Major Genetic Risk Factors for Dupuytren's Disease Are Inherited From Neandertals
Richard Ågren, Snehal Patil, Xiang Zhou, FinnGen., Aarno Palotie, Mark J. Daly, Bridget Riley-Gills, Howard J. Jacob, Dirk S. Paul, Athena Matakidou, Adam Platt, Heiko Runz, Sally John, George Okafo, Nathan Lawless, Robert M. Plenge, Joseph Maranville, Mark I. McCarthy, Julie Hunkapiller, Margaret G. Ehm, Kirsi Auro, Simonne Longerich, Caroline S. Fox, Anders Mälarstig, K. Klinger, Deepak Raipal, Eric Green, Robert Graham, Robert Yang, Chris O’Donnell, Tomi P. Mäkelä, Jaakko Kaprio, Petri Virolainen, Antti Hakanen, Terhi Kilpi, Markus Perola, Jukka Partanen, Anne Pitkäranta, Juhani Junttila, Raisa Serpi, Tarja Laitinen, Veli‐Matti Kosma, Jari Laukkanen, Marco Hautalahti, Outi Tuovila, Raimo Pakkanen, Jeffrey Waring, Bridget Riley-Gillis, Fedik Rahimov, Ioanna Tachmazidou, Chia‐Yen Chen, Heiko Runz, Zhihao Ding, Marc Jung, Shameek Biswas, Rion Pendergrass, Julie Hunkapiller, Margaret G. Ehm, David Pulford, Neha Raghavan, Adriana Huertas‐Vázquez, Jae-Hoon Sul, Anders Mälarstig, Xinli Hu, K. Klinger, Robert Graham, Eric Green, Sahar V. Mozaffari, Dawn Waterworth, Nicole Renaud, Ma’en Obeidat, Samuli Ripatti, Johanna Schleutker, Markus Perola, Mikko Arvas, Olli Carpén, Reetta Hinttala, Johannes Kettunen, Arto Mannermaa, Katriina Aalto‐Setälä, Mika Kähönen, Jari Laukkanen, Johanna Mäkelä, Reetta Kälviäinen, Valtteri Julkunen, Hilkka Soininen, Anne M. Remes, Mikko Hiltunen, Jukka Peltola, Minna Raivio, Pentti Tienari, Juha O. Rinne, Roosa Kallionpää, Juulia Partanen, Ali Abbasi, Adam Ziemann, Nizar Smaoui, Anne Lehtonen, Susan Eaton, Heiko Runz
Abstract
Dupuytren's disease is characterized by fingers becoming permanently bent in a flexed position. Whereas people of African ancestry are rarely afflicted by Dupuytren's disease, up to ∼30% of men over 60 years suffer from this condition in northern Europe. Here, we meta-analyze 3 biobanks comprising 7,871 cases and 645,880 controls and find 61 genome-wide significant variants associated with Dupuytren's disease. We show that 3 of the 61 loci harbor alleles of Neandertal origin, including the second and third most strongly associated ones (P = 6.4 × 10-132 and P = 9.2 × 10-69, respectively). For the most strongly associated Neandertal variant, we identify EPDR1 as the causal gene. Dupuytren's disease is an example of how admixture with Neandertals has shaped regional differences in disease prevalence.