Psoriasis is a multifactorial skin disease characterized by epidermal hyperproliferation and chronic inflammation, the most common form of which is psoriasis vulgaris (PsV). We present a genome-wide association analysis of 2,339,118 SNPs in 472 psoriasis patients and 1,146 controls from Germany, with follow-up of the 147 most significant SNPs in 2,746 PsV cases and 4,140 controls from three independent replication panels. We identified an association at TRAF3IP2 on 6q21 and genotyped two SNPs at this locus in two additional replication panels (the combined discovery and replication panels consisted of 6,487 cases and 8,037 controls; combinded P = 2.36×10−10 for rs13210247 and combined P = 1.24×10−16 for rs33980500). About 15% of psoriasis cases develope psoriatic arthritis (PsA). A stratified analysis of our datasets including only PsA cases (1,922 cases compared to 8,037 controls, P=4.57×10−12 for rs33980500) suggested that TRAF3IP2 represents a shared susceptibility for PsV and PsA. TRAF3IP2 encodes a protein involved in IL-17 signaling and which interacts with memebers of the Rel/NF-κB transcription factor family.

Psoriasis (PS) and Crohn disease (CD) have been shown to be epidemiologically, pathologically, and therapeutically connected, but little is known about their shared genetic causes. We performed meta-analyses of five published genome-wide association studies on PS (2,529 cases and 4,955 controls) and CD (2,142 cases and 5,505 controls), followed up 20 loci that showed strongest evidence for shared disease association and, furthermore, tested cross-disease associations for previously reported PS and CD risk alleles in additional 6,115 PS cases, 4,073 CD cases, and 10,100 controls. We identified seven susceptibility loci outside the human leukocyte antigen region (9p24 near JAK2, 10q22 at ZMIZ1, 11q13 near PRDX5, 16p13 near SOCS1, 17q21 at STAT3, 19p13 near FUT2, and 22q11 at YDJC) shared between PS and CD with genome-wide significance (p < 5 3 10 À8 ) and confirmed four already established PS and CD risk loci (IL23R, IL12B, REL, and TYK2). Three of the shared loci are also genome-wide significantly associated with PS alone (10q22 at ZMIZ1, p rs1250544 ¼ 3.53 3 10 À8 , 11q13 near PRDX5, p rs694739 ¼ 3.71 3 10 À09 , 22q11 at YDJC, p rs181359 ¼ 8.02 3 10 À10 ). In addition, we identified one susceptibility locus for CD (16p13 near SOCS1, p rs4780355 ¼ 4.99 3 10 À8 ). Refinement of association signals identified shared genomewide significant associations for exonic SNPs at 10q22 (ZMIZ1) and in silico expression quantitative trait locus analyses revealed that the associations at ZMIZ1 and near SOCS1 have a potential functional effect on gene expression. Our results show the usefulness of joint analyses of clinically distinct immune-mediated diseases and enlarge the map of shared genetic risk loci.

Essential tremor (ET) is a common neurodegenerative disorder that is characterized by a postural or motion tremor. Despite a strong genetic basis, a gene with rare pathogenic mutations that cause ET has not yet been reported. We used exome sequencing to implement a simple approach to control for misdiagnosis of ET, as well as phenocopies involving sporadic and senile ET cases. We studied a large ET-affected family and identified a FUS p.Gln290(∗) mutation as the cause of ET in this family. Further screening of 270 ET cases identified two additional rare missense FUS variants. Functional considerations suggest that the pathogenic effects of ET-specific FUS mutations are different from the effects observed when FUS is mutated in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis cases; we have shown that the ET FUS nonsense mutation is degraded by the nonsense-mediated-decay pathway, whereas amyotrophic lateral sclerosis FUS mutant transcripts are not.

Genome-wide association (GWA) studies offer a powerful unbiased method for the identification of multiple susceptibility genes for complex diseases. Here we report the results of a GWA study for Crohn's disease (CD) using family trios from the Quebec Founder Population (QFP). Haplotype-based association analyses identified multiple regions associated with the disease that met the criteria for genome-wide significance, with many containing a gene whose function appears relevant to CD. A proportion of these were replicated in two independent German Caucasian samples, including the established CD loci NOD2 and IBD5. The recently described IL23R locus was also identified and replicated. For this region, multiple individuals with all major haplotypes in the QFP were sequenced and extensive fine mapping performed to identify risk and protective alleles. Several additional loci, including a region on 3p21 containing several plausible candidate genes, a region near JAKMIP1 on 4p16.1, and two larger regions on chromosome 17 were replicated. Together with previously published loci, the spectrum of CD genes identified to date involves biochemical networks that affect epithelial defense mechanisms, innate and adaptive immune response, and the repair or remodeling of tissue.haplotype ͉ complex disease ͉ IL23R C rohn's disease (CD) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease characterized by transmural inflammatory lesions that can affect the entire gastrointestinal tract (1). The lifetime prevalence is 0.5-1% in Caucasian populations (2) and reflects the combined effects of genetic predisposition and environmental factors (3). Genetic linkage and candidate gene approaches (4-14) have contributed to the elucidation of loci influencing genetic susceptibility to CD. More recently, genome-wide association (GWA) studies (15-21) have provided further insight into the molecular pathogenesis of the disease. The top candidate genes or loci that consistently replicate include NOD2, IL23R, ATG16L1, the IBD5 region on chromosome 5q31, and a region on 5p13.1 near the PTGER4 gene. The nature of these genes suggests that the major genetic risk factors for CD are involved in the innate immune response and destruction of intracellular bacteria.It is now clear that GWA studies provide a powerful and robust new tool for the identification of the multiple susceptibility alleles involved in complex diseases. Importantly, these types of studies have the ability to identify genes that impart only moderate increases in risk (21,22). However, most studies performed to date have identified only a few top signals, and the validation of true association among signals with lower statistical significance remains a challenge. In addition, most of the GWA studies to date have been performed by using general populations, for which very large sample sizes are required for success. They have also largely relied on single-marker analysis, with genome-wide haplotype-based association analyses receiving little attention.In early 2004, we conducted a GWA study for CD...

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