Failure of replicating the association between hippocampal volume and 3 single-nucleotide polymorphisms identified from the European genome-wide association study in Asian populations

Ming Li; Kazutaka Ohi; Chunhui Chen; Qinghua He; Jie-Wei Liu; Chuansheng Chen; Xiong-Jian Luo; Qi Dong; Ryota Hashimoto; Bing Su

doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2014.07.015

Failure of replicating the association between hippocampal volume and 3 single-nucleotide polymorphisms identified from the European genome-wide association study in Asian populations

Neurobiol Aging. 2014 Dec;35(12):2883.e1-2883.e2. doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2014.07.015. Epub 2014 Jul 19.

Authors

Ming Li¹, Kazutaka Ohi², Chunhui Chen³, Qinghua He³, Jie-Wei Liu⁴, Chuansheng Chen⁵, Xiong-Jian Luo⁶, Qi Dong⁷, Ryota Hashimoto⁸, Bing Su⁹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, China; Lieber Institute for Brain Development, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
² Lieber Institute for Brain Development, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Osaka, Japan.
³ State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, China.
⁵ Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA.
⁶ Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of the Chinese Academy of Sciences & Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, China.
⁷ State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China. Electronic address: dongqi@bnu.edu.cn.
⁸ Department of Psychiatry, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Osaka, Japan; Molecular Research Center for Children's Mental Development, United Graduate School of Child Development, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan. Electronic address: hashimor@psy.med.osaka-u.ac.jp.
⁹ State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan, China. Electronic address: sub@mail.kiz.ac.cn.

PMID: 25131003
DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2014.07.015

Abstract

Hippocampal volume is a key brain structure for learning ability and memory process, and hippocampal atrophy is a recognized biological marker of Alzheimer's disease. However, the genetic bases of hippocampal volume are still unclear although it is a heritable trait. Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) on hippocampal volume have implicated several significantly associated genetic variants in Europeans. Here, to test the contributions of these GWASs identified genetic variants to hippocampal volume in different ethnic populations, we screened the GWAS-identified candidate single-nucleotide polymorphisms in 3 independent healthy Asian brain imaging samples (a total of 990 subjects). The results showed that none of these single-nucleotide polymorphisms were associated with hippocampal volume in either individual or combined Asian samples. The replication results suggested a complexity of genetic architecture for hippocampal volume and potential genetic heterogeneity between different ethnic populations.

Keywords: Asian; GWAS; Hippocampal volume; Replication study.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Alzheimer Disease / pathology
Alzheimer Disease / psychology
Asian People / genetics
Atrophy
Female
Genome-Wide Association Study / methods*
Hippocampus / pathology*
Hippocampus / physiology
Humans
Learning
Male
Memory
Organ Size / genetics*
Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / genetics*
Reproducibility of Results