1
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Chen LG, Tubbs JD, Liu Z, Thach TQ, Sham PC. Mendelian randomization: causal inference leveraging genetic data. Psychol Med 2024; 54:1461-1474. [PMID: 38639006 DOI: 10.1017/s0033291724000321] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/20/2024]
Abstract
Mendelian randomization (MR) leverages genetic information to examine the causal relationship between phenotypes allowing for the presence of unmeasured confounders. MR has been widely applied to unresolved questions in epidemiology, making use of summary statistics from genome-wide association studies on an increasing number of human traits. However, an understanding of essential concepts is necessary for the appropriate application and interpretation of MR. This review aims to provide a non-technical overview of MR and demonstrate its relevance to psychiatric research. We begin with the origins of MR and the reasons for its recent expansion, followed by an overview of its statistical methodology. We then describe the limitations of MR, and how these are being addressed by recent methodological advances. We showcase the practical use of MR in psychiatry through three illustrative examples - the connection between cannabis use and psychosis, the link between intelligence and schizophrenia, and the search for modifiable risk factors for depression. The review concludes with a discussion of the prospects of MR, focusing on the integration of multi-omics data and its extension to delineating complex causal networks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lane G Chen
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Clinical Medicine, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Justin D Tubbs
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Clinical Medicine, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Zipeng Liu
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Clinical Medicine, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Thuan-Quoc Thach
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Clinical Medicine, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Pak C Sham
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Clinical Medicine, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
- Centre for PanorOmic Sciences, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
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2
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Karlow JA, Pehrsson EC, Xing X, Watson M, Devarakonda S, Govindan R, Wang T. Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Epigenomes Exhibit Altered DNA Methylation in Smokers and Never-smokers. GENOMICS, PROTEOMICS & BIOINFORMATICS 2023; 21:991-1013. [PMID: 37742993 PMCID: PMC10928376 DOI: 10.1016/j.gpb.2023.03.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2022] [Revised: 02/11/2023] [Accepted: 03/14/2023] [Indexed: 09/26/2023]
Abstract
Epigenetic alterations are widespread in cancer and can complement genetic alterations to influence cancer progression and treatment outcome. To determine the potential contribution of DNAmethylation alterations to tumor phenotype in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in both smoker and never-smoker patients, we performed genome-wide profiling of DNA methylation in 17 primary NSCLC tumors and 10 matched normal lung samples using the complementary assays, methylated DNA immunoprecipitation sequencing (MeDIP-seq) and methylation sensitive restriction enzyme sequencing (MRE-seq). We reported recurrent methylation changes in the promoters of several genes, many previously implicated in cancer, including FAM83A and SEPT9 (hypomethylation), as well as PCDH7, NKX2-1, and SOX17 (hypermethylation). Although many methylation changes between tumors and their paired normal samples were shared across patients, several were specific to a particular smoking status. For example, never-smokers displayed a greater proportion of hypomethylated differentially methylated regions (hypoDMRs) and a greater number of recurrently hypomethylated promoters, including those of ASPSCR1, TOP2A, DPP9, and USP39, all previously linked to cancer. Changes outside of promoters were also widespread and often recurrent, particularly methylation loss over repetitive elements, highly enriched for ERV1 subfamilies. Recurrent hypoDMRs were enriched for several transcription factor binding motifs, often for genes involved in signaling and cell proliferation. For example, 71% of recurrent promoter hypoDMRs contained a motif for NKX2-1. Finally, the majority of DMRs were located within an active chromatin state in tissues profiled using the Roadmap Epigenomics data, suggesting that methylation changes may contribute to altered regulatory programs through the adaptation of cell type-specific expression programs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer A Karlow
- Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA; The Edison Family Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Erica C Pehrsson
- Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA; The Edison Family Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Xiaoyun Xing
- Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA; The Edison Family Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Mark Watson
- Department of Pathology and Immunology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Siddhartha Devarakonda
- Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Ramaswamy Govindan
- Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Ting Wang
- Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA; The Edison Family Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA; McDonnell Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63108, USA.
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3
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Niu Z, Mohazzab-Hosseinian S, Breton CV. Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance: Perspectives and challenges. J Allergy Clin Immunol 2023; 151:1474-1476. [PMID: 36893860 PMCID: PMC10795545 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaci.2023.02.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2022] [Revised: 02/09/2023] [Accepted: 02/16/2023] [Indexed: 03/09/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Zhongzheng Niu
- Division of Environmental Health, Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Calif
| | - Sahra Mohazzab-Hosseinian
- Division of Environmental Health, Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Calif
| | - Carrie V Breton
- Division of Environmental Health, Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Calif.
