The genetic architecture of type 2 diabetes.

The genetic architecture of common traits, including the number, frequency, and effect sizes of inherited variants that contribute to individual risk, has been long debated. Genome-wide association studies have identified scores of common variants associated with type 2 diabetes, but in aggregate, these explain only a fraction of the heritability of this disease. Here, to test the hypothesis that lower-frequency variants explain much of the remainder, the GoT2D and T2D-GENES consortia performed whole-genome sequencing in 2,657 European individuals with and without diabetes, and exome sequencing in 12,940 individuals from five ancestry groups. To increase statistical power, we expanded the sample size via genotyping and imputation in a further 111,548 subjects. Variants associated with type 2 diabetes after sequencing were overwhelmingly common and most fell within regions previously identified by genome-wide association studies. Comprehensive enumeration of sequence variation is necessary to identify functional alleles that provide important clues to disease pathophysiology, but large-scale sequencing does not support the idea that lower-frequency variants have a major role in predisposition to type 2 diabetes.

Differences in the Presentation and Progression of Parkinson's Disease by Sex.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies reported various symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD) associated with sex. Some were conflicting or confirmed in only one study. OBJECTIVES: We examined sex associations to PD phenotypes cross-sectionally and longitudinally in large-scale data. METHODS: We tested 40 clinical phenotypes, using longitudinal, clinic-based patient cohorts, consisting of 5946 patients, with a median follow-up of 3.1 years. For continuous outcomes, we used linear regressions at baseline to test sex-associated differences in presentation, and linear mixed-effects models to test sex-associated differences in progression. For binomial outcomes, we used logistic regression models at baseline and Cox regression models for survival analyses. We adjusted for age, disease duration, and medication use. In the secondary analyses, data from 17 719 PD patients and 7588 non-PD participants from an online-only, self-assessment PD cohort were cross-sectionally evaluated to determine whether the sex-associated differences identified in the primary analyses were consistent and unique to PD. RESULTS: Female PD patients had a higher risk of developing dyskinesia early during the follow-up period, with a slower progression in activities of daily living difficulties, and a lower risk of developing cognitive impairments compared with male patients. The findings in the longitudinal, clinic-based cohorts were mostly consistent with the results of the online-only cohort. CONCLUSIONS: We observed sex-associated contributions to PD heterogeneity. These results highlight the necessity of future research to determine the underlying mechanisms and importance of personalized clinical management. © 2020 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

Genetic variability and potential effects on clinical trial outcomes: perspectives in Parkinson's disease.

BACKGROUND: Classical randomisation of clinical trial patients creates a source of genetic variance that may be contributing to the high failure rate seen in neurodegenerative disease trials. Our objective was to quantify genetic difference between randomised trial arms and determine how imbalance can affect trial outcomes. METHODS: 5851 patients with Parkinson's disease of European ancestry data and two simulated virtual cohorts based on public data were used. Data were resampled at different sizes for 1000 iterations and randomly assigned to the two arms of a simulated trial. False-negative and false-positive rates were estimated using simulated clinical trials, and per cent difference in genetic risk score (GRS) and allele frequency was calculated to quantify variance between arms. RESULTS: 5851 patients with Parkinson's disease (mean (SD) age, 61.02 (12.61) years; 2095 women (35.81%)) as well as simulated patients from virtually created cohorts were used in the study. Approximately 90% of the iterations had at least one statistically significant difference in individual risk SNPs between each trial arm. Approximately 5%-6% of iterations had a statistically significant difference between trial arms in mean GRS. For significant iterations, the average per cent difference for mean GRS between trial arms was 130.87%, 95% CI 120.89 to 140.85 (n=200). Glucocerebrocidase (GBA) gene-only simulations see an average 18.86%, 95% CI 18.01 to 19.71 difference in GRS scores between trial arms (n=50). When adding a drug effect of -0.5 points in MDS-UPDRS per year at n=50, 33.9% of trials resulted in false negatives. CONCLUSIONS: Our data support the hypothesis that within genetically unmatched clinical trials, genetic heterogeneity could confound true therapeutic effects as expected. Clinical trials should undergo pretrial genetic adjustment or, at the minimum, post-trial adjustment and analysis for failed trials.

Genomewide association study of Parkinson's disease clinical biomarkers in 12 longitudinal patients' cohorts.

BACKGROUND: Several reports have identified different patterns of Parkinson's disease progression in individuals carrying missense variants in GBA or LRRK2 genes. The overall contribution of genetic factors to the severity and progression of Parkinson's disease, however, has not been well studied. OBJECTIVES: To test the association between genetic variants and the clinical features of Parkinson's disease on a genomewide scale. METHODS: We accumulated individual data from 12 longitudinal cohorts in a total of 4093 patients with 22,307 observations for a median of 3.81 years. Genomewide associations were evaluated for 25 cross-sectional and longitudinal phenotypes. Specific variants of interest, including 90 recently identified disease-risk variants, were also investigated post hoc for candidate associations with these phenotypes. RESULTS: Two variants were genomewide significant. Rs382940(T>A), within the intron of SLC44A1, was associated with reaching Hoehn and Yahr stage 3 or higher faster (hazard ratio 2.04 [1.58-2.62]; P value = 3.46E-8). Rs61863020(G>A), an intergenic variant and expression quantitative trait loci for α-2A adrenergic receptor, was associated with a lower prevalence of insomnia at baseline (odds ratio 0.63 [0.52-0.75]; P value = 4.74E-8). In the targeted analysis, we found 9 associations between known Parkinson's risk variants and more severe motor/cognitive symptoms. Also, we replicated previous reports of GBA coding variants (rs2230288: p.E365K; rs75548401: p.T408M) being associated with greater motor and cognitive decline over time, and an APOE E4 tagging variant (rs429358) being associated with greater cognitive deficits in patients. CONCLUSIONS: We identified novel genetic factors associated with heterogeneity of Parkinson's disease. The results can be used for validation or hypothesis tests regarding Parkinson's disease. © 2019 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

Radiographic endophenotyping in hip osteoarthritis improves the precision of genetic association analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Osteoarthritis (OA) has a strong genetic component but the success of previous genome-wide association studies (GWAS) has been restricted due to insufficient sample sizes and phenotype heterogeneity. Our aim was to examine the effect of clinically relevant endophenotyping according to site of maximal joint space narrowing (maxJSN) and bone remodelling response on GWAS signal detection in hip OA. METHODS: A stratified GWAS meta-analysis was conducted in 2118 radiographically defined hip OA cases and 6500 population-based controls. Signals were followed up by analysing differential expression of proximal genes for bone remodelling endophenotypes in 33 pairs of macroscopically intact and OA-affected cartilage. RESULTS: We report suggestive evidence (p<5×10-6) of association at 6 variants with OA endophenotypes that would have been missed by using presence of hip OA as the disease end point. For example, in the analysis of hip OA cases with superior maxJSN versus cases with non-superior maxJSN we detected association with a variant in the LRCH1 gene (rs754106, p=1.49×10-7, OR (95% CIs) 0.70 (0.61 to 0.80)). In the comparison of hypertrophic with non-hypertrophic OA the most significant variant was located between STT3B and GADL1 (rs6766414, p=3.13×10-6, OR (95% CIs) 1.45 (1.24 to 1.69)). Both of these associations were fully attenuated in non-stratified analyses of all hip OA cases versus population controls (p>0.05). STT3B was significantly upregulated in OA-affected versus intact cartilage, particularly in the analysis of hypertrophic and normotrophic compared with atrophic bone remodelling pattern (p=4.2×10-4). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrate that stratification of OA cases into more homogeneous endophenotypes can identify genes of potential functional importance otherwise obscured by disease heterogeneity.

Whole Genome Sequencing Reveals a Chromosome 9p Deletion Causing DOCK8 Deficiency in an Adult Diagnosed with Hyper IgE Syndrome Who Developed Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy.

PURPOSE: A 30 year-old man with a history of recurrent skin infections as well as elevated serum IgE and eosinophils developed neurological symptoms and had T2-hyperintense lesions observed in cerebral MRI. The immune symptoms were attributed to Hyper IgE syndrome (HIES) and the neurological symptoms with presence of JC virus in cerebrospinal fluid were diagnosed as Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy (PML). The patient was negative for STAT3 mutations. To determine if other mutations explain HIES and/or PML in this subject, his DNA was analyzed by whole genome sequencing. METHODS: Whole genome sequencing was completed to 30X coverage, and whole genome SNP typing was used to complement these data. The methods revealed single nucleotide variants, structural variants, and copy number variants across the genome. Genome-wide data were analyzed for homozygous or compound heterozygous null mutations for all protein coding genes. Mutations were confirmed by PCR and/or Sanger sequencing. RESULTS: Whole genome analysis revealed deletions near the telomere of both copies of chromosome 9p. Several genes, including DOCK8, were impacted by the deletions but it was unclear whether each chromosome had identical or distinct deletions. PCR across the impacted region combined with Sanger sequencing of selected fragments confirmed a homozygous deletion from position 10,211 to 586,751. CONCLUSION: While several genes are impacted by the deletion, DOCK8 deficiency is the most probable cause of HIES in this patient. DOCK8 deficiency may have also predisposed the patient to develop PML.

