Associations of Polygenic Risk for Depression, Traditional Chinese Medicine Constitution, and Depression: A Population-Based Study in Taiwan.

To comprehensively investigate the risk factors associated with depression, traditional Chinese medicine constitution (TCMC) has been found to be related to depression. However, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. This study examined the association between the concept of unbalanced TCMCs and major depressive disorder (MDD), investigated the overlapping polygenic risks between unbalanced TCMC and MDD, and performed a mediation test to establish potential pathways. In total, 11,030 individuals were recruited from the Taiwan Biobank, and the polygenic risk score (PRS) for MDD for each participant was calculated using the data from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium. Unbalanced TCMC were classified as yang-deficiency, yin-deficiency, and stasis. The MDD PRS was associated with yang-deficiency odds ratio [OR] per standard deviation increase in standardized (PRS = 1.07, p = 0.0080), yin-deficiency (OR = 1.07, p = 0.0030), and stasis constitution (OR = 1.06, p = 0.0331). Yang-deficiency (OR = 2.07, p < 0.0001) and stasis constitutions (OR = 1.65, p = 0.0015) were associated with an increased risk of MDD. A higher number of unbalanced constitutions was associated with MDD (p < 0.0001). The effect of MDD PRS on MDD was partly mediated by yang-deficiency (10.21%) and stasis (8.41%) constitutions. This study provides evidence for the shared polygenic risk mechanism underlying depression and TCMC and the potential mediating role of TCMC in the polygenic liability for MDD.

Investigating genetic variants for treatment response to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in syndromal factors and side effects among patients with depression in Taiwanese Han population.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with high heterogeneity in clinical presentation. In addition, response to treatment with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) varies considerably among patients. Therefore, identifying genetic variants that may contribute to SSRI treatment responses in MDD is essential. In this study, we analyzed the syndromal factor structures of the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale in 479 patients with MDD by using exploratory factor analysis. All patients were followed up biweekly for 8 weeks. Treatment response was defined for all syndromal factors and total scores. In addition, a genome-wide association study was performed to investigate the treatment outcomes at week 4 and repeatedly assess all visits during follow-up by using mixed models adjusted for age, gender, and population substructure. Moreover, the role of genetic variants in suicidal and sexual side effects was explored, and five syndromal factors for depression were derived: core, insomnia, somatic anxiety, psychomotor-insight, and anorexia. Subsequently, several known genes were mapped to suggestive signals for treatment outcomes, including single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in PRF1, UTP20, MGAM, and ENSG00000286536 for psychomotor-insight and in C4orf51 for anorexia. In total, 33 independent SNPs for treatment responses were tested in a mixed model, 12 of which demonstrated a p value <0.05. The most significant SNP was rs2182717 in the ENSR00000803469 gene located on chromosome 6 for the core syndromal factor (ß = -0.638, p = 1.8 × 10-4) in terms of symptom improvement over time. Patients with a GG or GA genotype with the rs2182717 SNP also exhibited a treatment response (ß = 0.089, p = 2.0 × 10-6) at week 4. Moreover, rs1836075352 was associated with sexual side effects (p = 3.2 × 10-8). Pathway and network analyses using the identified SNPs revealed potential biological functions involved in treatment response, such as neurodevelopment-related functions and immune processes. In conclusion, we identified loci that may affect the clinical response to treatment with antidepressants in the context of empirically defined depressive syndromal factors and side effects among the Taiwanese Han population, thus providing novel biological targets for further investigation.

Familial aggregation and shared genetic loading for major psychiatric disorders and type 2 diabetes.

