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Khaire AS, Wimberly CE, Semmes EC, Hurst JH, Walsh KM. An integrated genome and phenome-wide association study approach to understanding Alzheimer's disease predisposition. Neurobiol Aging 2022; 118:117-123. [PMID: 35715361 PMCID: PMC9787699 DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2022.05.011] [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: 01/03/2022] [Revised: 05/13/2022] [Accepted: 05/23/2022] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that increase late-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD) risk. To identify additional LOAD-associated variants and provide insight into underlying disease biology, we performed a phenome-wide association study on 23 known LOAD-associated SNPs and 4:1 matched control SNPs using UK Biobank data. LOAD-associated SNPs were significantly enriched for associations with 8/778 queried traits, including 3 platelet traits. The strongest enrichment was for platelet distribution width (PDW) (p = 1.2 × 10-5), but increased PDW was not associated with LOAD susceptibility in Mendelian randomization analysis. Of 384 PDW-associated SNPs identified by prior GWAS, 36 were nominally associated with LOAD risk (17,008 cases; 37,154 controls) and 5 survived false-discovery rate correction. Associations confirmed known LOAD risk loci near PICALM, CD2AP, SPI1, and NDUFAF6, and identified a novel risk locus in epidermal growth factor receptor. Integrating GWAS and phenome-wide association study data reveals substantial pleiotropy between genetic determinants of LOAD and of platelet morphology, and for the first time implicates epidermal growth factor receptor - a mediator of β-amyloid toxicity - in Alzheimer's disease susceptibility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Archita S Khaire
- Division of Neuro-epidemiology, Department of Neurosurgery, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Courtney E Wimberly
- Division of Neuro-epidemiology, Department of Neurosurgery, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Eleanor C Semmes
- Medical Scientist Training Program, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA; Children's Health and Discovery Initiative, Department of Pediatrics, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Jillian H Hurst
- Children's Health and Discovery Initiative, Department of Pediatrics, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Kyle M Walsh
- Division of Neuro-epidemiology, Department of Neurosurgery, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA; Children's Health and Discovery Initiative, Department of Pediatrics, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA; Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
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Zhang C, Ostrom QT, Semmes EC, Ramaswamy V, Hansen HM, Morimoto L, de Smith AJ, Pekmezci M, Vaksman Z, Hakonarson H, Diskin SJ, Metayer C, Taylor MD, Wiemels JL, Bondy ML, Walsh KM. Genetic predisposition to longer telomere length and risk of childhood, adolescent and adult-onset ependymoma. Acta Neuropathol Commun 2020; 8:173. [PMID: 33115534 PMCID: PMC7592366 DOI: 10.1186/s40478-020-01038-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2020] [Accepted: 09/14/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Ependymoma is the third most common brain tumor in children, with well-described molecular characterization but poorly understood underlying germline risk factors. To investigate whether genetic predisposition to longer telomere length influences ependymoma risk, we utilized case-control data from three studies: a population-based pediatric and adolescent ependymoma case-control sample from California (153 cases, 696 controls), a hospital-based pediatric posterior fossa type A (EPN-PF-A) ependymoma case-control study from Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (83 cases, 332 controls), and a multicenter adult-onset ependymoma case-control dataset nested within the Glioma International Case-Control Consortium (GICC) (103 cases, 3287 controls). In the California case-control sample, a polygenic score for longer telomere length was significantly associated with increased risk of ependymoma diagnosed at ages 12-19 (P = 4.0 × 10-3), but not with ependymoma in children under 12 years of age (P = 0.94). Mendelian randomization supported this observation, identifying a significant association between genetic predisposition to longer telomere length and increased risk of adolescent-onset ependymoma (ORPRS = 1.67; 95% CI 1.18-2.37; P = 3.97 × 10-3) and adult-onset ependymoma (PMR-Egger = 0.042), but not with risk of ependymoma diagnosed before age 12 (OR = 1.12; 95% CI 0.94-1.34; P = 0.21), nor with EPN-PF-A (PMR-Egger = 0.59). These findings complement emerging literature suggesting that augmented telomere maintenance is important in ependymoma pathogenesis and progression, and that longer telomere length is a risk factor for diverse nervous system malignancies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chenan Zhang
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, USA
| | - Quinn T Ostrom
- Department of Medicine, Section of Epidemiology and Population Sciences, Dan L. Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, USA
| | - Eleanor C Semmes
- Medical Scientist Training Program, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, USA
- Children's Health and Discovery Initiative, Department of Pediatrics, Duke University, Durham, USA
| | - Vijay Ramaswamy
- The Arthur and Sonia Labatt Brain Tumor Research Centre, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada
| | - Helen M Hansen
- Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, USA
| | - Libby Morimoto
- School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, USA
| | - Adam J de Smith
- Center for Genetic Epidemiology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA
| | - Melike Pekmezci
- Department of Pathology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, USA
| | - Zalman Vaksman
- Department of Biomedical and Health Informatics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Hakon Hakonarson
- Center for Applied Genomics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA
| | - Sharon J Diskin
- Department of Biomedical and Health Informatics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA
| | - Catherine Metayer
- School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, USA
| | - Michael D Taylor
- The Arthur and Sonia Labatt Brain Tumor Research Centre, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada
| | - Joseph L Wiemels
- Center for Genetic Epidemiology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA
| | - Melissa L Bondy
- Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA, USA
| | - Kyle M Walsh
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, USA.
- Medical Scientist Training Program, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, USA.
- Department of Neurosurgery and Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University School of Medicine, DUMC Box 3050, Durham, NC, 27710, USA.
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Semmes EC, Shen E, Cohen JL, Zhang C, Wei Q, Hurst JH, Walsh KM. Genetic variation associated with childhood and adult stature and risk of MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma. Cancer Med 2020; 9:8216-8225. [PMID: 32945147 PMCID: PMC7643638 DOI: 10.1002/cam4.3458] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2020] [Revised: 08/07/2020] [Accepted: 08/25/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Neuroblastoma is the most common pediatric solid tumor. MYCN‐amplification is an important negative prognostic indicator and inherited genetic contributions to risk are incompletely understood. Genetic determinants of stature increase risk of several adult and childhood cancers, but have not been studied in neuroblastoma despite elevated neuroblastoma incidence in children with congenital overgrowth syndromes. Methods We investigated the association between genetic determinants of height and neuroblastoma risk in 1538 neuroblastoma cases, stratified by MYCN‐amplification status, and compared to 3390 European‐ancestry controls using polygenic scores for birth length (five variants), childhood height (six variants), and adult height (413 variants). We further examined the UK Biobank to evaluate the association of known neuroblastoma risk loci and stature. Results An increase in the polygenic score for childhood stature, corresponding to a ~0.5 cm increase in pre‐pubertal height, was associated with greater risk of MYCN‐amplified neuroblastoma (OR = 1.14, P = .047). An increase in the polygenic score for adult stature, corresponding to a ~1.7 cm increase in adult height attainment, was associated with decreased risk of MYCN‐amplified neuroblastoma (OR = 0.87, P = .047). These associations persisted in case‐case analyses comparing MYCN‐amplified to MYCN‐unamplified neuroblastoma. No polygenic height scores were associated with MYCN‐unamplified neuroblastoma risk. Previously identified genome‐wide association study hits for neuroblastoma (N = 10) were significantly enriched for association with both childhood (P = 4.0 × 10−3) and adult height (P = 8.9 × 10−3) in >250 000 UK Biobank study participants. Conclusions Genetic propensity to taller childhood height and shorter adult height were associated with MYCN‐amplified neuroblastoma risk, suggesting that biological pathways affecting growth trajectories and pubertal timing may contribute to MYCN‐amplified neuroblastoma etiology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eleanor C Semmes
- Medical Scientist Training Program, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.,Department of Pediatrics, Children's Health and Discovery Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Erica Shen
- Division of Neuro-epidemiology, Department of Neurosurgery, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Jennifer L Cohen
- Division of Medical Genetics, Department of Pediatrics, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Chenan Zhang
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Qingyi Wei
- Department of Population Health Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA.,Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Jillian H Hurst
- Department of Pediatrics, Children's Health and Discovery Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Kyle M Walsh
- Department of Pediatrics, Children's Health and Discovery Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.,Division of Neuro-epidemiology, Department of Neurosurgery, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.,Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.,Department of Population Health Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA.,Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA
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Semmes EC, Vijayakrishnan J, Zhang C, Hurst JH, Houlston RS, Walsh KM. Leveraging Genome and Phenome-Wide Association Studies to Investigate Genetic Risk of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020; 29:1606-1614. [PMID: 32467347 DOI: 10.1158/1055-9965.epi-20-0113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2020] [Revised: 03/23/2020] [Accepted: 05/06/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of childhood cancers remain limited, highlighting the need for novel analytic strategies. We describe a hybrid GWAS and phenome-wide association study (PheWAS) approach to uncover genotype-phenotype relationships and candidate risk loci, applying it to acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). METHODS PheWAS was performed for 12 ALL SNPs identified by prior GWAS and two control SNP-sets using UK Biobank data. PheWAS-traits significantly associated with ALL SNPs compared with control SNPs were assessed for association with ALL risk (959 cases, 2,624 controls) using polygenic score and Mendelian randomization analyses. Trait-associated SNPs were tested for association with ALL risk in single-SNP analyses, with replication in an independent case-control dataset (1,618 cases, 9,409 controls). RESULTS Platelet count was the trait most enriched for association with known ALL risk loci. A polygenic score for platelet count (223 SNPs) was not associated with ALL risk (P = 0.82) and Mendelian randomization did not suggest a causal relationship. However, twelve platelet count-associated SNPs were nominally associated with ALL risk in COG data and three were replicated in UK data (rs10058074, rs210142, rs2836441). CONCLUSIONS In our hybrid GWAS-PheWAS approach, we identify pleiotropic genetic variation contributing to ALL risk and platelet count. Three SNPs known to influence platelet count were reproducibly associated with ALL risk, implicating genomic regions containing IRF1, proapoptotic protein BAK1, and ERG in platelet production and leukemogenesis. IMPACT Incorporating PheWAS data into association studies can leverage genetic pleiotropy to identify cancer risk loci, highlighting the utility of our novel approach.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eleanor C Semmes
- Medical Scientist Training Program, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.,Children's Health and Discovery Initiative, Department of Pediatrics, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
| | - Jayaram Vijayakrishnan
- Division of Genetics and Epidemiology, The Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton, Surrey, United Kingdom
| | - Chenan Zhang
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California
| | - Jillian H Hurst
- Children's Health and Discovery Initiative, Department of Pediatrics, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
| | - Richard S Houlston
- Division of Genetics and Epidemiology, The Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton, Surrey, United Kingdom
| | - Kyle M Walsh
- Children's Health and Discovery Initiative, Department of Pediatrics, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. .,Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California.,Department of Neurosurgery, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina.,Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
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