Cited 35 times since 2021 (8.6 per year) source: EuropePMC Human molecular genetics, Volume 30, Issue 5, 1 1 2021, Pages 393-409 Genome-wide association study of circulating interleukin 6 levels identifies novel loci. Ahluwalia TS, Prins BP, Abdollahi M, Armstrong NJ, Aslibekyan S, Bain L, Jefferis B, Baumert J, Beekman M, Ben-Shlomo Y, Bis JC, Mitchell BD, de Geus E, Delgado GE, Marek D, Eriksson J, Kajantie E, Kanoni S, Kemp JP, Lu C, Marioni RE, McLachlan S, Milaneschi Y, Nolte IM, Petrelis AM, Porcu E, Sabater-Lleal M, Naderi E, Seppälä I, Shah T, Singhal G, Standl M, Teumer A, Thalamuthu A, Thiering E, Trompet S, Ballantyne CM, Benjamin EJ, Casas JP, Toben C, Dedoussis G, Deelen J, Durda P, Engmann J, Feitosa MF, Grallert H, Hammarstedt A, Harris SE, Homuth G, Hottenga JJ, Jalkanen S, Jamshidi Y, Jawahar MC, Jess T, Kivimaki M, Kleber ME, Lahti J, Liu Y, Marques-Vidal P, Mellström D, Mooijaart SP, Müller-Nurasyid M, Penninx B, Revez JA, Rossing P, Räikkönen K, Sattar N, Scharnagl H, Sennblad B, Silveira A, Pourcain BS, Timpson NJ, Trollor J, CHARGE Inflammation Working Group, van Dongen J, Van Heemst D, Visvikis-Siest S, Vollenweider P, Völker U, Waldenberger M, Willemsen G, Zabaneh D, Morris RW, Arnett DK, Baune BT,
Interleukin 6 (IL-6) is a multifunctional cytokine with both pro- and anti-inflammatory properties with a heritability estimate of up to 61%. The circulating levels of IL-6 in blood have been associated with an increased risk of complex disease pathogenesis. We conducted a two-staged, discovery and replication meta genome-wide association study (GWAS) of circulating serum IL-6 levels comprising up to 67 428 (ndiscovery = 52 654 and nreplication = 14 774) individuals of European ancestry. The inverse variance fixed effects based discovery meta-analysis, followed by replication led to the identification of two independent loci, IL1F10/IL1RN rs6734238 on chromosome (Chr) 2q14, (Pcombined = 1.8 × 10-11), HLA-DRB1/DRB5 rs660895 on Chr6p21 (Pcombined = 1.5 × 10-10) in the combined meta-analyses of all samples. We also replicated the IL6R rs4537545 locus on Chr1q21 (Pcombined = 1.2 × 10-122). Our study identifies novel loci for circulating IL-6 levels uncovering new immunological and inflammatory pathways that may influence IL-6 pathobiology.
