The rs2516839 variation of USF1 gene is associated with 4‐year mortality of nonagenarian women: The Vitality 90+ study

Polymorphism rs3737787 of Upstream Stimulatory Factor 1 gene is associated with serum lipid phenotype in Nigerian population

Serum lipid profile which is determined by genotype-phenotype relationship plays a significant role in the development of cardiovascular disease. Upstream stimulatory factor 1 (USF1), has been reported to be associated with serum lipid levels in different population, hence, this study investigated the association of variants in USF1 with serum lipid profile in adults in Lagos state, Nigeria. We genotyped rs3737787 (11235C > T) and rs550376620 (10488G > A) with PCR-RFLP in 384 participants and we used logistic regression to assess the association of these variants with serum lipid levels. The minor allele frequency observed in 10488G > A in both case and control groups was 5% while the minor allele of 11235C > T was observed to be more frequent in the control when compared to the dyslipidemic subjects (24% vs 12%; p = 1.84e-05). Levels of total cholesterol, triglycerides, and LDL-c in dyslipidemic subjects with CC genotype of 11235C > T were significantly higher compared to CT and TT genotypes (p < 0.001; p < 0.0001 and p < 0.0001 respectively). Logistic regression with adjustment for age, gender and BMI, showed that the minor allele carriers of 11235C > T have a reduced risk of dyslipidemia (Odds ratio: 0. 0.043, 95% confidence interval (CI): (0.006-0.331, p = 0.002). Our findings revealed that rs3737787 is associated with lipid phenotype in Nigerian population.

Genome-Wide DNA Methylation Profiles in Community Members Exposed to the World Trade Center Disaster

The primary goal of this pilot study was to assess feasibility of studies among local community members to address the hypothesis that complex exposures to the World Trade Center (WTC) dust and fumes resulted in long-term epigenetic changes. We enrolled 18 WTC-exposed cancer-free women from the WTC Environmental Health Center (WTC EHC) who agreed to donate blood samples during their standard clinical visits. As a reference WTC unexposed group, we randomly selected 24 age-matched cancer-free women from an existing prospective cohort who donated blood samples before 11 September 2001. The global DNA methylation analyses were performed using Illumina Infinium MethylationEpic arrays. Statistical analyses were performed using R Bioconductor package. Functional genomic analyses were done by mapping the top 5000 differentially expressed CpG sites to the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) Pathway database. Among cancer-free subjects, we observed substantial methylation differences between WTC-exposed and unexposed women. The top 15 differentially methylated gene probes included BCAS2, OSGIN1, BMI1, EEF1A2, SPTBN5, CHD8, CDCA7L, AIDA, DDN, SNORD45C, ZFAND6, ARHGEF7, UBXN8, USF1, and USP12. Several cancer-related pathways were enriched in the WTC-exposed subjects, including endocytosis, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), viral carcinogenesis, as well as Ras-associated protein-1 (Rap1) and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling. The study provides preliminary data on substantial differences in DNA methylation between WTC-exposed and unexposed populations that require validation in further studies.