Browsing by Subject "Rare variants"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Association analysis of rare variants near the APOE region with CSF and neuroimaging biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease
    (Springer Nature, 2017-05-24) Nho, Kwangsik; Kim, Sungeun; Horgusluoglu, Emrin; Risacher, Shannon L.; Shen, Li; Kim, Dokyoon; Lee, Seunggeun; Foroud, Tatiana; Shaw, Leslie M.; Trojanowski, John Q.; Aisen, Paul S.; Petersen, Ronald C.; Jack, Clifford R., Jr.; Weiner, Michael W.; Green, Robert C.; Toga, Arthur W.; Saykin, Andrew J.; Radiology and Imaging Sciences, School of Medicine
    BACKGROUND: The APOE ε4 allele is the most significant common genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD). The region surrounding APOE on chromosome 19 has also shown consistent association with LOAD. However, no common variants in the region remain significant after adjusting for APOE genotype. We report a rare variant association analysis of genes in the vicinity of APOE with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and neuroimaging biomarkers of LOAD. METHODS: Whole genome sequencing (WGS) was performed on 817 blood DNA samples from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). Sequence data from 757 non-Hispanic Caucasian participants was used in the present analysis. We extracted all rare variants (MAF (minor allele frequency) < 0.05) within a 312 kb window in APOE's vicinity encompassing 12 genes. We assessed CSF and neuroimaging (MRI and PET) biomarkers as LOAD-related quantitative endophenotypes. Gene-based analyses of rare variants were performed using the optimal Sequence Kernel Association Test (SKAT-O). RESULTS: A total of 3,334 rare variants (MAF < 0.05) were found within the APOE region. Among them, 72 rare non-synonymous variants were observed. Eight genes spanning the APOE region were significantly associated with CSF Aβ1-42 (p < 1.0 × 10-3). After controlling for APOE genotype and adjusting for multiple comparisons, 4 genes (CBLC, BCAM, APOE, and RELB) remained significant. Whole-brain surface-based analysis identified highly significant clusters associated with rare variants of CBLC in the temporal lobe region including the entorhinal cortex, as well as frontal lobe regions. Whole-brain voxel-wise analysis of amyloid PET identified significant clusters in the bilateral frontal and parietal lobes showing associations of rare variants of RELB with cortical amyloid burden. CONCLUSIONS: Rare variants within genes spanning the APOE region are significantly associated with LOAD-related CSF Aβ1-42 and neuroimaging biomarkers after adjusting for APOE genotype. These findings warrant further investigation and illustrate the role of next generation sequencing and quantitative endophenotypes in assessing rare variants which may help explain missing heritability in AD and other complex diseases.
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    Identifying Susceptibility Loci for Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma Using a Fast Sequence Kernel Association Test
    (Frontiers Media, 2021-05-10) Huang, Manyan; Lyu, Chen; Qureshi, Abrar A.; Han, Jiali; Li, Ming; Epidemiology, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health
    Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) accounts for about 20% of all skin cancers, the most common type of malignancy in the United States. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have successfully identified multiple genetic variants associated with the risk of cSCC. Most of these studies were single-locus-based, testing genetic variants one-at-a-time. In this article, we performed gene-based association tests to evaluate the joint effect of multiple variants, especially rare variants, on the risk of cSCC by using a fast sequence kernel association test (fastSKAT). The study included 1,710 cSCC cases and 24,304 cancer-free controls from the Nurses’ Health Study, the Nurses’ Health Study II and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. We used UCSC Genome Browser to define gene units as candidate loci, and further evaluated the association between all variants within each gene unit and disease outcome. Four genes HP1BP3, DAG1, SEPT7P2, and SLFN12 were identified using Bonferroni adjusted significance level. Our study is complementary to the existing GWASs, and our findings may provide additional insights into the etiology of cSCC. Further studies are needed to validate these findings.