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4
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Ferrari L, Monti P, Favero C, Carugno M, Tarantini L, Maggioni C, Bonzini M, Pesatori AC, Bollati V. Association between night shift work and methylation of a subset of immune-related genes. Front Public Health 2023; 10:1083826. [PMID: 36711387 PMCID: PMC9877629 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.1083826] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2022] [Accepted: 12/22/2022] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Night shift (NS) work has been associated with an increased risk of different conditions characterized by altered inflammatory and immune responses, such as cardio-metabolic and infectious diseases, cancer, and obesity. Epigenetic modifications, such as DNA methylation, might mirror alterations in biological processes that are influenced by NS work. Methods The present study was conducted on 94 healthy female workers with different working schedules and aimed at identifying whether NS was associated with plasmatic concentrations of the inflammatory proteins NLRP3 and TNF-alpha, as well as with DNA methylation levels of ten human endogenous retroviral (HERV) sequences, and nine genes selected for their role in immune and inflammatory processes. We also explored the possible role of the body mass index (BMI) as an additional susceptibility factor that might influence the effects of NS work on the tested epigenetic modifications. Results and discussion We observed a positive association between NS and NLRP3 levels (p-value 0.0379). Moreover, NS workers retained different methylation levels for ERVFRD-1 (p-value = 0.0274), HERV-L (p-value = 0.0377), and HERV-P (p-value = 0.0140) elements, and for BIRC2 (p-value = 0.0460), FLRT3 (p-value = 0.0422), MIG6 (p-value = 0.0085), and SIRT1 (p-value = 0.0497) genes. We also observed that the BMI modified the relationship between NS and the methylation of ERVE, HERV-L, and ERVW-1 elements. Overall, our results suggest that HERV methylation could pose as a promising biomolecular sensor to monitor not only the effect of NS work but also the cumulative effect of multiple stressors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luca Ferrari
- EPIGET Lab, Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, Università Degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy,Occupational Health Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy,*Correspondence: Luca Ferrari ✉
| | - Paola Monti
- EPIGET Lab, Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, Università Degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy
| | - Chiara Favero
- EPIGET Lab, Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, Università Degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy
| | - Michele Carugno
- EPIGET Lab, Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, Università Degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy,Occupational Health Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy
| | - Letizia Tarantini
- EPIGET Lab, Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, Università Degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy
| | - Cristina Maggioni
- EPIGET Lab, Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, Università Degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy
| | - Matteo Bonzini
- EPIGET Lab, Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, Università Degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy,Occupational Health Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy
| | - Angela Cecilia Pesatori
- EPIGET Lab, Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, Università Degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy,Occupational Health Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy
| | - Valentina Bollati
- EPIGET Lab, Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, Università Degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy,Occupational Health Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy
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5
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Djordjilović V, Hemerik J, Thoresen M. On optimal two-stage testing of multiple mediators. Biom J 2022; 64:1090-1108. [PMID: 35426161 PMCID: PMC9544827 DOI: 10.1002/bimj.202100190] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2021] [Revised: 10/18/2021] [Accepted: 11/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Mediation analysis in high-dimensional settings often involves identifying potential mediators among a large number of measured variables. For this purpose, a two-step familywise error rate procedure called ScreenMin has been recently proposed. In ScreenMin, variables are first screened and only those that pass the screening are tested. The proposed data-independent threshold for selection has been shown to guarantee asymptotic familywise error rate. In this work, we investigate the impact of the threshold on the finite-sample familywise error rate. We derive a power maximizing threshold and show that it is well approximated by an adaptive threshold of Wang et al. (2016, arXiv preprint arXiv:1610.03330). We illustrate the investigated procedures on a case-control study examining the effect of fish intake on the risk of colorectal adenoma. We also apply our procedure in the context of replicability analysis to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) associated with crop yield in two distinct environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vera Djordjilović
- Department of EconomicsCa' Foscari University of VeniceDorsoduroVeniceItaly
| | - Jesse Hemerik
- BiometrisWageningen University & ResearchWageningenThe Netherlands
| | - Magne Thoresen
- Oslo Centre for Biostatistics and EpidemiologyDepartment of BiostatisticsUniversity of OsloBlindernOsloNorway
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6
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Wade KH, Yarmolinsky J, Giovannucci E, Lewis SJ, Millwood IY, Munafò MR, Meddens F, Burrows K, Bell JA, Davies NM, Mariosa D, Kanerva N, Vincent EE, Smith-Byrne K, Guida F, Gunter MJ, Sanderson E, Dudbridge F, Burgess S, Cornelis MC, Richardson TG, Borges MC, Bowden J, Hemani G, Cho Y, Spiller W, Richmond RC, Carter AR, Langdon R, Lawlor DA, Walters RG, Vimaleswaran KS, Anderson A, Sandu MR, Tilling K, Davey Smith G, Martin RM, Relton CL. Applying Mendelian randomization to appraise causality in relationships between nutrition and cancer. Cancer Causes Control 2022; 33:631-652. [PMID: 35274198 PMCID: PMC9010389 DOI: 10.1007/s10552-022-01562-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2021] [Accepted: 02/10/2022] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
