Meta-analysis of Genome-wide Association Studies of Asthma In Ethnically Diverse North American Populations

TitleMeta-analysis of Genome-wide Association Studies of Asthma In Ethnically Diverse North American Populations
Publication TypeJournal Article
AuthorsTorgerson, Dara G., Elizabeth J. Ampleford, Grace Y. Chiu, James W. Gauderman, Christopher R. Gignoux, Penelope E. Graves, Blanca E. Himes, Albert M. Levin, Rasika A. Mathias, Dana B. Hancock, James W. Baurley, Celeste Eng, Debra A. Stern, Juan C. Celedon, Nicholas Rafaels, Daniel Capurso, David V. Conti, Lindsey A. Roth, Manuel Soto-Quiros, Alkis Togias, Xingnan Li, Rachel A. Myers, Isabelle Romieu, David J. Van Den Berg, Donglei Hu, Nadia N. Hansel, Ryan D. Hernandez, Elliott Israel, Muhammad T. Salam, Joshua Galanter, Pedro C. Avila, Lydiana Avila, Jose R. Rodriquez-Santana, Rocio Chapela, William Rodriguez-Cintron, Gregory B. Diette, Franklin N. Adkinson, Rebekah A. Abel, Kevin D. Ross, Min Shi, Mezbah U. Faruque, Georgia M. Dunston, Harold R. Watson, Vito J. Mantese, Serpil C. Ezurum, Liming Liang, Ingo Ruczinski, Jean G. Ford, Scott Huntsman, Kian Fan Chung, Hita Vora, Xia Li, William J. Calhoun, Mario Castro, Juan J. Sienra-Monge, Blanca del Rio-Navarro, Klaus A. Deichmann, Andrea Heinzmann, Sally E. Wenzel, William W. Busse, James E. Gern, Robert F. Lemanske, Terri H. Beaty, Eugene R. Bleecker, Benjamin A. Raby, Deborah A. Meyers, Stephanie J. London, Frank D. Gilliland, Esteban G. Burchard, Fernando D. Martinez, Scott T. Weiss, Keoki L. Williams, Kathleen C. Barnes, Carole Ober, and Dan L. Nicolae
JournalNature genetics
Volume43
Issue9
Pagination887-892
ISSN1061-4036
Abstract

Asthma is a common disease with a complex risk architecture including both genetic and environmental factors. We performed a meta-analysis of North American genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of asthma in 5,416 asthma cases representing European Americans, African Americans/African Caribbeans, and Latinos, and replicated five regions among the most significant signals in 12,649 individuals from the same ethnic groups. Four were at previously reported loci on 17q21, and near the IL1RL1, TSLP, and IL33, genes, but we report for the first time that these loci are associated with asthma risk in three ethnic groups. In addition, we identified a novel association with asthma in the PYHIN1, gene that was specific to individuals of African descent (p=3.9×10−9). These results suggest that some asthma susceptibility loci are robust to differences in ancestry when sufficiently large samples sizes are investigated, and that ancestry-specific associations also contribute to the complex genetic architecture of asthma.

URLhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3445408/
DOI10.1038/ng.888