Search

Background & aimsAlthough non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has been studied extensively, the potential risk factors for NAFLD among chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients have not been fully known.MethodsA population-based cohort of adult CHB patients without a history of alcohol drinking or NAFLD were recruited and followed up from October 2012 to January 2015 in Jiangsu province, China. Using Cox proportional hazards regression model, potential risk factors including viral and metabolic factors for NAFLD were evaluated.ResultsTwo thousand three hundred and ninety-three adult CHB patients (mean age 50.7 ± 13.2 years) were included in the cohort. With 4429 person-years of follow-up, 283 individuals progressed to NAFLD with an incidence rate of 63.89/1000 person-years. Overweight and obese CHB patients had an increased risk of NAFLD (overweight adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 3.10; 95% CI, 2.29-4.18; obese HR, 8.52; 95%CI, 5.93-12.25) compared to normal weight carriers. The incidence of NAFLD was associated with concurrent type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) (HR, 1.88; 95%CI, 1.15-3.08). However, no associations between viral factors with NAFLD incidence rate were identified. In a subgroup of participants with concurrent type 2 DM, detectable HBV DNA levels were negatively associated with the development of NAFLD (HR, 0.37; 95%CI, 0.14-0.98). There was super-multiplicative interaction between BMI and gender with respect to incidence of NAFLD, with an ROR of 2.08 (95%CI, 1.02-4.23).ConclusionMetabolic factors play an important role in the presence of NAFLD among Chinese CHB patients. However, viral replication factors are not related to NAFLD except among those with concurrent type 2 DM.

Human height is associated with risk of multiple diseases and is profoundly determined by an individual's genetic makeup and shows a high degree of ethnic heterogeneity. Large-scale genome-wide association (GWA) analyses of adult height in Europeans have identified nearly 180 genetic loci. A recent study showed high replicability of results from Europeans-based GWA studies in Asians; however, population-specific loci may exist due to distinct linkage disequilibrium patterns. We carried out a GWA meta-analysis in 93 926 individuals from East Asia. We identified 98 loci, including 17 novel and 81 previously reported loci, associated with height at P < 5 × 10(-8), together explaining 8.89% of phenotypic variance. Among the newly identified variants, 10 are commonly distributed (minor allele frequency, MAF > 5%) in Europeans, with comparable frequencies with in Asians, and 7 single-nucleotide polymorphisms are with low frequency (MAF < 5%) in Europeans. In addition, our data suggest that novel biological pathway such as the protein tyrosine phosphatase family is involved in regulation of height. The findings from this study considerably expand our knowledge of the genetic architecture of human height in Asians.

Background: Increasing evidence suggests that conventional adenomas (CAs) and serrated polyps (SPs) represent two distinct groups of precursor lesions for colorectal cancer (CRC). The influence of common genetic variants on risk of CAs and SPs remain largely unknown.Methods: Among 27 426 participants within three prospective cohort studies, we created a weighted genetic risk score (GRS) based on 40 CRC-related single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) identified in previous genome-wide association studies; and we examined the association of GRS (per one standard deviation increment) with risk of CAs, SPs and synchronous CAs and SPs, by multivariable logistic regression. We also analysed individual variants in the secondary analysis.Results: During 18-20 years of follow-up, we documented 2952 CAs, 1585 SPs and 794 synchronous CAs and SPs. Higher GRS was associated with increased risk of CAs [odds ratio (OR) = 1.17, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.12-1.21] and SPs (OR = 1.09, 95% CI: 1.03-1.14), with a stronger association for CAs than SPs (Pheterogeneity=0.01). An even stronger association was found for patients with synchronous CAs and SPs (OR = 1.32), advanced CAs (OR = 1.22) and multiple CAs (OR = 1.25). Different sets of variants were associated with CAs and SPs, with a Spearman correlation coefficient of 0.02 between the ORs associating the 40 SNPs with the two lesions. After correcting for multiple testing, three variants were associated with CAs (rs3802842, rs6983267 and rs7136702) and two with SPs (rs16892766 and rs4779584).Conclusions: Common genetic variants play a potential role in the conventional and serrated pathways of CRC. Different sets of variants are identified for the two pathways, further supporting the aetiological heterogeneity of CRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Interleukin 1 receptor associated kinases (IRAKs) play a central