N J Cox

Publications (79)793.34 Total impact

• Article: The 1200 patients project: creating a new medical model system for clinical implementation of pharmacogenomics.

  P H O'Donnell, A Bush, J Spitz, K Danahey, D Saner, S Das, N J Cox, M J Ratain
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  ABSTRACT: The paradigm of individualized drug therapy based on genetics is an ideal that is now potentially possible. However, translation of pharmacogenomics into practice has encountered barriers such as limited availability and the high cost of genetic testing, the delays involved, disagreements about interpretation of results, and even lack of understanding about pharmacogenomics in general. We describe our institutional pharmacogenomics-implementation project, "The 1200 Patients Project," a model designed to overcome these barriers and facilitate the availability of pharmacogenomic information for personalized prescribing.
  Clinical Pharmacology &#38 Therapeutics 08/2012; 92(4):446-9. · 6.04 Impact Factor
• Article: Clinical translation of cell-based pharmacogenomic discovery.

  N J Cox, E R Gamazon, H E Wheeler, M E Dolan
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  ABSTRACT: The use of cell-based models has emerged as a promising means to discover and validate pharmacologic phenotype-genotype relationships. The availability of large-scale genome studies in both human and model systems is now allowing us an unprecedented opportunity to understand how well cell-based models identify clinically relevant genetic variants associated with drug response and toxicity. Here we review these studies and the emerging translational information.
  Clinical Pharmacology &#38 Therapeutics 08/2012; 92(4):425-7. · 6.04 Impact Factor
• Article: Enrichment of cis-regulatory gene expression SNPs and methylation quantitative trait loci among bipolar disorder susceptibility variants.

  E R Gamazon, J A Badner, L Cheng, C Zhang, D Zhang, N J Cox, E S Gershon, J R Kelsoe, T A Greenwood, C M Nievergelt, [......], J B Potash, P P Zandi, P B Mahon, M G McInnis, S Zöllner, P Zhang, D W Craig, S Szelinger, T B Barrett, C Liu
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  ABSTRACT: We conducted a systematic study of top susceptibility variants from a genome-wide association (GWA) study of bipolar disorder to gain insight into the functional consequences of genetic variation influencing disease risk. We report here the results of experiments to explore the effects of these susceptibility variants on DNA methylation and mRNA expression in human cerebellum samples. Among the top susceptibility variants, we identified an enrichment of cis regulatory loci on mRNA expression (eQTLs), and a significant excess of quantitative trait loci for DNA CpG methylation, hereafter referred to as methylation quantitative trait loci (mQTLs). Bipolar disorder susceptibility variants that cis regulate both cerebellar expression and methylation of the same gene are a very small proportion of bipolar disorder susceptibility variants. This finding suggests that mQTLs and eQTLs provide orthogonal ways of functionally annotating genetic variation within the context of studies of pathophysiology in brain. No lymphocyte mQTL enrichment was found, suggesting that mQTL enrichment was specific to the cerebellum, in contrast to eQTLs. Separately, we found that using mQTL information to restrict the number of single-nucleotide polymorphisms studied enhances our ability to detect a significant association. With this restriction a priori informed by the observed functional enrichment, we identified a significant association (rs12618769, P(bonferroni)<0.05) from two other GWA studies (TGen+GAIN; 2191 cases and 1434 controls) of bipolar disorder, which we replicated in an independent GWA study (WTCCC). Collectively, our findings highlight the importance of integrating functional annotation of genetic variants for gene expression and DNA methylation to advance the biological understanding of bipolar disorder.Molecular Psychiatry advance online publication, 3 January 2012; doi:10.1038/mp.2011.174.
  Molecular psychiatry 01/2012; · 15.05 Impact Factor
• Article: Identification of novel germline polymorphisms governing capecitabine sensitivity

  P. H. O'Donnell, A. L. Stark, E. R. Gamazon, H. E. Wheeler, B. E. McIlwee, L. K. Gorsic, H. K. Im, R. S. Huang, N. J. Cox, M. E. Dolan
  Cancer 01/2012; doi: 10.1002/cncr.26737. · 4.77 Impact Factor
• Article: Genome-wide meta-analysis identifies variants associated with platinating agent susceptibility across populations.

