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1.
Ann Rheum Dis ; 2024 Mar 13.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38479789

RESUMO

OBJECTIVES: Osteoarthritis is a complex disease with a huge public health burden. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified hundreds of osteoarthritis-associated sequence variants, but the effector genes underpinning these signals remain largely elusive. Understanding chromosome organisation in three-dimensional (3D) space is essential for identifying long-range contacts between distant genomic features (e.g., between genes and regulatory elements), in a tissue-specific manner. Here, we generate the first whole genome chromosome conformation analysis (Hi-C) map of primary osteoarthritis chondrocytes and identify novel candidate effector genes for the disease. METHODS: Primary chondrocytes collected from 8 patients with knee osteoarthritis underwent Hi-C analysis to link chromosomal structure to genomic sequence. The identified loops were then combined with osteoarthritis GWAS results and epigenomic data from primary knee osteoarthritis chondrocytes to identify variants involved in gene regulation via enhancer-promoter interactions. RESULTS: We identified 345 genetic variants residing within chromatin loop anchors that are associated with 77 osteoarthritis GWAS signals. Ten of these variants reside directly in enhancer regions of 10 newly described active enhancer-promoter loops, identified with multiomics analysis of publicly available chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq) and assay for transposase-accessible chromatin using sequencing (ATAC-seq) data from primary knee chondrocyte cells, pointing to two new candidate effector genes SPRY4 and PAPPA (pregnancy-associated plasma protein A) as well as further support for the gene SLC44A2 known to be involved in osteoarthritis. For example, PAPPA is directly associated with the turnover of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) proteins, and IGF-1 is an important factor in the repair of damaged chondrocytes. CONCLUSIONS: We have constructed the first Hi-C map of primary human chondrocytes and have made it available as a resource for the scientific community. By integrating 3D genomics with large-scale genetic association and epigenetic data, we identify novel candidate effector genes for osteoarthritis, which enhance our understanding of disease and can serve as putative high-value novel drug targets.

3.
Sci Rep ; 13(1): 22796, 2023 12 20.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38129444

RESUMO

Functional enrichment analysis of genome-wide association study (GWAS)-summary statistics has suggested that CD4+ T-cells play an important role in asthma pathogenesis. Despite this, CD4+ T-cells are under-represented in asthma transcriptome studies. To fill the gap, 3'-RNA-Seq was used to generate gene expression data on CD4+ T-cells (isolated within 2 h from collection) from peripheral blood from participants with well-controlled asthma (n = 32) and healthy controls (n = 11). Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis (WGCNA) was used to identify sets of co-expressed genes (modules) associated with the asthma phenotype. We identified three modules associated with asthma, which are strongly enriched for GWAS-identified asthma genes, antigen processing/presentation and immune response to viral infections. Through integration of publicly available eQTL and GWAS summary statistics (colocalisation), and protein-protein interaction (PPI) data, we identified PTPRC, a potential druggable target, as a putative master regulator of the asthma gene-expression profiles. Using a co-expression network approach, with integration of external genetic and PPI data, we showed that CD4+ T-cells from peripheral blood from asthmatics have different expression profiles, albeit small in magnitude, compared to healthy controls, for sets of genes involved in immune response to viral infections (upregulated) and antigen processing/presentation (downregulated).


Assuntos
Asma , Viroses , Humanos , Estudo de Associação Genômica Ampla , Asma/metabolismo , Perfilação da Expressão Gênica , Transcriptoma , Linfócitos T CD4-Positivos , Viroses/metabolismo , Redes Reguladoras de Genes
4.
Arthritis Rheumatol ; 75(6): 1007-1020, 2023 06.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36281738

RESUMO

OBJECTIVE: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a complex autoimmune disease with a strong genetic component. However, most of the genes associated with the disease are still unknown because associated variants affect mostly noncoding intergenic elements of the genome. We used functional genomics to translate the genetic findings into a better understanding of the disease. METHODS: Promoter capture Hi-C and RNA-sequencing experiments were performed in CD4+ T cells and CD14+ monocytes from 10 SSc patients and 5 healthy controls to link SSc-associated variants with their target genes, followed by differential expression and differential interaction analyses between cell types. RESULTS: We linked SSc-associated loci to 39 new potential target genes and confirmed 7 previously known SSc-associated genes. We highlight novel causal genes, such as CXCR5, as the most probable candidate gene for the DDX6 locus. Some previously known SSc-associated genes, such as IRF8, STAT4, and CD247, showed cell type-specific interactions. We also identified 15 potential drug targets already in use in other similar immune-mediated diseases that could be repurposed for SSc treatment. Furthermore, we observed that interactions were directly correlated with the expression of important genes implicated in cell type-specific pathways and found evidence that chromatin conformation is associated with genotype. CONCLUSION: Our study revealed potential causal genes for SSc-associated loci, some of them acting in a cell type-specific manner, suggesting novel biologic mechanisms that might mediate SSc pathogenesis.


