By Barnaby Nicolas, MSIS
In our monthly “Article Spotlight” series, we’re taking a closer look at highly cited articles by Mount Sinai faculty and researchers using PlumX to determine their altmetric impact. This month, we’re looking at a multi-author article with contributions by Dr. Eric Schadt, PhD, Director of the Icahn Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology, Chair of the Department of Genetics and Genomics Sciences, and the Jean C. and James W. Crystal Professor of Genomics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Dr. Ruth Loos, PhD, Professor of Preventive Medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Director of the Genetics of Obesity and Related Metabolic Traits Program in the Charles R. Bronfman Institute of Personalized Medicine.
Citation: Locke AE, Kahali B, Berndt SI, Justice AE, Schadt, EE, Loos, RJ, et al. Genetic studies of body mass index yield new insights for obesity biology. Nature. 2015;518(7538):197-206.
Article Summary: This is the largest Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) meta-analysis for BMI.
BACKGROUND: Obesity is heritable and predisposes to many diseases. To understand the genetic basis of obesity better, here we conduct a genome-wide association study and Metabochip meta-analysis of body mass index (BMI), a measure commonly used to define obesity and assess adiposity, in up to 339,224 individuals. This analysis identifies 97 BMI-associated loci (P < 5 × 10−8), 56 of which are novel. Five loci demonstrate clear evidence of several independent association signals, and many loci have significant effects on other metabolic phenotypes. The 97 loci account for ~2.7% of BMI variation, and genome-wide estimates suggest that common variation accounts for >20% of BMI variation. Pathway analyses provide strong support for a role of the central nervous system in obesity susceptibility and implicate new genes and pathways, including those related to synaptic function, glutamate signalling, insulin secretion/action, energy metabolism, lipid biology and adipogenesis.
Citation: Locke AE, Kahali B, Berndt SI, Justice AE, Schadt, EE, Loos, RJ, et al. Genetic studies of body mass index yield new insights for obesity biology. Nature. 2015;518(7538):197-206.