  H E Wheeler, E R Gamazon, A L Stark, P H O'Donnell, L K Gorsic, R S Huang, N J Cox, M E Dolan
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  ABSTRACT: Platinating agents are used in the treatment of many cancers, yet they can induce toxicities and resistance that limit their utility. Using previously published and additional world population panels of diverse ancestry totaling 608 lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs), we performed meta-analyses of over 3 million single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for both carboplatin- and cisplatin-induced cytotoxicity. The most significant SNP in the carboplatin meta-analysis is located in an intron of NBAS (neuroblastoma amplified sequence; P=5.1 × 10(-7)). The most significant SNP in the cisplatin meta-analysis is upstream of KRT16P2 (P=5.8 × 10(-7)). We also show that cisplatin-susceptibility SNPs are enriched for carboplatin-susceptibility SNPs. Most of the variants that associate with platinum-induced cytotoxicity are polymorphic across multiple world populations; therefore, they could be tested in follow-up studies in diverse clinical populations. Seven genes previously implicated in platinating agent response, including BCL2 (B-cell CLL/lymphoma 2), GSTM1 (glutathione S-transferase mu 1), GSTT1, ERCC2 and ERCC6, were also implicated in our meta-analyses.The Pharmacogenomics Journal advance online publication, 16 August 2011; doi:10.1038/tpj.2011.38.
  The Pharmacogenomics Journal 08/2011; · 4.54 Impact Factor
• Source

  Available from: Esteban Parra

  Article: Genome-wide association and meta-analysis in populations from Starr County, Texas, and Mexico City identify type 2 diabetes susceptibility loci and enrichment for expression quantitative trait loci in top signals.

  J E Below, E R Gamazon, J V Morrison, A Konkashbaev, A Pluzhnikov, P M McKeigue, E J Parra, S C Elbein, D M Hallman, D L Nicolae, G I Bell, M Cruz, N J Cox, C L Hanis
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  ABSTRACT: We conducted genome-wide association studies (GWASs) and expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) analyses to identify and characterise risk loci for type 2 diabetes in Mexican-Americans from Starr County, TX, USA. Using 1.8 million directly interrogated and imputed genotypes in 837 unrelated type 2 diabetes cases and 436 normoglycaemic controls, we conducted Armitage trend tests. To improve power in this population with high disease rates, we also performed ordinal regression including an intermediate class with impaired fasting glucose and/or glucose tolerance. These analyses were followed by meta-analysis with a study of 967 type 2 diabetes cases and 343 normoglycaemic controls from Mexico City, Mexico. The top signals (unadjusted p value <1 × 10(-5)) included 49 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in eight gene regions (PER3, PARD3B, EPHA4, TOMM7, PTPRD, HNT [also known as RREB1], LOC729993 and IL34) and six intergenic regions. Among these was a missense polymorphism (rs10462020; Gly639Val) in the clock gene PER3, a system recently implicated in diabetes. We also report a second signal (minimum p value 1.52 × 10(-6)) within PTPRD, independent of the previously implicated SNP, in a population of Han Chinese. Top meta-analysis signals included known regions HNF1A and KCNQ1. Annotation of top association signals in both studies revealed a marked excess of trans-acting eQTL in both adipose and muscle tissues. In the largest study of type 2 diabetes in Mexican populations to date, we identified modest associations of novel and previously reported SNPs. In addition, in our top signals we report significant excess of SNPs that predict transcript levels in muscle and adipose tissues.
  Diabetologia 06/2011; 54(8):2047-55. · 6.81 Impact Factor
• Source

  Available from: Jaime Garcia-Mena

  Article: Genome-wide association study of type 2 diabetes in a sample from Mexico City and a meta-analysis of a Mexican-American sample from Starr County, Texas.

