Sex-stratified genome-wide association studies including 270,000 individuals show sexual dimorphism in genetic loci for anthropometric traits.

Randall JC, Winkler TW, Kutalik Z, Berndt SI, Jackson AU, Monda KL, Kilpeläinen TO, Esko T, Mägi R, Li S, Workalemahu T, Feitosa MF, Croteau-Chonka DC, Day FR, Fall T, Ferreira T, Gustafsson S, Locke AE, Mathieson I, Scherag A, Vedantam S, Wood AR, Liang L, Steinthorsdottir V, Thorleifsson G, Dermitzakis ET, Dimas AS, Karpe F, Min JL, Nicholson G, Clegg DJ, Person T, Krohn JP, Bauer S, Buechler C, Eisinger K, DIAGRAM Consortium N, Bonnefond A, Froguel P, MAGIC Investigators N, Hottenga J, Prokopenko I, Waite LL, Harris TB, Smith AV, Shuldiner AR, McArdle WL, Caulfield MJ, Munroe PB, Grönberg H, Chen YI, Li G, Beckmann JS, Johnson T, Thorsteinsdottir U, Teder-Laving M, Khaw K, Wareham NJ, Zhao JH, Amin N, Oostra BA, Kraja AT, Province MA, Cupples LA, Heard-Costa NL, Kaprio J, Ripatti S, Surakka I, Collins FS, Saramies J, Tuomilehto J, Jula A, Salomaa V, Erdmann J, Hengstenberg C, Loley C, Schunkert H, Lamina C, Wichmann HE, Albrecht E, Gieger C, Hicks AA, Johansson A, Pramstaller PP, Kathiresan S, Speliotes EK, Penninx B, Hartikainen A, Jarvelin M, Gyllensten U, Boomsma DI, Campbell H, Wilson JF, Chanock SJ, Farrall M, Goel A, Medina-Gomez C, Rivadeneira F, Estrada K, Uitterlinden AG, Hofman A, Zillikens MC, den Heijer M, Kiemeney LA, Maschio A, Hall P, Tyrer J, Teumer A, Völzke H, Kovacs P, Tönjes A, Mangino M, Spector TD, Hayward C, Rudan I, Hall AS, Samani NJ, Attwood AP, Sambrook JG, Hung J, Palmer LJ, Lokki M, Sinisalo J, Boucher G, Huikuri H, Lorentzon M, Ohlsson C, Eklund N, Eriksson JG, Barlassina C, Rivolta C, Nolte IM, Snieder H, Van der Klauw MM, Van Vliet-Ostaptchouk JV, Gejman PV, Shi J, Jacobs KB, Wang Z, Bakker SJL, Mateo Leach I, Navis G, van der Harst P, Martin NG, Medland SE, Montgomery GW, Yang J, Chasman DI, Ridker PM, Rose LM, Lehtimäki T, Raitakari O, Absher D, Iribarren C, Basart H, Hovingh KG, Hyppönen E, Power C, Anderson D, Beilby JP, Hui J, Jolley J, Sager H, Bornstein SR, Schwarz PEH, Kristiansson K, Perola M, Lindström J, Swift AJ, Uusitupa M, Atalay M, Lakka TA, Rauramaa R, Bolton JL, Fowkes G, Fraser RM, Price JF, Fischer K, Krjutå Kov K, Metspalu A, Mihailov E, Langenberg C, Luan J, Ong KK, Chines PS, Keinanen-Kiukaanniemi SM, Saaristo TE, Edkins S, Franks PW, Hallmans G, Shungin D, Morris AD, Palmer CNA, Erbel R, Moebus S, Nöthen MM, Pechlivanis S, Hveem K, Narisu N, Hamsten A, Humphries SE, Strawbridge RJ, Tremoli E, Grallert H, Thorand B, Illig T, Koenig W, Müller-Nurasyid M, Peters A, Boehm BO, Kleber ME, März W, Winkelmann BR, Kuusisto J, Laakso M, Arveiler D, Cesana G, Kuulasmaa K, Virtamo J, Yarnell JWG, Kuh D, Wong A, Lind L, de Faire U, Gigante B, Magnusson PKE, Pedersen NL, Dedoussis G, Dimitriou M, Kolovou G, Kanoni S, Stirrups K, Bonnycastle LL, Njølstad I, Wilsgaard T, Ganna A, Rehnberg E, Hingorani A, Kivimaki M, Kumari M, Assimes TL, Barroso I, Boehnke M, Borecki IB, Deloukas P, Fox CS, Frayling T, Groop LC, Haritunians T, Hunter D, Ingelsson E, Kaplan R, Mohlke KL, O'Connell JR, Schlessinger D, Strachan DP, Stefansson K, van Duijn CM, Abecasis GR, McCarthy MI, Hirschhorn JN, Qi L, Loos RJF, Lindgren CM, North KE, Heid IM

PLoS Genet. 9 (6) e1003500 [2013-06-00; online 2013-06-06]

Given the anthropometric differences between men and women and previous evidence of sex-difference in genetic effects, we conducted a genome-wide search for sexually dimorphic associations with height, weight, body mass index, waist circumference, hip circumference, and waist-to-hip-ratio (133,723 individuals) and took forward 348 SNPs into follow-up (additional 137,052 individuals) in a total of 94 studies. Seven loci displayed significant sex-difference (FDR<5%), including four previously established (near GRB14/COBLL1, LYPLAL1/SLC30A10, VEGFA, ADAMTS9) and three novel anthropometric trait loci (near MAP3K1, HSD17B4, PPARG), all of which were genome-wide significant in women (P<5×10(-8)), but not in men. Sex-differences were apparent only for waist phenotypes, not for height, weight, BMI, or hip circumference. Moreover, we found no evidence for genetic effects with opposite directions in men versus women. The PPARG locus is of specific interest due to its role in diabetes genetics and therapy. Our results demonstrate the value of sex-specific GWAS to unravel the sexually dimorphic genetic underpinning of complex traits.

NGI Uppsala (SNP&SEQ Technology Platform) [Service]

National Genomics Infrastructure [Service]

PubMed 23754948

DOI 10.1371/journal.pgen.1003500

Crossref 10.1371/journal.pgen.1003500

pii: PGENETICS-D-12-01098
pmc: PMC3674993