Developmental stuttering is a highly heritable, common speech condition characterized by prolongations, blocks and repetitions of speech. Although stuttering is highly heritable and enriched within families, the genetic architecture is largely understudied. We reasoned that there are both shared and distinct genetic variants impacting stuttering risk within sex and ancestry groups.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNat Commun
July 2025
Incorporating pharmacogenetics into clinical practice promises to improve therapeutic outcomes by optimizing drug selection and dosage based on genetic factors affecting drug response. A key advantage of PGx-guided therapy is to decrease the likelihood of adverse events. To evaluate the clinical impact of PGx risk variants, we performed a retrospective study using genetic and clinical data from the largest Han Chinese cohort, comprising 486,956 individuals, assembled by the Taiwan Precision Medicine Initiative.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFmedRxiv
June 2025
Background: Severe obesity (SevO; BMI ≥40 kg/m) is rapidly increasing globally and disproportionately affects minority populations. However, it remains understudied in mechanistic and omics literature. Lipid metabolism plays a central role in obesity-related cardiometabolic disease (CMD), but the relationship between molecular lipid species and SevO is poorly understood, particularly in high-risk groups.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFContext: Efforts to characterize the shared molecular risk factors that contribute to obesity and the downstream disease sequelae it triggers have been limited.
Objective: We aimed to identify functional genes with evidence for both causal and consequential effects on obesity related traits and their downstream sequalae using integrated genomic and proteomic data.
Methods: We investigated the association of obesity related traits with 2,912 plasma proteins in 259 individuals from the Cameron County Hispanic Cohort (CCHC) with validation of results in ∼45,000 participants from UK Biobank (UKBB).
J Thromb Haemost
August 2025
Background: von Willebrand disease (VWD) is a common inherited bleeding disorder caused by low levels or activity of circulating von Willebrand factor (VWF). Genetic susceptibility to VWF antigen (VWF:Ag) below normal (≤ 50 IU/dL) in the general population is underexplored.
Objectives: To identify genetic variants influencing VWF:Ag levels ≤ 50 IU/dL.
Here, we present a multi-omics study of type 2 diabetes and quantitative blood lipid and lipoprotein traits conducted to date in Hispanic/Latino populations (n = 63,184). We conduct a meta-analysis of 16 type 2 diabetes and 19 lipid trait GWAS, identifying 20 genome-wide significant loci for type 2 diabetes, including one novel locus and novel signals at two known loci, based on fine-mapping. We also identify sixty-one genome-wide significant loci across the lipid/lipoprotein traits, including nine novel loci, and novel signals at 19 known loci through fine-mapping.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMol Psychiatry
August 2025
Although both short and long sleep duration are associated with elevated hypertension risk, our understanding of their interplay with biological pathways governing blood pressure remains limited. To address this, we carried out genome-wide cross-population gene-by-short-sleep and long-sleep duration interaction analyses for three blood pressure traits (systolic, diastolic, and pulse pressure) in 811,405 individuals from diverse population groups. We discovered 22 novel gene-sleep duration interaction loci for blood pressure, mapped to 23 genes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPolygenic severe obesity (body mass index [BMI] ≥40 kg/m) has increased, especially in Hispanic/Latino populations, yet we know little about the underlying mechanistic pathways. We analyzed whole-blood multiomics data to identify genes differentially regulated in severe obesity in Mexican Americans from the Cameron County Hispanic Cohort. Our RNA sequencing analysis identified 124 genes significantly differentially expressed between severe obesity cases (BMI ≥40 kg/m) and controls (BMI <25 kg/m); 33% replicated in an independent sample from the same population.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOver the past 30 years, obesity prevalence has markedly increased globally, including among children. Although genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified over 1,000 genetic loci associated with obesity-related traits in adults, the genetic architecture of childhood obesity is less well characterized. Moreover, most childhood obesity GWASs have been restricted to severely obese children, in relatively small sample sizes, and in primarily European-ancestry populations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFmedRxiv
September 2024
Although both short and long sleep duration are associated with elevated hypertension risk, our understanding of their interplay with biological pathways governing blood pressure remains limited. To address this, we carried out genome-wide cross-population gene-by-short-sleep and long-sleep duration interaction analyses for three blood pressure traits (systolic, diastolic, and pulse pressure) in 811,405 individuals from diverse population groups. We discover 22 novel gene-sleep duration interaction loci for blood pressure, mapped to 23 genes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGenome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous body mass index (BMI) loci. However, most underlying mechanisms from risk locus to BMI remain unknown. Leveraging omics data through integrative analyses could provide more comprehensive views of biological pathways on BMI.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFmedRxiv
March 2024
Although both short and long sleep duration are associated with elevated hypertension risk, our understanding of their interplay with biological pathways governing blood pressure remains limited. To address this, we carried out genome-wide cross-population gene-by-short-sleep and long-sleep duration interaction analyses for three blood pressure traits (systolic, diastolic, and pulse pressure) in 811,405 individuals from diverse population groups. We discover 22 novel gene-sleep duration interaction loci for blood pressure, mapped to genes involved in neurological, thyroidal, bone metabolism, and hematopoietic pathways.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Angelica L. sensu lato is a taxonomically complex genus, and many studies have utilized morphological and molecular features to resolve its classification issues. In Taiwan, there are six taxa within Angelica, and their taxonomic treatments have been a subject of controversy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFType 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D), a major cause of worldwide morbidity and mortality, is characterized by dysfunction of insulin-producing pancreatic islet β cells. T2D genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified hundreds of signals in non-coding and β cell regulatory genomic regions, but deciphering their biological mechanisms remains challenging. Here, to identify early disease-driving events, we performed traditional and multiplexed pancreatic tissue imaging, sorted-islet cell transcriptomics and islet functional analysis of early-stage T2D and control donors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRare genetic diseases are typically studied in referral populations, resulting in underdiagnosis and biased assessment of penetrance and phenotype. To address this, we developed a generalizable method of genotype inference based on distant relatedness and deployed this to identify undiagnosed Type 5 Long QT Syndrome (LQT5) rare variant carriers in a non-referral population. We identified 9 LQT5 families referred to a single specialty clinic, each carrying p.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImportance: The diagnosis and study of rare genetic disease is often limited to referral populations, leading to underdiagnosis and a biased assessment of penetrance and phenotype.
Objective: To develop a generalizable method of genotype inference based on distant relatedness and to deploy this to identify undiagnosed Type 5 Long QT Syndrome (LQT5) rare variant carriers in a non-referral population.
Participants: We identified 9 LQT5 probands and 3 first-degree relatives referred to a single Genetic Arrhythmia clinic, each carrying D76N (p.
Summary: Genomic data are often processed in batches and analyzed together to save time. However, it is challenging to combine multiple large VCFs and properly handle imputation quality and missing variants due to the limitations of available tools. To address these concerns, we developed IMMerge, a Python-based tool that takes advantage of multiprocessing to reduce running time.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHGG Adv
January 2023
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View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Concurrent variation in adiposity and inflammation suggests potential shared functional pathways and pleiotropic disease underpinning. Yet, exploration of pleiotropy in the context of adiposity-inflammation has been scarce, and none has included self-identified Hispanic/Latino populations. Given the high level of ancestral diversity in Hispanic American population, genetic studies may reveal variants that are infrequent/monomorphic in more homogeneous populations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHGG Adv
April 2022
Hispanic/Latinos have been underrepresented in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for anthropometric traits despite their notable anthropometric variability, ancestry proportions, and high burden of growth stunting and overweight/obesity. To address this knowledge gap, we analyzed densely imputed genetic data in a sample of Hispanic/Latino adults to identify and fine-map genetic variants associated with body mass index (BMI), height, and BMI-adjusted waist-to-hip ratio (WHRadjBMI). We conducted a GWAS of 18 studies/consortia as part of the Hispanic/Latino Anthropometry (HISLA) Consortium (stage 1, n = 59,771) and generalized our findings in 9 additional studies (stage 2, n = 10,538).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCharacterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/'proxy' AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFType 2 diabetes is a complex, systemic disease affected by both genetic and environmental factors. Previous research has identified genetic variants associated with type 2 diabetes risk; however, gene regulatory changes underlying progression to metabolic dysfunction are still largely unknown. We investigated RNA expression changes that occur during diabetes progression using a two-stage approach.
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