Genome Wide Meta-analysis Highlights the Role of Genetic Variation in RARRES2 in the Regulation of Circulating Serum Chemerin: e1004854

• Published in: PLoS genetics 2014-12, Vol.10 (12)
• Main Authors: Tönjes, Anke, Scholz, Markus, Breitfeld, Jana, Marzi, Carola, Grallert, Harald, Gross, Arnd, Ladenvall, Claes, Schleinitz, Dorit, Krause, Kerstin, Kirsten, Holger, Laurila, Esa, Kriebel, Jennifer, Thorand, Barbara, Rathmann, Wolfgang, Groop, Leif, Prokopenko, Inga, Isomaa, Bo, Beutner, Frank, Kratzsch, Jürgen, Thiery, Joachim, Fasshauer, Mathias, Klöting, Nora, Gieger, Christian, Blüher, Matthias, Stumvoll, Michael, Kovacs, Peter
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Councils; Diabetes; Education; Genes; Genomes; Grants; Interdisciplinary aspects; Meta-analysis; Obesity; Rodents; Studies
• ISSN: 1553-7390; 1553-7404
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1004854

Chemerin is an adipokine proposed to link obesity and chronic inflammation of adipose tissue. Genetic factors determining chemerin release from adipose tissue are yet unknown. We conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for serum chemerin in three independent cohorts from Europe: Sorbs and KORA from Germany and PPP-Botnia from Finland (total N = 2,791). In addition, we measured mRNA expression of genes within the associated loci in peripheral mononuclear cells by micro-arrays, and within adipose tissue by quantitative RT-PCR and performed mRNA expression quantitative trait and expression-chemerin association studies to functionally substantiate our loci. Heritability estimate of circulating chemerin levels was 16.2% in the Sorbs cohort. Thirty single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at chromosome 7 within the retinoic acid receptor responder 2 (RARRES2)/Leucine Rich Repeat Containing (LRRC61) locus reached genome-wide significance (p