Biology subjects

Lyytikainen, L.-P.

Publications and source records attributed to Lyytikainen, L.-P..

6 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Male youth BMI is associated with epigenetic ageing of female descendants but not blood or sperm DNA methylation

Studies based on harvest records indicate that grandparental nutrition in youth is associated with the health traits of grandchildren in a sex-specific lineage. We investigated whether male early adulthood anthropometrics associate with epigenetic age, a measure of general well-being, and DNA methylation, a potential molecular inheritance mechanism, in three generations of descendants. Data on weight, height, BMI and chest circumference measured at military draft examinations (at age 18-24 yrs.) were retrieved from national archives for 1,013 men, herein referred to as Generation Archives (GA). The genome-wide DNA methylation of their descendants participating in the Young Finns Study (YFS) was measured from the blood and sperm from the children (59-80 yrs., nblood = 362, nsperm = 51), grandchildren (34-49 yrs., nblood = 421, nsperm = 98) and great-grandchildren (7-30 yrs., nblood = 200). The men's (GA) BMI had an inverse association with the epigenetic pace of ageing (DunedinPACE) of their daughters ({beta} = -0.01, p = 0.002, n = 169) and the daughters' daughters ({beta} = -0.01, p = 0.049, n = 126) but not with that of their male descendants. From within the YFS cohort, maternal, but not paternal, BMI at ages 13-34 also had an inverse association with the DunedinPACE of the immediate offspring. However, robust evidence for the inheritance mechanism was not found in the analyses between the anthropometric measurements of the GA men and the DNA methylation profiles in the blood and sperm of their descendants.

molecular biology↗

bioRxiv2020

Multi-ancestry genome-wide gene-sleep interactions identify novel loci for blood pressure

Long and short sleep duration are associated with elevated blood pressure (BP), possibly through effects on molecular pathways that influence neuroendocrine and vascular systems. To gain new insights into the genetic basis of sleep-related BP variation, we performed genome-wide gene by short or long sleep duration interaction analyses on four BP traits (systolic BP, diastolic BP, mean arterial pressure, and pulse pressure) across five ancestry groups using 1 degree of freedom (1df) interaction and 2df joint tests. Primary multi-ancestry analyses in 62,969 individuals in stage 1 identified 3 novel loci that were replicated in an additional 59,296 individuals in stage 2, including rs7955964 (FIGNL2/ANKRD33) showing significant 1df interactions with long sleep duration and rs73493041 (SNORA26/C9orf170) and rs10406644 (KCTD15/LSM14A) showing significant 1df interactions with short sleep duration (Pint < 5x10-8). Secondary ancestry-specific two-stage analyses and combined stage 1 and 2 analyses additionally identified 23 novel loci that need external replication, including 3 and 5 loci showing significant 1df interactions with long and short sleep duration, respectively (Pint < 5x10-8). Multiple genes mapped to our 26 novel loci have known functions in sleep-wake regulation, nervous and cardiometabolic systems. We also identified new gene by long sleep interactions near five known BP loci ([≤]1Mb) including NME7, FAM208A, MKLN1, CEP164, and RGL3/ELAVL3 (Pint < 5x10-8). This study indicates that sleep and primary mechanisms regulating BP may interact to elevate BP level, suggesting novel insights into sleep-related BP regulation.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2019

SNPs associated with HHIP expression have differential effects on lung function in males and females

Adult lung function is highly heritable and 279 genetic loci were recently reported as associated with spirometry-based measures of lung function. Though lung development and function differ between males and females throughout life, there has been no genome-wide study to identify genetic variants with differential effects on lung function in males and females. Here, we present the first genome-wide genotype-by-sex interaction study on four lung function traits in 303,612 participants from the UK Biobank. We detected five SNPs showing genome-wide significant (P<5 x 10-8) interactions with sex on lung function, as well as 21 suggestively significant interactions (P<1 x 10-6). The strongest sex interaction signal came from rs7697189 at 4:145436894 on forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) (P = 3.15 x 10-15), and was replicated (P = 0.016) in 75,696 individuals in the SpiroMeta consortium. Sex-stratified analyses demonstrated that the minor (C) allele of rs7697189 increased lung function to a greater extent in males than females (untransformed FEV1 {beta} = 0.028 [SE 0.0022] litres in males vs {beta} = 0.009 [SE 0.0014] litres in females), and this effect was not accounted for by differential effects on height, smoking or age at puberty. This SNP resides upstream of the gene encoding hedgehog-interacting protein (HHIP) and has previously been reported for association with lung function and HHIP expression in lung tissue. In our analyses, while HHIP expression in lung tissue was significantly different between the sexes with females having higher expression (most significant probeset P=6.90 x 10-6) after adjusting for age and smoking, rs7697189 did not demonstrate sex differential effects on expression. Establishing the mechanism by which HHIP SNPs have different effects on lung function in males and females will be important for our understanding of lung health and diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), in both sexes.

