Genome-wide association study identifies common variants associated with circulating vitamin E levels

In genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of common genetic variants associated with circulating alpha- and gamma-tocopherol concentrations in two adult cohorts comprising 5006 men of European descent, we observed three loci associated with alpha-tocopherol levels, two novel single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), rs2108622 on 19pter-p13.11 (P= 1.7 × 10(−8)) and rs11057830 on 12q24.31 (P= 2.0 × 10(−8)) and confirmed a previously reported locus marked by rs964184 on 11q23.3 (P= 2.7 × 10(−10)). The three SNPs have been reported to be associated with lipid metabolism and/or regulation. We replicated these findings in a combined meta-analysis with two independent samples, P= 7.8 × 10(−12) (rs964184 on 11q23.3 near BUD13, ZNF259 and APOA1/C3/A4/A5), P= 1.4 × 10(−10) (rs2108622 on 19pter-p13.11 near CYP4F2) and P= 8.2 × 10(−9) (rs11057830 on 12q24.31 near SCARB1). Combined, these SNPs explain 1.7% of the residual variance in log alpha-tocopherol levels. In one of the two male GWAS cohorts (n= 992), no SNPs were significantly associated with gamma-tocopherol concentrations after including data from the replication sample for 71 independent SNPs with P< 1 × 10(−4) identified.