  E J Parra, J E Below, S Krithika, A Valladares, J L Barta, N J Cox, C L Hanis, N Wacher, J Garcia-Mena, P Hu, M D Shriver, J Kumate, P M McKeigue, J Escobedo, M Cruz
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  ABSTRACT: We report a genome-wide association study of type 2 diabetes in an admixed sample from Mexico City and describe the results of a meta-analysis of this study and another genome-wide scan in a Mexican-American sample from Starr County, TX, USA. The top signals observed in this meta-analysis were followed up in the Diabetes Genetics Replication and Meta-analysis Consortium (DIAGRAM) and DIAGRAM+ datasets. We analysed 967 cases and 343 normoglycaemic controls. The samples were genotyped with the Affymetrix Genome-wide Human SNP array 5.0. Associations of genotyped and imputed markers with type 2 diabetes were tested using a missing data likelihood score test. A fixed-effects meta-analysis including 1,804 cases and 780 normoglycaemic controls was carried out by weighting the effect estimates by their inverse variances. In the meta-analysis of the two Hispanic studies, markers showing suggestive associations (p < 10(-5)) were identified in two known diabetes genes, HNF1A and KCNQ1, as well as in several additional regions. Meta-analysis of the two Hispanic studies and the recent DIAGRAM+ dataset identified genome-wide significant signals (p < 5 × 10(-8)) within or near the genes HNF1A and CDKN2A/CDKN2B, as well as suggestive associations in three additional regions, IGF2BP2, KCNQ1 and the previously unreported C14orf70. We observed numerous regions with suggestive associations with type 2 diabetes. Some of these signals correspond to regions described in previous studies. However, many of these regions could not be replicated in the DIAGRAM datasets. It is critical to carry out additional studies in Hispanic and American Indian populations, which have a high prevalence of type 2 diabetes.
  Diabetologia 05/2011; 54(8):2038-46. · 6.81 Impact Factor
• Article: The missing association: sequencing-based discovery of novel SNPs in VKORC1 and CYP2C9 that affect warfarin dose in African Americans.

  M A Perera, E Gamazon, L H Cavallari, S R Patel, S Poindexter, R A Kittles, D Nicolae, N J Cox
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  ABSTRACT: It is well recognized that the genetic variants VKORC1-1639, CYP2C9*2, and CYP2C9*3 contribute to warfarin dose response. This has led to warfarin dosing algorithms that include these polymorphisms and explains between 47% and 56% of variability in dose in Caucasians. However, these polymorphisms explain significantly less of the variance in dose among African Americans. In order to identify novel variations that affect warfarin dose in African Americans, we used a targeted resequencing strategy that examined evolutionarily conserved sequences and regions of putative transcriptional binding. Through ethnicity-specific warfarin dose model building in 330 African Americans, we identified two novel genetic associations with higher warfarin dose, namely, VKORC1-8191 (rs61162043, P = 0.0041) and 18786 in CYP2C9 (rs7089580, P = 0.035). These novel finds are independent of the previous associations with these genes. Our regression model, encompassing both genetic and clinical variables, explained 40% of the variability in warfarin dose in African-American subjects, significantly more than any model thus far.
  Clinical Pharmacology &#38 Therapeutics 03/2011; 89(3):408-15. · 6.04 Impact Factor
• Article: Maternal transmission of a rare GABRB3 signal peptide variant is associated with autism.

  R J Delahanty, J Q Kang, C W Brune, E O Kistner, E Courchesne, N J Cox, E H Cook, R L Macdonald, J S Sutcliffe
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  ABSTRACT: Maternal 15q11-q13 duplication is the most common copy number variant in autism, accounting for ∼1-3% of cases. The 15q11-q13 region is subject to epigenetic regulation, and genomic copy number losses and gains cause genomic disorders in a parent-of-origin-specific manner. One 15q11-q13 locus encodes the GABA(A) receptor β3 subunit gene (GABRB3), which has been implicated by several studies in both autism and absence epilepsy, and the co-morbidity of epilepsy in autism is well established. We report that maternal transmission of a GABRB3 signal peptide variant (P11S), previously implicated in childhood absence epilepsy, is associated with autism. An analysis of wild-type and mutant β3 subunit-containing α1β3γ2 or α3β3γ2 GABA(A) receptors shows reduced whole-cell current and decreased β3 subunit protein on the cell surface due to impaired intracellular β3 subunit processing. We thus provide the first evidence of an association between a specific GABA(A) receptor defect and autism, direct evidence that this defect causes synaptic dysfunction that is autism relevant and the first maternal risk effect in the 15q11-q13 autism duplication region that is linked to a coding variant.
  Molecular psychiatry 11/2009; 16(1):86-96. · 15.05 Impact Factor
• Article: Interaction of prenatal exposure to cigarettes and MAOA genotype in pathways to youth antisocial behavior.

