title: Analysis of Genomic Regions Associated With Coronary Artery Disease Reveals Continent-Specific Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in North African Populations.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In recent years, several genomic regions have been robustly associated with coronary artery disease (CAD) in different genome-wide association studies (GWASs) conducted mainly in people of European descent. These kinds of data are lacking in African populations, even though heart diseases are a major cause of premature death and disability.
  
  
  METHODS
  Here, 384 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the top four CAD risk regions (1p13, 1q41, 9p21, and 10q11) were genotyped in 274 case-control samples from Morocco and Tunisia, with the aim of analyzing for the first time if the associations found in European populations were transferable to North Africans.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results indicate that, as in Europe, these four genetic regions are also important for CAD risk in North Africa. However, the individual SNPs associated with CAD in Africa are different from those identified in Europe in most cases (1p13, 1q41, and 9p21). Moreover, the seven risk variants identified in North Africans are efficient in discriminating between cases and controls in North African populations, but not in European populations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study indicates a disparity in markers associated to CAD susceptibility between North Africans and Europeans that may be related to population differences in the chromosomal architecture of these risk regions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Biology-Anthropology, University of Barcelona.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zanetti
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Via
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Carreras-Torres
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Esteban
authors.forename: Hassen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chaabani
authors.forename: Fatima
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Anaibar
authors.forename: Nourdin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Harich
authors.forename: Rachida
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Habbal
authors.forename: Noreddine
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ghalim
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Moral
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000352:Africa, Northern; D000368:Aged; D044383:Black People / Q000235:genetics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002878:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 1 / Q000235:genetics; D002879:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 10 / Q000235:genetics; D002899:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 9 / Q000235:genetics; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000208:ethnology*; D023281:Genomics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics*; D044465:White People / Q000235:genetics; D055815:Young Adult