Dietary factors are assumed to play an important role in cancer risk, apparent in consensus recommendations for cancer prevention that promote nutritional changes. However, the evidence in this field has been generated predominantly through observational studies, which may result in biased effect estimates because of confounding, exposure misclassification, and reverse causality. With major geographical differences and rapid changes in cancer incidence over time, it is crucial to establish which of the observational associations reflect causality and to identify novel risk factors as these may be modified to prevent the onset of cancer and reduce its progression. Mendelian randomization (MR) uses the special properties of germline genetic variation to strengthen causal inference regarding potentially modifiable exposures and disease risk. MR can be implemented through instrumental variable (IV) analysis and, when robustly performed, is generally less prone to confounding, reverse causation and measurement error than conventional observational methods and has different sources of bias (discussed in detail below). It is increasingly used to facilitate causal inference in epidemiology and provides an opportunity to explore the effects of nutritional exposures on cancer incidence and progression in a cost-effective and timely manner. Here, we introduce the concept of MR and discuss its current application in understanding the impact of nutritional factors (e.g., any measure of diet and nutritional intake, circulating biomarkers, patterns, preference or behaviour) on cancer aetiology and, thus, opportunities for MR to contribute to the development of nutritional recommendations and policies for cancer prevention. We provide applied examples of MR studies examining the role of nutritional factors in cancer to illustrate how this method can be used to help prioritise or deprioritise the evaluation of specific nutritional factors as intervention targets in randomised controlled trials. We describe possible biases when using MR, and methodological developments aimed at investigating and potentially overcoming these biases when present. Lastly, we consider the use of MR in identifying causally relevant nutritional risk factors for various cancers in different regions across the world, given notable geographical differences in some cancers. We also discuss how MR results could be translated into further research and policy. We conclude that findings from MR studies, which corroborate those from other well-conducted studies with different and orthogonal biases, are poised to substantially improve our understanding of nutritional influences on cancer. For such corroboration, there is a requirement for an interdisciplinary and collaborative approach to investigate risk factors for cancer incidence and progression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaitlin H Wade
- Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
- Medical Research Council (MRC) Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
| | - James Yarmolinsky
- Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Medical Research Council (MRC) Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Edward Giovannucci
- Departments of Nutrition and Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Sarah J Lewis
- Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Medical Research Council (MRC) Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Bristol National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre, Bristol, UK
| | - Iona Y Millwood
- Clinical Trial Service Unit and Epidemiological Studies Unit (CTSU) and the Medical Research Council Population Health Research Unit (MRC PHRU), Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Marcus R Munafò
- Medical Research Council (MRC) Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Bristol National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre, Bristol, UK
- School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Fleur Meddens
- Department of Economics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Department of Applied Economics, Erasmus School of Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Kimberley Burrows
- Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Medical Research Council (MRC) Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Joshua A Bell
- Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Medical Research Council (MRC) Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Neil M Davies
- Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Medical Research Council (MRC) Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- K.G. Jebsen Center for Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Nursing, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Daniela Mariosa
- International Agency for Research On Cancer (IARC), Lyon, France
| | | | - Emma E Vincent
- Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Medical Research Council (MRC) Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Karl Smith-Byrne
- International Agency for Research On Cancer (IARC), Lyon, France
| | - Florence Guida
- International Agency for Research On Cancer (IARC), Lyon, France
| | - Marc J Gunter
- International Agency for Research On Cancer (IARC), Lyon, France
| | - Eleanor Sanderson
- Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Medical Research Council (MRC) Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Frank Dudbridge
- Department of Health Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
| | - Stephen Burgess
- MRC Biostatistics Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | | | - Tom G Richardson
- Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Medical Research Council (MRC) Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Maria Carolina Borges
- Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Medical Research Council (MRC) Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Jack Bowden
- Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Medical Research Council (MRC) Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Research Innovation Learning and Development (RILD) Building, University of Exeter Medical School, Exeter, UK
| | - Gibran Hemani
- Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Medical Research Council (MRC) Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Yoonsu Cho
- Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Medical Research Council (MRC) Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Wes Spiller
- Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Medical Research Council (MRC) Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Rebecca C Richmond
- Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Medical Research Council (MRC) Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Alice R Carter
- Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Medical Research Council (MRC) Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Ryan Langdon
- Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Medical Research Council (MRC) Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Deborah A Lawlor
- Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Medical Research Council (MRC) Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Bristol National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre, Bristol, UK
| | - Robin G Walters
- Clinical Trial Service Unit and Epidemiological Studies Unit (CTSU) and the Medical Research Council Population Health Research Unit (MRC PHRU), Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | | | - Annie Anderson
- Population Health and Genomics, School of Medicine, University of Dundee, Dundee, Scotland, UK
| | - Meda R Sandu
- Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Medical Research Council (MRC) Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Bristol, UK
| | - Kate Tilling
- Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Medical Research Council (MRC) Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Bristol National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre, Bristol, UK
| | - George Davey Smith
- Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Medical Research Council (MRC) Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Bristol National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre, Bristol, UK
| | - Richard M Martin
- Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Medical Research Council (MRC) Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Caroline L Relton
- Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Medical Research Council (MRC) Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) at the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Bristol National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre, Bristol, UK
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7
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Richardson TG, Zheng J, Gaunt TR. Computational Tools for Causal Inference in Genetics. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med 2021; 11:a039248. [PMID: 33288654 PMCID: PMC8168525 DOI: 10.1101/cshperspect.a039248] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Abstract
The advent of large-scale, phenotypically rich, and readily accessible data provides an unprecedented opportunity for epidemiologists, statistical geneticists, bioinformaticians, and also behavioral and social scientists to investigate the causes and consequences of disease. Computational tools and resources are an integral component of such endeavors, which will become increasingly important as these data continue to grow exponentially. In this review, we have provided an overview of computational software and databases that have been developed to assist with analyses in causal inference. This includes online tools that can be used to help generate hypotheses, publicly accessible resources that store summary-level information for millions of genetic markers, and computational approaches that can be used to leverage this wealth of data to study causal relationships.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tom G Richardson
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU), Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 2BN, United Kingdom
| | - Jie Zheng
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU), Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 2BN, United Kingdom
| | - Tom R Gaunt
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU), Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 2BN, United Kingdom
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8
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van Dongen J, Hagenbeek FA, Suderman M, Roetman PJ, Sugden K, Chiocchetti AG, Ismail K, Mulder RH, Hafferty JD, Adams MJ, Walker RM, Morris SW, Lahti J, Küpers LK, Escaramis G, Alemany S, Jan Bonder M, Meijer M, Ip HF, Jansen R, Baselmans BML, Parmar P, Lowry E, Streit F, Sirignano L, Send TS, Frank J, Jylhävä J, Wang Y, Mishra PP, Colins OF, Corcoran DL, Poulton R, Mill J, Hannon E, Arseneault L, Korhonen T, Vuoksimaa E, Felix JF, Bakermans-Kranenburg MJ, Campbell A, Czamara D, Binder E, Corpeleijn E, Gonzalez JR, Grazuleviciene R, Gutzkow KB, Evandt J, Vafeiadi M, Klein M, van der Meer D, Ligthart L, Kluft C, Davies GE, Hakulinen C, Keltikangas-Järvinen L, Franke B, Freitag CM, Konrad K, Hervas A, Fernández-Rivas A, Vetro A, Raitakari O, Lehtimäki T, Vermeiren R, Strandberg T, Räikkönen K, Snieder H, Witt SH, Deuschle M, Pedersen NL, Hägg S, Sunyer J, Franke L, Kaprio J, Ollikainen M, Moffitt TE, Tiemeier H, van IJzendoorn MH, Relton C, Vrijheid M, Sebert S, Jarvelin MR, Caspi A, Evans KL, McIntosh AM, Bartels M, Boomsma DI. DNA methylation signatures of aggression and closely related constructs: A meta-analysis of epigenome-wide studies across the lifespan. Mol Psychiatry 2021; 26:2148-2162. [PMID: 33420481 PMCID: PMC8263810 DOI: 10.1038/s41380-020-00987-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2020] [Revised: 11/04/2020] [Accepted: 12/04/2020] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
DNA methylation profiles of aggressive behavior may capture lifetime cumulative effects of genetic, stochastic, and environmental influences associated with aggression. Here, we report the first large meta-analysis of epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS) of aggressive behavior (N = 15,324 participants). In peripheral blood samples of 14,434 participants from 18 cohorts with mean ages ranging from 7 to 68 years, 13 methylation sites were significantly associated with aggression (alpha = 1.2 × 10-7; Bonferroni correction). In cord blood samples of 2425 children from five cohorts with aggression assessed at mean ages ranging from 4 to 7 years, 83% of these sites showed the same direction of association with childhood aggression (r = 0.74, p = 0.006) but no epigenome-wide significant sites were found. Top-sites (48 at a false discovery rate of 5% in the peripheral blood meta-analysis or in a combined meta-analysis of peripheral blood and cord blood) have been associated with chemical exposures, smoking, cognition, metabolic traits, and genetic variation (mQTLs). Three genes whose expression levels were associated with top-sites were previously linked to schizophrenia and general risk tolerance. At six CpGs, DNA methylation variation in blood mirrors variation in the brain. On average 44% (range = 3-82%) of the aggression-methylation association was explained by current and former smoking and BMI. These findings point at loci that are sensitive to chemical exposures with potential implications for neuronal functions. We hope these results to be a starting point for studies leading to applications as peripheral biomarkers and to reveal causal relationships with aggression and related traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jenny van Dongen
