Communications Biology (Mar 2021)

A multi-ethnic genome-wide association study implicates collagen matrix integrity and cell differentiation pathways in keratoconus

  • Alison J. Hardcastle,
  • Petra Liskova,
  • Yelena Bykhovskaya,
  • Bennet J. McComish,
  • Alice E. Davidson,
  • Chris F. Inglehearn,
  • Xiaohui Li,
  • Hélène Choquet,
  • Mahmoud Habeeb,
  • Sionne E. M. Lucas,
  • Srujana Sahebjada,
  • Nikolas Pontikos,
  • Karla E. Rojas Lopez,
  • Anthony P. Khawaja,
  • Manir Ali,
  • Lubica Dudakova,
  • Pavlina Skalicka,
  • Bart T. H. Van Dooren,
  • Annette J. M. Geerards,
  • Christoph W. Haudum,
  • Valeria Lo Faro,
  • Abi Tenen,
  • Mark J. Simcoe,
  • Karina Patasova,
  • Darioush Yarrand,
  • Jie Yin,
  • Salina Siddiqui,
  • Aine Rice,
  • Layal Abi Farraj,
  • Yii-Der Ida Chen,
  • Jugnoo S. Rahi,
  • Ronald M. Krauss,
  • Elisabeth Theusch,
  • Jac C. Charlesworth,
  • Loretta Szczotka-Flynn,
  • Carmel Toomes,
  • Magda A. Meester-Smoor,
  • Andrea J. Richardson,
  • Paul A. Mitchell,
  • Kent D. Taylor,
  • Ronald B. Melles,
  • Anthony J. Aldave,
  • Richard A. Mills,
  • Ke Cao,
  • Elsie Chan,
  • Mark D. Daniell,
  • Jie Jin Wang,
  • Jerome I. Rotter,
  • Alex W. Hewitt,
  • Stuart MacGregor,
  • Caroline C. W. Klaver,
  • Wishal D. Ramdas,
  • Jamie E. Craig,
  • Sudha K. Iyengar,
  • David O’Brart,
  • Eric Jorgenson,
  • Paul N. Baird,
  • Yaron S. Rabinowitz,
  • Kathryn P. Burdon,
  • Chris J. Hammond,
  • Stephen J. Tuft,
  • Pirro G. Hysi

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-021-01784-0
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 4, no. 1
pp. 1 – 13

Abstract

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Alison Hardcastle et al. report a genome-wide meta-analysis of keratoconus, a condition affecting the cornea that causes blurred vision and often leads to blindness. They identify 36 genomic regions associated with keratoconus, 31 of which are novel, and show that the genes in these regions implicate genetic pathways involved in collagen matrix integrity and cell differentiation.