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: Psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia (SCZ), major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BPD), are highly comorbid with type 2 diabetes. However, the mechanisms underlying such comorbidity are understudied. This study explored the familial aggregation of common psychiatric disorders and type 2 diabetes by testing family history association, and investigated the shared genetic loading between them by testing the polygenic risk score (PRS) association. METHODS: A total of 105,184 participants were recruited from the Taiwan Biobank, and genome-wide genotyping data were available for 95,238 participants. The Psychiatric Genomics Consortium-derived PRS for SCZ, MDD and BPD was calculated. Logistic regression was used to estimate the OR with CIs between a family history of SCZ/MDD/BPD and a family history of type 2 diabetes, and between the PRS and the risk of type 2 diabetes. RESULTS: A family history of type 2 diabetes was associated with a family history of SCZ (OR 1.23, 95% CI 1.08, 1.40), MDD (OR 1.19, 95% CI 1.13, 1.26) and BPD (OR 1.26, 95% CI 1.15, 1.39). Compared with paternal type 2 diabetes, maternal type 2 diabetes was associated with a higher risk of a family history of SCZ. SCZ PRS was negatively associated with type 2 diabetes in women (OR 0.92, 95% CI 0.88, 0.97), but not in men; the effect of SCZ PRS reduced after adjusting for BMI. MDD PRS was positively associated with type 2 diabetes (OR 1.04, 95% CI 1.00, 1.07); the effect of MDD PRS reduced after adjusting for BMI or smoking. BPD PRS was not associated with type 2 diabetes. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: The comorbidity of type 2 diabetes with psychiatric disorders may be explained by shared familial factors. The shared polygenic loading between MDD and type 2 diabetes implies not only pleiotropy but also a shared genetic aetiology for the mechanism behind the comorbidity. The negative correlation between polygenic loading for SCZ and type 2 diabetes implies the role of environmental factors.

Causality of abdominal obesity on cognition: a trans-ethnic Mendelian randomization study.

BACKGROUND: Obesity has been associated with cognition in observational studies; however, whether its effect is confounding or a reverse causality remains inconclusive. This study aimed to investigate the causal relationships of overall obesity, measured by body mass index (BMI), and abdominal adiposity, measured by waist-hip ratio adjusted for BMI (WHRadjBMI), and cognition across European and Asian populations using Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. METHODS: We used publicly available genome-wide association study (GWAS) summary data of European ancestry, including BMI (n = 322,154) and WHRadjBMI (n = 210,088) from the GIANT consortium, and cognition performance (n = 257,828) from the UK Biobank and COGENT consortium. Data for individuals of Asian ancestry were retrieved from Taiwan Biobank to perform GWAS for BMI (n = 65,689), WHRadjBMI (n = 65,683), and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE, n = 21,273). MR analysis was carried out using the inverse-variance weighted method for the main results. Further, we examined the overall pleiotropy by MR-Egger intercept, and detected and adjusted for possible outliers using MR PRESSO. RESULTS: No causal effect of BMI on cognition performance (beta [95% CI] = 0.00 [-0.07, 0.07], p value = 0.91) was found for Europeans; however, a 1-SD increase in WHRadjBMI was associated with a 0.07 standardized score decrease in cognition performance (beta [95% CI] = -0.07 [-0.12, -0.02], p value = 0.006). Further, no causal effect of BMI on MMSE (beta [95% CI] = 0.01 [-0.08, 0.10], p = 0.91) was found for Asians; however, a 1-SD increase in WHRadjBMI was associated with a 0.17 standardized score decrease in MMSE (beta [95% CI] = -0.17 [-0.30, -0.03], p = 0.02). In both populations, overall pleiotropy was not detected, and outliers did not affect the robustness of the main findings. CONCLUSIONS: This trans-ethnic MR study reveals that abdominal adiposity, as measured by WHR adjusted for BMI, impairs cognition, whereas weak evidence suggests that BMI impairs cognition.

Sleep apnea may be associated with suicidal ideation in adolescents.

Suicide is a major threat to adolescent health. Sleep problems increase the risk of adolescent suicidal behavior, but the role of sleep-disordered breathing (e.g., sleep apnea) is unclear. We investigated whether sleep apnea had an effect on suicidal ideation that was independent of depression and perceived stress. We examined a series of sleep variables with suicidal ideation in 746 fifth and seventh graders using self-reported questionnaires to assess time in bed, sleep quality, insomnia, and sleep apnea while controlling depression and perceived stress. Overall, 8.8% of students aged 10-14 years reported having recent suicidal ideation, and 33% or 3.8%, depending on the screening criteria, reported having suspected sleep apnea. The sleep variables were all associated with an increased risk of suicidal ideation, but the magnitude of effects was largely attenuated when depression and perceived stress were included in the models. Suspected sleep apnea using daytime sleepiness as a screening criterion was independently associated with suicidal ideation (odds ratio = 2.25, p < 0.05). Suspected sleep apnea was associated with suicidal ideation that was partly independent of depression and stress, which reveals the pertinence of screening for sleep apnea among school students and designing proper prevention strategies for reducing youth suicidal behavior.

A population-based study of familial coaggregation and shared genetic etiology of psychiatric and gastrointestinal disorders.

