scholarly journals Unravelling the Roles of Susceptibility Loci for Autoimmune Diseases in the Post-GWAS Era

Genes ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jody Ye ◽  
Kathleen Gillespie ◽  
Santiago Rodriguez
Keyword(s):  
Autoimmune Diseases ◽  
Copy Number ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Somatic Mosaicism ◽  
Copy Number Variations ◽  
Genetic Variations ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽  
Environmental Interactions

Although genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified several hundred loci associated with autoimmune diseases, their mechanistic insights are still poorly understood. The human genome is more complex than single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that are interrogated by GWAS arrays. Apart from SNPs, it also comprises genetic variations such as insertions-deletions, copy number variations, and somatic mosaicism. Although previous studies suggest that common copy number variations do not play a major role in autoimmune disease risk, it is possible that certain rare genetic variations with large effect sizes are relevant to autoimmunity. In addition, other layers of regulations such as gene-gene interactions, epigenetic-determinants, gene and environmental interactions also contribute to the heritability of autoimmune diseases. This review focuses on discussing why studying these elements may allow us to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the aetiology of complex autoimmune traits.

scholarly journals Unravelling the Roles Of susceptibility Loci for Autoimmune Diseases in the Post-GWAS Era

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jody Ye ◽  
Kathleen Gillespie ◽  
Santiago Rodriguez
Keyword(s):  
Autoimmune Diseases ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Copy Number Variations ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽  
Susceptibility Loci ◽  
Single Nucleotide ◽  
Environmental Interactions ◽  
Genome Wide

Although genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified several hundred loci associated with autoimmune diseases, their mechanistic insights are still poorly understood. The human genome is more complex than common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that are interrogated by GWAS arrays. Some structural variants such as insertions-deletions, copy number variations, and minisatellites that are not very well tagged by SNPs cannot be fully explored by GWAS. Therefore, it is possible that some of these loci may have large effects on autoimmune disease risk. In addition, other layers of regulations such as gene-gene interactions, epigenetic-determinants, gene and environmental interactions also contribute to the heritability of autoimmune diseases. This review focuses on discussing why studying these elements may allow us to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the aetiology of complex autoimmune traits.

Abstract 288: Novel Mechanisms of Non-coding Genomic Regulation Identified in Cardiac Disease-in-a-dish Models

2016 ◽  
Vol 119 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aditya Kumar ◽  
Stephanie Thomas ◽  
Kirsten Wong ◽  
Kevin Tenerelli ◽  
Valentina Lo Sardo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heart Attack ◽  
Connexin 43 ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Correlation Coefficients ◽  
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
Isogenic Line ◽  
Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽  
Increased Risk

Genome-wide association studies have identified single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at gene loci that affect cardiovascular function, and while mechanisms in protein-coding loci are obvious, those in non-coding loci are difficult to determine. 9p21 is a recently identified locus associated with increased risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) and myocardial infarction. Associations have implicated SNPs in altering smooth muscle and endothelial cell properties but have not identified adverse effects in cardiomyocytes (CMs) despite enhanced disease risk. Using induced pluripotent stem cell-derived CMs from patients that are homozygous risk/risk (R/R) and non-risk/non-risk (N/N) for 9p21 SNPs and either CAD positive or negative, we assessed CM function when cultured on hydrogels capable of mimicking the fibrotic stiffening associated with disease post-heart attack, i.e. “heart attack-in-a-dish” stiffening from 11 kiloPascals (kPa) to 50 kPa. While all CMs independent of genotype and disease beat synchronously on soft matrices, R/R CMs cultured on dynamically stiffened hydrogels exhibited asynchronous contractions and had significantly lower correlation coefficients versus N/N CMs in the same conditions. Dynamic stiffening reduced connexin 43 expression and gap junction assembly in R/R CMs but not N/N CMs. To eliminate patient-to-patient variability, we created an isogenic line by deleting the 9p21 gene locus from a R/R patient using TALEN-mediated gene editing, i.e. R/R KO. Deletion of the 9p21 locus restored synchronous contractility and organized connexin 43 junctions. As a non-coding locus, 9p21 appears to repress connexin transcription, leading to the phenotypes we observe, but only when the niche is stiffened as in disease. These data are the first to demonstrate that disease-specific niche remodeling, e.g. a “heart attack-in-a-dish” model, can differentially affect CM function depending on SNPs within a non-coding locus.

scholarly journals Application of Genetic Studies to Flow Cytometry Data and Its Impact on Therapeutic Intervention for Autoimmune Disease

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valeria Orrù ◽  
Maristella Steri ◽  
Francesco Cucca ◽  
Edoardo Fiorillo
Keyword(s):  
Flow Cytometry ◽  
Autoimmune Disease ◽  
Autoimmune Diseases ◽  
Immune Cell ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Large Fraction ◽  
Surface Protein ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
Human Immune System

In recent years, systematic genome-wide association studies of quantitative immune cell traits, represented by circulating levels of cell subtypes established by flow cytometry, have revealed numerous association signals, a large fraction of which overlap perfectly with genetic signals associated with autoimmune diseases. By identifying further overlaps with association signals influencing gene expression and cell surface protein levels, it has also been possible, in several cases, to identify causal genes and infer candidate proteins affecting immune cell traits linked to autoimmune disease risk. Overall, these results provide a more detailed picture of how genetic variation affects the human immune system and autoimmune disease risk. They also highlight druggable proteins in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases; predict the efficacy and side effects of existing therapies; provide new indications for use for some of them; and optimize the research and development of new, more effective and safer treatments for autoimmune diseases. Here we review the genetic-driven approach that couples systematic multi-parametric flow cytometry with high-resolution genetics and transcriptomics to identify endophenotypes of autoimmune diseases for the development of new therapies.