- Department of Biological Psychology, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
| | - Fiona A Hagenbeek
- Department of Biological Psychology, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Matthew Suderman
- Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- MRC Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Peter J Roetman
- Curium-LUMC, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center, Oegstgeest, The Netherlands
| | - Karen Sugden
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
- Center for Genomic and Computational Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Andreas G Chiocchetti
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Frankfurt, Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Khadeeja Ismail
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Rosa H Mulder
- Institute of Education and Child Studies, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
- Generation R Study Group, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | | | - Mark J Adams
- Division of Psychiatry, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Rosie M Walker
- Centre for Genomic and Experimental Medicine, Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Stewart W Morris
- Centre for Genomic and Experimental Medicine, Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Jari Lahti
- Turku Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
- Department of Psychology and logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Leanne K Küpers
- University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Department of Epidemiology, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Georgia Escaramis
- CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Barcelona, Spain
- Department of Biomedical Science, Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Research Group on Statistics, Econometrics and Health (GRECS), UdG, Girona, Spain
| | - Silvia Alemany
- ISGlobal, Barcelona, Spain
- Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain
- CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Marc Jan Bonder
- Department of Genetics, University of Groningen, University Medical Centre Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Mandy Meijer
- Department of Human Genetics, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Hill F Ip
- Department of Biological Psychology, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Rick Jansen
- Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Bart M L Baselmans
- Department of Biological Psychology, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Priyanka Parmar
- Center for Life Course Health Research, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 5000, 90014, Oulu, Finland
- Biocenter Oulu, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 5000, 90014, Oulu, Finland
| | - Estelle Lowry
- Center for Life Course Health Research, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 5000, 90014, Oulu, Finland
- Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK
| | - Fabian Streit
- Department of Genetic Epidemiology in Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Lea Sirignano
- Department of Genetic Epidemiology in Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Tabea S Send
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Josef Frank
- Department of Genetic Epidemiology in Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Juulia Jylhävä
- Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Yunzhang Wang
- Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Pashupati Prasad Mishra
- Department of Clinical Chemistry, Fimlab Laboratories, and Finnish Cardiovascular Research Center-Tampere, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere, 33520, Finland
| | - Olivier F Colins
- Curium-LUMC, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center, Oegstgeest, The Netherlands
- Department of Special Needs Education, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - David L Corcoran
- Center for Genomic and Computational Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Richie Poulton
- Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Research Unit, Department of Psychology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Jonathan Mill
- University of Exeter Medical School, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
| | - Eilis Hannon
- University of Exeter Medical School, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
| | - Louise Arseneault
- Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Tellervo Korhonen
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Eero Vuoksimaa
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Janine F Felix
- Generation R Study Group, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
- Department of Pediatrics, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | | | - Archie Campbell
- Centre for Genomic and Experimental Medicine, Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Darina Czamara
- Department of Translational Research in Psychiatry, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Kraepelinstr. 2-10, 80804, Munich, Germany
| | - Elisabeth Binder
- Department of Translational Research in Psychiatry, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Kraepelinstr. 2-10, 80804, Munich, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, 12 Executive Park Dr, Atlanta, GA, 30329, USA
| | - Eva Corpeleijn
- University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Department of Epidemiology, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Juan R Gonzalez
- ISGlobal, Barcelona, Spain
- Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain
- CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Regina Grazuleviciene
- Department of Environmental Sciences, Vytautas Magnus University, K. Donelaicio str. 58, 44248, Kaunas, Lithuania
| | - Kristine B Gutzkow
- Department of Environmental Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
| | - Jorunn Evandt
- Department of Environmental Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
| | - Marina Vafeiadi
- Department of Social Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece
| | - Marieke Klein
- Department of Human Genetics, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- University Medical Center Utrecht, UMC Utrecht Brain Center, Department of Psychiatry, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Dennis van der Meer
- NORMENT, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital & Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- School of Mental Health and Neuroscience, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Lannie Ligthart
- Department of Biological Psychology, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | | | - Gareth E Davies
- Avera Institute for Human Genetics, 3720 W. 69th Street, Sioux Falls, SD, 57108, USA
| | - Christian Hakulinen
