Genetic underpinnings of variation in brain ventricular volume: A genome-wide association study
Abstract
The ventricular system is a critical component of the central nervous system (CNS) that is formed early in the developmental stages and remains functional through the lifetime. Changes in the ventricular system can be easily discerned via neuroimaging procedures and most of the time it reflects changes in the physiology of the CNS. In this study we attempted to identify specific genes associated with variation in ventricular volume in humans. Methods. We conducted a genome wide association (GWA) analysis of the volume of the lateral ventricles among 1605 individuals of European ancestry from two community based cohorts, the Genetics of Microangiopathic Brain Injury (GMBI; N=814) and Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC; N=791). Significant findings from the analysis were tested for replication in both the cohorts and then meta-analyzed to get an estimate of overall significance. Results. In our GWA analyses, no single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) reached a genome-wide significance of p<10−8. There were 25 SNPs in GMBI and 9 SNPs in ARIC that reached a threshold of p<10 >−5. However, none of the top SNPs from each cohort were replicated in the other. In the meta-analysis, no SNP reached the genome-wide threshold of 5×10−8, but we identified five novel SNPs associated with variation in ventricular volume at the p<10 >−5 level. Strongest association was for rs2112536 in an intergenic region on chromosome 5q33 (Pmeta= 8.46×10−7 ). The remaining four SNPs were located on chromosome 3q23 encompassing the gene for Calsyntenin-2 (CLSTN2). The SNPs with strongest association in this region were rs17338555 (Pmeta= 5.28×10 −6), rs9812091 (Pmeta= 5.89×10−6 ), rs9812283 (Pmeta= 5.97×10−6) and rs9833213 (Pmeta= 6.96×10−6). Conclusions. This GWA study of ventricular volumes in the community-based cohorts of European descent identifies potential locus on chromosomes 3 and 5. Further characterization of these loci may provide insights into pathophysiology of ventricular involvement in various neurological diseases.
Subject Area
Neurosciences|Genetics|Public health
Recommended Citation
Das, Devsmita, "Genetic underpinnings of variation in brain ventricular volume: A genome-wide association study" (2012). Texas Medical Center Dissertations (via ProQuest). AAI1518769.
https://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/dissertations/AAI1518769