  L S Wakschlag, E O Kistner, D S Pine, G Biesecker, K E Pickett, A D Skol, V Dukic, R J R Blair, B L Leventhal, N J Cox, J L Burns, K E Kasza, R J Wright, E H Cook
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  ABSTRACT: Genetic susceptibility to antisocial behavior may increase fetal sensitivity to prenatal exposure to cigarette smoke. Testing putative gene x exposure mechanisms requires precise measurement of exposure and outcomes. We tested whether a functional polymorphism in the gene encoding the enzyme monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) interacts with exposure to predict pathways to adolescent antisocial behavior. We assessed both clinical and information-processing outcomes. One hundred seventy-six adolescents and their mothers participated in a follow-up of a pregnancy cohort with well-characterized exposure. A sex-specific pattern of gene x exposure interaction was detected. Exposed boys with the low-activity MAOA 5' uVNTR (untranslated region variable number of tandem repeats) genotype were at increased risk for conduct disorder (CD) symptoms. In contrast, exposed girls with the high-activity MAOA uVNTR genotype were at increased risk for both CD symptoms and hostile attribution bias on a face-processing task. There was no evidence of a gene-environment correlation (rGE). Findings suggest that the MAOA uVNTR genotype, prenatal exposure to cigarettes and sex interact to predict antisocial behavior and related information-processing patterns. Future research to replicate and extend these findings should focus on elucidating how gene x exposure interactions may shape behavior through associated changes in brain function.
  Molecular psychiatry 04/2009; 15(9):928-37. · 15.05 Impact Factor
• Article: Prediction of CYP3A4 enzyme activity using haplotype tag SNPs in African Americans.

  M A Perera, R K Thirumaran, N J Cox, S Hanauer, S Das, C Brimer-Cline, V Lamba, E G Schuetz, M J Ratain, A Di Rienzo
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  ABSTRACT: The CYP3A locus encodes hepatic enzymes that metabolize many clinically used drugs. However, there is marked interindividual variability in enzyme expression and clearance of drugs metabolized by these enzymes. We utilized comparative genomics and computational prediction of transcriptional factor binding sites to evaluate regions within CYP3A that were most likely to contribute to this variation. We then used a haplotype tagging single-nucleotide polymorphisms (htSNPs) approach to evaluate the entire locus with the fewest number of maximally informative SNPs. We investigated the association between these htSNPs and in vivo CYP3A enzyme activity using a single-point IV midazolam clearance assay. We found associations between the midazolam phenotype and age, diagnosis of hypertension and one htSNP (141689) located upstream of CYP3A4. 141689 lies near the xenobiotic responsive enhancer module (XREM) regulatory region of CYP3A4. Cell-based studies show increased transcriptional activation with the minor allele at 141689, in agreement with the in vivo association study findings. This study marks the first systematic evaluation of coding and noncoding variation that may contribute to CYP3A phenotypic variability.
  The Pharmacogenomics Journal 10/2008; 9(1):49-60. · 4.54 Impact Factor
• Article: A German genome-wide linkage scan for type 2 diabetes supports the existence of a metabolic syndrome locus on chromosome 1p36.13 and a type 2 diabetes locus on chromosome 16p12.2.

