2018-12-01
Cross-ancestry genome-wide association analysis of corneal thickness strengthens link between complex and Mendelian eye diseases
Publication
Publication
Nature Communications , Volume 9 - Issue 1
Central corneal thickness (CCT) is a highly heritable trait associated with complex eye diseases such as keratoconus and glaucoma. We perform a genome-wide association meta-analysis of CCT and identify 19 novel regions. In addition to adding support for known connective tissue-related pathways, pathway analyses uncover previously unreported gene sets. Remarkably, >20% of the CCT-loci are near or within Mendelian disorder genes. These included FBN1, ADAMTS2 and TGFB2 which associate with connective tissue disorders (Marfan, Ehlers-Danlos and Loeys-Dietz syndromes), and the LUM-DCN-KERA gene complex involved in myopia, corneal dystrophies and cornea plana. Using index CCT-increasing variants, we find a significant inverse correlation in effect sizes between CCT and keratoconus (r =-0.62, P = 5.30 × 10-5) but not between CCT and primary open-angle glaucoma (r =-0.17, P = 0.2). Our findings provide evidence for shared genetic influences between CCT and keratoconus, and implicate candidate genes acting in collagen and extracellular matrix regulation.
| Additional Metadata | |
|---|---|
| doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-03646-6, hdl.handle.net/1765/106504 | |
| Nature Communications | |
| Organisation | Department of Ophthalmology |
|
Iglesias, A.I. (Adriana I.), Mishra, A., Vitart, V., Bykhovskaya, Y., Höhn, R., Springelkamp, H., … MacGregor, S. (Stuart). (2018). Cross-ancestry genome-wide association analysis of corneal thickness strengthens link between complex and Mendelian eye diseases. Nature Communications, 9(1). doi:10.1038/s41467-018-03646-6 |
|