- Department of Psychology and logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | | | - Barbara Franke
- Department of Human Genetics, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Department of Psychiatry, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Christine M Freitag
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Frankfurt, Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Kerstin Konrad
- University Hospital, RWTH Aachen, Child Neuropsychology Section, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Aachen, Germany
- JARA-Brain Institute II, Molecular Neuroscience and Neuroimaging (INM-11), RWTH Aachen & Research Centre Juelich, Juelich, Germany
| | - Amaia Hervas
- Hospital Universitario Mutua de Terrassa, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, Barcelona, Spain
| | | | - Agnes Vetro
- Szeged University, Department of Pediatrics and Pediatrics health center, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Szeged, Hungary
| | - Olli Raitakari
- Centre for Population Health Research, University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland
- Research Centre of Applied and Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
- Department of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland
| | - Terho Lehtimäki
- Department of Clinical Chemistry, Fimlab Laboratories, and Finnish Cardiovascular Research Center-Tampere, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere, 33520, Finland
| | - Robert Vermeiren
- Curium-LUMC, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center, Oegstgeest, The Netherlands
- Youz, Parnassia Group, The Hague, The Netherlands
| | - Timo Strandberg
- Helsinki University Central Hospital, Geriatrics, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Katri Räikkönen
- Department of Psychology and logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Harold Snieder
- University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Department of Epidemiology, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Stephanie H Witt
- Department of Genetic Epidemiology in Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Michael Deuschle
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Nancy L Pedersen
- Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Sara Hägg
- Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Jordi Sunyer
- ISGlobal, Barcelona, Spain
- Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain
- CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Barcelona, Spain
- IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Lude Franke
- Department of Genetics, University of Groningen, University Medical Centre Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Jaakko Kaprio
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Miina Ollikainen
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Terrie E Moffitt
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
- Center for Genomic and Computational Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
- Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Henning Tiemeier
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychology, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
- Department of Social and Behavioral Science, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, USA
| | - Marinus H van IJzendoorn
- Department of Psychology, Education and Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
- Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, UCL, University of London, London, UK
| | - Caroline Relton
- Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- MRC Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Martine Vrijheid
- ISGlobal, Barcelona, Spain
- Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain
- CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Sylvain Sebert
- Center for Life Course Health Research, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 5000, 90014, Oulu, Finland
- Biocenter Oulu, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 5000, 90014, Oulu, Finland
- Section of Genomics of Common Disease, Department of Medicine, Imperial College London, Hammersmith Hospital Campus, Burlington Danes Building, Du Cane Road, London, W12 0NN, UK
| | - Marjo-Riitta Jarvelin
- Center for Life Course Health Research, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 5000, 90014, Oulu, Finland
- Biocenter Oulu, University of Oulu, P.O. Box 5000, 90014, Oulu, Finland
- MRC-PHE Centre for Environment and Health, Imperial College London, Hammersmith Hospital Campus, Burlington Danes Building, Du Cane Road, London, W12 0NN, UK
| | - Avshalom Caspi
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
- Center for Genomic and Computational Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
- Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Kathryn L Evans
- Centre for Genomic and Experimental Medicine, Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | | | - Meike Bartels
- Department of Biological Psychology, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Dorret I Boomsma
- Department of Biological Psychology, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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9
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Song Q, Sun D, Zhou T, Li X, Ma H, Liang Z, Wang H, Cardoso MA, Heianza Y, Qi L. Perinatal exposure to maternal smoking and adulthood smoking behaviors in predicting cardiovascular diseases: A prospective cohort study. Atherosclerosis 2021; 328:52-59. [PMID: 34091070 DOI: 10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2021.05.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2020] [Revised: 05/06/2021] [Accepted: 05/12/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIMS Little is known about the associations between perinatal exposure to maternal smoking and cardiovascular disease (CVD) incidence in offspring, and whether such associations are modified by adulthood and genetically determined smoking behaviors. METHODS A total of 414,588 participants without CVD at baseline were included from the UK Biobank in 2006-2010 and followed up through 2018. Cox-proportional hazard models were used to examine the association of perinatal maternal smoking with CVD, and both multiplicative and additive interaction analyses were performed to investigate the modification effects of own smoking behaviors. RESULTS During a median follow-up of 8.93 years, we observed 10,860 incident CVD events, including 7006 myocardial infarction (MI) and 4147 stroke. We found that perinatal exposure to maternal smoking was associated with increased risks of CVD (HR: 1.10; 95% CI: 1.05-1.14), MI (1.10; 1.05-1.16) and stroke (1.10; 1.03-1.18). In addition, we observed significant interactions between perinatal exposure to maternal smoking and adulthood exposure to own smoking on CVD and MI on both the multiplicative and additive scales (all p < 0.05). The attributable proportions due to additive interaction between perinatal and adulthood exposure to smoking were 14% (9%-19%) for CVD and 16% (10%-22%) for MI, respectively. Perinatal exposure to maternal smoking also showed an interaction with genetically determined smoking on MI (p < 0.05), but no interactions were found on the total CVD and stroke. CONCLUSIONS Our results indicate that perinatal exposure to maternal smoking is associated with increased risks of CVD events, and such relations are modified by adulthood smoking behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiying Song
- Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA; Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing, China; Maternal-Fetal Medicine Institute, Shenzhen Baoan Women's and Children's Hospital, Jinan University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Dianjianyi Sun
- Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA; Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Tao Zhou
- Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA
| | - Xiang Li
- Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA
| | - Hao Ma
- Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA
| | - Zhaoxia Liang
- Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA; Department of Obstetrical, Women's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
| | - Haijun Wang
- Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Marly Augusto Cardoso
- Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
| | - Yoriko Heianza
- Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA
| | - Lu Qi
- Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA; Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA; Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
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10
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Juvinao-Quintero DL, Marioni RE, Ochoa-Rosales C, Russ TC, Deary IJ, van Meurs JBJ, Voortman T, Hivert MF, Sharp GC, Relton CL, Elliott HR. DNA methylation of blood cells is associated with prevalent type 2 diabetes in a meta-analysis of four European cohorts. Clin Epigenetics 2021; 13:40. [PMID: 33622391 PMCID: PMC7903628 DOI: 10.1186/s13148-021-01027-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2020] [Accepted: 02/11/2021] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a heterogeneous disease with well-known genetic and environmental risk factors contributing to its prevalence. Epigenetic mechanisms related to changes in DNA methylation (DNAm), may also contribute to T2D risk, but larger studies are required to discover novel markers, and to confirm existing ones. RESULTS We performed a large meta-analysis of individual epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS) of prevalent T2D conducted in four European studies using peripheral blood DNAm. Analysis of differentially methylated regions (DMR) was also undertaken, based on the meta-analysis results. We found three novel CpGs associated with prevalent T2D in Europeans at cg00144180 (HDAC4), cg16765088 (near SYNM) and cg24704287 (near MIR23A) and confirmed three CpGs previously identified (mapping to TXNIP, ABCG1 and CPT1A). We also identified 77 T2D associated DMRs, most of them hypomethylated in T2D cases versus controls. In adjusted regressions among diabetic-free participants in ALSPAC, we found that all six CpGs identified in the meta-EWAS were associated with white cell-types. We estimated that these six CpGs captured 11% of the variation in T2D, which was similar to the variation explained by the model including only the common risk factors of BMI, sex, age and smoking (R2 = 10.6%). CONCLUSIONS This study identifies novel loci associated with T2D in Europeans. We also demonstrate associations of the same loci with other traits. Future studies should investigate if our findings are generalizable in non-European populations, and potential roles of these epigenetic markers in T2D etiology or in determining long term consequences of T2D.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diana L. Juvinao-Quintero
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology, Bristol Medical School, Bristol, BS8 2BN UK
- Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 2BN UK
- Division of Chronic Disease Research Across the Lifecourse, Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Boston, MA 02215 USA
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol, BS8 2BN UK
| | - Riccardo E. Marioni
- Centre for Genomic and Experimental Medicine, Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH4 2XU UK
| | - Carolina Ochoa-Rosales
- Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC University Medical Center, Rotterdam, 3000 CA The Netherlands
- Centro de Vida Saludable de La Universidad de Concepción, Victoria 580, Concepción, Chile
| | - Tom C. Russ
- Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Research Centre, University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JZ UK
- Edinburgh Dementia Prevention Research Group, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH16 4UX UK
- Lothian Birth Cohorts, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH8 9JZ UK
| | - Ian J. Deary
- Lothian Birth Cohorts, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH8 9JZ UK
- Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH8 9JZ UK
| | - Joyce B. J. van Meurs
- Department of Internal Medicine, Erasmus MC University Medical Center, Rotterdam, 3000 CA The Netherlands
| | - Trudy Voortman
- Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC University Medical Center, Rotterdam, 3000 CA The Netherlands
| | - Marie-France Hivert
- Division of Chronic Disease Research Across the Lifecourse, Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Boston, MA 02215 USA
| | - Gemma C. Sharp
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology, Bristol Medical School, Bristol, BS8 2BN UK
- Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 2BN UK
| | - Caroline L. Relton
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology, Bristol Medical School, Bristol, BS8 2BN UK
- Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 2BN UK
- Bristol NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol, BS8 2BN UK
| | - Hannah R. Elliott
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology, Bristol Medical School, Bristol, BS8 2BN UK
- Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 2BN UK
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11