  K Hoffmann, M Mattheisen, S Dahm, P Nürnberg, C Roe, J Johnson, N J Cox, H E Wichmann, T F Wienker, J Schulze, P E Schwarz, T H Lindner
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  ABSTRACT: The aim was to identify type 2 diabetes susceptibility regions in 250 German families. We conducted a genome-wide linkage scan using 439 short tandem repeat polymorphisms at an average resolution of 7.76 +/- 3.80 cM (Marshfield). In an affected-only-design (affected sib pairs), we performed nonparametric multipoint linkage analyses. Conditional analyses were applied where linkage signals were found in the baseline analyses. We identified two loci with nominal evidence for linkage on chromosomes 1p36.13 and 16p12.2 (D1S3669, 37.05 cM, logarithmic odds ratio [LOD] = 1.49, p = 0.004; D16S403, 43.89 cM, LOD = 1.85, p = 0.002). D16S403 crossed the empirically obtained threshold of genome-wide suggestive significance of LOD = 1.51. Positive findings in those regions have been reported by the following other linkage studies on: (1) symptomatic/clinical gall bladder disease with type 2 diabetes in Mexican Americans from the San Antonio Family Diabetes/Gallbladder Study (LOD = 3.7, D1S1597-D1S407, 29.93-33.75 cM); (2) body size-adiposity in another Mexican American population (D1S1597, LOD = 2.53, 29.93 cM); (3) lipid abnormalities (LOD = 3.1, D1S2826-D1S513, 41.92-60.01 cM); and (4) hypertension in Australian sib pairs (LOD = 3.1, D1S2834-D1S2728, 31.02-33.75 cM); as well as (5) a meta-analysis of four European type 2 diabetes-related genome scans (LOD = 1.09, D16S412, 42.81 cM). In linkage analyses conditional on evidence for linkage at D16S403 we identified a LOD increase (Delta LOD) of 1.55 (p = 0.0075) at D17S2180. Similar conditioning on D17S2180 revealed evidence for interaction with D1S3669 (Delta LOD = 1.67, p = 0.0055), D16S403 (Delta LOD = 1.48, p = 0.0091) and another locus on chromosome 1 where several genome scans have reported evidence for linkage ( approximately 200 cM, Delta LOD = 1.60, p = 0.0066). Our results and the findings of other studies are consistent with the presence of a locus for a complex metabolic syndrome on chromosome 1p36.13.
  Diabetologia 08/2007; 50(7):1418-22. · 6.81 Impact Factor
• Article: The linkage and association of the gene encoding upstream stimulatory factor 1 with type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome in the Chinese population.

  M C Y Ng, K Miyake, W Y So, E W M Poon, V K L Lam, J K Y Li, N J Cox, G I Bell, J C N Chan
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  ABSTRACT: The transcription factor upstream stimulatory factor 1 (USF1) regulates the expression of genes involved in glucose and lipid metabolism and has been associated with familial combined hyperlipidaemia. USF1 is located on chromosome 1q22-23, a region with evidence for linkage to type 2 diabetes and various traits of the metabolic syndrome in Chinese and other populations. The aim of this study was to investigate the linkage and association of USF1 with type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome in Chinese individuals. We genotyped three haplotype-tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (rs3737787, rs2516841 and rs2516839) at USF1 in three samples of the Hong Kong Chinese population, including members of 179 families from the Hong Kong Family Diabetes Study, 1,383 hospital cases with type 2 diabetes and/or the metabolic syndrome and 454 normal control subjects. We found significant association of individual polymorphisms and haplotypes with type 2 diabetes and/or metabolic syndrome-related traits in the family samples using either family-based or unrelated normal control subjects. However, these variants could not explain much of the evidence for linkage in this region. Moreover, they were not associated with type 2 diabetes and/or the metabolic syndrome in the hospital cases. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that variation at USF1 contributes to the risk of type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome in families with strong evidence for linkage in the chromosome 1q region. However, they provide little support for USF1 as the susceptibility locus that generates the observed evidence for linkage at 1q21-25 for type 2 diabetes and/or the metabolic syndrome, and USF1 does not appear to have a major contribution to these phenotypes in the general Chinese population.
  Diabetologia 11/2005; 48(10):2018-24. · 6.81 Impact Factor
• Article: Findings in an independent sample support an association between bipolar affective disorder and the G72/G30 locus on chromosome 13q33.

  Y-S Chen, N Akula, S D Detera-Wadleigh, T G Schulze, J Thomas, J B Potash, J R DePaulo, M G McInnis, N J Cox, F J McMahon
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  ABSTRACT: Markers near the nested genes G72 and G30 on chromosome 13q33 have been implicated in the etiology of schizophrenia and, recently, bipolar affective disorder (BPAD). Hattori et al (2003) reported that single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) near the G72/G30 locus were associated with BPAD in a sample of 22 pedigrees, and that SNP haplotypes were associated in a second, larger sample of triads. The present study attempts to replicate this finding in an independent case-control sample. Six SNPs near the G72/G30 locus, including the most strongly associated markers in the previous study, were tested in 139 cases and 113 ethnically matched controls. Significant association was detected between BPAD and two adjacent SNPs (smallest P=0.007; global P=0.024). Haplotype analysis produced additional support for association (smallest P=0.004; global P=0.004). Analysis of 31 unlinked microsatellite markers detected no population stratification in the cases or controls studied. Although the associated alleles and haplotypes differ from those previously reported, these new results provide further evidence, in an independent sample, for an association between BPAD and genetic variation in the vicinity of the genes G72 and G30.
  Molecular Psychiatry 02/2004; 9(1):87-92; image 5. · 13.67 Impact Factor
• Article: Computational issues in mapping variation affecting susceptibility to complex disorders: the chicken and the egg.

