Skip to main content
Log in

Type 2 diabetes susceptibility loci in the Ashkenazi Jewish population

  • Short Report
  • Published:
Human Genetics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Until last year, type 2 diabetes (T2D) susceptibility loci have hardly been identified, despite great effort. Recently, however, several whole-genome association (WGA) studies jointly uncovered 10 robustly replicated loci. Here, we examine these loci in the Ashkenazi Jewish (AJ) population in a sample of 1,131 cases versus 1,147 controls. Genetic predisposition to T2D in the AJ population was found similar to that established in the previous studies. One SNP, rs7754840 in the CDKAL1 gene, presented a significantly stronger effect in the AJ population as compared to the general Caucasian population. This may possibly be due to the increased homogeneity of the AJ population. The use of the SNPs considered in this study, to identify individuals at high (or low) risk to develop T2D, was found of limited value. Our study, however, strongly supports the robustness of WGA studies for the identification of genes affecting complex traits in general and T2D in particular.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

References

  • Narayan KM, Boyle JP, Geiss LS, Saaddine JB, Thompson TJ (2006) Impact of recent increase in incidence on future diabetes burden: U.S., 2005–2050. Diabetes Care 29:2114–2116

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Olshen AB, Gold B, Lohmueller KE, Struewing JP, Satagopan J, Stefanov SA, Eskin E, Kirchhoff T, Lautenberger JA, Klein RJ, Friedman E, Norton L, Ellis NA, Viale A, Lee CS, Borgen PI, Clark AG, Offit K, Boyd J (2008) Analysis of genetic variation in Ashkenazi Jews by high density SNP genotyping. BMC Genet 9:14

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Salonen JT, Uimari P, Aalto JM, Pirskanen M, Kaikkonen J, Todorova B, Hypponen J, Korhonen VP, Asikainen J, Devine C, Tuomainen TP, Luedemann J, Nauck M, Kerner W, Stephens RH, New JP, Ollier WE, Gibson JM, Payton A, Horan MA, Pendleton N, Mahoney W, Meyre D, Delplanque J, Froguel P, Luzzatto O, Yakir B, Darvasi A (2007) Type 2 diabetes whole-genome association study in four populations: the DiaGen consortium. Am J Hum Genet 81:338–345

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Saxena R, Voight BF, Lyssenko V, Burtt NP, de Bakker PI, Chen H, Roix JJ, Kathiresan S, Hirschhorn JN, Daly MJ, Hughes TE, Groop L, Altshuler D, Almgren P, Florez JC, Meyer J, Ardlie K, Bengtsson Bostrom K, Isomaa B, Lettre G, Lindblad U, Lyon HN, Melander O, Newton-Cheh C, Nilsson P, Orho-Melander M, Rastam L, Speliotes EK, Taskinen MR, Tuomi T, Guiducci C, Berglund A, Carlson J, Gianniny L, Hackett R, Hall L, Holmkvist J, Laurila E, Sjogren M, Sterner M, Surti A, Svensson M, Tewhey R, Blumenstiel B, Parkin M, Defelice M, Barry R, Brodeur W, Camarata J, Chia N, Fava M, Gibbons J, Handsaker B, Healy C, Nguyen K, Gates C, Sougnez C, Gage D, Nizzari M, Gabriel SB, Chirn GW, Ma Q, Parikh H, Richardson D, Ricke D, Purcell S (2007) Genome-wide association analysis identifies loci for type 2 diabetes and triglyceride levels. Science 316:1331–1336

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Scott LJ, Mohlke KL, Bonnycastle LL, Willer CJ, Li Y, Duren WL, Erdos MR, Stringham HM, Chines PS, Jackson AU, Prokunina-Olsson L, Ding CJ, Swift AJ, Narisu N, Hu T, Pruim R, Xiao R, Li XY, Conneely KN, Riebow NL, Sprau AG, Tong M, White PP, Hetrick KN, Barnhart MW, Bark CW, Goldstein JL, Watkins L, Xiang F, Saramies J, Buchanan TA, Watanabe RM, Valle TT, Kinnunen L, Abecasis GR, Pugh EW, Doheny KF, Bergman RN, Tuomilehto J, Collins FS, Boehnke M (2007) A genome-wide association study of type 2 diabetes in Finns detects multiple susceptibility variants. Science 316:1341–1345

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shifman S, Darvasi A (2001) The value of isolated populations. Nat Genet 28:309–310

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shifman S, Johannesson M, Bronstein M, Chen SX, Collier DA, Craddock NJ, Kendler KS, Li T, O’Donovan M, O’Neill FA, Owen MJ, Walsh D, Weinberger DR, Sun C, Flint J, Darvasi A (2008) Genome-wide association identifies a common variant in the reelin gene that increases the risk of schizophrenia only in women. PLoS Genet 4:e28

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Siegmund D, Yakir B (2007) The statistics of gene mapping. Springer, NY

    Google Scholar 

  • Sladek R, Rocheleau G, Rung J, Dina C, Shen L, Serre D, Boutin P, Vincent D, Belisle A, Hadjadj S, Balkau B, Heude B, Charpentier G, Hudson TJ, Montpetit A, Pshezhetsky AV, Prentki M, Posner BI, Balding DJ, Meyre D, Polychronakos C, Froguel P (2007) A genome-wide association study identifies novel risk loci for type 2 diabetes. Nature 445:881–885

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Steinthorsdottir V, Thorleifsson G, Reynisdottir I, Benediktsson R, Jonsdottir T, Walters GB, Styrkarsdottir U, Gretarsdottir S, Emilsson V, Ghosh S, Baker A, Snorradottir S, Bjarnason H, Ng MC, Hansen T, Bagger Y, Wilensky RL, Reilly MP, Adeyemo A, Chen Y, Zhou J, Gudnason V, Chen G, Huang H, Lashley K, Doumatey A, So WY, Ma RC, Andersen G, Borch-Johnsen K, Jorgensen T, van Vliet-Ostaptchouk JV, Hofker MH, Wijmenga C, Christiansen C, Rader DJ, Rotimi C, Gurney M, Chan JC, Pedersen O, Sigurdsson G, Gulcher JR, Thorsteinsdottir U, Kong A, Stefansson K (2007) A variant in CDKAL1 influences insulin response and risk of type 2 diabetes. Nat Genet 39:770–775

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • The Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium (2007) Genome-wide association study of 14,000 cases of seven common diseases and 3, 000 shared controls. Nature 447:661–678

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zeggini E, Weedon MN, Lindgren CM, Frayling TM, Elliott KS, Lango H, Timpson NJ, Perry JR, Rayner NW, Freathy RM, Barrett JC, Shields B, Morris AP, Ellard S, Groves CJ, Harries LW, Marchini JL, Owen KR, Knight B, Cardon LR, Walker M, Hitman GA, Morris AD, Doney AS, McCarthy MI, Hattersley AT (2007) Replication of genome-wide association signals in UK samples reveals risk loci for type 2 diabetes. Science 316:1336–1341

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgment

We thank KBiosciences, UK (www.kbiosciences.co.uk) for their generous support in SNP genotyping.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ariel Darvasi.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bronstein, M., Pisanté, A., Yakir, B. et al. Type 2 diabetes susceptibility loci in the Ashkenazi Jewish population. Hum Genet 124, 101–104 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00439-008-0520-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00439-008-0520-x

Keywords

Navigation