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Jamieson E, Korologou-Linden R, Wootton RE, Guyatt AL, Battram T, Burrows K, Gaunt TR, Tobin MD, Munafò M, Davey Smith G, Tilling K, Relton C, Richardson TG, Richmond RC. Smoking, DNA Methylation, and Lung Function: a Mendelian Randomization Analysis to Investigate Causal Pathways. Am J Hum Genet 2020; 106:315-326. [PMID: 32084330 PMCID: PMC7058834 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2020.01.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2019] [Accepted: 01/21/2020] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Whether smoking-associated DNA methylation has a causal effect on lung function has not been thoroughly evaluated. We first investigated the causal effects of 474 smoking-associated CpGs on forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) in UK Biobank (n = 321,047) by using two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) and then replicated this investigation in the SpiroMeta Consortium (n = 79,055). Second, we used two-step MR to investigate whether DNA methylation mediates the effect of smoking on FEV1. Lastly, we evaluated the presence of horizontal pleiotropy and assessed whether there is any evidence for shared causal genetic variants between lung function, DNA methylation, and gene expression by using a multiple-trait colocalization ("moloc") framework. We found evidence of a possible causal effect for DNA methylation on FEV1 at 18 CpGs (p < 1.2 × 10-4). Replication analysis supported a causal effect at three CpGs (cg21201401 [LIME1 and ZGPAT], cg19758448 [PGAP3], and cg12616487 [EML3 and AHNAK] [p < 0.0028]). DNA methylation did not clearly mediate the effect of smoking on FEV1, although DNA methylation at some sites might influence lung function via effects on smoking. By using "moloc", we found evidence of shared causal variants between lung function, gene expression, and DNA methylation. These findings highlight potential therapeutic targets for improving lung function and possibly smoking cessation, although larger, tissue-specific datasets are required to confirm these results.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily Jamieson
- Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK; Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK
| | - Roxanna Korologou-Linden
- Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK; Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK
| | - Robyn E Wootton
- Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK; School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol, 12a Priory Road, Bristol BS8 1TU, UK; National Institute for Health Research Bristol Biomedical Research Centre, University Hospitals Bristol National Health Service Foundation Trust and University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Anna L Guyatt
- Department of Health Sciences, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK
| | - Thomas Battram
- Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK; Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK
| | - Kimberley Burrows
- Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK; Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK
| | - Tom R Gaunt
- Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK; Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK; National Institute for Health Research Bristol Biomedical Research Centre, University Hospitals Bristol National Health Service Foundation Trust and University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Martin D Tobin
- Department of Health Sciences, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK
| | - Marcus Munafò
- Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK; School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol, 12a Priory Road, Bristol BS8 1TU, UK; National Institute for Health Research Bristol Biomedical Research Centre, University Hospitals Bristol National Health Service Foundation Trust and University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - George Davey Smith
- Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK; Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK; National Institute for Health Research Bristol Biomedical Research Centre, University Hospitals Bristol National Health Service Foundation Trust and University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Kate Tilling
- Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK; Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK
| | - Caroline Relton
- Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK; Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK
| | - Tom G Richardson
- Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK; Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK
| | - Rebecca C Richmond
- Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK; Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK.
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12
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Juvinao-Quintero DL, Hivert MF, Sharp GC, Relton CL, Elliott HR. DNA Methylation and Type 2 Diabetes: the Use of Mendelian Randomization to Assess Causality. CURRENT GENETIC MEDICINE REPORTS 2019; 7:191-207. [PMID: 32274260 PMCID: PMC7145450 DOI: 10.1007/s40142-019-00176-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Purpose of Review This review summarises recent advances in the field of epigenetics in order to understand the aetiology of type 2 diabetes (T2D). Recent Findings DNA methylation at a number of loci has been shown to be robustly associated with T2D, including TXNIP, ABCG1, CPT1A, and SREBF1. However, due to the cross-sectional nature of many epidemiological studies and predominant analysis in samples derived from blood rather than disease relevant tissues, inferring causality is difficult. We therefore outline the use of Mendelian randomisation (MR) as one method able to assess causality in epigenetic studies of T2D. Summary Epidemiological studies have been fruitful in identifying epigenetic markers of T2D. Triangulation of evidence including utilisation of MR is essential to delineate causal from non-causal biomarkers of disease. Understanding the causality of epigenetic markers in T2D more fully will aid prioritisation of CpG sites as early biomarkers to detect disease or in drug development to target epigenetic mechanisms in order to treat patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diana L Juvinao-Quintero
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK.,Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK
| | - Marie-France Hivert
- Division of Chronic Disease Research Across the Lifecourse, Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Boston, USA
| | - Gemma C Sharp
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK.,Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK
| | - Caroline L Relton
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK.,Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK.,Bristol NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Bristol, UK
| | - Hannah R Elliott
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK.,Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK
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