A variant in MCF2L is associated with osteoarthritis.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a prevalent, heritable degenerative joint disease with a substantial public health impact. We used a 1000-Genomes-Project-based imputation in a genome-wide association scan for osteoarthritis (3177 OA cases and 4894 controls) to detect a previously unidentified risk locus. We discovered a small disease-associated set of variants on chromosome 13. Through large-scale replication, we establish a robust association with SNPs in MCF2L (rs11842874, combined odds ratio [95% confidence interval] 1.17 [1.11-1.23], p = 2.1 × 10(-8)) across a total of 19,041 OA cases and 24,504 controls of European descent. This risk locus represents the third established signal for OA overall. MCF2L regulates a nerve growth factor (NGF), and treatment with a humanized monoclonal antibody against NGF is associated with reduction in pain and improvement in function for knee OA patients.

A meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies identifies novel variants associated with osteoarthritis of the hip.

OBJECTIVES: Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of arthritis with a clear genetic component. To identify novel loci associated with hip OA we performed a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) on European subjects. METHODS: We performed a two-stage meta-analysis on more than 78,000 participants. In stage 1, we synthesised data from eight GWAS whereas data from 10 centres were used for 'in silico' or 'de novo' replication. Besides the main analysis, a stratified by sex analysis was performed to detect possible sex-specific signals. Meta-analysis was performed using inverse-variance fixed effects models. A random effects approach was also used. RESULTS: We accumulated 11,277 cases of radiographic and symptomatic hip OA. We prioritised eight single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) for follow-up in the discovery stage (4349 OA cases); five from the combined analysis, two male specific and one female specific. One locus, at 20q13, represented by rs6094710 (minor allele frequency (MAF) 4%) near the NCOA3 (nuclear receptor coactivator 3) gene, reached genome-wide significance level with p=7.9×10(-9) and OR=1.28 (95% CI 1.18 to 1.39) in the combined analysis of discovery (p=5.6×10(-8)) and follow-up studies (p=7.3×10(-4)). We showed that this gene is expressed in articular cartilage and its expression was significantly reduced in OA-affected cartilage. Moreover, two loci remained suggestive associated; rs5009270 at 7q31 (MAF 30%, p=9.9×10(-7), OR=1.10) and rs3757837 at 7p13 (MAF 6%, p=2.2×10(-6), OR=1.27 in male specific analysis). CONCLUSIONS: Novel genetic loci for hip OA were found in this meta-analysis of GWAS.

Genome-wide association analysis of imputed rare variants: application to seven common complex diseases.

Genome-wide association studies have been successful in identifying loci contributing effects to a range of complex human traits. The majority of reproducible associations within these loci are with common variants, each of modest effect, which together explain only a small proportion of heritability. It has been suggested that much of the unexplained genetic component of complex traits can thus be attributed to rare variation. However, genome-wide association study genotyping chips have been designed primarily to capture common variation, and thus are underpowered to detect the effects of rare variants. Nevertheless, we demonstrate here, by simulation, that imputation from an existing scaffold of genome-wide genotype data up to high-density reference panels has the potential to identify rare variant associations with complex traits, without the need for costly re-sequencing experiments. By application of this approach to genome-wide association studies of seven common complex diseases, imputed up to publicly available reference panels, we identify genome-wide significant evidence of rare variant association in PRDM10 with coronary artery disease and multiple genes in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) with type 1 diabetes. The results of our analyses highlight that genome-wide association studies have the potential to offer an exciting opportunity for gene discovery through association with rare variants, conceivably leading to substantial advancements in our understanding of the genetic architecture underlying complex human traits.

Identification of new susceptibility loci for osteoarthritis (arcOGEN): a genome-wide association study.

BACKGROUND: Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis worldwide and is a major cause of pain and disability in elderly people. The health economic burden of osteoarthritis is increasing commensurate with obesity prevalence and longevity. Osteoarthritis has a strong genetic component but the success of previous genetic studies has been restricted due to insufficient sample sizes and phenotype heterogeneity. METHODS: We undertook a large genome-wide association study (GWAS) in 7410 unrelated and retrospectively and prospectively selected patients with severe osteoarthritis in the arcOGEN study, 80% of whom had undergone total joint replacement, and 11,009 unrelated controls from the UK. We replicated the most promising signals in an independent set of up to 7473 cases and 42,938 controls, from studies in Iceland, Estonia, the Netherlands, and the UK. All patients and controls were of European descent. FINDINGS: We identified five genome-wide significant loci (binomial test p≤5·0×10(-8)) for association with osteoarthritis and three loci just below this threshold. The strongest association was on chromosome 3 with rs6976 (odds ratio 1·12 [95% CI 1·08-1·16]; p=7·24×10(-11)), which is in perfect linkage disequilibrium with rs11177. This SNP encodes a missense polymorphism within the nucleostemin-encoding gene GNL3. Levels of nucleostemin were raised in chondrocytes from patients with osteoarthritis in functional studies. Other significant loci were on chromosome 9 close to ASTN2, chromosome 6 between FILIP1 and SENP6, chromosome 12 close to KLHDC5 and PTHLH, and in another region of chromosome 12 close to CHST11. One of the signals close to genome-wide significance was within the FTO gene, which is involved in regulation of bodyweight-a strong risk factor for osteoarthritis. All risk variants were common in frequency and exerted small effects. INTERPRETATION: Our findings provide insight into the genetics of arthritis and identify new pathways that might be amenable to future therapeutic intervention. FUNDING: arcOGEN was funded by a special purpose grant from Arthritis Research UK.

ARIEL and AMELIA: testing for an accumulation of rare variants using next-generation sequencing data.

OBJECTIVES: There is increasing evidence that rare variants play a role in some complex traits, but their analysis is not straightforward. Locus-based tests become necessary due to low power in rare variant single-point association analyses. In addition, variant quality scores are available for sequencing data, but are rarely taken into account. Here, we propose two locus-based methods that incorporate variant quality scores: a regression-based collapsing approach and an allele-matching method. METHODS: Using simulated sequencing data we compare 4 locus-based tests of trait association under different scenarios of data quality. We test two collapsing-based approaches and two allele-matching-based approaches, taking into account variant quality scores and ignoring variant quality scores. We implement the collapsing and allele-matching approaches accounting for variant quality in the freely available ARIEL and AMELIA software. RESULTS: The incorporation of variant quality scores in locus-based association tests has power advantages over weighting each variant equally. The allele-matching methods are robust to the presence of both protective and risk variants in a locus, while collapsing methods exhibit a dramatic loss of power in this scenario. CONCLUSIONS: The incorporation of variant quality scores should be a standard protocol when performing locus-based association analysis on sequencing data. The ARIEL and AMELIA software implement collapsing and allele-matching locus association analysis methods, respectively, that allow the incorporation of variant quality scores.

Linkage analysis without defined pedigrees.

The need to collect accurate and complete pedigree information has been a drawback of family-based linkage and association studies. Even in case-control studies, investigators should be aware of, and condition on, familial relationships. In single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genome scans, relatedness can be directly inferred from the genetic data rather than determined through interviews. Various methods of estimating relatedness have previously been implemented, most notably in PLINK. We present new fast and accurate algorithms for estimating global and local kinship coefficients from dense SNP genotypes. These algorithms require only a single pass through the SNP genotype data. We also show that these estimates can be used to cluster individuals into pedigrees. With these estimates in hand, quantitative trait locus linkage analysis proceeds via traditional variance components methods without any prior relationship information. We demonstrate the success of our algorithms on simulated and real data sets. Our procedures make linkage analysis as easy as a typical genomewide association study.

Unifying ideas for non-parametric linkage analysis.

