Genome-wide scan for metabolic syndrome and related quantitative traits in Hong Kong Chinese and confirmation of a susceptibility locus on chromosome 1q21-q25

We conducted autosomal genome scans to map loci for metabolic syndrome (MES) and related traits in the Hong Kong Family Diabetes Study. We selected 55 families with 137 affected members (121 affected relative pairs) for nonparametric linkage analysis on MES. We also selected 179 families with 897 members (2,127 relative pairs) for variance component-based linkage analyses on seven MES-related traits: waist circumference, systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP), triglyceride, HDL cholesterol, fasting plasma glucose, and insulin resistance index (insulin resistance index by homeostasis model assessment [HOMA%IR]). Analyses revealed three regions that showed suggestive linkage for MES and also showed overlapping signals for metabolic traits: chromosome 1 at 169.5-181.5 cM (logarithm of odds [LOD] = 4.50 for MES, 3.71 for waist circumference, and 1.24 for diastolic BP), chromosome 2 at 44.1-57.3 cM (LOD = 2.22 for MES, 2.07 for fasting plasma glucose, and 1.29 for diastolic BP), and chromosome 16 at 45.2-65.4 cM (LOD = 1.75 for MES, 1.61 for HOMA%IR, and 1.25 for HDL cholesterol). Other regions that showed suggestive linkages included chromosome 5q for diastolic BP; 2q, 3q, 6q, 9q, 10q, and 17q for triglyceride; 12p, 12q, and 22q for HDL-C; and 6q for HOMA%IR. Simulation studies demonstrated genome-wide significant linkage of the chromosome 1 region to both MES and waist circumference (Pgenome-wide = 0.002 and 0.019, respectively). In summary, we have found a susceptibility locus on chromosome 1q21-q25 involved in the pathogenesis of multiple metabolic abnormalities, in particular obesity. Our results confirm the findings of previous studies on diabetes and related phenotypes. We also suggest the locations of other loci that may contribute to the development of MES in Hong Kong Chinese.