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    Rare variants in long non-coding RNAs are associated with blood lipid levels in the TOPMed Whole Genome Sequencing Study
    (medRxiv, 2023-06-29) Wang, Yuxuan; Selvaraj, Margaret Sunitha; Li, Xihao; Li, Zilin; Holdcraft, Jacob A.; Arnett, Donna K.; Bis, Joshua C.; Blangero, John; Boerwinkle, Eric; Bowden, Donald W.; Cade, Brian E.; Carlson, Jenna C.; Carson, April P.; Chen, Yii-Der Ida; Curran, Joanne E.; de Vries, Paul S.; Dutcher, Susan K.; Ellinor, Patrick T.; Floyd, James S.; Fornage, Myriam; Freedman, Barry I.; Gabriel, Stacey; Germer, Soren; Gibbs, Richard A.; Guo, Xiuqing; He, Jiang; Heard-Costa, Nancy; Hildalgo, Bertha; Hou, Lifang; Irvin, Marguerite R.; Joehanes, Roby; Kaplan, Robert C.; Kardia, Sharon Lr.; Kelly, Tanika N.; Kim, Ryan; Kooperberg, Charles; Kral, Brian G.; Levy, Daniel; Li, Changwei; Liu, Chunyu; Lloyd-Jone, Don; Loos, Ruth Jf.; Mahaney, Michael C.; Martin, Lisa W.; Mathias, Rasika A.; Minster, Ryan L.; Mitchell, Braxton D.; Montasser, May E.; Morrison, Alanna C.; Murabito, Joanne M.; Naseri, Take; O'Connell, Jeffrey R.; Palmer, Nicholette D.; Preuss, Michael H.; Psaty, Bruce M.; Raffield, Laura M.; Rao, Dabeeru C.; Redline, Susan; Reiner, Alexander P.; Rich, Stephen S.; Ruepena, Muagututi'a Sefuiva; Sheu, Wayne H-H; Smith, Jennifer A.; Smith, Albert; Tiwari, Hemant K.; Tsai, Michael Y.; Viaud-Martinez, Karine A.; Wang, Zhe; Yanek, Lisa R.; Zhao, Wei; NHLBI Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) Consortium; Rotter, Jerome I.; Lin, Xihong; Natarajan, Pradeep; Peloso, Gina M.; Biostatistics and Health Data Science, School of Medicine
    Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are known to perform important regulatory functions. Large-scale whole genome sequencing (WGS) studies and new statistical methods for variant set tests now provide an opportunity to assess the associations between rare variants in lncRNA genes and complex traits across the genome. In this study, we used high-coverage WGS from 66,329 participants of diverse ancestries with blood lipid levels (LDL-C, HDL-C, TC, and TG) in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) program to investigate the role of lncRNAs in lipid variability. We aggregated rare variants for 165,375 lncRNA genes based on their genomic locations and conducted rare variant aggregate association tests using the STAAR (variant-Set Test for Association using Annotation infoRmation) framework. We performed STAAR conditional analysis adjusting for common variants in known lipid GWAS loci and rare coding variants in nearby protein coding genes. Our analyses revealed 83 rare lncRNA variant sets significantly associated with blood lipid levels, all of which were located in known lipid GWAS loci (in a ±500 kb window of a Global Lipids Genetics Consortium index variant). Notably, 61 out of 83 signals (73%) were conditionally independent of common regulatory variations and rare protein coding variations at the same loci. We replicated 34 out of 61 (56%) conditionally independent associations using the independent UK Biobank WGS data. Our results expand the genetic architecture of blood lipids to rare variants in lncRNA, implicating new therapeutic opportunities.
