Genome-wide association studies for corneal and refractive astigmatism in UK Biobank demonstrate a shared role for myopia susceptibility loci

AbstractPrevious studies have suggested that naturally occurring genetic variation contributes to the risk of astigmatism. The purpose of this investigation was to identify genetic markers associated with corneal and refractive astigmatism in a large-scale European ancestry cohort (UK Biobank) who underwent keratometry and autorefraction at an assessment centre. Genome-wide association studies for corneal and refractive astigmatism were performed in individuals of European ancestry (N = 86,335 and 88,005 respectively), with the mean corneal astigmatism or refractive astigmatism in fellow eyes analysed as a quantitative trait (dependent variable). Genetic correlation between the two traits was calculated using LD Score regression. Gene-based and gene-set tests were carried ou t using MAGMA. Single marker-based association tests for corneal astigmatism identified four genome-wide significant loci (P <  5 × 10−8) near the genesZC3H11B (1q41),LINC00340 (6p22.3),HERC2/OCA2 (15q13.1) andNPLOC4/TSPAN10 (17q25.3). Three of these loci also demonstrated genome-wide significant association with refractive astigmatism:LINC00340, HERC2/OCA2 andNPLOC4/TSPAN10. The genetic correlation between corneal and refractive astigmatism was 0.85 (standard error  = 0.068,P = 1.37 × 10−35). Here, we have undertaken the largest genome-wide association studies for corneal and refractive astigmatism to date and identified four novel loci for corneal astigmatism, two of whi...
Source: Human Genetics - Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research