Abstract
The gene encoding the transcription factor upstream stimulatory factor (USF)1 influences susceptibility to familial combined hyperlipidemia (FCHL) and triglyceride levels. Phenotypic overlap between FCHL and type 2 diabetes makes USF1 a compelling positional candidate for the widely replicated type 2 diabetes linkage signal on chromosome 1q. We typed 22 variants in the F11R/USF1 region (1 per 3 kb), including those previously implicated in FCHL-susceptibility (or proxies thereof) in 3,726 samples preferentially enriched for 1q linkage. We also examined glucose- and lipid-related continuous traits in an overlapping set of 1,215 subjects of European descent. There was no convincing evidence for association with type 2 diabetes in any of seven case-control comparisons, individually or combined. Family-based association analyses in 832 Pima subjects were similarly negative. At rs3737787 (the variant most strongly associated with FCHL), the combined odds ratio, per copy of the rarer A-allele, was 1.10 (95% CI 0.97–1.24, P = 0.13). In 124 Utah subjects, rs3737787 was significantly associated (P = 0.002) with triglyceride levels, but direction of this association was opposite to previous reports, and there was no corroboration in three other samples. These data exclude USF1 as a major contributor to type 2 diabetes susceptibility and the basis for the chromosome 1q linkage. They reveal only limited evidence for replication of USF1 effects on continuous metabolic traits.