Pik Fang Kho
Postdoctoral Scholar, Cardiovascular Medicine
Contact
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7831-6062All Publications
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A shared genetic signature for common chronic pain conditions and its impact on biopsychosocial traits.
The journal of pain
2022
Abstract
The multiple comorbidities & dimensions of chronic pain present a formidable challenge in disentangling its aetiology. Here, we performed genome-wide association studies of eight chronic pain types using UK Biobank data (N=4,037-79,089 cases; N=239,125 controls), followed by bivariate linkage disequilibrium-score regression and latent causal variable analyses to determine (respectively) their genetic correlations and genetic causal proportion (GCP) parameters with 1,492 other complex traits. We report evidence of a shared genetic signature across chronic pain types as their genetic correlations and GCP directions were broadly consistent across an array of biopsychosocial traits. Across 5,942 significant genetic correlations, 570 trait pairs could be explained by a causal association (|GCP| > 0.6; 5% false discovery rate), including 82 traits affected by pain while 410 contributed to an increased risk of chronic pain (cf. 78 with a decreased risk) such as certain somatic pathologies (e.g., musculoskeletal), psychiatric traits (e.g., depression), socioeconomic factors (e.g., occupation) and medical comorbidities (e.g., cardiovascular disease). This data-driven phenome-wide association analysis has demonstrated a novel and efficient strategy for identifying genetically supported risk & protective traits to enhance the design of interventional trials targeting underlying causal factors and accelerate the development of more effective treatments with broader clinical utility. PERSPECTIVE: Through large-scale phenome-wide association analyses of >1,400 biopsychosocial traits, this article provides evidence for a shared genetic signature across eight common chronic pain types. It lays the foundation for further translational studies focused on identifying causal genetic variants and pathophysiological pathways to develop novel diagnostic & therapeutic technologies and strategies.
View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jpain.2022.10.005
View details for PubMedID 36252619
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Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate and Colorectal Cancer Risk: A Mendelian Randomization Analysis.
Twin research and human genetics : the official journal of the International Society for Twin Studies
2022: 1-7
Abstract
Colorectal cancer is the third most common and second most deadly type of cancer worldwide, with approximately 1.9 million cases and 0.9 million deaths worldwide in 2020. Previous studies have shown that estrogen and testosterone hormones are associated with colorectal cancer risk and mortality. However, the potential effect of their precursor, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS), on colorectal cancer risk has not been investigated. Therefore, evaluating DHEAS's effect on colorectal cancer will expand our understanding of the hormonal contribution to colorectal cancer risk. In this study, we conducted a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to investigate the causal effect of DHEAS on colorectal cancer. We obtained DHEAS and colorectal cancer genomewide association study (GWAS) summary statistics from the Leipzig Health Atlas and the GWAS catalog and conducted MR analyses using the TwoSampleMR R package. Our results suggest that higher DHEAS levels are causally associated with decreased colorectal cancer risk (odds ratio per unit increase in DHEAS levels z score = 0.70; 95% confidence interval [0.51, 0.96]), which is in line with previous observations in a case-control study of colon cancer. The outcome of this study will be beneficial in developing plasma DHEAS-based biomarkers in colorectal cancer. Further studies should be conducted to interpret the DHEAS-colorectal cancer association among different ancestries and populations.
View details for DOI 10.1017/thg.2022.31
View details for PubMedID 36053043