OBJECTIVES: Non-parametric linkage analysis (NPL) exploits marker allele sharing among affected relatives to map genes influencing complex traits. Computational barriers force approximate analysis on large pedigrees and the adoption of a questionable perfect data assumption (PDA) in assigning p values. To improve NPL significance testing on large pedigrees, we examine the adverse consequences of missing data and PDA. We also introduce a novel statistic, Q-NPL, appropriate for NPL analysis of quantitative traits. METHODS: Using simulated and real data sets with qualitative traits, we compare NPL analysis results for four testing procedures and various degrees of missing data. The simulated data sets vary from all nuclear families, to all large pedigrees, to a mix of pedigrees of different sizes. We implemented the Kong and Cox linear adjustment of p values in the software packages Mendel and SimWalk. We perform similar analysis with Q-NPL on quantitative traits of various heritabilities. RESULTS: The Kong and Cox extension for significance testing is robust to realistic missing data patterns, greatly improves p values in approximate analyses, and works equally well for qualitative and quantitative traits and small and large pedigrees. The Q-NPL statistic is robust to missing data and shows good power to detect linkage for quantitative traits with a wide spectrum of heritabilities. CONCLUSIONS: The Kong and Cox extension should be a standard tool for calculating NPL p values. It allows the combination of exact and estimated analyses into a single significance score. Q-NPL should be a standard statistic for NPL analysis of quantitative traits. The new statistics are implemented in Mendel and SimWalk.

The effect of next-generation sequencing technology on complex trait research.

BACKGROUND: Advances in the understanding of complex trait genetics have always been enabled by advances in genomic technology. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) is set to revolutionize the way complex trait genetics research is carried out. RESULTS: NGS has multiple applications in the field of human genetics, but is accompanied by substantial study design, analysis and interpretation challenges. This review discusses key aspects of study design considerations, data handling issues and required analytical developments. We also highlight early successes in mapping genetic traits using NGS. CONCLUSION: NGS opens the entire spectrum of genomic alterations for the genetic analysis of complex traits and there are early publications illustrating its power. Continuing development in analytical tools will allow the promise of NGS to be realized.

CCRaVAT and QuTie-enabling analysis of rare variants in large-scale case control and quantitative trait association studies.

BACKGROUND: Genome-wide association studies have been successful in finding common variants influencing common traits. However, these associations only account for a fraction of trait heritability. There has been a shift in the field towards studying low frequency and rare variants, which are now widely recognised as putative complex trait determinants. Despite this increasing focus on examining the role of low frequency and rare variants in complex disease susceptibility, there is a lack of user-friendly analytical packages implementing powerful association tests for the analysis of rare variants. RESULTS: We have developed two software tools, CCRaVAT (Case-Control Rare Variant Analysis Tool) and QuTie (Quantitative Trait), which enable efficient large-scale analysis of low frequency and rare variants. Both programs implement a collapsing method examining the accumulation of low frequency and rare variants across a locus of interest that has more power than single variant analysis. CCRaVAT carries out case-control analyses whereas QuTie has been developed for continuous trait analysis. CONCLUSIONS: CCRaVAT and QuTie are easy to use software tools that allow users to perform genome-wide association analysis on low frequency and rare variants for both binary and quantitative traits. The software is freely available and provides the genetics community with a resource to perform association analysis on rarer genetic variants.

Large-scale association analysis of TNF/LTA gene region polymorphisms in type 2 diabetes.

BACKGROUND: The TNF/LTA locus has been a long-standing T2D candidate gene. Several studies have examined association of TNF/LTA SNPs with T2D but the majority have been small-scale and produced no convincing evidence of association. The purpose of this study is to examine T2D association of tag SNPs in the TNF/LTA region capturing the majority of common variation in a large-scale sample set of UK/Irish origin. METHODS: This study comprised a case-control (1520 cases and 2570 control samples) and a family-based component (423 parent-offspring trios). Eleven tag SNPs (rs928815, rs909253, rs746868, rs1041981 (T60N), rs1800750, rs1800629 (G-308A), rs361525 (G-238A), rs3093662, rs3093664, rs3093665, and rs3093668) were selected across the TNF/LTA locus and genotyped using a fluorescence-based competitive allele specific assay. Quality control of the obtained genotypes was performed prior to single- and multi-point association analyses under the additive model. RESULTS: We did not find any consistent SNP associations with T2D in the case-control or family-based datasets. CONCLUSIONS: The present study, designed to analyse a set of tag SNPs specifically selected to capture the majority of common variation in the TNF/LTA gene region, found no robust evidence for association with T2D. To investigate the presence of smaller effects of TNF/LTA gene variation with T2D, a large-scale meta-analysis will be required.

GLIDERS--a web-based search engine for genome-wide linkage disequilibrium between HapMap SNPs.