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    Rare variants in the splicing regulatory elements of EXOC3L4 are associated with brain glucose metabolism in Alzheimer's disease
    (Biomed Central, 2018-09-14) Miller, Jason E.; Shivakumar, Manu K.; Lee, Younghee; Han, Seonggyun; Horgousluoglu, Emrin; Risacher, Shannon L.; Saykin, Andrew J.; Nho, Kwangsik; Kim, Dokyoon; Radiology and Imaging Sciences, School of Medicine
    BACKGROUND: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases that causes problems related to brain function. To some extent it is understood on a molecular level how AD arises, however there are a lack of biomarkers that can be used for early diagnosis. Two popular methods to identify AD-related biomarkers use genetics and neuroimaging. Genes and neuroimaging phenotypes have provided some insights as to the potential for AD biomarkers. While the field of imaging-genomics has identified genetic features associated with structural and functional neuroimaging phenotypes, it remains unclear how variants that affect splicing could be important for understanding the genetic etiology of AD. METHODS: In this study, rare variants (minor allele frequency < 0.01) in splicing regulatory element (SRE) loci from whole genome sequencing (WGS) in the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) cohort, were used to identify genes that are associated with global brain cortical glucose metabolism in AD measured by FDG PET-scans. Gene-based associated analyses of rare variants were performed using the program BioBin and the optimal Sequence Kernel Association Test (SKAT-O). RESULTS: The gene, EXOC3L4, was identified as significantly associated with global cortical glucose metabolism (FDR (false discovery rate) corrected p < 0.05) using SRE coding variants only. Three loci that may affect splicing within EXOC3L4 contribute to the association. CONCLUSION: Based on sequence homology, EXOC3L4 is likely a part of the exocyst complex. Our results suggest the possibility that variants which affect proper splicing of EXOC3L4 via SREs may impact vesicle transport, giving rise to AD related phenotypes. Overall, by utilizing WGS and functional neuroimaging we have identified a gene significantly associated with an AD related endophenotype, potentially through a mechanism that involves splicing.
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    Sequencing of 53,831 diverse genomes from the NHLBI TOPMed Program
    (Springer Nature, 2021) Taliun, Daniel; Harris, Daniel N.; Kessler, Michael D.; Carlson, Jedidiah; Szpiech, Zachary A.; Torres, Raul; Gagliano Taliun, Sarah A.; Corvelo, André; Gogarten, Stephanie M.; Kang, Hyun Min; Pitsillides, Achilleas N.; LeFaive, Jonathon; Lee, Seung-Been; Tian, Xiaowen; Browning, Brian L.; Das, Sayantan; Emde, Anne-Katrin; Clarke, Wayne E.; Loesch, Douglas P.; Shetty, Amol C.; Blackwell, Thomas W.; Smith, Albert V.; Wong, Quenna; Liu, Xiaoming; Conomos, Matthew P.; Bobo, Dean M.; Aguet, François; Albert, Christine; Alonso, Alvaro; Ardlie, Kristin G.; Arking, Dan E.; Aslibekyan, Stella; Auer, Paul L.; Barnard, John; Barr, R. Graham; Barwick, Lucas; Becker, Lewis C.; Beer, Rebecca L.; Benjamin, Emelia J.; Bielak, Lawrence F.; Blangero, John; Boehnke, Michael; Bowden, Donald W.; Brody, Jennifer A.; Burchard, Esteban G.; Cade, Brian E.; Casella, James F.; Chalazan, Brandon; Chasman, Daniel I.; Chen, Yii-Der Ida; Cho, Michael H.; Choi, Seung Hoan; Chung, Mina K.; Clish, Clary B.; Correa, Adolfo; Curran, Joanne E.; Custer, Brian; Darbar, Dawood; Daya, Michelle; de Andrade, Mariza; DeMeo, Dawn L.; Dutcher, Susan K.; Ellinor, Patrick T.; Emery, Leslie S.; Eng, Celeste; Fatkin, Diane; Fingerlin, Tasha; Forer, Lukas; Fornage, Myriam; Franceschini, Nora; Fuchsberger, Christian; Fullerton, Stephanie M.; Germer, Soren; Gladwin, Mark T.; Gottlieb, Daniel J.; Guo, Xiuqing; Hall, Michael