title: Systematic, genome-wide, sex-specific linkage of cardiovascular traits in French Canadians.
abstract: The sexual dimorphism of cardiovascular traits, as well as susceptibility to a variety of related diseases, has long been recognized, yet their sex-specific genomic determinants are largely unknown. We systematically assessed the sex-specific heritability and linkage of 539 hemodynamic, metabolic, anthropometric, and humoral traits in 120 French-Canadian families from the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean region of Quebec, Canada. We performed multipoint linkage analysis using microsatellite markers followed by peak-wide linkage scan based on Affymetrix Human Mapping 50K Array Xba240 single nucleotide polymorphism genotypes in 3 settings, including the entire sample and then separately in men and women. Nearly one half of the traits were age and sex independent, one quarter were both age and sex dependent, and one eighth were exclusively age or sex dependent. Sex-specific phenotypes are most frequent in heart rate and blood pressure categories, whereas sex- and age-independent determinants are predominant among humoral and biochemical parameters. Twenty sex-specific loci passing multiple testing criteria were corroborated by 2-point single nucleotide polymorphism linkage. Several resting systolic blood pressure measurements showed significant genotype-by-sex interaction, eg, male-specific locus at chromosome 12 (male-female logarithm of odds difference: 4.16; interaction P=0.0002), which was undetectable in the entire population, even after adjustment for sex. Detailed interrogation of this locus revealed a 220-kb block overlapping parts of TAO-kinase 3 and SUDS3 genes. In summary, a large number of complex cardiovascular traits display significant sexual dimorphism, for which we have demonstrated genomic determinants at the haplotype level. Many of these would have been missed in a traditional, sex-adjusted setting.
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche, Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal-Technôpole Angus, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Ondrej
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Seda
authors.forename: Johanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tremblay
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gaudet
authors.forename: Pierre-Luc
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Brunelle
authors.forename: Alexandru
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gurau
authors.forename: Ettore
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Merlo
authors.forename: Louise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pilote
authors.forename: Sergei N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Orlov
authors.forename: Francis
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Boulva
authors.forename: Milan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Petrovich
authors.forename: Theodore A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Kotchen
authors.forename: Allen W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Cowley
authors.forename: Pavel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hamet
mesh_terms: D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000235:genetics*; D002881:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 12; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000235:genetics; D023281:Genomics; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D015810:Linkage Disequilibrium; D008126:Lod Score; D008297:Male; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D010641:Phenotype; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D011792:Quebec; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D017678:Sex Distribution