White Matter Integrity and Nicotine Dependence: Evaluating Vertical and Horizontal Pleiotropy.

ABSTRACT: Tobacco smoking is an addictive behavior that supports nicotine dependence and is an independent risk factor for cancer and other illnesses. Its neurogenetic mechanisms are not fully understood but may act through alterations in the cerebral white matter (WM). We hypothesized that the vertical pleiotropic pathways, where genetic variants influence a trait that in turn influences another trait, link genetic factors, integrity of cerebral WM, and nicotine addiction. We tested this hypothesis using individual genetic factors, WM integrity measured by fractional anisotropy (FA), and nicotine dependence-related smoking phenotypes, including smoking status (SS) and cigarettes per day (CPDs), in a large epidemiological sample collected by the UK Biobank. We performed a genome-wide association stu

SUBMITTER: Ye Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8551454 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature