ikram, M. Arfan; Im, Hae Kyung; Järvelin, Marjo-Riitta; Joshi, Peter K.; Karasik, David; Kutalik, Zoltan; LaChance, Genevieve; Lambrechts, Diether; Langenberg, Claudia; Launer, Lenore J.; Laven, Joop S. E.; Lenarduzzi, Stefania; Li, Jingmei; Lind, Penelope A.; Lindstrom, Sara; Liu, YongMei; Luan, Jian'an; Mannermaa, Arto; Mbarek, Hamdi; McCarthy, Mark I.; Meisinger, Christa; Meitinger, Thomas; Menni, Cristina; Metspalu, Andres; Michailidou, Kyriaki; Milani, Lili; Milne, Roger L.; Montgomery, Grant W.; Mulligan, Anna M.; Nalls, Mike A.; Navarro, Pau; Nevanlinna, Heli; Nyholt, Dale R.; Oldehinkel, Albertine J.; O'Mara, Tracy A.; Padmanabhan, Sandosh; Palotie, Aarno; Pedersen, Nancy; Peters, Annette; Peto, Julian; Pharoah, Paul D. P.; Pouta, Anneli; Radice, Paolo; Rahman, Iffat; Ring, Susan M.; Robino, Antonietta; Rosendaal, Frits R.; Rudan, Igor; Rueedi, Rico; Ruggiero, Daniela; Sala, Cinzia F.; Schmidt, Marjanka K.; Scott, Robert A.; Shah, Mitul; Sorice, Rossella; Southey, Melissa C.; Sovio, Ulla; Stampfer, Meir; Steri, Maristella; Strauch, Konstantin; Tanaka, Toshiko; Tikkanen, Emmi; Timpson, Nicholas J.; Traglia, Michela; Truong, Thérèse; Tyrer, Jonathan P.; Uitterlinden, André G.; Edwards, Digna R. Velez; Vitart, Veronique; Völker, Uwe; Vollenweider, Peter; Wang, Qin; Widen, Elisabeth; van Dijk, Ko Willems; Willemsen, Gonneke; Winqvist, Robert; Wolffenbuttel, Bruce H. R.; Zhao, Jing Hua; Zoledziewska, Magdalena; Zygmunt, Marek; Alizadeh, Behrooz Z.; Boomsma, Dorret I.; Ciullo, Marina; Cucca, Francesco; Esko, Tõnu; Franceschini, Nora; Gieger, Christian; Gudnason, Vilmundur; Hayward, Caroline; Kraft, Peter; Lawlor, Debbie A.; Magnusson, Patrik K. E.; Martin, Nicholas G.; Mook-Kanamori, Dennis O.; Nohr, Ellen A.; Polasek, Ozren; Porteous, David; Price, Alkes L.; Ridker, Paul M.; Snieder, Harold; Spector, Tim D.; Stöckl, Doris; Toniolo, Daniela; Ulivi, Sheila; Visser, Jenny A.; Völzke, Henry; Wareham, Nicholas J.; Wilson, James F.; Spurdle, Amanda B.; Thorsteindottir, Unnur; Pollard, Katherine S.; Easton, Douglas F.; Tung, Joyce Y.; Chang-Claude, Jenny; Hinds, David; Murray, Anna; Murabito, Joanne M.; Stefansson, Kari; Ong, Ken K.; Perry, John R. B.; The Lifelines Cohort Study; The InterAct Consortium; kConFab/AOCS Investigators; Endometrial Cancer Association Consortium; Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium; PRACTICAL consortium; Epidemiology, School of Public Health
    The timing of puberty is a highly polygenic childhood trait that is epidemiologically associated with various adult diseases. Using 1000 Genomes Project–imputed genotype data in up to ∼370,000 women, we identify 389 independent signals (P < 5 × 10−8) for age at menarche, a milestone in female pubertal development. In Icelandic data, these signals explain ∼7.4% of the population variance in age at menarche, corresponding to ∼25% of the estimated heritability. We implicate ∼250 genes via coding variation or associated expression, demonstrating significant enrichment in neural tissues. Rare variants near the imprinted genes MKRN3 and DLK1 were identified, exhibiting large effects when paternally inherited. Mendelian randomization analyses suggest causal inverse associations, independent of body mass index (BMI), between puberty timing and risks for breast and endometrial cancers in women and prostate cancer in men. In aggregate, our findings highlight the complexity of the genetic regulation of puberty timing and support causal links with cancer susceptibility.
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    Large-scale genomic analyses link reproductive ageing to hypothalamic signaling, breast cancer susceptibility and BRCA1-mediated DNA repair
    (SpringerNature, 2015-11) Day, Felix R.; Ruth, Katherine S.; Thompson, Deborah J.; Lunetta, Kathryn L.; Pervjakova, Natalia; Chasman, Daniel I.; Stolk, Lisette; Finucane, Hilary K.; Sulem, Patrick; Bulik-Sullivan, Brendan; Esko, Tõnu; Johnson, Andrew D.; Elks, Cathy E.; Franceschini, Nora; He, Chunyan; Altmaier, Elisabeth; Brody, Jennifer A.; Franke, Lude L.; Huffman, Jennifer E.; Keller, Margaux F.; McArdle, Patrick F.; Nutile, Teresa; Porcu, Eleonora; Robino, Antonietta; Rose, Lynda M.; Schick, Ursula M.; Smith, Jennifer A.; Teumer, Alexander; Traglia, Michela; Vuckovic, Dragana; Yao, Jie; Zhao, Wei; Albrecht, Eva; Amin, Najaf; Corre, Tanguy; Hottenga, Jouke-Jan; Mangino, Massimo; Smith, Albert V.; Tanaka, Toshiko; Abecasis, Goncalo; Andrulis, Irene L.; Anton-Culver, Hoda; Antoniou, Antonis C.; Arndt, Volker; Arnold, Alice M.; Barbieri, Caterina; Beckmann, Matthias W.; Beeghly-Fadiel, Alicia; Benitez, Javier; Bernstein, Leslie; Bielinski, Suzette J.; Blomqvist, Carl; Boerwinkle, Eric; Bogdanova, Natalia V.; Bojesen, Stig E.; Bolla, Manjeet K.; Borresen-Dale, Anne-Lise; Boutin, Thibaud S.; Brauch, Hiltrud; Brenner, Hermann; Brüning, Thomas; Burwinkel, Barbara; Campbell, Archie; Campbell, Harry; Chanock, Stephen J.; Chapman, J. Ross; Chen, Yii-Der Ida; Chenevix-Trench, Georgia; Couch, Fergus J.; Coviello, Andrea D.; Cox, Angela; Czene, Kamila; Darabi, Hatef; De Vivo, Immaculata; Demerath, Ellen W.; Dennis, Joe; Devilee, Peter; Dörk, Thilo; dos-Santos-Silva, Isabel; Dunning, Alison M.; Eicher, John D.; Fasching, Peter A.; Faul, Jessica D.; Figueroa, Jonine; Flesch-Janys, Dieter; Gandin, Ilaria; Garcia, Melissa E.; García-Closas, Montserrat; Giles, Graham G.; Girotto, Giorgia G.; Goldberg, Mark S.; González-Neira, Anna; Goodarzi, Mark O.; Grove, Megan L.; Gudbjartsson, Daniel F.; Guénel, Pascal; Guo, Xiuqing; Haiman, Christopher A.; Hall, Per; Hamann, Ute; Henderson, Brian E.; Hocking, Lynne J.; Hofman, Albert; Homuth, Georg; Hooning, Maartje J.; Hopper, John L.; Hu, Frank B.; Huang, Jinyan; Humphreys, Keith; Hunter, David J.; Jakubowska, Anna; Jones, Samuel E.; Kabisch, Maria; Karasia, David; Knight, Julia A.; Kolcic, Ivana; Kooperberg, Charles; Kosma, Veli-Matti; Kriebel, Jennifer; Kristensen, Vessela; Lambrechts, Diether; Langenberg, Claudia; Li, Jingmei; Li, Xin; Lindström, Sara; Liu, Yongmei; Luan, Jian’an; Lubinski, Jan; Mägi, Reedik; Mannermaa, Arto; Manz, Judith; Margolin, Sara; Marten, Jonathan; Martin, Nicholas G.; Masciullo, Corrado; Meindl, Alfons; Michailidou, Kyriaki; Mihailov, Evelin; Milani, Lili; Milne, Roger L.; Müller-Nurasyid, Martina; Nalls, Michael; Neale, Ben M.; Nevanlinna, Heli; Neven, Patrick; Newman, Anne B.; Nordestgaard, Børge G.; Olson, Janet E.; Padmanabhan, Sandosh; Peterlongo, Paolo; Peters, Ulrike; Petersmann, Astrid; Peto, Julian; Pharoah, Paul D.P.; Pirastu, Nicola N.; Pirie, Ailith; Pistis, Giorgio; Polasek, Ozren; Porteous, David; Psaty, Bruce M.; Pylkäs, Katri; Radice, Paolo; Raffel, Leslie J.; Rivadeneira, Fernando; Rudan, Igor; Rudolph, Anja; Anja, Daniela; Sala, Cinzia F.; Sanna, Serena; Sawyer, Elinor J.; Schlessinger, David; Schmidt, Marjanka K.; Schmidt, Frank; Schmutzler, Rita K.; Schoemaker, Minouk J.; Scott, Robert A.; Seynaeve, Caroline M.; Simard, Jacques; Sorice, Rossella; Southey, Melissa C.; Stöckl, Doris; Strauch, Konstantin; Swerdlow, Anthony; Taylor, Kent D.; Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur; Toland, Amanda E.; Tomlinson, Ian; Truong, Thérèse; Tryggvadottir, Laufey; Turner, Stephen T.; Vozzi, Diego; Wang, Qin; Wellons, Melissa; Willemsen, Gonneke; Wilson, James F.; Winqvist, Robert; Wolffenbuttel, Bruce B.H.R.; Wright, Alan F.; Yannoukakos, Drakoulis; Zemunik, Tatijana; Zheng, Wei; Zygmunt, Marek; Bergmann, Sven; Boomsma, Dorret I.; Buring, Julie E.; Ferrucci, Luigi; Montgomery, Grant W.; Gudnason, Vilmundur; Spector, Tim D.; van Duijn, Cornelia M; Alizadeh, Behrooz Z.; Ciullo, Marina; Crisponi, Laura; Easton, Douglas F.; Gasparini, Paolo P.; Gieger, Christian; Harris, Tamara B.; Hayward, Caroline; Kardia, Sharon L.R.; Kraft, Peter; McKnight, Barbara; Metspalu, Andres; Morrison, Alanna C.; Reiner, Alex P.; Ridker, Paul M.; Rotter, Jerome I.; Toniolo, Daniela; Uitterlinden, André G.; Ulivi, Sheila; Völzke, Henry; Wareham, Nicholas J.; Weir, David R.; Yerges-Armstrong, Laura M.; Price, Alkes L.; Stefansson, Kari; Visser, Jenny A.; Ong, Ken K.; Chang-Claude, Jenny; Murabito, Joanne M.; Perry, John R.B.; Murray, Anna; Department of Epidemiology, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health
    Menopause timing has a substantial impact on infertility and risk of disease, including breast cancer, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. We report a dual strategy in ∼70,000 women to identify common and low-frequency protein-coding variation associated with age at natural menopause (ANM). We identified 44 regions with common variants, including two regions harboring additional rare missense alleles of large effect. We found enrichment of signals in or near genes involved in delayed puberty, highlighting the first molecular links between the onset and end of reproductive lifespan. Pathway analyses identified major association with DNA damage response (DDR) genes, including the first common coding variant in BRCA1 associated with any complex trait. Mendelian randomization analyses supported a causal effect of later ANM on breast cancer risk (∼6% increase in risk per year; P = 3 × 10(-14)), likely mediated by prolonged sex hormone exposure rather than DDR mechanisms.
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    Meta-analysis of up to 622,409 individuals identifies 40 novel smoking behaviour associated genetic loci
    (Springer Nature, 2019-01-07) Erzurumluoglu, A. Mesut; Liu, Mengzhen; Jackson, Victoria E.; Barnes, Daniel R.; Datta, Gargi; Melbourne, Carl A.; Young, Robin; Batini, Chiara; Surendran, Praveen; Jiang, Tao; Adnan, Sheikh Daud; Afaq, Saima; Agrawal, Arpana; Altmaier, Elisabeth; Antoniou, Antonis C.; Asselbergs, Folkert W.; Baumbach, Clemens; Bierut, Laura; Bertelsen, Sarah; Boehnke, Michael; Bots, Michiel L.; Brazel, David M.; Chambers, John C.; Chang-Claude, Jenny; Chen, Chu; Corley, Janie; Chou, Yi-Ling; David, Sean P.; Boer, Rudolf A. de; Leeuw, Christiaan A. de; Dennis, Joe G.; Dominiczak, Anna F.; Dunning, Alison M.; Easton, Douglas F.; Eaton, Charles; Elliott, Paul; Evangelou, Evangelos; Faul, Jessica D.; Foroud, Tatiana; Goate, Alison; Gong, Jian; Grabe, Hans J.; Haessler, Jeff; Haiman, Christopher; Hallmans, Göran; Hammerschlag, Anke R.; Harris, Sarah E.; Hattersley, Andrew; Heath, Andrew; Hsu, Chris; Iacono, William G.; Kanoni, Stavroula; Kapoor, Manav; Kaprio, Jaakko; Kardia, Sharon L.; Karpe, Fredrik; Kontto, Jukka; Kooner, Jaspal S.; Kooperberg, Charles; Kuulasmaa, Kari; Laakso, Markku; Lai, Dongbing; Langenberg, Claudia; Le, Nhung; Lettre, Guillaume; Loukola, Anu; Luan, Jian’an; Madden, Pamela A. F.; Mangino, Massimo; Marioni, Riccardo E.; Marouli, Eirini; Marten, Jonathan; Martin, Nicholas G.; McGue, Matt; Michailidou, Kyriaki; Mihailov, Evelin; Moayyeri, Alireza; Moitry, Marie; Müller-Nurasyid, Martina; Naheed, Aliya; Nauck, Matthias; Neville, Matthew J.; Nielsen, Sune Fallgaard; North, Kari; Perola, Markus; Pharoah, Paul D. P.; Pistis, Giorgio; Polderman, Tinca J.; Posthuma, Danielle; Poulter, Neil; Qaiser, Beenish; Rasheed, Asif; Reiner, Alex; Renström, Frida; Rice, John; Rohde, Rebecca; Rolandsson, Olov; Samani, Nilesh J.; Samuel, Maria; Schlessinger, David; Scholte, Steven H.; Scott, Robert A.; Sever, Peter; Shao, Yaming; Shrine, Nick; Smith, Jennifer A.; Starr, John M.; Stirrups, Kathleen; Stram, Danielle; Stringham, Heather M.; Tachmazidou, Ioanna; Tardif, Jean-Claude; Thompson, Deborah J.; Tindle, Hilary A.; Tragante, Vinicius; Trompet, Stella; Turcot, Valerie; Tyrrell, Jessica; Vaartjes, Ilonca; Leij, Andries R. van der; Meer, Peter van der; Varga, Tibor V.; Verweij, Niek; Völzke, Henry; Wareham, Nicholas J.; Warren, Helen R.; Weir, David R.; Weiss, Stefan; Wetherill, Leah; Yaghootkar, Hanieh; Yavas, Ersin; Jiang, Yu; Chen, Fang; Zhan, Xiaowei; Zhang, Weihua; Zhao, Wei; Zhao, Wei; Zhou, Kaixin; Amouyel, Philippe; Blankenberg, Stefan; Caulfield, Mark J.; Chowdhury, Rajiv; Cucca, Francesco; Deary, Ian J.; Deloukas, Panos; Angelantonio, Emanuele Di; Ferrario, Marco; Ferrières, Jean; Franks, Paul W.; Frayling, Tim M.; Frossard, Philippe; Hall, Ian P.; Hayward, Caroline; Jansson, Jan-Håkan; Jukema, J. Wouter; Kee, Frank; Männistö, Satu; Metspalu, Andres; Munroe, Patricia B.; Nordestgaard, Børge Grønne; Palmer, Colin N. A.; Salomaa, Veikko; Sattar, Naveed; Spector, Timothy; Strachan, David Peter; Harst, Pim van der; Zeggini, Eleftheria; Saleheen, Danish; Butterworth, Adam S.; Wain, Louise V.; Abecasis, Goncalo R.; Danesh, John; Tobin, Martin D.; Vrieze, Scott; Liu, Dajiang J.; Howson, Joanna M. M.; Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine
    Smoking is a major heritable and modifiable risk factor for many diseases, including cancer, common respiratory disorders and cardiovascular diseases. Fourteen genetic loci have previously been associated with smoking behaviour-related traits. We tested up to 235,116 single nucleotide variants (SNVs) on the exome-array for association with smoking initiation, cigarettes per day, pack-years, and smoking cessation in a fixed effects meta-analysis of up to 61 studies (up to 346,813 participants). In a subset of 112,811 participants, a further one million SNVs were also genotyped and tested for association with the four smoking behaviour traits. SNV-trait associations with P < 5 × 10−8 in either analysis were taken forward for replication in up to 275,596 independent participants from UK Biobank. Lastly, a meta-analysis of the discovery and replication studies was performed. Sixteen SNVs were associated with at least one of the smoking behaviour traits (P < 5 × 10−8) in the discovery samples. Ten novel SNVs, including rs12616219 near TMEM182, were followed-up and five of them (rs462779 in REV3L, rs12780116 in CNNM2, rs1190736 in GPR101, rs11539157 in PJA1, and rs12616219 near TMEM182) replicated at a Bonferroni significance threshold (P < 4.5 × 10−3) with consistent direction of effect. A further 35 SNVs were associated with smoking behaviour traits in the discovery plus replication meta-analysis (up to 622,409 participants) including a rare SNV, rs150493199, in CCDC141 and two low-frequency SNVs in CEP350 and HDGFRP2. Functional follow-up implied that decreased expression of REV3L may lower the probability of smoking initiation. The novel loci will facilitate understanding the genetic aetiology of smoking behaviour and may lead to the identification of potential drug targets for smoking prevention and/or cessation.
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    Parent-of-origin specific allelic associations among 106 genomic loci for age at menarche
    (Nature Publishing Group, 2014-10-02) Perry, John RB; Day, Felix; Elks, Cathy E.; Sulem, Patrick; Thompson, Deborah J.; Ferreira, Teresa; He, Chunyan; Chasman, Daniel I.; Esko, Tõnu; Thorleifsson, Gudmar; Albrecht, Eva; Ang, Wei Q.; Corre, Tanguy; Cousminer, Diana L.; Feenstra, Bjarke; Franceschini, Nora; Ganna, Andrea; Johnson, Andrew D.; Kjellqvist, Sanela; Lunetta, Kathryn L.; McMahon, George; Nolte, Ilja M.; Paternoster, Lavinia; Porcu, Eleonora; Smith, Albert V.; Stolk, Lisette; Teumer, Alexander; Tšernikova, Natalia; Tikkanen, Emmi; Ulivi, Sheila; Wagner, Erin K.; Amin, Najaf; Bierut, Laura J.; Byrne, Enda M.; Hottenga, Jouke-Jan; Koller, Daniel L.; Mangino, Massimo; Pers, Tune H.; Yerges-Armstrong, Laura M.; Zhao, Jing Hua; Andrulis, Irene L.; Anton-Culver, Hoda; Atsma, Femke; Bandinelli, Stefania; Beckmann, Matthias W.; Benitez, Javier; Blomqvist, Carl; Bojesen, Stig E.; Bolla, Manjeet K.; Bonanni, Bernardo; Brauch, Hiltrud; Brenner, Hermann; Buring, Julie E.; Chang-Claude, Jenny; Chanock, Stephen; Chen, Jinhui; Chenevix-Trench, Georgia; Collée, J. Margriet; Couch, Fergus J.; Couper, David; Coveillo, Andrea D.; Cox, Angela; Czene, Kamila; D’adamo, Adamo Pio; Smith, George Davey; De Vivo, Immaculata; Demerath, Ellen W.; Dennis, Joe; Devilee, Peter; Dieffenbach, Aida K.; Dunning, Alison M.; Eiriksdottir, Gudny; Eriksson, Johan G.; Fasching, Peter A.; Ferrucci, Luigi; Flesch-Janys, Dieter; Flyger, Henrik; Foroud, Tatiana; Franke, Lude; Garcia, Melissa E.; García-Closas, Montserrat; Geller, Frank; de Geus, Eco EJ; Giles, Graham G.; Gudbjartsson, Daniel F.; Gudnason, Vilmundur; Guénel, Pascal; Guo, Suiqun; Hall, Per; Hamann, Ute; Haring, Robin; Hartman, Catharina