Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies identifies three new risk loci for atopic dermatitis

Lavinia Paternoster, Marie Standl, Chih-Mei Chen, Adaikalavan Ramasamy, Klaus Bønnelykke, Liesbeth Duijts, Manuel A Ferreira, Alexessander Couto Alves, Jacob P Thyssen, Eva Albrecht, Hansjörg Baurecht, Bjarke Feenstra, Patrick M A Sleiman, Pirro Hysi, Nicole M Warrington, Ivan Curjuric, Ronny Myhre, John A Curtin, Maria M Groen-Blokhuis, Marjan Kerkhof, Annika Sääf, Andre Franke, David Ellinghaus, Regina Fölster-Holst, Emmanouil Dermitzakis, Stephen B Montgomery, Holger Prokisch, Katharina Heim, Anna-Liisa Hartikainen, Anneli Pouta, Juha Pekkanen, Alexandra I F Blakemore, Jessica L Buxton, Marika Kaakinen, David L Duffy, Pamela A Madden, Andrew C Heath, Grant W Montgomery, Philip J Thompson, Melanie C Matheson, Peter Le Souëf, Beate St. Pourcain, George Davey Smith, John Henderson, John P Kemp, Nicholas J Timpson, Panos Deloukas, Susan M Ring, H-Erich Wichmann, Martina Müller-Nurasyid, Natalija Novak, Norman Klopp, Elke Rodríguez, Wendy McArdle, Allan Linneberg, Torkil Menné, Ellen A Nohr, Albert Hofman, André G Uitterlinden, Cornélia M van Duijn, Fernando Rivadeneira, Johan C de Jongste, Ralf J P van der Valk, Matthias Wjst, Rain Jogi, Frank Geller, Heather A Boyd, Jeffrey C Murray, Cecilia Kim, Frank Mentch, Michael March, Massimo Mangino, Tim D Spector, Veronique Bataille, Craig E Pennell, Patrick G Holt, Peter Sly, Carla M T Tiesler, Elisabeth Thiering, Thomas Illig, Medea Imboden, Wenche Nystad, Angela Simpson, Jouke-Jan Hottenga, Dirkje Postma, Gerard H Koppelman, Henriette A Smit, Cilla Söderhäll, Bo Chawes, Eskil Kreiner-Møller, Hans Bisgaard, Erik Melén, Dorret I Boomsma, Adnan Custovic, Bo Jacobsson, Nicole M Probst-Hensch, Lyle J Palmer, Daniel Glass, Hakon Hakonarson, Mads Melbye, Deborah L Jarvis, Vincent W V Jaddoe, Christian Gieger, David P Strachan, Nicholas G Martin, Marjo-Riitta Jarvelin, Joachim Heinrich, David M Evans

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a commonly occurring chronic skin disease with high heritability. Apart from filaggrin (FLG), the genes influencing atopic dermatitis are largely unknown. We conducted a genome-wide association meta-analysis of 5,606 affected individuals and 20,565 controls from 16 population-based cohorts and then examined the ten most strongly associated new susceptibility loci in an additional 5,419 affected individuals and 19,833 controls from 14 studies. Three SNPs reached genome-wide significance in the discovery and replication cohorts combined, including rs479844 upstream of OVOL1 (odds ratio (OR) = 0.88, P = 1.1 × 10(-13)) and rs2164983 near ACTL9 (OR = 1.16, P = 7.1 × 10(-9)), both of which are near genes that have been implicated in epidermal proliferation and differentiation, as well as rs2897442 in KIF3A within the cytokine cluster at 5q31.1 (OR = 1.11, P = 3.8 × 10(-8)). We also replicated association with the FLG locus and with two recently identified association signals at 11q13.5 (rs7927894; P = 0.008) and 20q13.33 (rs6010620; P = 0.002). Our results underline the importance of both epidermal barrier function and immune dysregulation in atopic dermatitis pathogenesis.