BACKGROUND: It has been proposed that having a psychiatric disorder could increase the risk of developing a gastrointestinal disorder, and vice versa. The role of familial coaggregation and shared genetic loading between psychiatric and gastrointestinal disorders remains unclear. METHODS: This study used the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database; 4,504,612 individuals born 1970-1999 with parental information, 51,664 same-sex twins, and 3,322,959 persons with full-sibling(s) were enrolled. Genotyping was available for 106,796 unrelated participants from the Taiwan Biobank. A logistic regression model was used to examine the associations of individual history, affected relatives, and polygenic risk scores (PRS) for schizophrenia (SCZ), bipolar disorder (BPD), major depressive disorder (MDD), and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), with the risk of peptic ulcer disease (PUD), gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and vice versa. RESULTS: Here we show that parental psychiatric disorders are associated with gastrointestinal disorders. Full-siblings of psychiatric cases have an increased risk of gastrointestinal disorders except for SCZ/BPD and IBD; the magnitude of coaggregation is higher in same-sex twins than in full-siblings. The results of bidirectional analyses mostly remain unchanged. PRS for SCZ, MDD, and OCD are associated with IBS, PUD/GERD/IBS/IBD, and PUD/GERD/IBS, respectively. PRS for PUD, GERD, IBS, and IBD are associated with MDD, BPD/MDD, SCZ/BPD/MDD, and BPD, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: There is familial coaggregation and shared genetic etiology between psychiatric and gastrointestinal comorbidity. Individuals with psychiatric disorder-affected relatives or with higher genetic risk for psychiatric disorders should be monitored for gastrointestinal disorders, and vice versa.

It has been proposed that people with psychiatric disorders such as depression could have an increased chance of developing gastrointestinal disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome. We looked at whether this was the case in a large number of people from Taiwan. We found that people with a psychiatric disorder, or with relatives having a psychiatric disorder, were more likely to have gastrointestinal disorders, and vice versa. These findings suggest that people who have psychiatric disorders or have psychiatric disorder-affected relatives should be monitored for gastrointestinal disorders, and vice versa, to enable them to benefit from all the treatments they might need to improve their health.

Assortative mating across nine psychiatric disorders is consistent and persistent over cultures and generations.

Emerging evidence has shown that assortative mating (AM) is a key factor that shapes the landscape of complex human traits. It can increase the overall prevalence of disorders, influence occurrences of comorbidities, and bias estimation of genetic architectures. However, there is lack of large-scale studies to examine the cultural differences and the generational trends of AM for psychiatric disorders. Here, using national registry datasets, we conduct the largest scale of AM analyses on nine psychiatric disorders, with up to 1.4 million mated cases and 6 million matched controls. We performed meta-analyses on AM estimates from Taiwan, Denmark, and Sweden, to examine the potential impact of cultural differences. Generational changes for people born after 1930s were investigated as well. We found that AM of psychiatric disorders are consistent across nations and persistent over generations, with a small proportion of disorders showing generational changes of AM. Our results provide additional insight into the mechanisms of AM across psychiatric disorders and have evident implications on the estimation of the genetic architectures of psychiatric disorders.

Causal influence of sleeping phenotypes on the risk of coronary artery disease and sudden cardiac arrest: A Mendelian randomization analysis.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the causal influence of sleep and circadian traits on coronary artery disease and sudden cardiac arrest with adjustment for obesity through a two-sample Mendelian randomization study. METHODS: We used summary statistics of 5 sleep and circadian traits for genome-wide association studies, including chronotype, sleep duration, long sleep (≥9 h a day), short sleep (<7 h a day), and insomnia (sample size range: 237,622-651,295). Coronary artery disease genome-wide association studies with 60,801 cases and 123,504 controls, sudden cardiac arrest genome-wide association studies with 3939 cases and 25,989 controls, and obesity genome-wide association studies with 806,834 individuals were also used. Multivariable Mendelian randomization was performed to estimate the causality. RESULTS: After adjusting for obesity, genetically predicted short sleep (odds ratio = 1.87 and p = .02), and genetically predicted insomnia (odds ratio = 1.17 and p = .001) were causally associated with increased odds of coronary artery disease. Genetically predicted long sleep (odds ratio = 0.06 and p = .02) and genetically predicted longer sleep duration (odds ratio = 0.36 for per-hour increase in sleep duration and p = .0006) were causally associated with decreased odds of sudden cardiac arrest. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this Mendelian randomization study indicate that insomnia and short sleep contribute to the development of coronary artery disease, whereas a longer sleep duration protects from sudden cardiac arrest, independent of the influence of obesity. The mechanisms underlying these associations warrant further investigation.