role in TLR signaling pathway. Scarce literature has investigated the association of potential functional genetic variants of IRAKs with Hepatitis B Virus- (HBV-) related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Methods. A case-control study with 1,538 HBV-positive HCC patients and 1,465 chronic HBV carriers was conducted to evaluate the effects of common missense variants of IRAK family members on HCC. Proliferation assays and real-time polymerase chain reactions were carried out to evaluate the functions. Multivariable adjusted logistic regression was adopted to estimate effect size and identify risk factors. Results. Association analysis indicated that rs4251545 A allele of IRAK4 (p.Ala428Thr) was positively associated with HBV-related HCC risk (OR = 1.30, 95% CI: 1.09–1.54, P=0.003). Functional annotation indicated that rs4251545 reduced its own expression in liver (P=0.031). Further molecular functional analysis detected that rs4251545 increased the proliferation rate of L02 cells (P<0.05). Meanwhile, rs4251545 reduced mRNA expressions of IL-6, IL-8, CXCL-1, and CXCL-2 in L02 cells (P<0.01). Conclusion. rs4251545 of IRAK4 (p.Ala428Thr) modified the susceptibility to HBV-related HCC via increased proliferation rate and reduced production of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines. Further well-designed experiments are warranted to validate our findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Variants in microRNA genes may affect their expression by interfering with the microRNA maturation process and may substantially contribute to the risk of breast cancer. Recent studies have identified miR-10b as an interesting candidate because of its close association with the metastatic behavior of breast cancer. However, the roles of miR-10b-related single nucleotide polymorphisms in breast cancer susceptibility remain unclear. This case-control study evaluated the associations between variants in the upstream transcription regulation region of miR-10b and the risk of breast cancer among Chinese women. Seven potentially functional SNPs were investigated using genotyping assays. The potential biological functions of the identified positive SNPs were further evaluated using in silico databases. We found that rs4078756, which was located at the promoter region of miR-10b, was significantly associated with breast cancer risk (rs4078756 AG/GG versus AA, adjusted odds ratio: 1.17, 95% confidence interval: 1.02–1.35). The other six single nucleotide polymorphisms exhibited negative associations. Based on the in silico prediction, rs4078756 potentially regulated miR-10b expression through promoter activation or repression. These findings indicate that a potentially functional SNP (rs4078756) in the promoter region of miR-10b may contribute to breast cancer susceptibility among Chinese women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paired-box family member PAX8 encodes a transcription factor that has a role in cell differentiation and cell growth and may participate in the prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). By bioinformatics analysis, we identified several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within a newly identified long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) AC016683.6 as expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) for PAX8. Hence, we hypothesized that PAX8eQTLs in lncRNA AC016683.6 may influence the HCC prognosis. We then performed a case-only study to assess the association between the two SNPs as well as the prognosis of HCC in 331 HBV-positive HCC patients without surgical treatment. Cox proportional hazard models were used for survival analysis with adjustments for the age, gender, smoking status, drinking status, Barcelona-Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage, and chemotherapy or TACE (transcatheter hepatic arterial chemoembolization) status. We found that the G allele of rs1110839 and the T allele of rs4848320 in PAX8was significantly associated with a better prognosis compared with the T allele of rs1110839 and the C allele of rs4848320 (adjusted HR = 0.74, 95% CI = 0.61–0.91, P = 0.004 for rs1110839 and adjusted HR = 0.71, 95% CI = 0.54–0.94, P = 0.015 for rs4848320 in the additive model). Furthermore, the combined effect of the variant genotypes for these two SNPs was more prominent in patients with the BCLC-C stage orpatients with chemotherapy or TACE. Although the exact biological function remains to be explored, our findings suggest a possible association of PAX8eQTLs in lncRNA AC016683.6 with the HCC prognosis inthe Chinese population. Further large and functional studies are needed to confirm our findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previously we identified that HBV(Hepatitis B virus) sequence variation, which may interact with host human leukocyte antigen ( HLA) genetic variation, could influence host risk of hepatocellular carcinoma ( HCC). More HBV-host interactions need to be identified. Protein tyrosine phosphatase nonreceptor type 12 ( PTPN12), serves as an antagonist to tyrosine kinase signaling, may play integral roles in immune response against HBV infection and the development of HCC. Rs11485985 was an expression quantitative trait loci ( eQTL) for PTPN12 by bioinformatics analyses. In this study, we genotyped the PTPN12 eQTL and sequenced the HBV region Enh II/ BCP/ PC in a case-control cohort including 1507 HBV-related HCC cases and 1560 HBV persistent carriers as controls. The variant genotype GG of rs11489585 increased HCC risk compared to the HBV persistent carriers (adjusted OR = 2.03, 95% confidence interval [ CIs] = 1.30-3.18). We also detected borderline significant associations of PTPN12 eQTL rs11489585 with HBV mutations ( P = 0.05 for G1799C). Taken together, PTPN12 may influence HCC risk accompanied by HBV mutations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is an aggressive disease with poor survival. A few sequencing studies performed on limited number of samples have revealed potential disease-driving genes in SCLC, however, much still remains unknown, particularly in the Asian patient population. Here we conducted whole exome sequencing (WES) and transcriptomic sequencing of primary tumors from 99 Chinese SCLC patients. Dysregulation of tumor suppressor genes TP53 and RB1 was observed in 82% and 62% of SCLC patients, respectively, and more than half of the SCLC patients (62%) harbored TP53 and RB1 mutation and/or copy number loss. Additionally, Serine/Arginine Splicing Factor 1 (SRSF1) DNA copy number gain and mRNA over-expression was strongly associated with poor survival using both discovery and validation patient cohorts. Functional studies in vitro and in vivo demonstrate that SRSF1 is important for tumorigenicity of SCLC and may play a key role in DNA repair and chemo-sensitivity. These results strongly support SRSF1 as a prognostic biomarker in SCLC and provide a rationale for personalized therapy in SCLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

POU5F1 is a key regulator of self-renewal and differentiation in embryonic stem cells and may be associated with initiation, promotion, and progression in cancer. We hypothesized that functional polymorphisms in POU5F1 may play an important role in modifying the lung cancer risk. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a case-control study to explore the association between 17 potentially functional SNPs in POU5F1 gene and the lung cancer risk in 1,341 incident lung cancer cases and 1,982 healthy controls in a Chinese population. We found that variant alleles of rs887468 and rs3130457 were significantly associated with increased risk of lung cancer after multiple comparison (OR = 1.29, 95% CI: 1.11–1.51, Pfdr=0.017 for rs887468; OR = 1.29, 95% CI: 1.10–1.51, Pfdr=0.034 for rs3130457, resp.). In addition, we detected a significant interaction between rs887468 genotypes and smoking status on lung cancer risk (P=0.017). Combined analysis of these 2 SNPs showed a significant allele-dosage association between the number of risk alleles and increased risk of lung cancer (Ptrend<0.001). These findings indicate that potentially functional polymorphisms in POU5F1 gene may contribute to lung cancer susceptibility in a Chinese population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (ARSs) are in charge of cellular protein synthesis and have additional domains that function in a versatile manner beyond translation. Eight core ARSs (EPRS, MRS, QRS, RRS, IRS, LRS, KRS, DRS) combined with three nonenzymatic components form a complex known as multisynthetase complex (MSC).We hypothesize that the single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the eight core ARS coding genes might influence the susceptibility of sporadic congenital heart disease (CHD). Thus, we conducted a case-control study of 984 CHD cases and 2953 non-CHD controls in the Chinese Han population to evaluate the associations of 16 potentially functional SNPs within the eight ARS coding genes with the risk of CHD. We observed significant associations with the risk of CHD for rs1061248 [G/A; odds ratio (OR) = 0.90, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.81–0.99; P = 3.81×10−2], rs2230301 [A/C; OR = 0.73, 95%CI = 0.60–0.90, P = 3.81×10−2], rs1061160 [G/A; OR = 1.18, 95%CI = 1.06–1.31; P = 3.53×10−3] and rs5030754 [G/A; OR = 1.39, 95%CI = 1.11–1.75; P = 4.47×10−3] of EPRS gene. After multiple comparisons, rs1061248 conferred no predisposition to CHD. Additionally, a combined analysis showed a significant dosage-response effect of CHD risk among individuals carrying the different number of risk alleles (Ptrend = 5.00×10−4). Compared with individuals with “0–2” risk allele, those carrying “3”, “4” or “5 or more” risk alleles had a 0.97-, 1.25- or 1.38-fold increased risk of CHD, respectively. These findings indicate that genetic variants of the EPRS gene may influence the individual susceptibility to CHD in the Chinese Han population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The gene zinc finger homeobox 3 (ZFHX3) encodes a transcription factor with cardiac expression and its genetic variants are associated with atrial fibrillation (AF). We aimed to explore the associations between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of ZFHX3 and the risk of AF in a Chinese Han population. Methods: We genotyped eight SNPs, including seven potentially functional SNPs and one previously reported SNP by using the middle-throughput iPLEX Sequenom MassARRAY platform. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated in logistic regression models. Results: We enrolled a total of 1,593 Chinese Han origin individuals in the study, including 597 AF patients and 996 non-AF controls. Logistic regression analyses revealed that potentially functional SNPs rs6499600 and rs16971436 were associated with a decreased risk of AF (adjusted OR  = 0.73, 95% CI: 0.63–0.86, P = 1.07×10−4; adjusted OR  = 0.74, 95% CI: 0.56–0.98, P = 0.039, respectively). In addition, rs2106261 showed a robust association with an increased risk of AF (adjusted OR  = 1.71, 95% CI: 1.46–2.00, P = 1.85×10−11). After multiple comparisons, rs16971436 conferred a borderline significant association with the risk of AF. Stratification analysis indicated that the risks of AF were statistically different among subgroups of age for rs2106261, and the effect for rs16971436 was more evident in subgroups of patients with coronary artery disease. Conclusion: In summary, our study investigated the role of genetic variants of ZFHX3 in AF and two SNPs (rs2106261, rs6499600) showed significant associations while rs16971436 conferred a borderline significant association with AF risk in Chinese Han populations. However, further large and functional studies are warranted to confirm our findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent genome-wide association study (GWAS) has identified a new subset of susceptibility loci of Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF), one form of cyanotic congenital heart disease (CHD), on chromosomes 10p11, 10p14, 12q24, 13q31, 15q13 and 16q12 in Europeans. In the current study, we conducted a case-control study in a Chinese population including 1,010 CHD cases [atrial septal defect (ASD), ventricular septal defect (VSD) and TOF] and 1,962 controls to evaluate the associations of these loci with risk of CHD. We found that rs2228638 in NRP1 on 10p11 was significantly increased the risk of TOF (OR = 1.52, 95% CI = 1.13–2.04, P = 0.006), but not in other subgroups including ASD and VSD. In addition, no significant associations were observed between the other loci and the risk of ASD, VSD or TOF. Our results suggested that the genetic variants on 10p11 may serve as candidate markers for TOF susceptibility in Chinese population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genetic variants in human microRNA (miRNA) genes may alter mature miRNA processing and/or target selection, and likely contribute to cancer susceptibility and disease progression. Previous studies have suggested that miR-101 may play important roles in the development of cancer by regulating key tumor-associated genes. However, the role of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of miR-101 in breast cancer susceptibility remains unclear. In this study, we genotyped 11 SNPs of the miR-101 genes (including miR-101-1 and miR-101-2) in a case-control study of 1064 breast cancer cases and 1073 cancer-free controls. The results revealed that rs462480 and rs1053872 in the flank regions of pre-miR-101-2 were significantly associated with increased risk of breast cancer (rs462480 AC/CC vs AA: adjusted OR = 1.182, 95% CI: 1.030–1.357, P = 0.017; rs1053872 CG/GG vs CC: adjusted OR = 1.179, 95% CI: 1.040–1.337, P = 0.010). However, the remaining 9 SNPs were not significantly associated with risk of breast cancer. Additionally, combined analysis of the two high-risk SNPs revealed that subjects carrying the variant genotypes of rs462480 and rs1053872 had increased risk of breast cancer in a dose-response manner (Ptrend = 0.002). Compared with individuals with “0–1” risk allele, those carrying “2–4” risk alleles had 1.29-fold risk of breast cancer. In conclusion, these findings suggested that the SNPs rs462480 and rs1053872 residing in miR-101-2 gene may have a solid impact on genetic susceptibility to breast cancer, which may improve our understanding of the potential contribution of miRNA SNPs to cancer pathogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Oligozoospermia is one of the severe forms of idiopathic male infertility. However, its pathology is largely unknown, and few genetic factors have been defined. Our previous genome-wide association study (GWAS) has identified four risk loci for non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA). Objective: To investigate the potentially functional genetic variants (including not only common variants, but also less-common and rare variants) of these loci on spermatogenic impairment, especially oligozoospermia. Design, Setting, and Participants: A total of 784 individuals with oligozoospermia and 592 healthy controls were recruited to this study from March 2004 and January 2011. Measurements: We conducted a two-stage study to explore the association between oligozoospermia and new makers near NOA risk loci. In the first stage, we used next generation sequencing (NGS) in 96 oligozoospermia cases and 96 healthy controls to screen oligozoospermia-susceptible genetic variants. Next, we validated these variants in a large cohort containing 688 cases and 496 controls by SNPscan for high-throughput Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) genotyping. Results and Limitations: Totally, we observed seven oligozoospermia associated variants (rs3791185 and rs2232015 in PRMT6, rs146039840 and rs11046992 in Sox5, rs1129332 in PEX10, rs3197744 in SIRPA, rs1048055 in SIRPG) in the first stage. In the validation stage, rs3197744 in SIRPA and rs11046992 in Sox5 were associated with increased risk of oligozoospermia with an odds ratio (OR) of 4.62 (P  =  0.005, 95%CI 1.58-13.4) and 1.82 (P  =  0.005, 95%CI 1.01-1.64), respectively. Further investigation in larger populations and functional characterizations are needed to validate our findings. Conclusions: Our study provides evidence of independent oligozoospermia risk alleles driven by variants in the potentially functional regions of genes discovered by GWAS. Our findings suggest that integrating sequence data with large-scale genotyping will serve as an effective strategy for discovering risk alleles in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A recent genome-wide association study (GWAS) has identified three new breast cancer susceptibility loci at 12p11, 12q24 and 21q21 in populations of European descent. However, because of the genetic heterogeneity, it is largely unknown for the role of these loci in the breast cancer susceptibility in the populations of non-European descent. Methodology/Principal Findings: Here, we genotyped three variants (rs10771399 at 12p11, rs1292011 at 12q24 and rs2823093 at 21q21) in an independent case–control study with a total of 1792 breast cancer cases and 1867 cancer-free controls in a Chinese population. We found that rs10771399 and rs1292011 were significantly associated with risk of breast cancer with per-allele odds ratios (ORs) of 0.85 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.76–0.96; P = 0.010) and 0.84 (95% CI: 0.76–0.95; P = 4.50×10−3), respectively, which was consistent with those reported in populations of European descent. Similar effects were observed between ER/PR positive and negative breast cancer for both loci. However, we did not found significant association between rs2823093 and breast cancer risk (OR = 0.97, 95%CI = 0.76–1.24; P  = 0.795). Conclusions/Significance: Our results indicate that genetic variants at 12p11 and 12q24 may also play an important role in breast cancer development in Chinese women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genome-wide association study (GWAS) is a promising approach for identifying common genetic variants of the diseases on the basis of millions of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). In order to avoid low power caused by overmuch correction for multiple comparisons in single locus association study, some methods have been proposed by grouping SNPs together into a SNP set based on genomic features, then testing the joint effect of the SNP set. We compare the performances of principal component analysis (PCA), supervised principal component analysis (SPCA), kernel principal component analysis (KPCA), and sliced inverse regression (SIR). Simulated SNP sets are generated under scenarios of 0, 1 and ≥2 causal SNPs model. Our simulation results show that all of these methods can control the type I error at the nominal significance level. SPCA is always more powerful than the other methods at different settings of linkage disequilibrium structures and minor allele frequency of the simulated datasets. We also apply these four methods to a real GWAS of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in Han Chinese population [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Occupational exposure to endotoxin is associated with decrements in pulmonary function, but how much variation in this association is explained by genetic variants is not well understood. Objective: We aimed to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that are associated with the rate of forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) decline by a large scale genetic association study in newly-hired healthy young female cotton textile workers. Methods: DNA samples were genotyped using the Illumina