BACKGROUND: A number of tools for the examination of linkage disequilibrium (LD) patterns between nearby alleles exist, but none are available for quickly and easily investigating LD at longer ranges (>500 kb). We have developed a web-based query tool (GLIDERS: Genome-wide LInkage DisEquilibrium Repository and Search engine) that enables the retrieval of pairwise associations with r2 >or= 0.3 across the human genome for any SNP genotyped within HapMap phase 2 and 3, regardless of distance between the markers. DESCRIPTION: GLIDERS is an easy to use web tool that only requires the user to enter rs numbers of SNPs they want to retrieve genome-wide LD for (both nearby and long-range). The intuitive web interface handles both manual entry of SNP IDs as well as allowing users to upload files of SNP IDs. The user can limit the resulting inter SNP associations with easy to use menu options. These include MAF limit (5-45%), distance limits between SNPs (minimum and maximum), r2 (0.3 to 1), HapMap population sample (CEU, YRI and JPT+CHB combined) and HapMap build/release. All resulting genome-wide inter-SNP associations are displayed on a single output page, which has a link to a downloadable tab delimited text file. CONCLUSION: GLIDERS is a quick and easy way to retrieve genome-wide inter-SNP associations and to explore LD patterns for any number of SNPs of interest. GLIDERS can be useful in identifying SNPs with long-range LD. This can highlight mis-mapping or other potential association signal localisation problems.

Genetic risk of Parkinson disease and progression:: An analysis of 13 longitudinal cohorts.

OBJECTIVE: To determine if any association between previously identified alleles that confer risk for Parkinson disease and variables measuring disease progression. METHODS: We evaluated the association between 31 risk variants and variables measuring disease progression. A total of 23,423 visits by 4,307 patients of European ancestry from 13 longitudinal cohorts in Europe, North America, and Australia were analyzed. RESULTS: We confirmed the importance of GBA on phenotypes. GBA variants were associated with the development of daytime sleepiness (p.N370S: hazard ratio [HR] 3.28 [1.69-6.34]) and possible REM sleep behavior (p.T408M: odds ratio 6.48 [2.04-20.60]). We also replicated previously reported associations of GBA variants with motor/cognitive declines. The other genotype-phenotype associations include an intergenic variant near LRRK2 and the faster development of motor symptom (Hoehn and Yahr scale 3.0 HR 1.33 [1.16-1.52] for the C allele of rs76904798) and an intronic variant in PMVK and the development of wearing-off effects (HR 1.66 [1.19-2.31] for the C allele of rs114138760). Age at onset was associated with TMEM175 variant p.M393T (-0.72 [-1.21 to -0.23] in years), the C allele of rs199347 (intronic region of GPNMB, 0.70 [0.27-1.14]), and G allele of rs1106180 (intronic region of CCDC62, 0.62 [0.21-1.03]). CONCLUSIONS: This study provides evidence that alleles associated with Parkinson disease risk, in particular GBA variants, also contribute to the heterogeneity of multiple motor and nonmotor aspects. Accounting for genetic variability will be a useful factor in understanding disease course and in minimizing heterogeneity in clinical trials.

PINES: phenotype-informed tissue weighting improves prediction of pathogenic noncoding variants.

Functional characterization of the noncoding genome is essential for biological understanding of gene regulation and disease. Here, we introduce the computational framework PINES (Phenotype-Informed Noncoding Element Scoring), which predicts the functional impact of noncoding variants by integrating epigenetic annotations in a phenotype-dependent manner. PINES enables analyses to be customized towards genomic annotations from cell types of the highest relevance given the phenotype of interest. We illustrate that PINES identifies functional noncoding variation more accurately than methods that do not use phenotype-weighted knowledge, while at the same time being flexible and easy to use via a dedicated web portal.

A whole-genome sequence study identifies genetic risk factors for neuromyelitis optica.

Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is a rare autoimmune disease that affects the optic nerve and spinal cord. Most NMO patients ( > 70%) are seropositive for circulating autoantibodies against aquaporin 4 (NMO-IgG+). Here, we meta-analyze whole-genome sequences from 86 NMO cases and 460 controls with genome-wide SNP array from 129 NMO cases and 784 controls to test for association with SNPs and copy number variation (total N = 215 NMO cases, 1244 controls). We identify two independent signals in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) region associated with NMO-IgG+, one of which may be explained by structural variation in the complement component 4 genes. Mendelian Randomization analysis reveals a significant causal effect of known systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), but not multiple sclerosis (MS), risk variants in NMO-IgG+. Our results suggest that genetic variants in the MHC region contribute to the etiology of NMO-IgG+ and that NMO-IgG+ is genetically more similar to SLE than MS.