Associations of polygenic risks, depression, and obesity-related traits in Taiwan Biobank.

BACKGROUND: The comorbidity of obesity and major depressive disorder (MDD) may be attributable to a bidirectional relationship and shared genetic influence. We aimed to examine the polygenic associations between obesity and MDD and to characterize their corresponding impacts on the obesity mechanism. METHODS: Genome-wide genotyping was available in 106,604 unrelated individuals from Taiwan Biobank. Polygenic risk score (PRS) for body mass index (BMI) and MDD was derived to evaluate their effects on obesity-related traits. Stratified analyses were performed for the modified effect of depression on the polygenic associations. RESULTS: The MDD PRS was positively associated with waistline (beta in per SD increase in PRS = 0.12), hipline (beta = 0.08), waist-hip ratio (WHR) (beta = 0.05), body fat rate (beta = 0.08), BMI (beta = 0.05), overweight (OR = 1.02 for BMI ≥ 25), and obesity (OR = 1.05 for BMI ≥ 30). For the synergism between depression and BMI PRS, the presence of active depression symptoms defined by the PHQ-4 (p for interaction < 0.05 for waistline, WHR, and BMI) was more salient than lifetime MDD. LIMITATIONS: Limitations include recall bias for MDD due to a retrospective self-reporting questionnaire, a low response rate of the PHQ-4 for evaluating active psychological symptoms, and limited generalizability to non-Taiwanese ancestries. CONCLUSIONS: The shared genetic etiology of obesity and depression was demonstrated. The amplified effect of BMI polygenic effect on obesity for individuals with active depressive symptoms was also characterized. The study may be helpful for designing public health interventions to reduce the disease burden caused by obesity and depression.

Evaluation of the causal relationship between smoking and schizophrenia in East Asia.

Cigarette smoking has been suggested to be associated with the risk of schizophrenia in observational studies. A significant causal effect of smoking on schizophrenia has been reported in European populations using the Mendelian randomization approach; however, no evidence of causality was found in participants from East Asia. Using Taiwan Biobank (TWBB), we conducted genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to identify susceptibility loci for smoking behaviors, including smoking initiation (N = 79,989) and the onset age (N = 15,582). We then meta-analyzed GWAS from TWBB and Biobank Japan (BBJ) with the total sample size of 245,425 for smoking initiation and 46,000 for onset age of smoking. The GWAS for schizophrenia was taken from the East Asia Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, which included 22,778 cases and 35,362 controls. We performed a two-sample Mendelian randomization to estimate the causality of smoking behaviors on schizophrenia in East Asia. In TWBB, we identified one locus that met genome-wide significance for onset age. In a meta-analysis of TWBB and BBJ, we identified two loci for smoking initiation. In Mendelian randomization, genetically predicted smoking initiation (odds ratio (OR) = 4.00, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.89-18.01, P = 0.071) and onset age (OR for a per-year increase = 0.96, 95% CI = 0.91-1.01, P = 0.098) were not significantly associated with schizophrenia; the direction of effect was consistent with European Ancestry samples, which had higher statistical power. These findings provide tentative evidence consistent with a causal role of smoking on the development of schizophrenia in East Asian populations.

The association of personality polygenic risk score, psychosocial protective factors and suicide attempt in mood disorder.

Some personality traits, especially neuroticism, has been found to be associated with suicide attempt (SA) in mood disorder patients. The present study explored the association between personality traits and SA using polygenic risk scores (PRS) for personality among patients with mood disorders. We also investigated the effects of a variety of psychosocial variables on SA. Patients with bipolar disorder (BPD, N = 841) and major depressive disorder (MDD, N = 710) were recruited from hospitals in Taiwan. Lifetime SA and information on psychosocial factors was collected. We calculated the PRS of neuroticism and extraversion. A trend test for SA was performed across quartiles of the PRS for neuroticism and extraversion, and logistic regression analyses were performed to examine the associations between psychosocial factors and SA, accounting for the PRS of personality traits. The prevalence of SA was higher in MDD than in BPD patients. The risk of SA was elevated in MDD patients with a higher quintile of PRS in neuroticism and a lower quintile of PRS in extraversion. The multiple regression analysis results demonstrated that later age of onset, higher family support and resilience, and lower overall social support were protective factors against SA. From the perspective of suicide prevention efforts, strengthening family support and conducting resilience training for patients with mood disorders may be beneficial interventions in clinical settings.