Human CVD BeadChip. Change rate in FEV1 was modeled as a function of each SNP genotype in linear regression model with covariate adjustment. We controlled the type 1 error in study-wide level by permutation method. The false discovery rate (FDR) and the family-wise error rate (FWER) were set to be 0.10 and 0.15 respectively. Results: Two SNPs were found to be significant (P<6.29×10−5), including rs1910047 (P = 3.07×10−5, FDR = 0.0778) and rs9469089 (P = 6.19×10−5, FDR = 0.0967), as well as other eight suggestive (P<5×10−4) associated SNPs. Gene-gene and gene-environment interactions were also observed, such as rs1910047 and rs1049970 (P = 0.0418, FDR = 0.0895); rs9469089 and age (P = 0.0161, FDR = 0.0264). Genetic risk score analysis showed that the more risk loci the subjects carried, the larger the rate of FEV1 decline occurred (Ptrend = 3.01×10−18). However, the association was different among age subgroups (P = 7.11×10−6) and endotoxin subgroups (P = 1.08×10−2). Functional network analysis illustrates potential biological connections of all interacted genes. Conclusions: Genetic variants together with environmental factors interact to affect the rate of FEV1 decline in cotton textile workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified a number of genetic variants associated with lung cancer risk. However, these loci explain only a small fraction of lung cancer hereditability and other variants with weak effect may be lost in the GWAS approach due to the stringent significance level after multiple comparison correction. In this study, in order to identify important pathways involving the lung carcinogenesis, we performed a two-stage pathway analysis in GWAS of lung cancer in Han Chinese using gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) method. Predefined pathways by BioCarta and KEGG databases were systematically evaluated on Nanjing study (Discovery stage: 1,473 cases and 1,962 controls) and the suggestive pathways were further to be validated in Beijing study (Replication stage: 858 cases and 1,115 controls). We found that four pathways (achPathway, metPathway, At1rPathway and rac1Pathway) were consistently significant in both studies and the P values for combined dataset were 0.012, 0.010, 0.022 and 0.005 respectively. These results were stable after sensitivity analysis based on gene definition and gene overlaps between pathways. These findings may provide new insights into the etiology of lung cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interleukin-23 (IL-23) and its receptor (IL-23R) mediate the direct antitumor activities in human hematologic malignancies including pediatric acute leukemia. Two potentially functional genetic variants (IL-23R rs1884444 T>G and rs6682925 T>C) have been found to contribute to solid cancer susceptibility. In this study, we conducted a case-control study including 545 acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients and 1,146 cancer-free controls in a Chinese population to assess the association between these two SNPs and the risk of AML. We found that IL-23R rs1884444 TG/GG and rs6682925 TC/CC variant genotypes were associated with significantly increased risk of AML [rs1884444: adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 1.28, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.01–1.62; rs6682925: adjusted OR = 1.30, 95%CI = 1.01–1.67], compared to their corresponding wild-type homozygotes, respectively. These findings indicated that genetic variants in IL-23R may contribute to AML risk in our Chinese population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have recently identified KIF1B as susceptibility locus for hepatitis B virus (HBV)–related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). To further identify novel susceptibility loci associated with HBV–related HCC and replicate the previously reported association, we performed a large three-stage GWAS in the Han Chinese population. 523,663 autosomal SNPs in 1,538 HBV–positive HCC patients and 1,465 chronic HBV carriers were genotyped for the discovery stage. Top candidate SNPs were genotyped in the initial validation samples of 2,112 HBV–positive HCC cases and 2,208 HBV carriers and then in the second validation samples of 1,021 cases and 1,491 HBV carriers. We discovered two novel associations at rs9272105 (HLA-DQA1/DRB1) on 6p21.32 (OR = 1.30, P = 1.13×\(10^{−19}\)) and rs455804 (GRIK1) on 21q21.3 (OR = 0.84, P = 1.86×\(10^{−8}\)), which were further replicated in the fourth independent sample of 1,298 cases and 1,026 controls (rs9272105: OR = 1.25, P = 1.71×\(10^{−4}\); rs455804: OR = 0.84, P = 6.92×\(10^{−3}\)). We also revealed the associations of HLA-DRB1*0405 and 0901*0602, which could partially account for the association at rs9272105. The association at rs455804 implicates GRIK1 as a novel susceptibility gene for HBV–related HCC, suggesting the involvement of glutamate signaling in the development of HBV–related HCC.