Assuntos
Monócitos , Escleroderma Sistêmico , Humanos , Predisposição Genética para Doença/genética , Escleroderma Sistêmico/patologia , Loci Gênicos , Genômica
5.
Nat Genet ; 54(11): 1640-1651, 2022 11.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36333501

RESUMO

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a highly heritable complex disease with unknown etiology. Multi-ancestry genetic research of RA promises to improve power to detect genetic signals, fine-mapping resolution and performances of polygenic risk scores (PRS). Here, we present a large-scale genome-wide association study (GWAS) of RA, which includes 276,020 samples from five ancestral groups. We conducted a multi-ancestry meta-analysis and identified 124 loci (P < 5 × 10-8), of which 34 are novel. Candidate genes at the novel loci suggest essential roles of the immune system (for example, TNIP2 and TNFRSF11A) and joint tissues (for example, WISP1) in RA etiology. Multi-ancestry fine-mapping identified putatively causal variants with biological insights (for example, LEF1). Moreover, PRS based on multi-ancestry GWAS outperformed PRS based on single-ancestry GWAS and had comparable performance between populations of European and East Asian ancestries. Our study provides several insights into the etiology of RA and improves the genetic predictability of RA.


Assuntos
Artrite Reumatoide , Estudo de Associação Genômica Ampla , Humanos , Predisposição Genética para Doença , Polimorfismo de Nucleotídeo Único/genética , Povo Asiático/genética , Artrite Reumatoide/genética , Proteínas Adaptadoras de Transdução de Sinal/genética
6.
Front Cell Dev Biol ; 10: 995388, 2022.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36340032

RESUMO

Genome sequencing has revealed over 300 million genetic variations in human populations. Over 90% of variants are single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), the remainder include short deletions or insertions, and small numbers of structural variants. Hundreds of thousands of these variants have been associated with specific phenotypic traits and diseases through genome wide association studies which link significant differences in variant frequencies with specific phenotypes among large groups of individuals. Only 5% of disease-associated SNPs are located in gene coding sequences, with the potential to disrupt gene expression or alter of the function of encoded proteins. The remaining 95% of disease-associated SNPs are located in non-coding DNA sequences which make up 98% of the genome. The role of non-coding, disease-associated SNPs, many of which are located at considerable distances from any gene, was at first a mystery until the discovery that gene promoters regularly interact with distal regulatory elements to control gene expression. Disease-associated SNPs are enriched at the millions of gene regulatory elements that are dispersed throughout the non-coding sequences of the genome, suggesting they function as gene regulation variants. Assigning specific regulatory elements to the genes they control is not straightforward since they can be millions of base pairs apart. In this review we describe how understanding 3D genome organization can identify specific interactions between gene promoters and distal regulatory elements and how 3D genomics can link disease-associated SNPs to their target genes. Understanding which gene or genes contribute to a specific disease is the first step in designing rational therapeutic interventions.

7.
NPJ Genom Med ; 7(1): 57, 2022 Oct 05.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-36198672

RESUMO

Copy number (CN) polymorphisms of complement C4 play distinct roles in many conditions, including immune-mediated diseases. We investigated the association of C4 CN with systemic sclerosis (SSc) risk. Imputed total C4, C4A, C4B, and HERV-K CN were analyzed in 26,633 individuals and validated in an independent cohort. Our results showed that higher C4 CN confers protection to SSc, and deviations from CN parity of C4A and C4B augmented risk. The protection contributed per copy of C4A and C4B differed by sex. Stronger protection was afforded by C4A in men and by C4B in women. C4 CN correlated well with its gene expression and serum protein levels, and less C4 was detected for both in SSc patients. Conditioned analysis suggests that C4 genetics strongly contributes to the SSc association within the major histocompatibility complex locus and highlights classical alleles and amino acid variants of HLA-DRB1 and HLA-DPB1 as C4-independent signals.

