Abstract
Sixty genetic loci associated with abdominal obesity, measured by waist circumference (WC) and waist-hip ratio (WHR), have been previously identified, primarily from studies conducted in European-ancestry populations. We conducted a meta-analysis of associations of abdominal obesity with approximately 2.5 million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) among 53,052 (for WC) and 48,312 (for WHR) individuals of Asian descent, and replicated 33 selected SNPs among 3,762 to 17,110 additional individuals. We identified four novel loci near the EFEMP1, ADAMTSL3 , CNPY2, and GNAS genes that were associated with WC after adjustment for body mass index (BMI); two loci near the NID2 and HLA-DRB5 genes associated with WHR after adjustment for BMI, and three loci near the CEP120, TSC22D2, and SLC22A2 genes associated with WC without adjustment for BMI. Functional enrichment analyses revealed enrichment of corticotropin-releasing hormone signaling, GNRH signaling, and/or CDK5 signaling pathways for those newly-identified loci. Our study provides additional insight on genetic contribution to abdominal obesity.
Highlights
Sciences, Genetic & Molecular Epidemiology Unit, Lund University Diabetes Center, Skåne University Hospital, Malmö 205 02, Sweden. 27Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Unit of Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå 901 87, Sweden. 28Department of Epidemiology, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. 29Division of Biostatistics, Washington University School of Medicine, St
Supplementary Table 5), we present the newly-identified loci that were associated with WCadjBMI, WHRadjBMI, and WCnoBMI at a genome-wide significance level (P < 5.00 × 10−8) based on Stage I data alone or the combined Stage I and Stage II data in Asian-ancestry populations
Previously-reported genetic loci associated with waist circumference (WC), mainly from studies conducted in European-ancestry populations, were generally not adjusted for body mass index (BMI)
Summary
Genetic & Molecular Epidemiology Unit, Lund University Diabetes Center, Skåne University Hospital, Malmö 205 02, Sweden. 27Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Unit of Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå 901 87, Sweden. 28Department of Epidemiology, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. 29Division of Biostatistics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. We conducted meta-analyses of data from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of WC and WHR to identify new genetic loci and evaluate associations of previously-identified genetic loci with overall and abdominal obesity in our study populations
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