Genotype-by-sex interaction on fasting insulin concentration: the HyperGEN study

Recent studies have demonstrated the importance of sex effects on the underlying genetic architecture of insulin-related traits. To explore sex-specific genetic effects on fasting insulin, we tested for genotype-by-sex interaction and conducted linkage analysis of fasting insulin in Hypertension Genetic Epidemiology Network families. Hypertensive siblings and their first-degree relatives were recruited from five field centers. We performed a genome scan for quantitative trait loci influencing fasting insulin among 1,505 European Americans and 1,616 African Americans without diabetes. Sex-stratified linear regression models, adjusted for race, center, and age, were explored. The Mammalian Genotyping Service typed 391 microsatellite markers, spaced roughly 9 cM. Variance component linkage analysis was performed in SOLAR using ethnic-specific marker allele frequencies and multipoint IBDs calculated in MERLIN. We detected a quantitative trait locus influencing fasting insulin in female subjects (logarithm of odds [LOD] = 3.4) on chromosome 2 at 95 cM (between GATA69E12 and GATA71G04) but not in male subjects (LOD = 0.0, P for interaction = 0.007). This sex-specific signal at 2p13.2 was detected in both European-American (LOD = 2.1) and African-American (LOD = 1.2) female subjects. Our findings overlap with several other linkage reports of insulin-related traits and demonstrate the importance of considering complex context-dependent interactions in the search for insulin-related genes.