8.
Br J Dermatol ; 187(6): 948-961, 2022 12.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-35986704

RESUMO

BACKGROUND: Bazex-Dupré-Christol syndrome (BDCS; MIM301845) is a rare X-linked dominant genodermatosis characterized by follicular atrophoderma, congenital hypotrichosis and multiple basal cell carcinomas (BCCs). Previous studies have linked BDCS to an 11·4-Mb interval on chromosome Xq25-q27.1. However, the genetic mechanism of BDCS remains an open question. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the genetic aetiology and molecular mechanisms underlying BDCS. METHODS: We ascertained multiple individuals from eight unrelated families affected with BDCS (F1-F8). Whole-exome (F1 and F2) and genome sequencing (F3) were performed to identify putative disease-causing variants within the linkage region. Array comparative genomic hybridization and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were used to explore copy number variations, followed by long-range gap PCR and Sanger sequencing to amplify the duplication junctions and to define the head-tail junctions. Hi-C was performed on dermal fibroblasts from two affected individuals with BDCS and one control. Public datasets and tools were used to identify regulatory elements and transcription factor binding sites within the minimal duplicated region. Immunofluorescence was performed in hair follicles, BCCs and trichoepitheliomas from patients with BDCS and sporadic BCCs. The ACTRT1 variant c.547dup (p.Met183Asnfs*17), previously proposed to cause BDCS, was evaluated with t allele frequency calculator. RESULTS: In eight families with BDCS, we identified overlapping 18-135-kb duplications (six inherited and two de novo) at Xq26.1, flanked by ARHGAP36 and IGSF1. Hi-C showed that the duplications did not affect the topologically associated domain, but may alter the interactions between flanking genes and putative enhancers located in the minimal duplicated region. We detected ARHGAP36 expression near the control hair follicular stem cell compartment, and found increased ARHGAP36 levels in hair follicles in telogen, in BCCs and in trichoepitheliomas from patients with BDCS. ARHGAP36 was also detected in sporadic BCCs from individuals without BDCS. Our modelling showed the predicted maximum tolerated minor allele frequency of ACTRT1 variants in control populations to be orders of magnitude higher than expected for a high-penetrant ultra-rare disorder, suggesting loss of function of ACTRT1 variants to be an unlikely cause for BDCS. CONCLUSIONS: Noncoding Xq26.1 duplications cause BDCS. The BDCS duplications most likely lead to dysregulation of ARHGAP36. ARHGAP36 is a potential therapeutic target for both inherited and sporadic BCCs. What is already known about this topic? Bazex-Dupré-Christol syndrome (BDCS) is a rare X-linked basal cell carcinoma susceptibility syndrome linked to an 11·4-Mb interval on chromosome Xq25-q27.1. Loss-of-function variants in ACTRT1 and its regulatory elements were suggested to cause BDCS. What does this study add? BDCS is caused by small tandem noncoding intergenic duplications at chromosome Xq26.1. The Xq26.1 BDCS duplications likely dysregulate ARHGAP36, the flanking centromeric gene. ACTRT1 loss-of-function variants are unlikely to cause BDCS. What is the translational message? This study provides the basis for accurate genetic testing for BDCS, which will aid precise diagnosis and appropriate surveillance and clinical management. ARHGAP36 may be a novel therapeutic target for all forms of sporadic basal cell carcinomas.


Assuntos
Carcinoma Basocelular , Hipotricose , Humanos , Carcinoma Basocelular/patologia , Hibridização Genômica Comparativa , Variações do Número de Cópias de DNA/genética , Células Germinativas/patologia , Hipotricose/genética , Hipotricose/patologia , Proteínas dos Microfilamentos
9.
Semin Immunopathol ; 44(1): 115-125, 2022 01.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-35022890

RESUMO

Since 2005, thousands of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been published, identifying hundreds of thousands of genetic variants that increase risk of complex traits such as autoimmune diseases. This wealth of data has the potential to improve patient care, through personalized medicine and the identification of novel drug targets. However, the potential of GWAS for clinical translation has not been fully achieved yet, due to the fact that the functional interpretation of risk variants and the identification of causal variants and genes are challenging. The past decade has seen the development of great advances that are facilitating the overcoming of these limitations, by utilizing a plethora of genomics and epigenomics tools to map and characterize regulatory elements and chromatin interactions, which can be used to fine map GWAS loci, and advance our understanding of the biological mechanisms that cause disease.


