Browsing by Author "Hauser, Elizabeth"

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    Genome-wide linkage analysis of cardiovascular disease biomarkers in a large, multigenerational family.
    (PLoS One, 2013) Nolan, Daniel; Kraus, William E; Hauser, Elizabeth; Li, Yi-Ju; Thompson, Dana K; Johnson, Jessica; Chen, Hsiang-Cheng; Nelson, Sarah; Haynes, Carol; Gregory, Simon G; Kraus, Virginia B; Shah, Svati H
    Given the importance of cardiovascular disease (CVD) to public health and the demonstrated heritability of both disease status and its related risk factors, identifying the genetic variation underlying these susceptibilities is a critical step in understanding the pathogenesis of CVD and informing prevention and treatment strategies. Although one can look for genetic variation underlying susceptibility to CVD per se, it can be difficult to define the disease phenotype for such a qualitative analysis and CVD itself represents a convergence of diverse etiologic pathways. Alternatively, one can study the genetics of intermediate traits that are known risk factors for CVD, which can be measured quantitatively. Using the latter strategy, we have measured 21 cardiovascular-related biomarkers in an extended multigenerational pedigree, the CARRIAGE family (Carolinas Region Interaction of Aging, Genes, and Environment). These biomarkers belong to inflammatory and immune, connective tissue, lipid, and hemostasis pathways. Of these, 18 met our quality control standards. Using the pedigree and biomarker data, we have estimated the broad sense heritability (H2) of each biomarker (ranging from 0.09-0.56). A genome-wide panel of 6,015 SNPs was used subsequently to map these biomarkers as quantitative traits. Four showed noteworthy evidence for linkage in multipoint analysis (LOD score ≥ 2.6): paraoxonase (chromosome 8p11, 21), the chemokine RANTES (22q13.33), matrix metalloproteinase 3 (MMP3, 17p13.3), and granulocyte colony stimulating factor (GCSF, 8q22.1). Identifying the causal variation underlying each linkage score will help to unravel the genetic architecture of these quantitative traits and, by extension, the genetic architecture of cardiovascular risk.
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    Novel loci and pathways significantly associated with longevity.
    (Sci Rep, 2016-02-25) Zeng, Yi; Nie, Chao; Min, Junxia; Liu, Xiaomin; Li, Mengmeng; Chen, Huashuai; Xu, Hanshi; Wang, Mingbang; Ni, Ting; Li, Yang; Yan, Han; Zhang, Jin-Pei; Song, Chun; Chi, Li-Qing; Wang, Han-Ming; Dong, Jie; Zheng, Gu-Yan; Lin, Li; Qian, Feng; Qi, Yanwei; Liu, Xiao; Cao, Hongzhi; Wang, Yinghao; Zhang, Lijuan; Li, Zhaochun; Zhou, Yufeng; Wang, Yan; Lu, Jiehua; Li, Jianxin; Qi, Ming; Bolund, Lars; Yashin, Anatoliy; Land, Kenneth C; Gregory, Simon; Yang, Ze; Gottschalk, William; Tao, Wei; Wang, Jian; Wang, Jun; Xu, Xun; Bae, Harold; Nygaard, Marianne; Christiansen, Lene; Christensen, Kaare; Franceschi, Claudio; Lutz, Michael W; Gu, Jun; Tan, Qihua; Perls, Thomas; Sebastiani, Paola; Deelen, Joris; Slagboom, Eline; Hauser, Elizabeth; Xu, Huji; Tian, Xiao-Li; Yang, Huanming; Vaupel, James W
    Only two genome-wide significant loci associated with longevity have been identified so far, probably because of insufficient sample sizes of centenarians, whose genomes may harbor genetic variants associated with health and longevity. Here we report a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of Han Chinese with a sample size 2.7 times the largest previously published GWAS on centenarians. We identified 11 independent loci associated with longevity replicated in Southern-Northern regions of China, including two novel loci (rs2069837-IL6; rs2440012-ANKRD20A9P) with genome-wide significance and the rest with suggestive significance (P < 3.65 × 10(-5)). Eight independent SNPs overlapped across Han Chinese, European and U.S. populations, and APOE and 5q33.3 were replicated as longevity loci. Integrated analysis indicates four pathways (starch, sucrose and xenobiotic metabolism; immune response and inflammation; MAPK; calcium signaling) highly associated with longevity (P ≤ 0.006) in Han Chinese. The association with longevity of three of these four pathways (MAPK; immunity; calcium signaling) is supported by findings in other human cohorts. Our novel finding on the association of starch, sucrose and xenobiotic metabolism pathway with longevity is consistent with the previous results from Drosophilia. This study suggests protective mechanisms including immunity and nutrient metabolism and their interactions with environmental stress play key roles in human longevity.