Genotype by education interaction identified for five genetic variants, with increased effect for university-level education<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
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TUESDAY, Nov. 22, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Education interacts with genetic variants to confer susceptibility to myopia, according to a study published online Nov. 17 in PLOS Genetics<\/em>.<\/p>\n Rosie Clark, Ph.D., from Cardiff University in the United Kingdom, and colleagues aimed to identify genetic variants that interact with education level to confer susceptibility to myopia in a study involving two groups of unrelated participants of European ancestry from the U.K. Biobank. A stage I sample included 88,334 participants whose refractive error was measured by autorefraction, and a stage II sample included 252,838 participants who self-reported their age of onset of spectacle wear. Genetic variants were prioritized in a two-step screening process using the stage I sample: a genome-wide association study and a variance heterogeneity analysis for refractive error. In the stage II sample, genotype-by-education interaction tests were performed.<\/p>\n The researchers found that 25 genetic variants were prioritized in the two-step screening strategy in the stage I sample. Nineteen of the 25 variants (76 percent) demonstrated evidence of variance heterogeneity in the stage II sample. Evidence of a genotype-by-education interaction in the stage II sample and consistent evidence of a genotype-by-education interaction in the stage I sample was identified for five genetic variants located near GJD2<\/em>, RBFOX1<\/em>, LAMA2<\/em>, KCNQ5<\/em>, and LRRC4C<\/em>. For all five variants, there was an association for university-level education with an increased effect of the risk allele.<\/p>\n “Building on our previous research linking education and myopia, the new study identifies five genes associated with myopia development whose effects are amplified by additional years spent in education,” a coauthor said in a statement.<\/p>\n