genetics↗

bioRxiv2018

Genome-wide association and functional studies identify 46 novel loci for alcohol consumption and suggest common genetic mechanisms with neuropsychiatric disorders

Excessive alcohol consumption is one of the main causes of death and disability worldwide. Alcohol consumption is a heritable complex trait. We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of alcohol use in ~480,000 people of European descent to decipher the genetic architecture of alcohol intake. We identified 46 novel, common loci, and investigated their potential functional significance using magnetic resonance imaging data, gene expression and behavioral studies in Drosophila. Our results identify new genetic pathways associated with alcohol consumption and suggest common genetic mechanisms with several neuropsychiatric disorders including schizophrenia.

genetics↗

bioRxiv2018

The landscape of incident disease risk for the biomarker GlycA and its mortality stratification in angiography patients

Integration of systems-level biomolecular information with electronic health records has led to the discovery of robust blood-based biomarkers predictive of future health and disease. Of recent intense interest is the GlycA biomarker, a complex nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy signal reflective of acute and chronic inflammation, which predicts long term risk of diverse outcomes including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and all-cause mortality. To systematically explore the specificity of the disease burden indicated by GlycA we analysed the risk for 468 common incident hospitalization and mortality outcomes occurring during an 8-year follow-up of 11,861 adults from Finland. Our analyses of GlycA replicated known associations, identified associations with specific cardiovascular disease outcomes, and uncovered new associations with risk of alcoholic liver disease (meta-analysed hazard ratio 2.94 per 1-SD, P=5x10-6), chronic renal failure (HR=2.47, P=3x10-6), glomerular diseases (HR=1.95, P=1x10-6), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (HR=1.58, P=3x10-5), inflammatory polyarthropathies (HR=1.46, P=4x10-8), and hypertension (HR=1.21, P=5x10-5). We further evaluated GlycA as a biomarker in secondary prevention of 12-year cardiovascular mortality in 900 angiography patients with suspected coronary artery disease. We observed hazard ratios of 4.87 and 5.00 for 12-year mortality in angiography patients in the fourth and fifth quintiles by GlycA levels demonstrating the prognostic potential of GlycA for identification of high mortality-risk individuals. Both GlycA and C-reactive protein had shared as well as independent contributions to mortality hazard, emphasising the importance of chronic inflammation in secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease.

epidemiology↗

bioRxiv2018

Genome-wide association meta-analysis of PR interval identifies 47 novel loci associated with atrial and atrioventricular electrical activity

Electrocardiographic PR interval measures atrial and atrioventricular depolarization and conduction, and abnormal PR interval is a risk factor for atrial fibrillation and heart block. We performed a genome-wide association study in over 92,000 individuals of European descent and identified 44 loci associated with PR interval (34 novel). Examination of the 44 loci revealed known and novel biological processes involved in cardiac atrial electrical activity, and genes in these loci were highly over-represented in several cardiac disease processes. Nearly half of the 61 independent index variants in the 44 loci were associated with atrial or blood transcript expression levels, or were in high linkage disequilibrium with one or more missense variants. Cardiac regulatory regions of the genome as measured by cardiac DNA hypersensitivity sites were enriched for variants associated with PR interval, compared to non-cardiac regulatory regions. Joint analyses combining PR interval with heart rate, QRS interval, and atrial fibrillation identified additional new pleiotropic loci. The majority of associations discovered in European-descent populations were also present in African-American populations. Meta-analysis examining over 105,000 individuals of African and European descent identified additional novel PR loci. These additional analyses identified another 13 novel loci. Together, these findings underscore the power of GWAS to extend knowledge of the molecular underpinnings of clinical processes.

genetics↗