Assuntos
Epigenômica , Estudo de Associação Genômica Ampla , Epigênese Genética , Predisposição Genética para Doença , Genômica , Humanos , Polimorfismo de Nucleotídeo Único
10.
Semin Immunopathol ; 44(1): 137-147, 2022 01.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-34508276

RESUMO

Genetic studies, including genome-wide association studies, have identified many common variants that are associated with autoimmune diseases. Strikingly, in addition to being frequently observed in healthy individuals, a number of these variants are shared across diseases with diverse clinical presentations. This highlights the potential for improved autoimmune disease understanding which could be achieved by characterising the mechanism by which variants lead to increased risk of disease. Of particular interest is the potential for identifying novel drug targets or of repositioning drugs currently used in other diseases. The majority of autoimmune disease variants do not alter coding regions and it is often difficult to generate a plausible hypothetical mechanism by which variants affect disease-relevant genes and pathways. Given the interest in this area, considerable effort has been invested in developing and applying appropriate methodologies. Two of the most important technologies in this space include both low- and high-throughput genomic perturbation using the CRISPR/Cas9 system and massively parallel reporter assays. In this review, we introduce the field of autoimmune disease functional genomics and use numerous examples to demonstrate the recent and potential future impact of these technologies.


Assuntos
Doenças Autoimunes , Estudo de Associação Genômica Ampla , Doenças Autoimunes/diagnóstico , Doenças Autoimunes/genética , Doenças Autoimunes/terapia , Sistemas CRISPR-Cas , Genômica , Humanos
11.
Genome Biol ; 22(1): 247, 2021 08 25.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-34433485

RESUMO

BACKGROUND: Genome-wide association studies have reported more than 100 risk loci for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). These loci are shown to be enriched in immune cell-specific enhancers, but the analysis so far has excluded stromal cells, such as synovial fibroblasts (FLS), despite their crucial involvement in the pathogenesis of RA. Here we integrate DNA architecture, 3D chromatin interactions, DNA accessibility, and gene expression in FLS, B cells, and T cells with genetic fine mapping of RA loci. RESULTS: We identify putative causal variants, enhancers, genes, and cell types for 30-60% of RA loci and demonstrate that FLS account for up to 24% of RA heritability. TNF stimulation of FLS alters the organization of topologically associating domains, chromatin state, and the expression of putative causal genes such as TNFAIP3 and IFNAR1. Several putative causal genes constitute RA-relevant functional networks in FLS with roles in cellular proliferation and activation. Finally, we demonstrate that risk variants can have joint-specific effects on target gene expression in RA FLS, which may contribute to the development of the characteristic pattern of joint involvement in RA. CONCLUSION: Overall, our research provides the first direct evidence for a causal role of FLS in the genetic susceptibility for RA accounting for up to a quarter of RA heritability.


Assuntos
Artrite Reumatoide/genética , Artrite Reumatoide/patologia , Fibroblastos/patologia , Genômica , Padrões de Herança/genética , Membrana Sinovial/patologia , Adulto , Sequência de Bases , Cromatina/metabolismo , Bases de Dados Genéticas , Elementos Facilitadores Genéticos/genética , Epigênese Genética/efeitos dos fármacos , Feminino , Fibroblastos/efeitos dos fármacos , Fibroblastos/metabolismo , Redes Reguladoras de Genes/efeitos dos fármacos , Predisposição Genética para Doença , Humanos , Proteína de Ligação a Sequências Sinal de Recombinação J de Imunoglobina/genética , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Polimorfismo de Nucleotídeo Único/genética , Probabilidade , Receptor de Interferon alfa e beta/metabolismo , Receptores de Interferon/metabolismo , Reprodutibilidade dos Testes , Fatores de Risco , Proteína 3 Induzida por Fator de Necrose Tumoral alfa/metabolismo , Fator de Necrose Tumoral alfa/farmacologia , Adulto Jovem
12.
Ann Rheum Dis ; 80(8): 1040-1047, 2021 08.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-34096881