  N J Cox
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  ABSTRACT: Linkage mapping strategies for complex disorders have evolved under a variety of constraints. Some of these constraints reflect the nature of complex disorders and are manifest in limitations on the kinds of data that can be collected, while others were (at least historically) strictly computational. This paper focuses on how computational issues have impacted the design of studies on complex disorders and, conversely, how our study designs have influenced the computational issues that have been addressed. We now have unprecedented computational resources, but also face unprecedented computational and methodological challenges as we move from the linkage mapping of genes influencing susceptibility to complex disorders toward the identification of the actual variation affecting susceptibility to these disorders. The near-term computational and methodological issues we must address will be profoundly influenced by the study designs of the recent past. But future study designs, as well as our investments in computational and methodological research, ought to be developed considering the computational and informatics resources we now have at hand.
  Theoretical Population Biology 12/2001; 60(3):221-5. · 1.65 Impact Factor
• Source

  Available from: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

  Article: The importance of genealogy in determining genetic associations with complex traits.

  D L Newman, M Abney, M S McPeek, C Ober, N J Cox
  The American Journal of Human Genetics 12/2001; 69(5):1146-8. · 10.60 Impact Factor
• Article: Challenges in identifying genetic variation affecting susceptibility to type 2 diabetes: examples from studies of the calpain-10 gene.

  N J Cox
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  ABSTRACT: Type 2 diabetes is a classic example of a complex disorder. It is strongly familial, but clearly arises as a consequence of the actions and interactions of many genetic and non-genetic factors. Type 2 diabetes is a common disorder, affecting 16 million Americans. It has a major impact on public health expenditures with more than 1 in 10 health care dollars spent on treating diabetes and its complications. Although a variety of therapies can be useful in treatment of type 2 diabetes, we remain sufficiently ignorant of the genetic risk factors to believe that identifying them will lead to better understanding of the primary physiology of the disorder, as well as to more specific and effective therapies. Moreover, identification of genetic risk factors may improve our ability to characterize more specific non-genetic risk factors for this disease that could be the targets for cost-effective prevention strategies. This manuscript reviews the challenges we face in moving from the linkage mapping of susceptibility genes for type 2 diabetes toward the identification of the genetic variation that actually affects risk to this disorder. I illustrate many of the challenges in designing, conducting and interpreting these studies by reviewing recent research conducted on the calpain-10 gene, implicated in positional cloning studies as a candidate gene for type 2 diabetes.
  Human Molecular Genetics 11/2001; 10(20):2301-5. · 7.64 Impact Factor
• Article: Seven regions of the genome show evidence of linkage to type 1 diabetes in a consensus analysis of 767 multiplex families.

  N J Cox, B Wapelhorst, V A Morrison, L Johnson, L Pinchuk, R S Spielman, J A Todd, P Concannon
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  ABSTRACT: Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a genetically complex disorder of glucose homeostasis that results from the autoimmune destruction of the insulin-secreting cells of the pancreas. Two previous whole-genome scans for linkage to T1D in 187 and 356 families containing affected sib pairs (ASPs) yielded apparently conflicting results, despite partial overlap in the families analyzed. However, each of these studies individually lacked power to detect loci with locus-specific disease prevalence/sib-risk ratios (lambda(s)) <1.4. In the present study, a third genome scan was performed using a new collection of 225 multiplex families with T1D, and the data from all three of these genome scans were merged and analyzed jointly. The combined sample of 831 ASPs, all with both parents genotyped, provided 90% power to detect linkage for loci with lambda(s) = 1.3 at P=7.4x10(-4). Three chromosome regions were identified that showed significant evidence of linkage (P<2.2x10(-5); LOD scores >4), 6p21 (IDDM1), 11p15 (IDDM2), 16q22-q24, and four more that showed suggestive evidence (P<7.4x10(-4), LOD scores > or =2.2), 10p11 (IDDM10), 2q31 (IDDM7, IDDM12, and IDDM13), 6q21 (IDDM15), and 1q42. Exploratory analyses, taking into account the presence of specific high-risk HLA genotypes or affected sibs' ages at disease onset, provided evidence of linkage at several additional sites, including the putative IDDM8 locus on chromosome 6q27. Our results indicate that much of the difficulty in mapping T1D susceptibility genes results from inadequate sample sizes, and the results point to the value of future international collaborations to assemble and analyze much larger data sets for linkage in complex diseases.
  The American Journal of Human Genetics 10/2001; 69(4):820-30. · 10.60 Impact Factor
• Article: Calpains play a role in insulin secretion and action.

