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Association analyses of 249,796 individuals reveal 18 new loci associated with body mass index

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Abstract

Obesity is globally prevalent and highly heritable, but its underlying genetic factors remain largely elusive. To identify genetic loci for obesity susceptibility, we examined associations between body mass index and 2.8 million SNPs in up to 123,865 individuals with targeted follow up of 42 SNPs in up to 125,931 additional individuals. We confirmed 14 known obesity susceptibility loci and identified 18 new loci associated with body mass index (P < 5 × 10−8), one of which includes a copy number variant near GPRC5B. Some loci (at MC4R, POMC, SH2B1 and BDNF) map near key hypothalamic regulators of energy balance, and one of these loci is near GIPR, an incretin receptor. Furthermore, genes in other newly associated loci may provide new insights into human body weight regulation.

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Figure 1: Genome-wide association results for the BMI meta-analysis.
Figure 2: Combined impact of risk alleles on BMI and obesity.
Figure 3: Regional plots of selected replicating BMI loci with missense and CNV variants.
Figure 4: Phenotypic variance explained by common variants.
Figure 5: A second signal at the MC4R locus contributing to BMI.

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  • 12 October 2011

    In the version of this supplementary file originally posted online, there was an error in the equation shown on page 36. The error has been corrected in this file as of 12 October 2011.

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Acknowledgements

A full list of acknowledgments appears in the Supplementary Note.