RESUMO

OBJECTIVE: The greatest genetic effect reported for systemic sclerosis (SSc) lies in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) locus. Leveraging the largest SSc genome-wide association study, we aimed to fine-map this region to identify novel human leucocyte antigen (HLA) genetic variants associated with SSc susceptibility and its main clinical and serological subtypes. METHODS: 9095 patients with SSc and 17 584 controls genome-wide genotyped were used to impute and test single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) across the MHC, classical HLA alleles and their composite amino acid residues. Additionally, patients were stratified according to their clinical and serological status, namely, limited cutaneous systemic sclerosis (lcSSc), diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (dcSSc), anticentromere (ACA), antitopoisomerase (ATA) and anti-RNApolIII autoantibodies (ARA). RESULTS: Sequential conditional analyses showed nine SNPs, nine classical alleles and seven amino acids that modelled the observed associations with SSc. This confirmed previously reported associations with HLA-DRB1*11:04 and HLA-DPB1*13:01, and revealed a novel association of HLA-B*08:01. Stratified analyses showed specific associations of HLA-DQA1*02:01 with lcSSc, and an exclusive association of HLA-DQA1*05:01 with dcSSc. Similarly, private associations were detected in HLA-DRB1*08:01 and confirmed the previously reported association of HLA-DRB1*07:01 with ACA-positive patients, as opposed to the HLA-DPA1*02:01 and HLA-DQB1*03:01 alleles associated with ATA presentation. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms the contribution of HLA class II and reveals a novel association of HLA class I with SSc, suggesting novel pathways of disease pathogenesis. Furthermore, we describe specific HLA associations with SSc clinical and serological subtypes that could serve as biomarkers of disease severity and progression.


Assuntos
Estudo de Associação Genômica Ampla , Escleroderma Sistêmico , Alelos , Predisposição Genética para Doença , Cadeias HLA-DRB1/genética , Humanos , Complexo Principal de Histocompatibilidade , Escleroderma Sistêmico/genética
14.
Arthritis Res Ther ; 23(1): 80, 2021 03 10.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-33691749

RESUMO

BACKGROUND: Despite the success of TNF-inhibitor therapy in rheumatoid arthritis treatment, up to 40% of patients fail to respond adequately. This study aimed to identify transcriptome-based biomarkers of adalimumab response in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) to aid timely switching in non-responder patients and provide a better mechanistic understanding of the pathways involved in response/non-response. METHODS: The Affymetrix Human Transcriptome Array 2.0 (HTA) was used to measure the transcriptome in whole blood at pre-treatment and at 3 months in EULAR good- and non-responders to adalimumab therapy. Differential expression of transcripts was analysed at the transcript level using multiple linear regression. Differentially expressed genes were validated in independent samples using OpenArray™ RT-qPCR. RESULTS: In total, 813 transcripts were differentially expressed between pre-treatment and 3 months in adalimumab good-responders. No significant differential expression was observed between good- and non-responders at either time-point and no significant changes were observed in non-responders between time-points. OpenArray™ RT-qPCR was performed for 104 differentially expressed transcripts in good-responders, selected based on magnitude of effect or p value or based on prior association with RA or the immune system, validating differential expression for 17 transcripts. CONCLUSIONS: An early transcriptome signature of DAS28 response to adalimumab has been identified and replicated in independent datasets. Whilst treat-to-target approaches encourage early switching in non-responsive patients, registry evidence suggests that this does not always occur. The results herein could guide the development of a blood test to distinguish responders from non-responders at 3 months and support clinical decisions to switch non-responsive patients to an alternative therapy.


Assuntos
Antirreumáticos , Artrite Reumatoide , Inibidores do Fator de Necrose Tumoral , Adalimumab/uso terapêutico , Antirreumáticos/uso terapêutico , Artrite Reumatoide/tratamento farmacológico , Artrite Reumatoide/genética , Humanos , Transcriptoma , Resultado do Tratamento , Inibidores do Fator de Necrose Tumoral/uso terapêutico
15.
J Invest Dermatol ; 141(8): 1975-1984, 2021 08.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-33607115

RESUMO

Chromatin looping between regulatory elements and gene promoters presents a potential mechanism whereby disease risk variants affect their target genes. In this study, we use H3K27ac HiChIP, a method for assaying the active chromatin interactome in two cell lines: keratinocytes and skin lymphoma-derived CD8+ T cells. We integrate public datasets for a lymphoblastoid cell line and primary CD4+ T cells and identify gene targets at risk loci for skin-related disorders. Interacting genes enrich for pathways of known importance in each trait, such as cytokine response (psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis) and replicative senescence (melanoma). We show examples of how our analysis can inform changes in the current understanding of multiple psoriasis-associated risk loci. For example, the variant rs10794648, which is generally assigned to IFNLR1, was linked to GRHL3, a gene essential in skin repair and development, in our dataset. Our findings, therefore, indicate a renewed importance of skin-related factors in the risk of disease.


