Abstract
Purpose
Back pain is the primary cause of disability worldwide yet surprisingly little is known of the underlying pathobiology. We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) meta-analysis of chronic back pain (CBP). Adults of European ancestry from 15 cohorts in the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) consortium, and UK Biobank were studied.
Methods
CBP cases were defined as reporting back pain present for ≥3–6 months; non-cases were included as comparisons (“controls”). Each cohort conducted genotyping followed by imputation. GWAS used logistic regression with additive genetic effects adjusting for age, sex, study-specific covariates, and population substructure. Suggestive (p<5×10–7) & genome-wide significant (p<5×10–8) variants were carried forward for replication in an independent sample of UK Biobank participants. Discovery sample n = 158,025 individuals, including 29,531 CBP cases.
Results
Genome-wide significant association was found for intron variant rs12310519 in SOX5 (OR=1.08, p=7.2×10−10). This was replicated in the independent sample n = 283,752, comprising 50,915 cases (OR 1.06, p=5.3×10−11); in joint meta-analysis OR=1.07, p=4.5×10−19 exceeding genome-wide significance. We found three other suggestive associations in discovery, two of which exceeded genome-wide significance in joint meta-analysis: an intergenic variant rs7833174 located between CCDC26 and GSDMC (OR 1.05, p=4.4×10−13), and an intron variant, rs4384683, in DCC (OR 0.97, p=2.4×10−10).
Conclusion
We have identified and replicated a genetic locus associated with CBP (SOX5). We also identified 2 other loci that reached genome-wide significance in a 2-stage joint meta-analysis (CCDC26/GSDMC and DCC) which will shed light on the pathogenic mechanisms underlying CBP.
Conflicts of interest: YA and LK are owners of Maatschap PolyOmica.
This study was supported by the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme funded project PainOmics (Grant agreement n. 602736) and conducted using the UK Biobank Resource (project # 18219). CHARGE and other cohort-specific funding sources to be submitted- see below
