A Novel Macrophage Subpopulation Conveys Increased Genetic Risk of Coronary Artery Disease.
Circ Res
; 135(1): 6-25, 2024 Jun 21.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38747151
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Coronary artery disease (CAD), the leading cause of death worldwide, is influenced by both environmental and genetic factors. Although over 250 genetic risk loci have been identified through genome-wide association studies, the specific causal variants and their regulatory mechanisms are still largely unknown, particularly in disease-relevant cell types such as macrophages.METHODS:
We utilized single-cell RNA-seq and single-cell multiomics approaches in primary human monocyte-derived macrophages to explore the transcriptional regulatory network involved in a critical pathogenic event of coronary atherosclerosis-the formation of lipid-laden foam cells. The relative genetic contribution to CAD was assessed by partitioning disease heritability across different macrophage subpopulations. Meta-analysis of single-cell RNA-seq data sets from 38 human atherosclerotic samples was conducted to provide high-resolution cross-referencing to macrophage subpopulations in vivo.RESULTS:
We identified 18â 782 cis-regulatory elements by jointly profiling the gene expression and chromatin accessibility of >5000 macrophages. Integration with CAD genome-wide association study data prioritized 121 CAD-related genetic variants and 56 candidate causal genes. We showed that CAD heritability was not uniformly distributed and was particularly enriched in the gene programs of a novel CD52-hi lipid-handling macrophage subpopulation. These CD52-hi macrophages displayed significantly less lipoprotein accumulation and were also found in human atherosclerotic plaques. We investigated the cis-regulatory effect of a risk variant rs10488763 on FDX1, implicating the recruitment of AP-1 and C/EBP-ß in the causal mechanisms at this locus.CONCLUSIONS:
Our results provide genetic evidence of the divergent roles of macrophage subsets in atherogenesis and highlight lipid-handling macrophages as a key subpopulation through which genetic variants operate to influence disease. These findings provide an unbiased framework for functional fine-mapping of genome-wide association study results using single-cell multiomics and offer new insights into the genotype-environment interactions underlying atherosclerotic disease.Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Bases de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Enfermedad de la Arteria Coronaria
/
Predisposición Genética a la Enfermedad
/
Estudio de Asociación del Genoma Completo
/
Macrófagos
Límite:
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Circ Res
Año:
2024
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Reino Unido