OCT4 is a transcription factor of the POU family, which plays a key role in embryonic development and stem cell pluripotency. Previous studies have shown that Oct4 is required for cardiomyocyte differentiation in mice and its depletion could result in cardiac morphogenesis in embryo. However, whether the genetic variations in OCT4 coding gene, POU5F1, confer the predisposition to congenital heart disease (CHD) is unclear. This study sought to investigate the associations between low-frequency (defined here as having minor allele frequency (MAF) between 0.1%-5%) and rare (MAF below 0.1%) variants with potential function in POU5F1 and risk of CHD. We conducted association analysis in a two-stage case-control study with a total of 2,720 CHD cases and 3,331 controls in Chinese. The low-frequency variant rs3130933 was observed to be associated with a significantly increased risk of CHD [additive model: adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 2.15, adjusted P = 3.37 × 10−6]. Furthermore, luciferase activity assay showed that the variant A allele led to significantly lower expression levels as compared to the G allele. These findings indicate for the first time that low-frequency functional variant in POU5F1 may contribute to the risk of congenital heart malformations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the association between genetic variants in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) region and nonobstructive azoospermia (NOA) susceptibility.Design: MHC region fine-mapping analysis based on previous NOA genome-wide association study (GWAS) data.Setting: Medical university.Patient(s): Nine hundred and eighty-one men with NOA and 1,657 normal fertile male controls.Intervention(s): None.Main Outcome Measure(s): The MHC region imputation assessed with SNP2HLA software, taking the specific Han-MHC database as a reference panel; statistical significance of the MHC variants calculated using logistic regression models; functional annotation based on online public databases; and phenotypic variances explained by specific groups of genetic variants estimated using the fixed effects model from individual associations.Result(s): Two independent risk loci, rs7194 (odds ratio [OR] 1.37) at MHC class II molecules and rs4997052 (OR 1.30) at MHC class I molecules, were identified. Functional annotation showed rs7194 may tag the effect of multiple amino acid residues and the expression of HLA-DQB1 and HLA-DRB1; while rs4997052 showed the effect of amino acid changes of HLA-B at position 116 as well as the expression of HLA-B and CCHCR1, which coexpressed with genes enriched in pathways of spermatogenesis and male gamete generation. The novel variant rs4997052 identified in our study can explain another approximately 0.66% of the phenotypic variances of NOA.Conclusion(s): We fine-mapped the MHC region and identified two loci that independently drove NOA susceptibility. These results provide a deeper understanding of the association mechanisms of MHC and NOA risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) can act as oncogenes or tumor-suppressor genes in human cancers including HCC. Previous studies have identified miR-34 family as an important component of the tumor suppressor network during carcinogenesis. In this study, we investigated the methylation status of miR-34 family in HCC tumor and adjacent non-tumor tissues using methylation-specific PCR (MSP). The methylation frequencies of miR-34a and miR-34b/c were 72.1% (31/43) and 79.1% (34/43) in HCC tissues, which were significantly higher than that in the adjacent non-tumor tissues (P <0.05), respectively. The results were validated by bisulfite sequencing PCR (BSP). Quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis showed that the expression of miR-34a and miR-34b was significantly down-regulated in HCC tissues compared with adjacent non-tumor tissues (P <0.05). Moreover, the expression of miR-34b was inversely correlated to CpG island methylation in tumor tissues, but not for miR-34a. In summary, our results suggest that DNA methylation may be involved in the inactivation of miR-34b in HCC. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]