Funding was provided by Academy of Finland (10404, 77299, 104781, 114382, 117797, 120315, 121584, 124243, 126775, 126925, 127437, 129255, 129269, 129306, 129494, 129680, 130326, 209072, 210595, 213225, 213506 and 216374); ADA Mentor-Based Postdoctoral Fellowship; Amgen; Agency for Science, Technology and Research of Singapore (A*STAR); ALF/LUA research grant in Gothenburg; Althingi (the Icelandic Parliament); AstraZeneca; Augustinus Foundation; Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (241944, 389875, 389891, 389892, 389938, 442915, 442981, 496739, 496688, 552485 and 613672); Australian Research Council (ARC grant DP0770096); Becket Foundation; Biocenter (Finland); Biomedicum Helsinki Foundation; Boston Obesity Nutrition Research Center; British Diabetes Association (1192); British Heart Foundation (97020; PG/02/128); Busselton Population Medical Research Foundation; Cambridge Institute for Medical Research; Cambridge National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre; CamStrad (UK); Cancer Research UK; Centre for Medical Systems Biology (The Netherlands); Centre for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research (The Netherlands); Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government; Contrat Plan Etat Région (France); Danish Centre for Health Technology Assessment; Danish Diabetes Association; Danish Heart Foundation; Danish Pharmaceutical Association; Danish Research Council; Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG; HE 1446/4-1); Department of Health (UK); Diabetes UK; Diabetes and Inflammation Laboratory; Donald W. Reynolds Foundation; Dresden University of Technology Funding Grant; Emil and Vera Cornell Foundation; Erasmus Medical Center (Rotterdam); Erasmus University (Rotterdam); European Commission (DG XII; QLG1-CT-2000-01643, QLG2-CT-2002-01254, LSHC-CT-2005, LSHG-CT-2006-018947, LSHG-CT-2004-518153, LSH-2006-037593, LSHM-CT-2007-037273, HEALTH-F2-2008-ENGAGE, HEALTH-F4-2007-201413, HEALTH-F4-2007-201550, FP7/2007-2013, 205419, 212111, 245536, SOC 95201408 05F02 and WLRT-2001-01254); Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Germany) (01AK803, 01EA9401, 01GI0823, 01GI0826, 01GP0209, 01GP0259, 01GS0820, 01GS0823, 01GS0824, 01GS0825, 01GS0830, 01GS0831, 01IG07015, 01KU0903, 01ZZ9603, 01ZZ0103, 01ZZ0403 and 03ZIK012); Federal State of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania; European Social Fund; Eve Appeal; Finnish Diabetes Research Foundation; Finnish Foundation for Cardiovascular Research; Finnish Foundation for Pediatric Research, Finnish Medical Society; Finska Läkaresällskapet, Päivikki and Sakari Sohlberg Foundation, Folkhälsan Research Foundation; Fond Européen pour le Développement Régional (France); Fondation LeDucq (Paris, France); Foundation for Life and Health in Finland; Foundation for Strategic Research (Sweden); Genetic Association Information Network; German Research Council (KFO-152); German National Genome Research Net 'NGFNplus' (FKZ 01GS0823); German Research Center for Environmental Health; Giorgi-Cavaglieri Foundation; GlaxoSmithKline; Göteborg Medical Society; Great Wine Estates Auctions; Gyllenberg Foundation; Health Care Centers in Vasa, Närpes and Korsholm; Healthway, Western Australia; Helmholtz Center Munich; Helsinki University Central Hospital, Hjartavernd (the Icelandic Heart Association); INSERM (France); Ib Henriksen Foundation; Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für Klinische Forschung (IZKF) (B27); Jalmari and Rauha Ahokas Foundation; Juho Vainio Foundation; Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International (JDRF); Karolinska Institute; Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation; Leenaards Foundation; Lundbeck Foundation Centre of Applied Medical Genomics for Personalized Disease Prediction, Prevention and Care (LUCAMP); Lundberg Foundation; Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship; Medical Research Council (UK) (G0000649, G0000934, G9521010D, G0500539, G0600331 and G0601261, PrevMetSyn); Ministry of Cultural Affairs and Social Ministry of the Federal State of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania; Ministry for Health, Welfare and Sports (The Netherlands); Ministry of Education (Finland); Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (The Netherlands); Ministry of Internal Affairs and Health (Denmark); Ministry of Science, Education and Sport of the Republic of Croatia (216-1080315-0302); Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts Baden-Württemberg; Montreal Heart Institute Foundation; Municipal Health Care Center and Hospital in Jakobstad; Municipality of Rotterdam; Närpes Health Care Foundation; National Cancer Institute; National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia; National Institute for Health Research Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre; National Institute for Health Research Oxford Biomedical Research Centre; National Institute for Health Research comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre; US National Institutes of Health (263-MA-410953, AA07535, AA10248, AA014041, AA13320, AA13321, AA13326, CA047988, CA65725, CA87969, CA49449, CA67262, CA50385, DA12854, DK58845, DK46200, DK062370, DK063491, DK072193, HG002651, HL084729, HHSN268200625226C, HL71981, K23-DK080145, K99-HL094535, M01-RR00425, MH084698, N01-AG12100, NO1-AG12109, N01-HC15103, N01-HC25195, N01-HC35129, N01-HC45133, N01-HC55015, N01-HC55016, N01-HC55018, N01-HC55019, N01-HC55020, N01-N01HC-55021, N01-HC55022, N01-HC55222, N01-HC75150, N01-HC85079, N01-HC85080, N01-HG-65403, N01-HC85081, N01-HC85082, N01-HC85083, N01-HC85084, N01-HC85085, N01-HC85086, N02-HL64278, P30-DK072488, R01-AG031890, R01-DK073490, R01-DK075787, R01DK068336, R01DK075681, R01-HL59367, R01-HL086694, R01-HL087641, R01-HL087647, R01-HL087652, R01-HL087676, R01-HL087679, R01-HL087700, R01-HL088119, R01-MH59160, R01-MH59565, R01-MH59566, R01-MH59571, R01-MH59586, R01-MH59587, R01-MH59588, R01-MH60870, R01-MH60879, R01-MH61675, R01-MH63706, R01-MH67257, R01-MH79469, R01-MH79470, R01-MH81800, RL1-MH083268, UO1-CA098233, U01-DK062418, U01-GM074518, U01-HG004402, U01-HG004399, U01-HL72515, U01-HL080295, U01-HL084756, U54-RR020278, T32-HG00040, UL1-RR025005 and Z01-HG000024); National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD); Netherlands Genomics Initiative/Netherlands Consortium for Healthy Aging (050-060-810); Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) (904-61-090, 904-61-193, 480-04-004, 400-05-717, SPI 56-464-1419, 175.010.2005.011 and 911-03-012); Nord-Trøndelag County Council; Nordic Center of Excellence in Disease Genetics; Novo Nordisk Foundation; Norwegian Institute of Public Health; Ollqvist Foundation; Oxford NIHR Biomedical Research Centre; Organization for the Health Research and Development (10-000-1002); Paavo Nurmi Foundation; Paul Michael Donovan Charitable Foundation; Perklén Foundation; Petrus and Augusta Hedlunds Foundation; Pew Scholar for the Biomedical Sciences; Public Health and Risk Assessment, Health and Consumer Protection (2004310); Research Foundation of Copenhagen County; Research Institute for Diseases in the Elderly (014-93-015; RIDE2); Robert Dawson Evans Endowment; Royal Society (UK); Royal Swedish Academy of Science; 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A305: 188); Siemens Healthcare, Erlangen, Germany; Sigrid Juselius Foundation; Signe and Ane Gyllenberg Foundation; Science Funding programme (UK); Social Insurance Institution of Finland; Söderberg's Foundation; South Tyrol Ministry of Health; South Tyrolean Sparkasse Foundation; State of Bavaria; Stockholm County Council (560183); Susan G. 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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Michael Boehnke, Kari Stefansson, Kari E North, Mark I McCarthy, Joel N Hirschhorn, Erik Ingelsson or Ruth J F Loos.

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Competing interests

I.B. and spouse own stock in Incyte Ltd and GlaxoSmithKline. J.N.H. is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board, Correlagen, Inc. V.H. has received consultancy fees from GlaxoSmithKline, Lilly and Takeda. A.P. is employed by Amgen. K.S., V.S., G.T., U.T. and G.B.W. are employed by deCODE Genetics.

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Speliotes, E., Willer, C., Berndt, S. et al. Association analyses of 249,796 individuals reveal 18 new loci associated with body mass index. Nat Genet 42, 937–948 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.686

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