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Open AccessMulti-omics in nasal epithelium reveals three axes of dysregulation for asthma risk in the African Diaspora populations
Asthma has striking disparities across ancestral groups, but the molecular underpinning of these differences is poorly understood and minimally studied. A goal of the Consortium on Asthma among African-ancestr...
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Article
Open AccessUntargeted metabolomic profiling reveals molecular signatures associated with type 2 diabetes in Nigerians
Type 2 diabetes (T2D) has reached epidemic proportions globally, including in Africa. However, molecular studies to understand the pathophysiology of T2D remain scarce outside Europe and North America. The aim...
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Article
Open AccessGenetic drivers of heterogeneity in type 2 diabetes pathophysiology
Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a heterogeneous disease that develops through diverse pathophysiological processes1,2 and molecular mechanisms that are often specific to cell type3,4. Here, to characterize the genetic c...
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Article
Open AccessMendelian randomization analyses suggest a causal role for circulating GIP and IL-1RA levels in homeostatic model assessment-derived measures of β-cell function and insulin sensitivity in Africans without type 2 diabetes
In vitro and in vivo studies have shown that certain cytokines and hormones may play a role in the development and progression of type 2 diabetes (T2D). However, studies on their role in T2D in humans are scar...
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Article
Open AccessImplicating genes, pleiotropy, and sexual dimorphism at blood lipid loci through multi-ancestry meta-analysis
Genetic variants within nearly 1000 loci are known to contribute to modulation of blood lipid levels. However, the biological pathways underlying these associations are frequently unknown, limiting understandi...
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Open AccessMendelian randomization study reveals a causal relationship between adiponectin and LDL cholesterol in Africans
Adiponectin has been associated with cardiometabolic traits in observational studies across populations, yet it is unclear if these associations are causal. We performed Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis t...
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Open AccessAn epigenome-wide association study of insulin resistance in African Americans
African Americans have a high risk for type 2 diabetes (T2D) and insulin resistance. Studies among other population groups have identified DNA methylation loci associated with insulin resistance, but data in A...
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Article
Multi-ancestry genetic study of type 2 diabetes highlights the power of diverse populations for discovery and translation
We assembled an ancestrally diverse collection of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of type 2 diabetes (T2D) in 180,834 affected individuals and 1,159,055 controls (48.9% non-European descent) through the...
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Open AccessGenome-wide analyses of multiple obesity-related cytokines and hormones informs biology of cardiometabolic traits
A complex set of perturbations occur in cytokines and hormones in the etiopathogenesis of obesity and related cardiometabolic conditions such as type 2 diabetes (T2D). Evidence for the genetic regulation of th...
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Open AccessA UGT1A1 variant is associated with serum total bilirubin levels, which are causal for hypertension in African-ancestry individuals
Serum bilirubin is associated with several clinical outcomes, including hypertension, type 2 diabetes (T2D), and drug metabolism. Here, we describe findings from our genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of s...
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Article
Open AccessAssociations of autozygosity with a broad range of human phenotypes
In many species, the offspring of related parents suffer reduced reproductive success, a phenomenon known as inbreeding depression. In humans, the importance of this effect has remained unclear, partly because...
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Article
Genetic Basis of Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes in Africans: Impact on Precision Medicine
Recent advances in genomics provide opportunities for novel understanding of the biology of human traits with the goal of improving human health. Here, we review recent obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D)–relate...
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Open AccessZRANB3 is an African-specific type 2 diabetes locus associated with beta-cell mass and insulin response
Genome analysis of diverse human populations has contributed to the identification of novel genomic loci for diseases of major clinical and public health impact. Here, we report a genome-wide analysis of type ...
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Open AccessGenome-wide association study of type 2 diabetes in Africa
Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for type 2 diabetes have uncovered >400 risk loci, primarily in populations of European and Asian ancestry. Here, we aimed to discover additional type 2 diabetes risk loc...
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Article
Open AccessCirculating MiR-374a-5p is a potential modulator of the inflammatory process in obesity
Obese individuals without expected metabolic co-morbidities are referred to as metabolically healthy obese (MHO). The molecular mechanisms underlying this phenotype remain elusive. MicroRNAs may be involved in...
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Open AccessWhole-genome transcriptomic insights into protective molecular mechanisms in metabolically healthy obese African Americans
Several clinical guidelines have been proposed to distinguish metabolically healthy obesity (MHO) from other subgroups of obesity but the molecular mechanisms by which MHO individuals remain metabolically heal...
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Open AccessEvolutionary context for the association of γ-globin, serum uric acid, and hypertension in African Americans
Hyperuricemia and associated cardio-metabolic disorders are more prevalent in African Americans than in European Americans. We used genome-wide admixture map** and association testing to identify loci with a...
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Article
Open AccessAPOL1 G1 genotype modifies the association between HDLC and kidney function in African Americans
Despite evidence of an association between variants at the apolipoprotein L1 gene (APOL1) locus and a spectrum of related kidney diseases, underlying biological mechanisms remain unknown. An earlier preliminary s...
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Article
Open AccessThe African Genome Variation Project shapes medical genetics in Africa
Given the importance of Africa to studies of human origins and disease susceptibility, detailed characterization of African genetic diversity is needed. The African Genome Variation Project provides a resource...
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Open AccessTransferability and Fine Map** of genome-wide associated loci for lipids in African Americans
A recent, large genome-wide association study (GWAS) of European ancestry individuals has identified multiple genetic variants influencing serum lipids. Studies of the transferability of these associations to ...
