PubMed ID: 33311586
Author(s): Yonova-Doing E, Zhao W, Igo RP Jr, Wang C, Sundaresan P, Lee KE, Jun GR, Alves AC, Chai X, Chan ASY, Lee MC, Fong A, Tan AG, Khor CC, Chew EY, Hysi PG, Fan Q, Chua J, Chung J, Liao J, Colijn JM, Burdon KP, Fritsche LG, Swift MK, Hilmy MH, Chee ML, Tedja M, Bonnemaijer PWM, Gupta P, Tan QS, Li Z, Vithana EN, Ravindran RD, Chee SP, Shi Y, Liu W, Su X, Sim X, Shen Y, Wang YX, Li H, Tham YC, Teo YY, Aung T, Small KS, Mitchell P, Jonas JB, Wong TY, Fletcher AE, Klaver CCW, Klein BEK, Wang JJ, Iyengar SK, Hammond CJ, Cheng CY. Common variants in SOX-2 and congenital cataract genes contribute to age-related nuclear cataract. Commun Biol. 2020 Dec 11;3(1):755. doi: 10.1038/s42003-020-01421-2. PMID 33311586
Journal: Communications Biology, Volume 3, Issue 1, Dec 2020
Nuclear cataract is the most common type of age-related cataract and a leading cause of blindness worldwide. Age-related nuclear cataract is heritable (h2 = 0.48), but little is known about specific genetic factors underlying this condition. Here we report findings from the largest to date multi-ethnic meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies (discovery cohort N = 14,151 and replication N = 5299) of the International Cataract Genetics Consortium. We confirmed the known genetic association of CRYAA (rs7278468, P = 2.8 × 10-16) with nuclear cataract and identified five new loci associated with this disease: SOX2-OT (rs9842371, P = 1.7 × 10-19), TMPRSS5 (rs4936279, P = 2.5 × 10-10), LINC01412 (rs16823886, P = 1.3 × 10-9), GLTSCR1 (rs1005911, P = 9.8 × 10-9), and COMMD1 (rs62149908, P = 1.2 × 10-8). The results suggest a strong link of age-related nuclear cataract with congenital cataract and eye development genes, and the importance of common genetic variants in maintaining crystalline lens integrity in the aging eye.