Genome-wide association study across European and African American ancestries identifies a SNP in DNMT3B contributing to nicotine dependence.

Cigarette smoking is a leading cause of preventable mortality worldwide. Nicotine dependence, which reduces the likelihood of quitting smoking, is a heritable trait with firmly established associations with sequence variants in nicotine acetylcholine receptor genes and at other loci. To search for additional loci, we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) meta-analysis of nicotine dependence, totaling 38,602 smokers (28,677 Europeans/European Americans and 9925 African Americans) across 15 studies. In this largest-ever GWAS meta-analysis for nicotine dependence and the largest-ever cross-ancestry GWAS meta-analysis for any smoking phenotype, we reconfirmed the well-known CHRNA5-CHRNA3-CHRNB4 genes and further yielded a novel association in the DNA methyltransferase gene DNMT3B. The intronic DNMT3B rs910083-C allele (frequency=44-77%) was associated with increased risk of nicotine dependence at P=3.7 × 10-8 (odds ratio (OR)=1.06 and 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.04-1.07 for severe vs mild dependence). The association was independently confirmed in the UK Biobank (N=48,931) using heavy vs never smoking as a proxy phenotype (P=3.6 × 10-4, OR=1.05, and 95% CI=1.02-1.08). Rs910083-C is also associated with increased risk of squamous cell lung carcinoma in the International Lung Cancer Consortium (N=60,586, meta-analysis P=0.0095, OR=1.05, and 95% CI=1.01-1.09). Moreover, rs910083-C was implicated as a cis-methylation quantitative trait locus (QTL) variant associated with higher DNMT3B methylation in fetal brain (N=166, P=2.3 × 10-26) and a cis-expression QTL variant associated with higher DNMT3B expression in adult cerebellum from the Genotype-Tissue Expression project (N=103, P=3.0 × 10-6) and the independent Brain eQTL Almanac (N=134, P=0.028). This novel DNMT3B cis-acting QTL variant highlights the importance of genetically influenced regulation in brain on the risks of nicotine dependence, heavy smoking and consequent lung cancer.

Evidence for a newly discovered cellular anti-HIV-1 phenotype.

Animal cells have developed many ways to suppress viral replication, and viruses have evolved diverse strategies to resist these. Here we provide evidence that the virion infectivity factor protein of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) functions to counteract a newly discovered activity in human cells that otherwise inhibits virus replication. This anti-viral phenotype is shown by human T cells, the principal in vivo targets for HIV-1, and, based on our present understanding of virion infectivity factor action, is presumed to act by interfering with a late step(s) in the virus life cycle. These observations indicate that the inhibition of virion infectivity factor function in vivo may prevent HIV-1 replication by 'unmasking' an innate anti-viral phenotype.

Replication of ZNF804A gene variant associations with risk of heroin addiction.

Heroin addiction is heritable, but few specific genetic variants have been reproducibly associated with this disease. The zinc finger protein 804A (ZNF804A) gene is a biologically plausible susceptibility gene for heroin addiction, given its function as a transcription factor in human brain. Novel associations of two common ZNF804A single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), rs7597593 and rs1344706, with heroin addiction have been reported in Han Chinese. Both SNPs have also been implicated for regulating ZNF804A expression in human brain, including the addiction-relevant dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. In this independent replication study, we tested the rs7597593 and rs1344706 SNP genotypes and their corresponding haplotypes for association with heroin addiction using cases drawn from the Urban Health Study and population controls: total N = 10 757 [7095 European Americans (EAs) and 3662 African Americans (AAs)]. We independently replicated both ZNF804A SNP associations in EAs: the rs7597593-T (P = 0.016) and rs1344706-A (P = 0.029) alleles both being associated with increased risk of heroin addiction, consistent with the prior report. Neither SNP was associated in AAs alone, but meta-analysis across both ancestry groups resulted in significant associations for rs1344706-A [P = 0.016, odds ratio (95% confidence interval) = 1.13 (1.02-1.25)] and its haplotype with rs7597593-T [P = 0.0067, odds ratio (95% confidence interval) = 1.16 (1.04-1.29)]. By showing consistent associations across independent studies and diverse ancestry groups, our study provides evidence that these two ZNF804A SNPs and their risk haplotype are among the few replicable genetic associations with heroin addiction.

Genome-wide meta-analysis reveals common splice site acceptor variant in CHRNA4 associated with nicotine dependence.

We conducted a 1000 Genomes-imputed genome-wide association study (GWAS) meta-analysis for nicotine dependence, defined by the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence in 17 074 ever smokers from five European-ancestry samples. We followed up novel variants in 7469 ever smokers from five independent European-ancestry samples. We identified genome-wide significant association in the alpha-4 nicotinic receptor subunit (CHRNA4) gene on chromosome 20q13: lowest P=8.0 × 10(-9) across all the samples for rs2273500-C (frequency=0.15; odds ratio=1.12 and 95% confidence interval=1.08-1.17 for severe vs mild dependence). rs2273500-C, a splice site acceptor variant resulting in an alternate CHRNA4 transcript predicted to be targeted for nonsense-mediated decay, was associated with decreased CHRNA4 expression in physiologically normal human brains (lowest P=7.3 × 10(-4)). Importantly, rs2273500-C was associated with increased lung cancer risk (N=28 998, odds ratio=1.06 and 95% confidence interval=1.00-1.12), likely through its effect on smoking, as rs2273500-C was no longer associated with lung cancer after adjustment for smoking. Using criteria for smoking behavior that encompass more than the single 'cigarettes per day' item, we identified a common CHRNA4 variant with important regulatory properties that contributes to nicotine dependence and smoking-related consequences.

Unusual polymorphisms in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 associated with nonprogressive infection.

Factors accounting for long-term nonprogression may include infection with an attenuated strain of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), genetic polymorphisms in the host, and virus-specific immune responses. In this study, we examined eight individuals with nonprogressing or slowly progressing HIV-1 infection, none of whom were homozygous for host-specific polymorphisms (CCR5-Delta32, CCR2-64I, and SDF-1-3'A) which have been associated with slower disease progression. HIV-1 was recovered from seven of the eight, and recovered virus was used for sequencing the full-length HIV-1 genome; full-length HIV-1 genome sequences from the eighth were determined following amplification of viral sequences directly from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). Longitudinal studies of one individual with HIV-1 that consistently exhibited a slow/low growth phenotype revealed a single amino acid deletion in a conserved region of the gp41 transmembrane protein that was not seen in any of 131 envelope sequences in the Los Alamos HIV-1 sequence database. Genetic analysis also revealed that five of the eight individuals harbored HIV-1 with unusual 1- or 2-amino-acid deletions in the Gag sequence compared to subgroup B Gag consensus sequences. These deletions in Gag have either never been observed previously or are extremely rare in the database. Three individuals had deletions in Nef, and one had a 4-amino-acid insertion in Vpu. The unusual polymorphisms in Gag, Env, and Nef described here were also found in stored PBMC samples taken 3 to 11 years prior to, or in one case 4 years subsequent to, the time of sampling for the original sequencing. In all, seven of the eight individuals exhibited one or more unusual polymorphisms; a total of 13 unusual polymorphisms were documented in these seven individuals. These polymorphisms may have been present from the time of initial infection or may have appeared in response to immune surveillance or other selective pressures. Our results indicate that unusual, difficult-to-revert polymorphisms in HIV-1 can be found associated with slow progression or nonprogression in a majority of such cases.