Journal article

Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies in multiethnic Asians identifies two loci for age-related nuclear cataract

Jiemin Liao, Xinyi Su, Peng Chen, Xu Wang, Liang Xu, Xiang Li, Lennard Thean, Clement Tan, Ava G Tan, Wan-Ting Tay, Gyungah Jun, Yingfeng Zheng, Merwyn Chew, Ya Xing Wang, Queenie S Tan, Veluchamy A Barathi, Barbara E Klein, Seang-Mei Saw, Eranga N Vithana, E-Shyong Tai Show all

HUMAN MOLECULAR GENETICS | OXFORD UNIV PRESS | Published : 2014

Abstract

Age-related cataract is a leading cause of blindness worldwide, especially in developing countries where access to cataract surgery remains limited. Previous linkage and candidate gene studies suggested genetic influences on age-related nuclear cataract but few genetic markers have been identified thus far. We conducted genome-wide association studies on 4569 Asians (including 2369 Malays and 2200 Indians), and replicated our analysis in 2481 Chinese from two independent cohorts (1768 Chinese in Singapore and 803 Chinese in Beijing). We confirmed two genome-wide significant loci for nuclear cataract in the combined meta-analysis of four cohorts (n = 7140). The first locus was at chromosome 3..

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Grants

Awarded by National Medical Research Council (NMRC), Singapore


Awarded by Biomedical Research Council (BMRC), Singapore


Awarded by National Natural Science Foundation of China


Funding Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Medical Research Council (NMRC), Singapore (0796/2003, IRG07nov013, IRG09nov014, NMRC 1176/2008, STaR/0003/2008, CG/SERI/2010, CSA/033/2012 to C. C., CSA/008/2009 to E. T.); Biomedical Research Council (BMRC), Singapore (08/1/35/19/550, 09/1/35/19/616); and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81170890).