Admixture, Genetics and Complex Diseases in Latin Americans and US Hispanics

AbstractPurpose of the ReviewWe review population and epidemiological genetics studies in Latin Americans and US Hispanics/Latinos, who are product of admixture between Europeans, Africans, and Native Americans.Recent FindingsAdmixture studies identified a Southeastern-Africa/Bantu ancestry component more prevalent in Brazil. Contrasting dynamics of Native American introgression into admixed populations were inferred:>  400 years ago in Brazil, where Native American populations were decimated afterwards, and concentrated on the last 300 years in Peru, a predominantly indigenous country. Associations have been reported between phenotypes and individual ancestry, including subcomponents of Native American ancest ry, such as gallbladder cancer with Chilean-Mapuche ancestry and lung function with a west-east component of Native American ancestry in Mexico. Individuals from Latin America are underrepresented in genome-wide association studies (GWAS), despite an important increase in their inclusion during the last quinquennium. GWAS and admixture mapping have found variants associated with anthropometric, cardiovascular, immunological, hematological, neurological, and endocrine-related traits/diseases, as well as cancer. In the interface between Mendelian diseases and ancestry, a GWAS identified Venezuel an-specific modifiers of Huntington’s disease onset. The mutational landscape of hereditary breast cancer has been better characterized. Moreover, next-generation sequenc...
Source: Current Genetic Medicine Reports - Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research