Pinchia Huang

Publications (4)6.35 Total impact

• Source

  Available from: PubMed Central

  Article: QTLs of factors of the metabolic syndrome and echocardiographic phenotypes: the hypertension genetic epidemiology network study.

  Aldi T Kraja, Pinchia Huang, Weihong Tang, Steven C Hunt, Kari E North, Cora E Lewis, Richard B Devereux, Giovanni de Simone, Donna K Arnett, Treva Rice, D C Rao
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  ABSTRACT: In a previous study of the Hypertension Genetic Epidemiology Network (HyperGEN) we have shown that metabolic syndrome (MetS) risk factors were moderately and significantly associated with echocardiographic (ECHO) left ventricular (LV) phenotypes. The study included 1,393 African Americans and 1,133 whites, stratified by type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) status. Heritabilities of seven factor scores based on the analysis of 15 traits were sufficiently high to pursue QTL discovery in this follow-up study. Three of the QTLs discovered relate to combined MetS-ECHO factors of "blood pressure (BP)-LV wall thickness" on chromosome 3 at 225 cM with a 2.8 LOD score, on chromosome 20 at 2.1 cM with a 2.6 LOD score; and for "LV wall thickness" factor on chromosome 16 at 113.5 with a 2.6 LOD score in whites. The remaining QTLs include one for a "body mass index-insulin (BMI-INS)" factor with a LOD score of 3.9 on chromosome 2 located at 64.8 cM; one for the same factor on chromosome 12 at 91.4 cM with a 3.3 LOD score; one for a "BP" factor on chromosome 19 located at 67.8 cM with a 3.0 LOD score. A suggestive linkage was also found for "Lipids-INS" with a 2.7 LOD score located on chromosome 11 at 113.1 cM in African Americans. Of the above QTLs, the one on chromosome 12 for "BMI-INS" is replicated in both ethnicities, (with highest LOD scores in African Americans). In addition, the QTL for "LV wall thickness" on chromosome 16q24.2-q24.3 reached its local maximum LOD score at marker D16S402, which is positioned within the 5th intron of the cadherin 13 gene, implicated in heart and vascular remodeling. Our previous study and this follow-up suggest gene loci for some crucial MetS and cardiac geometry risk factors that contribute to the risk of developing heart disease.
  BMC Medical Genetics 12/2008; 9:103. · 2.33 Impact Factor
• Source

  Available from: Treva Rice

  Article: Trends in metabolic syndrome and gene networks in human and rodent models.

  Aldi T Kraja, Michael A Province, Pinchia Huang, Joseph P Jarvis, Treva Rice, James M Cheverud, D C Rao
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  ABSTRACT: Metabolic syndrome (MetS) can be considered a pheno-physiological cluster of metabolically interrelated risk factors for diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease. MetS has emerged as a result of complex interactions among environmental stresses and MetS gene networks and their products. In this review we summarize trends in MetS definitions, their associated controversies and possibilities for their refinement. The National Cholesterol Education Program MetS definition with its improvements by the American Heart Association and NHLBI Conference has the potential to become the primary clinical definition of MetS. For the first time, by reviewing a large body of literature, we construct MetS gene networks in humans and in rodents. These MetS gene networks can serve as a budding platform to develop new hypotheses regarding the genetic mechanisms underlying MetS. We also extend the notion of MetS to mouse models. New and improved molecular genomics and proteomic tools have been developed in parallel with the MetS epidemic which in conjunction with improved and novel computational statistical methods have magnified the genetic resolution of MetS analyses. Our results justify the existence of MetS as a meaningful syndrome and suggest that a better understanding of its etiology can benefit the health of human kind.
  Endocrine Metabolic & Immune Disorders - Drug Targets(Formerly Current Drug Targets - Immune Endocrine & Metabolic Disorders) 10/2008; 8(3):198-207.
• Article: Factor relationships of metabolic syndrome and echocardiographic phenotypes in the HyperGEN study.

  Pinchia Huang, Aldi T Kraja, Weihong Tang, Steven C Hunt, Kari E North, Cora E Lewis, Richard B Devereux, Giovanni de Simone, Donna K Arnett, Treva Rice, Dabeeru C Rao
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  ABSTRACT: Metabolic syndrome and its risk factors are predictors of cardiovascular events. Metabolic syndrome is also directly associated with echocardiographic phenotypes. The current study is the first to investigate the factors associated with both metabolic syndrome risk factors and echocardiographic phenotypes and assess their heritability. Multivariate factor analysis was performed on 15 traits in 1393 African-Americans and 1133 whites, as well as stratified by type 2 diabetes mellitus status. Factor analysis with varimax rotation established four to five latent factors across ethnicities and diabetes mellitus stratifications. Among metabolic syndrome risk factors, blood pressure was the most highly correlated with cardiac traits. The factor domains, in the order of the proportion of variance explained, were 'left ventricle wall thickness', 'left ventricle geometry', 'blood pressure', 'BMI-insulin', and 'lipid-insulin'. Factor analysis without any rotation identified special (cross domain) metabolic syndrome-echocardiographic factors, 'blood pressure-left ventricle geometry' and 'blood pressure-left ventricle dimension-wall thickness' in whites. Fifty to 57% of the total original risk factor variance was explained by the latent factors. Heritability was highest for BMI-insulin (37-53%), lowest for 'blood pressure' factors (15-27%), and intermediate for metabolic syndrome-echocardiographic factors. These latent factors identified can be utilized as summary phenotypes in epidemiological, linkage, and association studies.
  Journal of Hypertension 08/2008; 26(7):1360-6. · 4.02 Impact Factor
• Article: QTLs of factors of the metabolic syndrome and echocardiographic phenotypes: the hypertension genetic epidemiology network study

  Aldi T Kraja, Pinchia Huang, Treva Rice, Dabeeru C Rao, et. al
  ICTS Faculty Publications.