Association between 12p13 SNPs rs11833579/rs12425791 near NINJ2 gene and ischemic stroke in East Asian population: evidence from a meta-analysis

Genetic Polymorphisms of Ischemic Stroke in Asians

The increasing incidence of ischemic stroke emphasizes the necessity for early detection and preventive strategies. Diagnostic biomarkers currently available for ischemic stroke only become detectable shortly before the manifestation of stroke symptoms. Genetic variants associated with ischemic stroke offer a potential solution to address this diagnostic limitation. However, it is crucial to acknowledge that genetic variants cannot be modified in the same way as epigenetic changes. Nevertheless, individuals carrying risk or protective variants can modify their lifestyle to potentially influence the associated epigenetic factors. This study aims to summarize specific variants relevant to Asian populations that may aid in the early detection of ischemic stroke and explore their impact on the disease's pathophysiology. These variants give us important information about the genes that play a role in ischemic stroke by affecting things like atherosclerosis pathway, blood coagulation pathway, homocysteine metabolism, transporter function, transcription, and the activity of neurons regulation. It is important to recognize the variations in genetic variants among different ethnicities and avoid generalizing the pathogenesis of ischemic stroke.

Functional rare variant in a C/EBP beta binding site in NINJ2 gene increases the risk of coronary artery disease

Objective: NINJ2 regulates activation of vascular endothelial cells, and genome-wide association studies showed that variants in NINJ2 confer risk to stroke. However, whether variants in NINJ2 are associated with coronary artery disease (CAD) is unknown.

Methods: We genotyped rs34166160 in NINJ2 in two independent Chinese GeneID populations which included 2,794 CAD cases and 4,131 controls, and performed genetics association studies. Functional studies were also performed to reveal the mechanisms.

Results: Allele rs34166160 significantly confers risk to CAD in the GeneID Hubei population which contained 1,440 CAD cases and 2,660 CAD-free controls (observed P_-obs = 6.39 × 10⁻³ with an odds ratio (OR) was 3.39, adjusted P_-adj = 8.12 × 10⁻³ with an OR of 3.10). The association was replicated in another population, GeneID Shandong population contained 1,354 CAD cases and 1,471 controls (P_-obs = 3.33 × 10⁻³ with an OR of 3.14, P_-adj = 0.01 with an OR of 2.74). After combining the two populations, the association was more significant (P_-obs = 1.57 × 10⁻⁵ with an OR of 3.58, P_-adj = 3.41 × 10⁻⁴ with an OR of 2.80). In addition, we found that rs34166160 was associated with the mRNA expression level of NINJ2 and the flanking region of rs34166160 can directly bind with transcriptional factor CCAAT-box/enhancer-binding protein beta, and the risk A allele has more transcription activity than non-risk C allele with or without LPS in HUVEC cells.

Conclusions: Our study demonstrates that the functional rare variant rs34166160 in NINJ2 confers risk to CAD for the first time, and these findings further expand the range of the pathology of CAD and atherosclerosis.

Associations Between Two Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms in NINJ2 Gene and Risk of Psychiatric Disorders

NINJ2 encodes a transmembrane protein that contributes in neurodevelopment and regeneration of neurons. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within this gene have been associated with Alzheimer's disease, ischemic stroke, and multiple sclerosis. The rs11833579 and rs3809263 SNPs have been associated with risk of ischemic stroke in Iranian population. While the NINJ2 rs12425791 has been with risk of ischemic stroke in East Asian population, the rs11833579 has not been associated with this condition either in East Asian population or Chinese Han population. In the current project, we genotyped rs11833579 and rs3809263 in a large cohort of neuropsychiatric patients including major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and methamphetamine addiction. No significant difference was detected in frequencies of alleles, genotypes, or haplotypes between patients and controls. Thus, the current investigation failed to show association between rs11833579 and rs3809263 and the mentioned neuropsychiatric disorders. Future studies are needed to verify our results.

NINJ2 Gene Polymorphisms and Susceptibility to Ischemic Stroke: An Updated Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND

Ischemic stroke (IS) is a significant disease which threatens human health condition. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have demonstrated that two intergenic single- nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs11833579 and rs12425791 G>A on chromosome 12p13 are associated with IS susceptibility. However, later studies came to contradictory outcomes. Thus, we carried out a meta-analysis to identify the association between nerve injury-induced protein 2 (NINJ2) gene polymorphisms (rs11833579 and rs12425791) and the risk of IS.

METHODS

PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, CBM, Wanfang, VIP, and CNKI databases were searched until March 2019. Data was analyzed by RevMan 5.3 and STATA 12.0 software. The pooled odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to evaluate the strength of the association.

