Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of asthma in ethnically diverse North American populations

Asthma is a common disease with a complex risk architecture including both genetic and environmental factors. We performed a meta-analysis of North American genome-wide association studies of asthma in 5,416 individuals with asthma (cases) including individuals of European American, African American or African Caribbean, and Latino ancestry, with replication in an additional 12,649 individuals from the same ethnic groups. We identified five susceptibility loci. Four were at previously reported loci on 17q21, near IL1RL1, TSLP and IL33, but we report for the first time, to our knowledge, that these loci are associated with asthma risk in three ethnic groups. In addition, we identified a new asthma susceptibility locus at PYHIN1, with the association being specific to individuals of African descent (P = 3.9 × 10(-9)). These results suggest that some asthma susceptibility loci are robust to differences in ancestry when sufficiently large samples sizes are investigated, and that ancestry-specific associations also contribute to the complex genetic architecture of asthma.     

发展中国家的科学和科学家

我1926年生于章马吉亚纳,当时为英属印度的辖地,如今属于巴基斯坦.我的家庭出身很平凡,父亲先为教师,后在当地教育部门任职;母亲是家庭妇女.我有六个兄弟和一位姐姐.虽然家境并不宽裕,但父亲极为重视我的学业,望子成龙之心甚切.他非常希望我能在竞争激烈的印度公务员考试中脱颖而出,谋得一份好工作.不过,父亲的这一愿望因为战争等原因而落空了.但对我而言,没有成为公务员却是我今生几次重要的人生转折之一.