A.; Heath, Andrew C.; Hofman, Albert; Hooning, Maartje J.; Hopper, John L.; Hu, Frank B.; Hunter, David J.; Karasik, David; Kiel, Douglas P.; Knight, Julia A.; Kosma, Veli-Matti; Kutalik, Zoltan; Lai, Sandra; Lambrechts, Diether; Lindblom, Annika; Mägi, Reedik; Magnusson, Patrik K.; Mannermaa, Arto; Martin, Nicholas G.; Masson, Gisli; McArdle, Patrick F.; McArdle, Wendy L.; Melbye, Mads; Michailidou, Kyriaki; Mihailov, Evelin; Milani, Lili; Milne, Roger L.; Nevanlinna, Heli; Neven, Patrick; Nohr, Ellen A.; Oldehinkel, Albertine J.; Oostra, Ben A.; Palotie, Aarno; Peacock, Munro; Pedersen, Nancy L.; Peterlongo, Paolo; Peto, Julian; Pharoah, Paul DP; Postma, Dirkje S.; Pouta, Anneli; Pylkäs, Katri; Radice, Paolo; Ring, Susan; Rivadeneira, Fernando; Robino, Antonietta; Rose, Lynda M.; Rudolph, Anja; Salomaa, Veikko; Sanna, Serena; Schlessinger, David; Schmidt, Marjanka K.; Southey, Mellissa C.; Sovio, Ulla; Stampfer, Meir J.; Stöckl, Doris; Storniolo, Anna M.; Timpson, Nicholas J.; Tyrer, Jonathan; Visser, Jenny A.; Vollenweider, Peter; Völzke, Henry; Waeber, Gerard; Waldenberger, Melanie; Wallaschofski, Henri; Wang, Qin; Willemsen, Gonneke; Winqvist, Robert; Wolffenbuttel, Bruce HR; Wright, Margaret J.; Boomsma, Dorret I.; Econs, Michael J.; Khaw, Kay-Tee; Loos, Ruth JF; McCarthy, Mark I.; Montgomery, Grant W.; Rice, John P.; Streeten, Elizabeth A.; Thorsteinsdottir, Unnur; van Duijn, Cornelia M.; Alizadeh, Behrooz Z.; Bergmann, Sven; Boerwinkle, Eric; Boyd, Heather A.; Crisponi, Laura; Gasparini, Paolo; Gieger, Christian; Harris, Tamara B.; Ingelsson, Erik; Järvelin, Marjo-Riitta; Kraft, Peter; Lawlor, Debbie; Metspalu, Andres; Pennell, Craig E.; Ridker, Paul M.; Snieder, Harold; Sørensen, Thorkild IA; Spector, Tim D.; Strachan, David P.; Uitterlinden, André G.; Wareham, Nicholas J.; Widen, Elisabeth; Zygmunt, Marek; Murray, Anna; Easton, Douglas F.; Stefansson, Kari; Murabito, Joanne M.; Ong, Ken K.; Department of Epidemiology, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health
    Age at menarche is a marker of timing of puberty in females. It varies widely between individuals, is a heritable trait and is associated with risks for obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, breast cancer and all-cause mortality. Studies of rare human disorders of puberty and animal models point to a complex hypothalamic-pituitary-hormonal regulation,, but the mechanisms that determine pubertal timing and underlie its links to disease risk remain unclear. Here, using genome-wide and custom-genotyping arrays in up to 182,416 women of European descent from 57 studies, we found robust evidence (P<5×10−8) for 123 signals at 106 genomic loci associated with age at menarche. Many loci were associated with other pubertal traits in both sexes, and there was substantial overlap with genes implicated in body mass index and various diseases, including rare disorders of puberty. Menarche signals were enriched in imprinted regions, with three loci (DLK1/WDR25, MKRN3/MAGEL2 and KCNK9) demonstrating parent-of-origin specific associations concordant with known parental expression patterns. Pathway analyses implicated nuclear hormone receptors, particularly retinoic acid and gamma-aminobutyric acid-B2 receptor signaling, among novel mechanisms that regulate pubertal timing in humans. Our findings suggest a genetic architecture involving at least hundreds of common variants in the coordinated timing of the pubertal transition.