  S K Sreenan, Y P Zhou, K Otani, P A Hansen, K P Currie, C Y Pan, J P Lee, D M Ostrega, W Pugh, Y Horikawa, N J Cox, C L Hanis, C F Burant, A P Fox, G I Bell, K S Polonsky
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  ABSTRACT: Studies of the genetic basis of type 2 diabetes suggest that variation in the calpain-10 gene affects susceptibility to this common disorder, raising the possibility that calpain-sensitive pathways may play a role in regulating insulin secretion and/or action. Calpains are ubiquitously expressed cysteine proteases that are thought to regulate a variety of normal cellular functions. Here, we report that short-term (4-h) exposure to the cell-permeable calpain inhibitors calpain inhibitor II and E-64-d increases the insulin secretory response to glucose in mouse pancreatic islets. This dose-dependent effect is observed at glucose concentrations above 8 mmol/l. This effect was also seen with other calpain inhibitors with different mechanisms of action but not with cathepsin inhibitors or other protease inhibitors. Enhancement of insulin secretion with short-term exposure to calpain inhibitors is not mediated by increased responses in intracellular Ca2+ or increased glucose metabolism in islets but by accelerated exocytosis of insulin granules. In muscle strips and adipocytes, exposure to both calpain inhibitor II and E-64-d reduced insulin-mediated glucose transport. Incorporation of glucose into glycogen in muscle also was reduced. These results are consistent with a role for calpains in the regulation of insulin secretion and insulin action.
  Diabetes 10/2001; 50(9):2013-20. · 8.29 Impact Factor
• Article: Studies of association between the gene for calpain-10 and type 2 diabetes mellitus in the United Kingdom.

  J C Evans, T M Frayling, P G Cassell, P J Saker, G A Hitman, M Walker, J C Levy, S O'Rahilly, P V Rao, A J Bennett, [......], C Fletcher, A Millward, A Demaine, T Wilkin, Y Horikawa, N J Cox, G I Bell, S Ellard, M I McCarthy, A T Hattersley
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  ABSTRACT: Variation in CAPN10, the gene encoding the ubiquitously expressed cysteine protease calpain-10, has been associated with type 2 diabetes in Mexican Americans and in two northern-European populations, from Finland and Germany. We have studied CAPN10 in white subjects of British/Irish ancestry, using both family-based and case-control studies. In 743 sib pairs, there was no evidence of linkage at the CAPN10 locus, which thereby excluded it as a diabetes-susceptibility gene, with an overall sib recurrence risk, lambda(S), of 1.25. We examined four single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP-44, -43, -19, and -63) previously either associated with type 2 diabetes or implicated in transcriptional regulation of calpain-10 expression. We did not find any association between SNP-43, -19, and -63, either individually or as part of the previously described risk haplotypes. We did, however, observe significantly increased (P=.033) transmission of the less common C allele at SNP-44, to affected offspring in parents-offspring trios (odds ratio 1.6). An independent U.K. case-control study and a small discordant-sib study did not show significant association individually. In a combined analysis of all U.K. studies (P=.015) and in combination with a Mexican American study (P=.004), the C allele at SNP-44 is associated with type 2 diabetes. Sequencing of the coding region of CAPN10 in a group of U.K. subjects revealed four coding polymorphisms-L34V, T504A, R555C, and V666I. The T504A polymorphism was in perfect linkage disequilibrium with the diabetes-associated C allele at SNP-44, suggesting that the synthesis of a mutant protein and/or altered transcriptional regulation could contribute to diabetes risk. In conclusion, we were not able to replicate the association of the specific calpain-10 alleles identified by Horikawa et al. but suggest that other alleles at this locus may increase type 2 diabetes risk in the U.K. population.
  The American Journal of Human Genetics 10/2001; 69(3):544-52. · 10.60 Impact Factor