Bioinformatics-driven identification and examination of candidate genes for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Karina Banasik, Johanne M Justesen, Malene Hornbak, Nikolaj T Krarup, Anette P Gjesing, Camilla Helene Sandholt, Thomas Søndergaard Jensen, Niels Grarup, Åsa Andersson, Torben Jørgensen, Daniel R Witte, Annelli Sandbæk, Torsten Lauritzen, Bernard Thorens, Søren Brunak, Thorkild I A Sørensen, Oluf Pedersen, Torben Hansen

17 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Objective: Candidate genes for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) identified by a bioinformatics approach were examined for variant associations to quantitative traits of NAFLD-related phenotypes. Research Design and Methods: By integrating public database text mining, trans-organism protein-protein interaction transferal, and information on liver protein expression a protein-protein interaction network was constructed and from this a smaller isolated interactome was identified. Five genes from this interactome were selected for genetic analysis. Twentyone tag single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) which captured all common variation in these genes were genotyped in 10,196 Danes, and analyzed for association with NAFLD-related quantitative traits, type 2 diabetes (T2D), central obesity, and WHO-defined metabolic syndrome (MetS). Results: 273 genes were included in the protein-protein interaction analysis and EHHADH, ECHS1, HADHA, HADHB, and ACADL were selected for further examination. A total of 10 nominal statistical significant associations (P,0.05) to quantitative metabolic traits were identified. Also, the case-control study showed associations between variation in the five genes and T2D, central obesity, and MetS, respectively. Bonferroni adjustments for multiple testing negated all associations. Conclusions: Using a bioinformatics approach we identified five candidate genes for NAFLD. However, we failed to provide evidence of associations with major effects between SNPs in these five genes and NAFLD-related quantitative traits, T2D, central obesity, and MetS.

Original languageEnglish
JournalP L o S One
Volume6
Issue number1
Pages (from-to)e16542
ISSN1932-6203
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2011

Keywords

  • Case-Control Studies
  • Computational Biology
  • Data Mining
  • Denmark
  • Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2
  • Fatty Liver
  • Humans
  • Metabolic Syndrome X
  • Middle Aged
  • Obesity
  • Phenotype
  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
  • Protein Binding
  • Quantitative Trait Loci

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