Dissecting the Shared Genetic Architecture of Suicide Attempt, Psychiatric Disorders, and Known Risk Factors.

BACKGROUND: Suicide is a leading cause of death worldwide, and nonfatal suicide attempts, which occur far more frequently, are a major source of disability and social and economic burden. Both have substantial genetic etiology, which is partially shared and partially distinct from that of related psychiatric disorders. METHODS: We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 29,782 suicide attempt (SA) cases and 519,961 controls in the International Suicide Genetics Consortium (ISGC). The GWAS of SA was conditioned on psychiatric disorders using GWAS summary statistics via multitrait-based conditional and joint analysis, to remove genetic effects on SA mediated by psychiatric disorders. We investigated the shared and divergent genetic architectures of SA, psychiatric disorders, and other known risk factors. RESULTS: Two loci reached genome-wide significance for SA: the major histocompatibility complex and an intergenic locus on chromosome 7, the latter of which remained associated with SA after conditioning on psychiatric disorders and replicated in an independent cohort from the Million Veteran Program. This locus has been implicated in risk-taking behavior, smoking, and insomnia. SA showed strong genetic correlation with psychiatric disorders, particularly major depression, and also with smoking, pain, risk-taking behavior, sleep disturbances, lower educational attainment, reproductive traits, lower socioeconomic status, and poorer general health. After conditioning on psychiatric disorders, the genetic correlations between SA and psychiatric disorders decreased, whereas those with nonpsychiatric traits remained largely unchanged. CONCLUSIONS: Our results identify a risk locus that contributes more strongly to SA than other phenotypes and suggest a shared underlying biology between SA and known risk factors that is not mediated by psychiatric disorders.

The Genetic Architecture of Depression in Individuals of East Asian Ancestry: A Genome-Wide Association Study.

Importance: Most previous genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of depression have used data from individuals of European descent. This limits the understanding of the underlying biology of depression and raises questions about the transferability of findings between populations. Objective: To investigate the genetics of depression among individuals of East Asian and European descent living in different geographic locations, and with different outcome definitions for depression. Design, Setting, and Participants: Genome-wide association analyses followed by meta-analysis, which included data from 9 cohort and case-control data sets comprising individuals with depression and control individuals of East Asian descent. This study was conducted between January 2019 and May 2021. Exposures: Associations of genetic variants with depression risk were assessed using generalized linear mixed models and logistic regression. The results were combined across studies using fixed-effects meta-analyses. These were subsequently also meta-analyzed with the largest published GWAS for depression among individuals of European descent. Additional meta-analyses were carried out separately by outcome definition (clinical depression vs symptom-based depression) and region (East Asian countries vs Western countries) for East Asian ancestry cohorts. Main Outcomes and Measures: Depression status was defined based on health records and self-report questionnaires. Results: There were a total of 194 548 study participants (approximate mean age, 51.3 years; 62.8% women). Participants included 15 771 individuals with depression and 178 777 control individuals of East Asian descent. Five novel associations were identified, including 1 in the meta-analysis for broad depression among those of East Asian descent: rs4656484 (ß = -0.018, SE = 0.003, P = 4.43x10-8) at 1q24.1. Another locus at 7p21.2 was associated in a meta-analysis restricted to geographically East Asian studies (ß = 0.028, SE = 0.005, P = 6.48x10-9 for rs10240457). The lead variants of these 2 novel loci were not associated with depression risk in European ancestry cohorts (ß = -0.003, SE = 0.005, P = .53 for rs4656484 and ß = -0.005, SE = 0.004, P = .28 for rs10240457). Only 11% of depression loci previously identified in individuals of European descent reached nominal significance levels in the individuals of East Asian descent. The transancestry genetic correlation between cohorts of East Asian and European descent for clinical depression was r = 0.413 (SE = 0.159). Clinical depression risk was negatively genetically correlated with body mass index in individuals of East Asian descent (r = -0.212, SE = 0.084), contrary to findings for individuals of European descent. Conclusions and Relevance: These results support caution against generalizing findings about depression risk factors across populations and highlight the need to increase the ancestral and geographic diversity of samples with consistent phenotyping.