E.; He, Jiang; Heard-Costa, Nancy L.; Heckbert, Susan R.; Irvin, Marguerite R.; Johnsen, Jill M.; Johnson, Andrew D.; Kaplan, Robert; Kardia, Sharon L. R.; Kelly, Tanika; Kelly, Shannon; Kenny, Eimear E.; Kiel, Douglas P.; Klemmer, Robert; Konkle, Barbara A.; Kooperberg, Charles; Köttgen, Anna; Lange, Leslie A.; Lasky-Su, Jessica; Levy, Daniel; Lin, Xihong; Lin, Keng-Han; Liu, Chunyu; Loos, Ruth J. F.; Garman, Lori; Gerszten, Robert; Lubitz, Steven A.; Lunetta, Kathryn L.; Mak, Angel C. Y.; Manichaikul, Ani; Manning, Alisa K.; Mathias, Rasika A.; McManus, David D.; McGarvey, Stephen T.; Meigs, James B.; Meyers, Deborah A.; Mikulla, Julie L.; Minear, Mollie A.; Mitchell, Braxton D.; Mohanty, Sanghamitra; Montasser, May E.; Montgomery, Courtney; Morrison, Alanna C.; Murabito, Joanne M.; Natale, Andrea; Natarajan, Pradeep; Nelson, Sarah C.; North, Kari E.; O'Connell, Jeffrey R.; Palmer, Nicholette D.; Pankratz, Nathan; Peloso, Gina M.; Peyser, Patricia A.; Pleiness, Jacob; Post, Wendy S.; Psaty, Bruce M.; Rao, D. C.; Redline, Susan; Reiner, Alexander P.; Roden, Dan; Rotter, Jerome I.; Ruczinski, Ingo; Sarnowski, Chloé; Schoenherr, Sebastian; Schwartz, David A.; Seo, Jeong-Sun; Seshadri, Sudha; Sheehan, Vivien A.; Sheu, Wayne H.; Shoemaker, M. Benjamin; Smith, Nicholas L.; Smith, Jennifer A.; Sotoodehnia, Nona; Stilp, Adrienne M.; Tang, Weihong; Taylor, Kent D.; Telen, Marilyn; Thornton, Timothy A.; Tracy, Russell P.; Van Den Berg, David J.; Vasan, Ramachandran S.; Viaud-Martinez, Karine A.; Vrieze, Scott; Weeks, Daniel E.; Weir, Bruce S.; Weiss, Scott T.; Weng, Lu-Chen; Willer, Cristen J.; Zhang, Yingze; Zhao, Xutong; Arnett, Donna K.; Ashley-Koch, Allison E.; Barnes, Kathleen C.; Boerwinkle, Eric; Gabriel, Stacey; Gibbs, Richard; Rice, Kenneth M.; Rich, Stephen S.; Silverman, Edwin K.; Qasba, Pankaj; Gan, Weiniu; NHLBI Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) Consortium; Papanicolaou, George J.; Nickerson, Deborah A.; Browning, Sharon R.; Zody, Michael C.; Zöllner, Sebastian; Wilson, James G.; Cupples, L. Adrienne; Laurie, Cathy C.; Jaquish, Cashell E.; Hernandez, Ryan D.; O'Connor, Timothy D.; Abecasis, Gonçalo R.; Epidemiology, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health
    The Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) programme seeks to elucidate the genetic architecture and biology of heart, lung, blood and sleep disorders, with the ultimate goal of improving diagnosis, treatment and prevention of these diseases. The initial phases of the programme focused on whole-genome sequencing of individuals with rich phenotypic data and diverse backgrounds. Here we describe the TOPMed goals and design as well as the available resources and early insights obtained from the sequence data. The resources include a variant browser, a genotype imputation server, and genomic and phenotypic data that are available through dbGaP (Database of Genotypes and Phenotypes)1. In the first 53,831 TOPMed samples, we detected more than 400 million single-nucleotide and insertion or deletion variants after alignment with the reference genome. Additional previously undescribed variants were detected through assembly of unmapped reads and customized analysis in highly variable loci. Among the more than 400 million detected variants, 97% have frequencies of less than 1% and 46% are singletons that are present in only one individual (53% among unrelated individuals). These rare variants provide insights into mutational processes and recent human evolutionary history. The extensive catalogue of genetic variation in TOPMed studies provides unique opportunities for exploring the contributions of rare and noncoding sequence variants to phenotypic variation. Furthermore, combining TOPMed haplotypes with modern imputation methods improves the power and reach of genome-wide association studies to include variants down to a frequency of approximately 0.01%.