Genome-wide association study of homocysteine in African Americans from the Jackson Heart Study, the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, and the Coronary Artery Risk in Young Adults study

  • L. M. Raffield
  • , Jaclyn Ellis
  • , Nels C. Olson
  • , Qing Duan
  • , Jin Li
  • , Peter Durda
  • , Nathan Pankratz
  • , Brendan J. Keating
  • , Christina L. Wassel
  • , Mary Cushman
  • , James G. Wilson
  • , Myron D. Gross
  • , Russell P. Tracy
  • , Stephen S. Rich
  • , Alex P. Reiner
  • , Yun Li
  • , Monte S. Willis
  • , Ethan M. Lange
  • , Leslie A. Lange

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

Homocysteine (Hcy) is a heritable biomarker for CVD, peripheral artery disease, stroke, and dementia. Little is known about genetic associations with Hcy in individuals of African ancestry. We performed a genome-wide association study for Hcy in 4927 AAs from the Jackson Heart Study (JHS), the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), and the Coronary Artery Risk in Young Adults (CARDIA) study. Analyses were stratified by sex and results were meta-analyzed within and across sex. In the sex-combined meta-analysis, we observed genome-wide significant evidence (p < 5.0 × 10-8) for the NOX4 locus (lead variant rs2289125, β =-0.15, p = 5.3 × 1011). While the NOX4 locus was previously reported as associated with Hcy in European-American populations, rs2289125 remained genome-wide significant when conditioned on the previously reported lead variants. Previously reported genome-wide significant associations at NOX4, MTR, CBS, and MMACHC were also nominally (p < 0.050) replicated in AAs. Associations at the CPS1 locus, previously reported in females only, also was replicated specifically in females in this analysis, supporting sex-specific effects for this locus. These results suggest that there may be a combination of cross-population and population-specific genetic effects, as well as differences in genetic effects between males and females, in the regulation of Hcy levels.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)327-337
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of Human Genetics
Volume63
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 1 2018

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 The Japan Society of Human Genetics.

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Genome-wide association study of homocysteine in African Americans from the Jackson Heart Study, the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, and the Coronary Artery Risk in Young Adults study'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this