Genome-wide association identifies OBFC1 as a locus involved in human leukocyte telomere biology

Daniel Levy, Susan L. Neuhausen, Steven C. Hunt, Masayuki Kimura, Shih Jen Hwang, Wei Chen, Joshua C. Bis, Annette L. Fitzpatrick, Erin Smith, Andrew D. Johnson, Jeffrey P. Gardner, Sathanur R. Srinivasan, Nicholas Schork, Jerome I. Rotter, Utz Herbig, Bruce M. Psaty, Malinee Sastrasinh, Sarah S. Murray, Ramachandran S. Vasan, Michael A. ProvinceNicole L. Glazer, Xiaobin Lu, Xiaojian Cao, Richard Kronmal, Massimo Mangino, Nicole Soranzo, Tim D. Spector, Gerald S. Berenson, Abraham Aviv

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

228 Scopus citations

Abstract

Telomeres are engaged in a host of cellular functions, and their length is regulated by multiple genes. Telomere shortening, in the course of somatic cell replication, ultimately leads to replicative senescence. In humans, rare mutations in genes that regulate telomere length have been identified in monogenic diseases such as dyskeratosis congenita andidiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, which are associated with shortened leukocyte telomere length (LTL) and increased risk for aplastic anemia. Shortened LTL is observed in a host of aging-related complex genetic diseases and is associated with diminished survival in the elderly. We report results of a genome-wide association study of LTL in a consortium of four observational studies (n = 3,417 participants with LTL and genome-wide genotyping). SNPs in the regions of the oligonucleotide/ oligosaccharide-binding folds containing one gene (OBFC1; rs4387287; P = 3.9 × 10-9) and chemokine (C-X-C motif) receptor 4 gene (CXCR4; rs4452212; P = 2.9 × 10-8)were associatedwith LTL at a genome-wide significance level (P < 5 × 10-8). We attempted replication of the top SNPs at these loci through de novo genotyping of 1,893 additional individuals and in silico lookup in another observational study (n = 2,876), and we confirmed the association findings for OBFC1 but not CXCR4. In addition, we confirmed the telomerase RNA component (TERC) as a gene associated with LTL (P=1.1 × 10-5). The identification of OBFC1 through genome-wide association as a locus for interindividual variation in LTL in the general population advances the understanding of telomere biology in humans and mayp rovide insights into aging-related disorders linked to altered LTL dynamics.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)9293-9298
Number of pages6
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume107
Issue number20
DOIs
StatePublished - May 18 2010

Keywords

  • Aging
  • CXCR4
  • Genes
  • TERC

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