Association between polygenic liability for schizophrenia and substance involvement: A nationwide population-based study in Taiwan.

Schizophrenia and substance involvement frequently co-occur in individuals, and a bidirectional relationship between the two has been proposed; shared underlying genetic factors could be an alternative explanation. This study investigated the genetic overlap between schizophrenia and substance involvement, including tobacco, alcohol and betel nut use. The study subjects were recruited from the Taiwan Biobank, and genome-wide genotyping data was available for 18 327 participants without schizophrenia. We calculated the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium-derived polygenic risk score (PRS) for schizophrenia in each participant. The significance of the schizophrenia PRS associated with substance involvement was evaluated using a regression model with adjustments for gender, age and population stratification components. The modified effect of gender or birth decade was also explored. The schizophrenia PRS was positively associated with lifetime tobacco smoking in women (OR in per SD increase in PRS = 1.12 with 95% CI 1.04-1.20, P = .002), but not in men (OR = 0.99 with 95% CI 0.95-1.04, P = .74), and the gender-PRS interaction reached significance (P = .006). The OR between PRS and lifetime tobacco smoking increased with the birth decade (P of birth decade-PRS interaction = .0002). In women, OR increased from 0.97 (P = .85) for subjects with a birth decade before 1950 to 1.21 (P = .04) for subjects with a birth decade after 1980; in men, the corresponding OR increased from 0.88 (P = .04) to 1.13 (P = .11). There was no association between schizophrenia PRS and alcohol/betel nut use phenotypes. This study provides evidence for the genetic overlap between schizophrenia and tobacco use in women, and this overlap was stronger in the younger population.

Genome-Wide Association Study for Autism Spectrum Disorder in Taiwanese Han Population.

BACKGROUND: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with strong genetic components. Several recent genome-wide association (GWA) studies in Caucasian samples have reported a number of gene regions and loci correlated with the risk of ASD--albeit with very little consensus across studies. METHODS: A two-stage GWA study was employed to identify common genetic variants for ASD in the Taiwanese Han population. The discovery stage included 315 patients with ASD and 1,115 healthy controls, using the Affymetrix SNP array 6.0 platform for genotyping. Several gene regions were then selected for fine-mapping and top markers were examined in extended samples. Single marker, haplotype, gene-based, and pathway analyses were conducted for associations. RESULTS: Seven SNPs had p-values ranging from 3.4~9.9*10-6, but none reached the genome-wide significant level. Five of them were mapped to three known genes (OR2M4, STYK1, and MNT) with significant empirical gene-based p-values in OR2M4 (p = 3.4*10(-5)) and MNT (p = 0.0008). Results of the fine-mapping study showed single-marker associations in the GLIS1 (rs12082358 and rs12080993) and NAALADL2 (rs3914502 and rs2222447) genes, and gene-based associations for the OR2M3-OR2T5 (olfactory receptor genes, p = 0.02), and GLIPR1/KRR1 gene regions (p = 0.015). Pathway analyses revealed important pathways for ASD, such as olfactory and G protein-coupled receptors signaling pathways. CONCLUSIONS: We reported Taiwanese Han specific susceptibility genes and variants for ASD. However, further replication in other Asian populations is warranted to validate our findings. Investigation in the biological functions of our reported genetic variants might also allow for better understanding on the underlying pathogenesis of autism.

Meta-analysis identifies common variants associated with body mass index in east Asians.

Multiple genetic loci associated with obesity or body mass index (BMI) have been identified through genome-wide association studies conducted predominantly in populations of European ancestry. We performed a meta-analysis of associations between BMI and approximately 2.4 million SNPs in 27,715 east Asians, which was followed by in silico and de novo replication studies in 37,691 and 17,642 additional east Asians, respectively. We identified ten BMI-associated loci at genome-wide significance (P < 5.0 × 10(-8)), including seven previously identified loci (FTO, SEC16B, MC4R, GIPR-QPCTL, ADCY3-DNAJC27, BDNF and MAP2K5) and three novel loci in or near the CDKAL1, PCSK1 and GP2 genes. Three additional loci nearly reached the genome-wide significance threshold, including two previously identified loci in the GNPDA2 and TFAP2B genes and a newly identified signal near PAX6, all of which were associated with BMI with P < 5.0 × 10(-7). Findings from this study may shed light on new pathways involved in obesity and demonstrate the value of conducting genetic studies in non-European populations.