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Wei Y, Zhen J, Hu L, Gu Y, Liu Y, Guo X, Yang Z, Zheng H, Cheng S, Wei F, Xiong L, Liu S. Genome-wide association studies of thyroid-related hormones, dysfunction, and autoimmunity among 85,421 Chinese pregnancies. Nat Commun 2024; 15:8004. [PMID: 39266554 PMCID: PMC11393459 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-52236-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2023] [Accepted: 08/29/2024] [Indexed: 09/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Maintaining normal thyroid function is crucial in pregnancy, yet thyroid dysfunction and the presence of thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPOAb) affect 0.5% to 18% of pregnant women. Here, we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of eight thyroid traits, including two thyroid-related hormones, four thyroid dysfunctions, and two thyroid autoimmunity measurements among 85,421 Chinese pregnant women to investigate the genetic basis of thyroid function during pregnancy. Our study identified 176 genetic loci, including 125 previously unknown genome-wide associations. Joint epidemiological and Mendelian randomization analyses revealed significant associations between the gestational thyroid phenotypes and gestational complications, birth outcomes, and later-age health outcomes. Specifically, genetically elevated thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels during pregnancy correlated with lower glycemic levels, reduced blood pressure, and longer gestational duration. Additionally, TPOAb and thyroid functions during pregnancy share genetic correlations with later-age thyroid and cardiac disorders. These findings provide insights into the genetic determinants of thyroid traits during pregnancy, which may lead to new therapeutics, early pre-diagnosis and preventive strategies starting from early adulthood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuandan Wei
- School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Shenzhen Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518107, China
- Central Laboratory, Shenzhen Baoan Women's and Children's Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518102, China
| | - Jianxin Zhen
- Central Laboratory, Shenzhen Baoan Women's and Children's Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518102, China
| | - Liang Hu
- Longgang District Maternity & Child Healthcare Hospital of Shenzhen City (Longgang Maternity and Child Institute of Shantou University Medical College), Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518172, China
| | - Yuqin Gu
- School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Shenzhen Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518107, China
| | - Yanhong Liu
- School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Shenzhen Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518107, China
| | - Xinxin Guo
- School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Shenzhen Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518107, China
| | - Zijing Yang
- School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Shenzhen Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518107, China
| | - Hao Zheng
- School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Shenzhen Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518107, China
| | - Shiyao Cheng
- School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Shenzhen Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518107, China
| | - Fengxiang Wei
- Longgang District Maternity & Child Healthcare Hospital of Shenzhen City (Longgang Maternity and Child Institute of Shantou University Medical College), Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518172, China.
| | - Likuan Xiong
- Central Laboratory, Shenzhen Baoan Women's and Children's Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518102, China.
- Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Birth Defects Research, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518102, China.
| | - Siyang Liu
- School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Shenzhen Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518107, China.
- Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Pathogenic Microbes and Biosafety, Guangdong, 518107, China.
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Venkatesh SS, Wittemans LBL, Palmer DS, Baya NA, Ferreira T, Hill B, Lassen FH, Parker MJ, Reibe S, Elhakeem A, Banasik K, Bruun MT, Erikstrup C, Jensen BA, Juul A, Mikkelsen C, Nielsen HS, Ostrowski SR, Pedersen OB, Rohde PD, Sorensen E, Ullum H, Westergaard D, Haraldsson A, Holm H, Jonsdottir I, Olafsson I, Steingrimsdottir T, Steinthorsdottir V, Thorleifsson G, Figueredo J, Karjalainen MK, Pasanen A, Jacobs BM, Hubers N, Lippincott M, Fraser A, Lawlor DA, Timpson NJ, Nyegaard M, Stefansson K, Magi R, Laivuori H, van Heel DA, Boomsma DI, Balasubramanian R, Seminara SB, Chan YM, Laisk T, Lindgren CM. Genome-wide analyses identify 21 infertility loci and over 400 reproductive hormone loci across the allele frequency spectrum. MEDRXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR HEALTH SCIENCES 2024:2024.03.19.24304530. [PMID: 38562841 PMCID: PMC10984039 DOI: 10.1101/2024.03.19.24304530] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/04/2024]
Abstract
Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) may help inform treatments for infertility, whose causes remain unknown in many cases. Here we present GWAS meta-analyses across six cohorts for male and female infertility in up to 41,200 cases and 687,005 controls. We identified 21 genetic risk loci for infertility (P≤5E-08), of which 12 have not been reported for any reproductive condition. We found positive genetic correlations between endometriosis and all-cause female infertility (rg=0.585, P=8.98E-14), and between polycystic ovary syndrome and anovulatory infertility (rg=0.403, P=2.16E-03). The evolutionary persistence of female infertility-risk alleles in EBAG9 may be explained by recent directional selection. We additionally identified up to 269 genetic loci associated with follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinising hormone, oestradiol, and testosterone through sex-specific GWAS meta-analyses (N=6,095-246,862). While hormone-associated variants near FSHB and ARL14EP colocalised with signals for anovulatory infertility, we found no rg between female infertility and reproductive hormones (P>0.05). Exome sequencing analyses in the UK Biobank (N=197,340) revealed that women carrying testosterone-lowering rare variants in GPC2 were at higher risk of infertility (OR=2.63, P=1.25E-03). Taken together, our results suggest that while individual genes associated with hormone regulation may be relevant for fertility, there is limited genetic evidence for correlation between reproductive hormones and infertility at the population level. We provide the first comprehensive view of the genetic architecture of infertility across multiple diagnostic criteria in men and women, and characterise its relationship to other health conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samvida S Venkatesh
- Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7LF, United Kingdom
- Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7BN, United Kingdom
| | - Laura B L Wittemans
- Novo Nordisk Research Centre Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- Nuffield Department of Women's and Reproductive Health, Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Duncan S Palmer
- Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7LF, United Kingdom
- Nuffield Department of Population Health, Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Nikolas A Baya
- Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7LF, United Kingdom
- Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7BN, United Kingdom
| | - Teresa Ferreira
- Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7LF, United Kingdom
| | - Barney Hill
- Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7LF, United Kingdom
- Nuffield Department of Population Health, Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Frederik Heymann Lassen
- Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7LF, United Kingdom
- Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7BN, United Kingdom
| | - Melody J Parker
- Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7LF, United Kingdom
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Saskia Reibe
- Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7LF, United Kingdom
- Nuffield Department of Population Health, Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Ahmed Elhakeem
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
- Population Health Science, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Karina Banasik
- Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Hvidovre, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Mie T Bruun
- Department of Clinical Immunology, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark
| | - Christian Erikstrup
- Department of Clinical Immunology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark
- Department of Clinical Medicine, Health, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Bitten A Jensen
- Department of Clinical Immunology, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark
| | - Anders Juul
- Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen; Copenhagen, Denmark
- Department of Growth and Reproduction, Copenhagen University Hospital-Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Christina Mikkelsen
- Department of Clinical Immunology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, Faculty of Health and Medical Science, Copenhagen University, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Henriette S Nielsen
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The Fertility Clinic, Hvidovre University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Sisse R Ostrowski
- Department of Clinical Immunology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Ole B Pedersen
- Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Department of Clinical Immunology, Zealand University Hospital, Kge, Denmark
| | - Palle D Rohde
- Genomic Medicine, Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
| | - Erik Sorensen
- Department of Clinical Immunology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | | | - David Westergaard
- Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Hvidovre, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Asgeir Haraldsson
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland
- Children's Hospital Iceland, Landspitali University Hospital, Reykjavik, Iceland
| | - Hilma Holm
- deCODE genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland
| | - Ingileif Jonsdottir
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland
- deCODE genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland
| | - Isleifur Olafsson
- Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Landspitali University Hospital, Reykjavik, Iceland
| | - Thora Steingrimsdottir
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Landspitali University Hospital, Reykjavik, Iceland
| | | | | | - Jessica Figueredo
- Estonian Genome Centre, Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Minna K Karjalainen
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, Helsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Research Unit of Population Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu, Finland
- Northern Finland Birth Cohorts, Arctic Biobank, Infrastructure for Population Studies, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
| | - Anu Pasanen
- Research Unit of Clinical Medicine, Medical Research Center Oulu, University of Oulu, and Department of Children and Adolescents, Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland
| | - Benjamin M Jacobs
- Centre for Preventive Neurology, Wolfson Institute of Population Health, Queen Mary University London, London, EC1M 6BQ, United Kingdom
| | - Nikki Hubers
- Department of Biological Psychology, Netherlands Twin Register, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Amsterdam Reproduction and Development Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Margaret Lippincott
- Harvard Reproductive Sciences Center and Reproductive Endocrine Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Abigail Fraser
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
- Population Health Science, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Deborah A Lawlor
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
- Population Health Science, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Nicholas J Timpson
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
- Population Health Science, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Mette Nyegaard
- Genomic Medicine, Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
| | - Kari Stefansson
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland
- deCODE genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland
| | - Reedik Magi
- Estonian Genome Centre, Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Hannele Laivuori
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, Helsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Medical and Clinical Genetics, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tampere University Hospital, Finland
- Center for Child, Adolescent, and Maternal Health Research, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Finland
| | - David A van Heel
- Blizard Institute, Queen Mary University London, London, E1 2AT, United Kingdom
| | - Dorret I Boomsma
- Department of Biological Psychology, Netherlands Twin Register, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Amsterdam Reproduction and Development Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Ravikumar Balasubramanian
- Harvard Reproductive Sciences Center and Reproductive Endocrine Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Stephanie B Seminara
- Harvard Reproductive Sciences Center and Reproductive Endocrine Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Yee-Ming Chan
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Division of Endocrinology, Department of Pediatrics, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Triin Laisk
- Estonian Genome Centre, Institute of Genomics, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
| | - Cecilia M Lindgren
- Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7LF, United Kingdom
- Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7BN, United Kingdom
- Nuffield Department of Women's and Reproductive Health, Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
- Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
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