Genome-wide association study of the four-constitution medicine.
BACKGROUND
Four-constitution medicine (FCM), also known as Sasang constitutional medicine, and the heritage of the long history of individualized acupuncture medicine tradition, is one of the holistic and traditional systems of constitution to appraise and categorize individual differences into four major types.


OBJECTIVE
This study first reports a genome-wide association study on FCM, to explore the genetic basis of FCM and facilitate the integration of FCM with conventional individual differences research.


METHODS
Healthy individuals of the Korean population were classified into the four constitutional types (FCTs). A total of 353,202 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were typed using whole genome amplified samples, and six-way comparison of FCM types provided lists of significantly differential SNPs.


RESULTS
In one-to-one FCT comparisons, 15,944 SNPs were significantly differential, and 5 SNPs were commonly significant in all of the three comparisons. In one-to-two FCT comparisons, 22,616 SNPs were significantly differential, and 20 SNPs were commonly significant in all of the three comparison groups.


CONCLUSIONS
This study presents the association between genome-wide SNP profiles and the categorization of the FCM, and it could further provide a starting point of genome-based identification and research of the constitutions of FCM.
Yin
Chang Shik
CS
Acupuncture and Meridian Science Research Center, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Park
Hi Joon
HJ
Chung
Joo-Ho
JH
Lee
Hye-Jung
HJ
Lee
Byung-Cheol
BC
D026881:Acupuncture; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D016678:Genome; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055670:Medicine, Korean Traditional; D008875:Middle Aged; D010551:Personality / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D057285:Precision Medicine / Q000379:methods*; D012016:Reference Values; D013008:Somatotypes / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology