title: Genetic variants associated with skin aging in the Chinese Han population.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The progression and manifestation of human skin aging has a strong genetic basis; however, most of the supporting evidence has been gathered in Caucasian populations. The genetic contribution to the variation in skin aging in non-Caucasian populations is poorly understood.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the genetic risk factors of relevance for skin aging in East Asians, we conducted the first candidate gene study for signs of skin aging in Han Chinese.
  
  
  METHODS
  We collected skin aging and genotype data in 502 female Han Chinese from the Taizhou cohort. We evaluated skin aging by the validated skin aging score SCINEXA™. Confounding factors were assessed through a questionnaire. We obtained the genotype data for 21 candidate SNPs and for a further 509 SNPs from 16 related candidate genes. Associations were tested by linear and logistic regression analyses and adjusted for potential confounders.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our candidate study found a significant association between SNP rs2066853 in exon 10 of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor gene AHR and crow's feet. In addition, we found a significant association between SNP rs10733310 in intron 5 of BNC2 and pigment spots on the arms, and between SNP rs11979919, 3kb downstream of COL1A2, and laxity of eyelids.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results identified genetic risk factors for signs of skin aging (pigmentation, wrinkles or laxity) in Han Chinese. We also found that the manifestation of skin aging is further modified by anatomical site. Together with previous work, our results also suggest that different genetic variants could be responsible for distinct skin aging signs characteristic of Caucasians compared to East Asians.
authors.affiliation: Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Computational Biology, CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Wenshan
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Genetics and Development, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China.
authors.forename: Jingze
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: IUF-Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine, Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Anke
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hüls
authors.affiliation: Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Computational Biology, CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China.
authors.forename: Anan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Computational Biology, CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: The Estee Lauder Companies Inc, Melville, NY, United States, United States.
authors.forename: Mary S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Matsui
authors.affiliation: IUF-Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine, Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vierkötter
authors.affiliation: IUF-Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine, Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Krutmann
authors.affiliation: IUF-Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine, Düsseldorf, Germany. Electronic address: Tamara.Schikowski@IUF-Duesseldorf.de.
authors.forename: Tamara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schikowski
authors.affiliation: Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Computational Biology, CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China; State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Genetics and Development, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China; Fudan-Taizhou Institute of Health Sciences, Taizhou, Jiangsu 225300, China. Electronic address: lijin@fudan.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Computational Biology, CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China; State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, Collaborative Innovation Center for Genetics and Development, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China. Electronic address: wangsijia@picb.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Sijia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D056726:Genetic Association Studies; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D012307:Risk Factors; D015595:Skin Aging / Q000235:genetics*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Candidate SNPs; Candidate genes; Chinese Han population; Skin aging