%0 Journal Article %A M Mangino %A J B Richards %A N Soranzo %A G Zhai %A A Aviv %A A M Valdes %A N J Samani %A P Deloukas %A T D Spector %T A genome-wide association study identifies a novel locus on chromosome 18q12.2 influencing white cell telomere length %D 2009 %R 10.1136/jmg.2008.064956 %J Journal of Medical Genetics %P 451-454 %V 46 %N 7 %X Background: Telomere length is a predictor for a number of common age related diseases and is a heritable trait.Methods and results: To identify new loci associated with mean leukocyte telomere length we conducted a genome wide association study of 314 075 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and validated the results in a second cohort (n for both cohorts combined  =  2790). We identified two novel associated variants (rs2162440, p = 2.6×10−6; and rs7235755, p = 5.5×10−6) on chromosome 18q12.2 in the same region as the VPS34/PIKC3C gene, which has been directly implicated in the pathway controlling telomere length variation in yeast.Conclusion: These results provide new insights into the pathways regulating telomere homeostasis in humans. %U https://jmg.bmj.com/content/jmedgenet/46/7/451.full.pdf