Open AccessGenome-wide association study identifies 16 genomic regions associated with circulating cytokines at birth
Author(s) -
Yunpeng Wang,
Ron Nudel,
Michael E. Benros,
Kristin Skogstrand,
Simon Fishilevich,
iPSYCH-BROAD,
Doron Lancet,
Jiangming Sun,
David M. Hougaard,
Ole A. Andreassen,
Preben Bo Mortensen,
Alfonso Buil,
Thomas Folkmann Hansen,
Wesley K. Thompson,
Thomas Werge
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
plos genetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.587
H-Index - 233
eISSN - 1553-7404
pISSN - 1553-7390
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pgen.1009163
Subject(s) - biology , genome wide association study , genetic architecture , genetics , snp , genetic association , disease , genetic variation , single nucleotide polymorphism , quantitative trait locus , heritability , enhancer , immunology , gene , genotype , medicine , gene expression
Circulating inflammatory markers are essential to human health and disease, and they are often dysregulated or malfunctioning in cancers as well as in cardiovascular, metabolic, immunologic and neuropsychiatric disorders. However, the genetic contribution to the physiological variation of levels of circulating inflammatory markers is largely unknown. Here we report the results of a genome-wide genetic study of blood concentration of ten cytokines, including the hitherto unexplored calcium-binding protein (S100B). The study leverages a unique sample of neonatal blood spots from 9,459 Danish subjects from the iPSYCH initiative. We estimate the SNP-heritability of marker levels as ranging from essentially zero for Erythropoietin (EPO) up to 73% for S100B. We identify and replicate 16 associated genomic regions (p < 5 x 10 −9 ), of which four are novel. We show that the associated variants map to enhancer elements, suggesting a possible transcriptional effect of genomic variants on the cytokine levels. The identification of the genetic architecture underlying the basic levels of cytokines is likely to prompt studies investigating the relationship between cytokines and complex disease. Our results also suggest that the genetic architecture of cytokines is stable from neonatal to adult life.