Identification and functional analysis of atrial fibrillation -associated loci through genomewide association study

2010 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21790711
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Circulatory organs internal medicine
• Research Institution: Tokyo Medical and Dental University
• Principal Investigator: EBANA Yusuke Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 難治疾患研究所, 助教 (60517043)
• Project Period (FY): 2009 – 2010
• Keywords: 心房細動 / SNP / GWAS

Research Abstract

We identified 4q25 as an atrial fibrillation (AF) associated locus. Functional analyses revealed that this genetic region has enhancer and silencer function, which indicates that the cis-regulatory elements make genes in the neighborhood activated or silent, and finally that they confer the AF susceptibility. Next, as clinical study, we investigated whether the efficacy rate of pulmonary vein isolation (namely, catheter ablation for AF) depended on this SNP allele. The risk allele homozygotic carriers recurred more frequently than others. These findings might lead to clinical practice in the near future.