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Molecular Physiology & Biophysics

A large genome-wide association study of age-related macular degeneration highlights contributions of rare and common variants.

AUTHORS

Fritsche LG , Igl W , Bailey JN , Grassmann F , Sengupta S , Bragg-Gresham JL , Burdon KP , Hebbring SJ , Wen C , Gorski M , Kim IK , Cho D , Zack D , Souied E , Scholl HP , Bala E , Lee KE , Hunter DJ , Sardell RJ , Mitchell P , Merriam JE , Cipriani V , Hoffman JD , Schick T , Lechanteur YT , Guymer RH , Johnson MP , Jiang Y , Stanton CM , Buitendijk GH , Zhan X , Kwong AM , Boleda A , Brooks M , Gieser L , Ratnapriya R , Branham KE , Foerster JR , Heckenlively JR , Othman MI , Vote BJ , Liang HH , Souzeau E , McAllister IL , Isaacs T , Hall J , Lake S , Mackey DA , Constable IJ , Craig JE , Kitchner TE , Yang Z , Su Z , Luo H , Chen D , Ouyang H , Flagg K , Lin D , Mao G , Ferreyra H , Stark K , von Strachwitz CN , Wolf A , Brandl C , Rudolph G , Olden M , Morrison MA , Morgan DJ , Schu M , Ahn J , Silvestri G , Tsironi EE , Park KH , Farrer LA , Orlin A , Brucker A , Li M , Curcio CA , Mohand-Saïd S , Sahel JA , Audo I , Benchaboune M , Cree AJ , Rennie CA , Goverdhan SV , Grunin M , Hagbi-Levi S , Campochiaro P , Katsanis N , Holz FG , Blond F , Blanché H , Deleuze JF , Igo RP , Truitt B , Peachey NS , Meuer SM , Myers CE , Moore EL , Klein R , Hauser MA , Postel EA , Courtenay MD , Schwartz SG , Kovach JL , Scott WK , Liew G , Tan AG , Gopinath B , Merriam JC , Smith RT , Khan JC , Shahid H , Moore AT , McGrath JA , Laux R , Brantley MA , Agarwal A , Ersoy L , Caramoy A , Langmann T , Saksens NT , de Jong EK , Hoyng CB , Cain MS , Richardson AJ , Martin TM , Blangero J , Weeks DE , Dhillon B , van Duijn CM , Doheny KF , Romm J , Klaver CC , Hayward C , Gorin MB , Klein ML , Baird PN , den Hollander AI , Fauser S , Yates JR , Allikmets R , Wang JJ , Schaumberg DA , Klein BE , Hagstrom SA , Chowers I , Lotery AJ , Léveillard T , Zhang K , Brilliant MH , Hewitt AW , Swaroop A , Chew EY , Pericak-Vance MA , DeAngelis M , Stambolian D , Haines JL , Iyengar SK , Weber BH , Abecasis GR , Heid IM , . Nature genetics. 2016 2 ; 48(2). 134-43

ABSTRACT

Advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness in the elderly, with limited therapeutic options. Here we report on a study of >12 million variants, including 163,714 directly genotyped, mostly rare, protein-altering variants. Analyzing 16,144 patients and 17,832 controls, we identify 52 independently associated common and rare variants (P < 5 × 10(-8)) distributed across 34 loci. Although wet and dry AMD subtypes exhibit predominantly shared genetics, we identify the first genetic association signal specific to wet AMD, near MMP9 (difference P value = 4.1 × 10(-10)). Very rare coding variants (frequency <0.1%) in CFH, CFI and TIMP3 suggest causal roles for these genes, as does a splice variant in SLC16A8. Our results support the hypothesis that rare coding variants can pinpoint causal genes within known genetic loci and illustrate that applying the approach systematically to detect new loci requires extremely large sample sizes.

Advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness in the elderly, with limited therapeutic options. Here we report on a study of >12 million variants, including 163,714 directly genotyped, mostly rare, protein-altering variants. Analyzing 16,144 patients and 17,832 controls, we identify 52 independently associated common and rare variants (P < 5 × 10(-8)) distributed across 34 loci. Although wet and dry AMD subtypes exhibit predominantly shared genetics, we identify the first genetic association signal specific to wet AMD, near MMP9 (difference P value = 4.1 × 10(-10)). Very rare coding variants (frequency <0.1%) in CFH, CFI and TIMP3 suggest causal roles for these genes, as does a splice variant in SLC16A8. Our results support the hypothesis that rare coding variants can pinpoint causal genes within known genetic loci and illustrate that applying the approach systematically to detect new loci requires extremely large sample sizes.

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