RESULTS

Eighteen qualified articles were selected in total. For rs12425791 and rs11833579, a total of 14055 cases with 13148 controls and 10635 cases with 10462 controls, respectively, were identified for the present study. Our meta-analysis found that rs12425791 was associated with IS for three genetic models (allele model: OR=1.04, 95% CI: 1.00-1.08, P=0.04; dominant model: OR=1.06, 95% CI: 1.01-1.12, P=0.01 and heterozygous model: OR=1.07, 95% CI: 1.01-1.12, P=0.02). Whereas rs11833579 polymorphism was not associated with IS among different genetic models.

CONCLUSION

NINJ2 gene rs12425791 confers a susceptible factor for IS, while there is no association between NINJ2 gene rs11833579 and IS. Larger sample size studies should be performed to find the association between NINJ2 gene and IS.

A functional variant rs12904 in the miR-200c binding site was associated with a decreased risk of ischemic stroke

Genome-wide association study (GWAS) identified chromosome 12p13 rs12425791 and rs11833579 as susceptibility loci of ischemic stroke (IS) in a European population. However, conflicting results were obtained in subsequent replication analysis. miR-200c, located on chromosome 12p13, was found to have a neuroprotective effect on ischemia. Our aim of this study was to investigate the association of the rs12425791, rs11833579 and rs12904 in the binding site of miR-200c with the risk of IS. The rs12425791, rs11833579, and rs12904 were genotyped using a TaqMan allelic discrimination assay. The results were verified by Sanger sequencing. We found that the rs12904 AG/GG genotypes and G allele were associated with a decreased risk of IS (AG/GG vs. AA: adjusted OR = 0.64; 95% CI, 0.44-0.95; G vs. A: adjusted OR = 0.65; 95% CI, 0.46-0.93). The combined genotypes of the rs11833579AG/AA and rs12904AG/GG were also associated with a reduced risk of IS (OR = 0.65; 95% CI, 0.46-0.93). These findings suggest that the rs12904 may have a jointly protective effect against the risk of IS.

Four-octyl itaconate activates Keap1-Nrf2 signaling to protect neuronal cells from hydrogen peroxide

Background

Four-octyl itaconate (OI), the itaconate’s cell-permeable derivative, can activate Nrf2 signaling via alkylation of Keap1 at its cysteine residues. The current study tested the potential neuroprotective function of OI in hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂)-treated neuronal cells.

Methods

SH-SY5Y neuronal cells and epigenetically de-repressed (by TSA treatment) primary murine neurons were treated with OI and/or H₂O₂. Nrf2 pathway genes were examined by Western blotting assay and real-time quantitative PCR analysis. Neuronal cell death was tested by the LDH and trypan blue staining assays. Apoptosis was tested by TUNEL and Annexin V assays.

Results

In SH-SY5Y neuronal cells and primary murine neurons, OI activated Nrf2 signaling, causing Keap1-Nrf2 disassociation, Nrf2 protein stabilization and nuclear translocation, as well as expression of Nrf2-regulated genes (HO1, NQO1 and GCLC) and ninjurin2 (Ninj2). Functional studies showed that OI attenuated H₂O₂-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, lipid peroxidation and DNA damage as well as neuronal cell death and apoptosis. shRNA-mediated knockdown, or CRISPR/Cas9-induced knockout of Nrf2 almost abolished OI-induced neuroprotection against H₂O₂. Keap1 is the primary target of OI. Keap1 knockout by CRISPR/Cas9 method mimicked and abolished OI-induced actions in SH-SY5Y cells. Introduction of a Cys151S mutant Keap1 in SH-SY5Y cells reversed OI-induced Nrf2 activation and anti-H₂O₂ neuroprotection.

Conclusions

OI activates Keap1-Nrf2 signaling to protect SH-SY5Y cells and epigenetically de-repressed primary neurons from H₂O₂ in vitro.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12964-018-0294-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Polymorphism of CONNEXIN37 gene is a risk factor for ischemic stroke in Han Chinese population

BACKGROUND

Stroke has a high fatality and disability rate, and is one of the main burdens to human health. It is thus very important to identify biomarkers for the development of effective approaches for the prevention and treatment of stroke. Connexin37 is an anti-inflammatory cytokine and is involved in chronic inflammation and atherosclerosis. Recent studies have found that CONNEXIN37 gene variations are associated with atherosclerosis diseases, such as coronary heart disease and stroke, but its association with stroke in distinct human populations remains to be determined. We report here the analysis of the association of the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of CONNEXIN37 with ischemic stroke in Han Chinese population.

METHODS

Two SNPs of CONNEXIN37 gene were analyzed in 385 ischemic stroke patients and 362 hypertension control patients using ligase detection reaction (LDR) method.

RESULTS

Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that, AG and GG genotypes of SNP rs1764390 and CC genotype of rs1764391 of CONNEXIN37 were associated with an increased risk of ischemic stroke, and that G allele of rs1764390 is a risk factor for ischemic stroke. Further, we found that SNP rs1764390 and SNP rs1764391 in CONNEXIN37 were associated with ischemic stroke under additive/dominant model, and recessive/dominant model, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Our results indicate that CONNEXIN37 gene polymorphism is an ischemic stroke risk factor in Northern Han Chinese.

Impact of chromosome 12p13 variants on ischemic stroke risk

BACKGROUND

In 2009, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) identified two variants (rs12425791 and rs11833579) near NINJ2 gene that confer susceptibility to stroke in Caucasian populations. Recently, a number of studies have been conducted to replicate this finding in Asian populations. However, the results are conflicting. Thus, we performed a quantitative analysis to summarize the evidence regarding the association between these two polymorphisms and ischemic stroke risk.

METHODS

Pertinent studies were identified by searching PubMed and Embase through September 2014. Studies that reported odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) for the association between these two polymorphisms and stroke risk were included.

RESULTS

Eight independent publications, with 8626 cases and 8046 controls for rs12425791 and 9142 cases and 8657 controls for rs11833579, were included. Overall, significantly increased ischemic stroke risk was associated with rs12425791 A allele when all studies were pooled into the meta-analysis (AA/GA vs. GG: OR = 1.08, 95% CI: 1.01-1.14). However, rs11833579 was not associated with increased stroke risk in any genetic model.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings indicate that rs12425791 G>A polymorphism may be a low-penetrance susceptibility marker of stroke in Asian populations and further studies are warranted to verify this association.

Associations of NINJ2 sequence variants with incident ischemic stroke in the Cohorts for Heart and Aging in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) consortium

Background

Stroke, the leading neurologic cause of death and disability, has a substantial genetic component. We previously conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in four prospective studies from the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) consortium and demonstrated that sequence variants near the NINJ2 gene are associated with incident ischemic stroke. Here, we sought to fine-map functional variants in the region and evaluate the contribution of rare variants to ischemic stroke risk.

Methods and Results

We sequenced 196 kb around NINJ2 on chromosome 12p13 among 3,986 European ancestry participants, including 475 ischemic stroke cases, from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study, Cardiovascular Health Study, and Framingham Heart Study. Meta-analyses of single-variant tests for 425 common variants (minor allele frequency [MAF] ≥ 1%) confirmed the original GWAS results and identified an independent intronic variant, rs34166160 (MAF = 0.012), most significantly associated with incident ischemic stroke (HR = 1.80, p = 0.0003). Aggregating 278 putatively-functional variants with MAF≤ 1% using count statistics, we observed a nominally statistically significant association, with the burden of rare NINJ2 variants contributing to decreased ischemic stroke incidence (HR = 0.81; p = 0.026).

Conclusion

Common and rare variants in the NINJ2 region were nominally associated with incident ischemic stroke among a subset of CHARGE participants. Allelic heterogeneity at this locus, caused by multiple rare, low frequency, and common variants with disparate effects on risk, may explain the difficulties in replicating the original GWAS results. Additional studies that take into account the complex allelic architecture at this locus are needed to confirm these findings.

Two novel susceptibility SNPs for ischemic stroke using exome sequencing in Chinese Han population

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of ischemic stroke (IS) have been performed on several cohorts of Caucasian or African population and Japanese, resulting in somewhat inconsistent conclusion. We aimed to identify susceptibility loci for IS by exome sequencing in a Chinese Han population. Exome sequencing was used to screen susceptibility loci among 100 cases and 100 matched controls. Significant SNPs from the first stage were verified in up to 3,554 participants from three hospital-based case-control studies. In the initial exome sequencing analysis, rs10489177 in c1orf156 gene located on chromosome 1q24 (p < 1 × 10(-8)) and rs17118 in XYLB gene located on chromosome 3p21 (p < 1 × 10(-6)) were found to be significantly associated with IS. In the following validation stage, significantly increased odds ratios were observed in individuals with rs10489177 GG (OR = 2.02, 95 % CI = 1.35-3.03) or rs17118 AA genotype (OR = 1.50, 95 % CI = 1.17-1.91). The rs10489177 GG genotype was associated with significantly increased risk for IS in individuals without hypertension (OR = 2.78, 95 % CI = 1.59-4.86) and in individuals without diabetes (OR = 1.93, 95 % CI = 1.27-2.94). In contrast, the rs17118 AA genotype may significantly increase the risk for IS, particularly for individuals with hypertension (OR = 1.73, 95 % CI = 1.08-2.78) and for individuals without diabetes (OR = 1.52, 95 % CI = 1.17-1.98) or non-smoker (OR = 1.59, 95 % CI = 1.16-2.19). Collectively, our study identified two novel loci (rs17118 and rs10489177) which were associated with an increased risk for IS in Chinese Han populations. Further studies are needed to confirm these associations in other populations and elucidate the biological mechanisms underlying the observed associations.