Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Dec;14(6):505-517.
doi: 10.1007/s12687-023-00668-6. Epub 2023 Sep 13.

The Circassians and the Chechens in Jordan: results of a decade of epidemiological and genetic studies

Sara Abudahab  1   2 , Nancy Hakooz  2 , Laith Al-Etian  3 , Kawkab Shishani  4 , Adel Bashqawi  5 , John Connolly  6 , Joseph T Glessner  6   7   8 , Hui-Qi Qu  6 , Jingchun Qu  6 , Hakon Hakonarson  6   7   8 , Rana Dajani  9
Affiliations
Review

The Circassians and the Chechens in Jordan: results of a decade of epidemiological and genetic studies

Sara Abudahab et al. J Community Genet. 2023 Dec.

Abstract

Circassians and Chechens in Jordan, both with Caucasian ancestry, are genetically isolated due to high rate of endogamous marriages. Recent interest in these populations has led to studies on their genetic similarities, differences, and epidemiological differences in various diseases. Research has explored their predisposition to conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and cancer. Moreover, pharmacogenetic (PGx) studies have also investigated medication response variations within these populations, and forensic studies have further contributed to understanding these populations. In this review article, we first discuss the background of these minority groups. We then show the results of a principle component analysis (PCA) to investigate the genetic relationships between Circassian and Chechen populations living in Jordan. We here present a summary of the findings from the 10 years of research conducted on them. The review article provides a comprehensive summary of research findings that are truly valuable for understanding the unique genetic characteristics, diseases' prevalence, and medication responses among Circassians and Chechens living in Jordan. We believe that gaining deeper comprehension of the root causes of various diseases and developing effective treatment methods that benefit the society as a whole are imperative to engaging a wide range of ethnic groups in genetic research.

Keywords: Chechen; Circassian; Epidemiology; Genetics; Jordan; Pharmacogenetics.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The population structure of the Adyghe and the Chechens, a compared to other human populations and b Jordanians. The principal component data of population structure are from the PGG. Population database (Zhang et al. 2018). X-axis, PC1; Y-axis, PC2
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The population structure of the Circassians and the Chechens in Jordan, compared to other human populations. Data on the other human populations are based on the 1000 Genomes Project (https://www.internationalgenome.org/). a Compared to the three major human populations (X-axis, PC1; Y-axis, PC2); b compared to other European populations (X-axis, PC1; Y-axis, PC2); c compared to other European populations (X-axis, PC3; Y-axis, PC2); d the Circassians and the Chechens in Jordan (X-axis, PC5; Y-axis, PC6). Abbreviations: ChJ, Chechens in Jordan; CiJ, Circassians in Jordan; CEU, Europeans from the Centre d’Etude du Polymorphisme Humain (CEPH); FIN, Finnish; GBR, British; IBS, Iberian, Spanish; TSI, Toscani
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Abudahab S, Hakooz N, Jarrar Y, Al Shahhab M, Saleh A, Zihlif M, Dajani R. Interethnic variations of UGT1A1 and UGT1A7 polymorphisms in the Jordanian population. Curr Drug Metab. 2019;20(5):399–410. doi: 10.2174/1389200220666190528085151. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Abudahab S, Hakooz N, Tobeh N, Gogazeh E, Gharaibeh M, Al-Eitan L, Zihlif M, Dajani R. Variability of CYP2C8 polymorphisms in three Jordanian populations: Circassians, Chechens and Jordanian-Arabs. J Immigr Minor Health. 2022;24(5):1167–1176. doi: 10.1007/s10903-021-01264-x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ajlouni K, Khader YS, Batieha A, Ajlouni H, El-Khateeb M. An increase in prevalence of diabetes mellitus in Jordan over 10 years. J Diabetes Complications. 2008;22(5):317–324. doi: 10.1016/j.jdiacomp.2007.01.004. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Alavez-Rubio JS, Juarez-Cedillo T. ACAT1 as a therapeutic target and its genetic relationship with Alzheimer’s disease. Curr Alzheimer Res. 2019;16(8):699–709. doi: 10.2174/1567205016666190823125245. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Al-Daghastani T, Safarine Z, Abudahab S, Dajani R, Alshhab M, Al-Eitan L, Zihlif M, Hakooz N. Genetic variants of vascular endothelial growth factor-634 and vascular endothelial growth factor-936 in Circassians and Chechens subpopulations in Jordan. Arab J Chem. 2023;16(6):104762. doi: 10.1016/j.arabjc.2023.104762. - DOI

LinkOut - more resources