Assuntos
Cromatina/metabolismo , Predisposição Genética para Doença , Locos de Características Quantitativas , Dermatopatias/genética , Linhagem Celular Tumoral , Cromatina/genética , Montagem e Desmontagem da Cromatina/genética , Proteínas de Ligação a DNA/genética , Conjuntos de Dados como Assunto , Elementos Facilitadores Genéticos , Estudo de Associação Genômica Ampla , Humanos , Desequilíbrio de Ligação , Polimorfismo de Nucleotídeo Único , Regiões Promotoras Genéticas , Receptores de Interferon/genética , Fatores de Transcrição/genética
16.
Ann Rheum Dis ; 80(3): 321-328, 2021 03.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-33106285

RESUMO

OBJECTIVES: Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is the most prevalent form of juvenile rheumatic disease. Our understanding of the genetic risk factors for this disease is limited due to low disease prevalence and extensive clinical heterogeneity. The objective of this research is to identify novel JIA susceptibility variants and link these variants to target genes, which is essential to facilitate the translation of genetic discoveries to clinical benefit. METHODS: We performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in 3305 patients and 9196 healthy controls, and used a Bayesian model selection approach to systematically investigate specificity and sharing of associated loci across JIA clinical subtypes. Suggestive signals were followed-up for meta-analysis with a previous GWAS (2751 cases/15 886 controls). We tested for enrichment of association signals in a broad range of functional annotations, and integrated statistical fine-mapping and experimental data to identify target genes. RESULTS: Our analysis provides evidence to support joint analysis of all JIA subtypes with the identification of five novel significant loci. Fine-mapping nominated causal single nucleotide polymorphisms with posterior inclusion probabilities ≥50% in five JIA loci. Enrichment analysis identified RELA and EBF1 as key transcription factors contributing to disease risk. Our integrative approach provided compelling evidence to prioritise target genes at six loci, highlighting mechanistic insights for the disease biology and IL6ST as a potential drug target. CONCLUSIONS: In a large JIA GWAS, we identify five novel risk loci and describe potential function of JIA association signals that will be informative for future experimental works and therapeutic strategies.


Assuntos
Artrite Juvenil , Estudo de Associação Genômica Ampla , Artrite Juvenil/genética , Teorema de Bayes , Loci Gênicos , Predisposição Genética para Doença/genética , Genótipo , Humanos , Polimorfismo de Nucleotídeo Único
17.
Sci Rep ; 10(1): 19825, 2020 11 13.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-33188258

RESUMO

CD4+ T-cells represent a heterogeneous collection of specialised sub-types and are a key cell type in the pathogenesis of many diseases due to their role in the adaptive immune system. By investigating CD4+ T-cells at the single cell level, using RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), there is the potential to identify specific cell states driving disease or treatment response. However, the impact of sequencing depth and cell numbers, two important factors in scRNA-seq, has not been determined for a complex cell population such as CD4+ T-cells. We therefore generated a high depth, high cell number dataset to determine the effect of reduced sequencing depth and cell number on the ability to accurately identify CD4+ T-cell subtypes. Furthermore, we investigated T-cell signatures under resting and stimulated conditions to assess cluster specific effects of stimulation. We found that firstly, cell number has a much more profound effect than sequencing depth on the ability to classify cells; secondly, this effect is greater when cells are unstimulated and finally, resting and stimulated samples can be combined to leverage additional power whilst still allowing differences between samples to be observed. While based on one individual, these results could inform future scRNA-seq studies to ensure the most efficient experimental design.


Assuntos
Linfócitos T CD4-Positivos/metabolismo , Análise de Sequência de RNA/métodos , Análise de Célula Única/métodos , Animais , Análise por Conglomerados , Perfilação da Expressão Gênica , Sequenciamento de Nucleotídeos em Larga Escala , Humanos , Software , Sequenciamento do Exoma/métodos
18.
Rheumatology (Oxford) ; 59(11): 3137-3146, 2020 11 01.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-32778885

RESUMO

Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a complex disease where susceptibility is determined by genetic and environmental risk factors. Clinically, PsA involves inflammation of the joints and the skin, and, if left untreated, results in irreversible joint damage. There is currently no cure and the few treatments available to alleviate symptoms do not work in all patients. Over the past decade, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have uncovered a large number of disease-associated loci but translating these findings into functional mechanisms and novel targets for therapeutic use is not straightforward. Most variants have been predicted to affect primarily long-range regulatory regions such as enhancers. There is now compelling evidence to support the use of chromatin conformation analysis methods to discover novel genes that can be affected by disease-associated variants. Here, we will review the studies published in the field that have given us a novel understanding of gene regulation in the context of functional genomics and how this relates to the study of PsA and its underlying disease mechanism.


Assuntos
Artrite Psoriásica/genética , Genômica , Artrite Psoriásica/tratamento farmacológico , Mapeamento Cromossômico , Humanos
19.
BMC Biol ; 18(1): 47, 2020 05 04.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-32366252

RESUMO

BACKGROUND: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have uncovered many genetic risk loci for psoriasis, yet many remain uncharacterised in terms of the causal gene and their biological mechanism in disease. This is largely a result of the findings that over 90% of GWAS variants map outside of protein-coding DNA and instead are enriched in cell type- and stimulation-specific gene regulatory regions. RESULTS: Here, we use a disease-focused Capture Hi-C (CHi-C) experiment to link psoriasis-associated variants with their target genes in psoriasis-relevant cell lines (HaCaT keratinocytes and My-La CD8+ T cells). We confirm previously assigned genes, suggest novel candidates and provide evidence for complexity at psoriasis GWAS loci. For one locus, uniquely, we combine further epigenomic evidence to demonstrate how a psoriasis-associated region forms a functional interaction with the distant (> 500 kb) KLF4 gene. This interaction occurs between the gene and active enhancers in HaCaT cells, but not in My-La cells. We go on to investigate this long-distance interaction further with Cas9 fusion protein-mediated chromatin modification (CRISPR activation) coupled with RNA-seq, demonstrating how activation of the psoriasis-associated enhancer upregulates KLF4 and its downstream targets, relevant to skin cells and apoptosis. CONCLUSIONS: This approach utilises multiple functional genomic techniques to follow up GWAS-associated variants implicating relevant cell types and causal genes in each locus; these are vital next steps for the translation of genetic findings into clinical benefit.


Assuntos
DNA/genética , Predisposição Genética para Doença , Psoríase/genética , Apoptose , Mapeamento Cromossômico , Estudo de Associação Genômica Ampla , Células HaCaT , Humanos , Fator 4 Semelhante a Kruppel
20.
Hum Mol Genet ; 29(R1): R59-R65, 2020 09 30.
Artigo em Inglês | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-32420598

RESUMO

Associations between genetic loci and increased susceptibility to autoimmune disease have been well characterized, however, translating this knowledge into mechanistic insight and patient benefit remains a challenge. While improvements in the precision, completeness and accuracy of our genetic understanding of autoimmune diseases will undoubtedly be helpful, meeting this challenge will require two interlinked problems to be addressed: first which of the highly correlated variants at an individual locus is responsible for increased disease risk, and second what are the downstream effects of this variant. Given that the majority of loci are thought to affect non-coding regulatory elements, the second question is often reframed as what are the target gene(s) and pathways affected by causal variants. Currently, these questions are being addressed using a wide variety of novel techniques and datasets. In many cases, these approaches are complementary and it is likely that the most accurate picture will be generated by consolidating information relating to transcription, regulatory activity, chromatin accessibility, chromatin conformation and readouts from functional experiments, such as genome editing and reporter assays. It is clear that it will be necessary to gather this information from disease relevant cell types and conditions and that by doing so our understanding of disease etiology will be improved. This review is focused on the field of autoimmune disease functional genomics with a particular focus on the most exciting and significant research to be published within the last couple of years.


Assuntos
Doenças Autoimunes/genética , Epigênese Genética , Regulação da Expressão Gênica , Predisposição Genética para Doença , Variação Genética , Locos de Características Quantitativas , Sequências Reguladoras de Ácido Nucleico , Animais , Doenças Autoimunes/imunologia , Doenças Autoimunes/terapia , Cromatina/química , Cromatina/genética , Estudo de Associação Genômica Ampla , Genômica , Humanos
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