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Genome Analyses of >200,000 Individuals Identify 58 Loci for Chronic Inflammation and Highlight Pathways that Link Inflammation and Complex Disorders

  • CHARGE Inflammation Working Group
  • , LifeLines Cohort Study
  • Department of Epidemiology
  • University of Groningen
  • Department of Epidemiology
  • Erasmus University Rotterdam
  • Department of Bioinformatics
  • Isfahan University of Medical Sciences
  • Department of Genetics
  • University of Tartu
  • University of Lorraine
  • Human Genetics Center
  • University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
  • Department of Human Genetics
  • Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute
  • Translational Gerontology Branch
  • National Institutes of Health
  • Department of Radiation Oncology
  • Division of Preventive Medicine
  • Brigham and Women’s Hospital
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics
  • Karolinska Institutet
  • University of Split
  • Boston University
  • Department of Biological Psychology
  • Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
  • Amsterdam UMC
  • University of Amsterdam
  • Department of Computational Biology
  • University of Lausanne
  • Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics
  • Istituto di Ricerca Genetica e Biomedica
  • National Research Council of Italy
  • Leiden University
  • Department of Gerontology and Geriatrics
  • Department of Twin Research & Genetic Epidemiology
  • King's College London
  • NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation Trust
  • Unit of Genomics of Complex Disease
  • Research Institute of the Santa Creu i Sant Pau Hospital
  • Cardiovascular Medicine Unit
  • University of Queensland
  • University of Bristol
  • Department of Internal Medicine
  • University of Cambridge School of Medicine
  • University of Cambridge
  • Interfaculty Institute for Genetics and Functional Genomics
  • University of Greifswald
  • German Centre for Cardiovascular Research
  • Icelandic Heart Association
  • University of Iceland
  • Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
  • Peking University
  • Department of Nutrition
  • Harvard University
  • Institute of Epidemiology II
  • Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health
  • German Center for Diabetes Research
  • Division of Statistical Genomics
  • Washington University St. Louis
  • Department of Epidemiology and Prevention
  • Wake Forest University
  • Vth Department of Medicine
  • Heidelberg University 
  • Department of Psychiatry
  • Department of General and Interventional Cardiology
  • VU University Medical Center
  • Institute of Medical Biometry and Statistics
  • University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein
  • Transplantation Laboratory
  • University of Helsinki
  • Department of Clinical Chemistry
  • Fimlab Laboratories
  • Tampere University
  • Hunter Medical Research Institute, Australia
  • Centre for Clinical Epidemiology & Biostatistics
  • University of Newcastle
  • Molecular Epidemiology
  • Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing
  • National Institute for Health and Welfare
  • Department of Epidemiology Research
  • Statens Serum Institut
  • Department of Psychology and Logopedics
  • Folkhalsan
  • Centre for Global Health Research
  • University of Edinburgh
  • Department of Biochemistry
  • Mahidol University
  • University of Virginia
  • Institute for Translational Genomics and Population Sciences
  • The Lundquist Institute

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

C-reactive protein (CRP) is a sensitive biomarker of chronic low-grade inflammation and is associated with multiple complex diseases. The genetic determinants of chronic inflammation remain largely unknown, and the causal role of CRP in several clinical outcomes is debated. We performed two genome-wide association studies (GWASs), on HapMap and 1000 Genomes imputed data, of circulating amounts of CRP by using data from 88 studies comprising 204,402 European individuals. Additionally, we performed in silico functional analyses and Mendelian randomization analyses with several clinical outcomes. The GWAS meta-analyses of CRP revealed 58 distinct genetic loci (p < 5 × 10−8). After adjustment for body mass index in the regression analysis, the associations at all except three loci remained. The lead variants at the distinct loci explained up to 7.0% of the variance in circulating amounts of CRP. We identified 66 gene sets that were organized in two substantially correlated clusters, one mainly composed of immune pathways and the other characterized by metabolic pathways in the liver. Mendelian randomization analyses revealed a causal protective effect of CRP on schizophrenia and a risk-increasing effect on bipolar disorder. Our findings provide further insights into the biology of inflammation and could lead to interventions for treating inflammation and its clinical consequences.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)691-706
Number of pages16
JournalAmerican Journal of Human Genetics
Volume103
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Nov 2018
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • C-reactive protein
  • DEPICT
  • Mendelian randomization
  • coronary artery disease
  • genome-wide association study
  • inflammation
  • inflammatory disorders
  • schizophrenia
  • system biology

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