scholarly journals A selective inference approach for false discovery rate control using multiomics covariates yields insights into disease risk

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (26) ◽  
pp. 15028-15035 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald Yurko ◽  
Max G’Sell ◽  
Kathryn Roeder ◽  
Bernie Devlin
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Multiple Testing ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Auxiliary Information ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽  
Hypothesis Tests ◽  
Selective Inference

To correct for a large number of hypothesis tests, most researchers rely on simple multiple testing corrections. Yet, new methodologies of selective inference could potentially improve power while retaining statistical guarantees, especially those that enable exploration of test statistics using auxiliary information (covariates) to weight hypothesis tests for association. We explore one such method, adaptiveP-value thresholding (AdaPT), in the framework of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and gene expression/coexpression studies, with particular emphasis on schizophrenia (SCZ). Selected SCZ GWAS associationPvalues play the role of the primary data for AdaPT; single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are selected because they are gene expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs). This natural pairing of SNPs and genes allow us to map the following covariate values to these pairs: GWAS statistics from genetically correlated bipolar disorder, the effect size of SNP genotypes on gene expression, and gene–gene coexpression, captured by subnetwork (module) membership. In all, 24 covariates per SNP/gene pair were included in the AdaPT analysis using flexible gradient boosted trees. We demonstrate a substantial increase in power to detect SCZ associations using gene expression information from the developing human prefrontal cortex. We interpret these results in light of recent theories about the polygenic nature of SCZ. Importantly, our entire process for identifying enrichment and creating features with independent complementary data sources can be implemented in many different high-throughput settings to ultimately improve power.

scholarly journals Diagnosis of Human Axillary Osmidrosis by Genotyping of the HumanABCC11Gene: Clinical Practice and Basic Scientific Evidence

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Toyoda ◽  
Tsuneaki Gomi ◽  
Hiroshi Nakagawa ◽  
Makoto Nagakura ◽  
Toshihisa Ishikawa
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Polymorphisms ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Diagnostic Strategy ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽  
Drug Induced ◽  
Axillary Osmidrosis

The importance of personalized medicine and healthcare is becoming increasingly recognized. Genetic polymorphisms associated with potential risks of various human genetic diseases as well as drug-induced adverse reactions have recently been well studied, and their underlying molecular mechanisms are being uncovered by functional genomics as well as genome-wide association studies. Knowledge of certain genetic polymorphisms is clinically important for our understanding of interindividual differences in drug response and/or disease risk. As such evidence accumulates, new clinical applications and practices are needed. In this context, the development of new technologies for simple, fast, accurate, and cost-effective genotyping is imperative. Here, we describe a simple isothermal genotyping method capable of detecting single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the human ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporterABCC11gene and its application to the clinical diagnosis of axillary osmidrosis. We have recently reported that axillary osmidrosis is linked with one SNP 538G>A in theABCC11gene. Our molecular biological and biochemical studies have revealed that this SNP greatly affects the protein expression level and the function of ABCC11. In this review, we highlight the clinical relevance and importance of this diagnostic strategy in axillary osmidrosis therapy.

scholarly journals Combined Analysis with Copy Number Variation Identifies Risk Loci in Lung Cancer

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinlei Li ◽  
Xianfeng Chen ◽  
Guohong Hu ◽  
Yang Liu ◽  
Zhenguo Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lung Cancer ◽  
Copy Number ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Copy Number Variations ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
Potential Candidate ◽  
Cancer Etiology ◽  
Combined Analysis ◽  
Recombination Hotspots ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms

Background. Lung cancer is the most important cause of cancer mortality worldwide, but the underlying mechanisms of this disease are not fully understood. Copy number variations (CNVs) are promising genetic variations to study because of their potential effects on cancer.Methodology/Principal Findings. Here we conducted a pilot study in which we systematically analyzed the association of CNVs in two lung cancer datasets: the Environment And Genetics in Lung cancer Etiology (EAGLE) and the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial datasets. We used a preestablished association method to test the datasets separately and conducted a combined analysis to test the association accordance between the two datasets. Finally, we identified 167 risk SNP loci and 22 CNVs associated with lung cancer and linked them with recombination hotspots. Functional annotation and biological relevance analyses implied that some of our predicted risk loci were supported by other studies and might be potential candidate loci for lung cancer studies.Conclusions/Significance. Our results further emphasized the importance of copy number variations in cancer and might be a valuable complement to current genome-wide association studies on cancer.

scholarly journals Unravelling the shared genetic mechanisms underlying 18 autoimmune diseases using a systems approach

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sreemol Gokuladhas ◽  
William Schierding ◽  
Evgeniia Golovina ◽  
Tayaza Fadason ◽  
Justin M. O'Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Autoimmune Diseases ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Enrichment Analysis ◽  
Pathway Enrichment Analysis ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽  
Protein Protein Interaction ◽  
Disease Specific ◽  
Shared Genetic

Autoimmune diseases (AiDs) are complex heterogeneous diseases characterized by hyperactive immune responses against self. Genome-wide association studies have identified thousands of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with several AiDs. While these studies have identified a handful of pleiotropic loci that confer risk to multiple AiDs, they lack the power to detect shared genetic factors residing outside of these loci. Here, we integrated chromatin contact, expression quantitative trait loci and protein-protein interaction (PPI) data to identify genes that are regulated by both pleiotropic and non-pleiotropic SNPs. The PPI analysis revealed complex interactions between the shared and disease-specific genes. Furthermore, pathway enrichment analysis demonstrated that the shared genes co-occur with disease-specific genes within the same biological pathways. In conclusion, our results are consistent with the hypothesis that genetic risk loci associated with multiple AiDs converge on a core set of biological processes that potentially contribute to the emergence of polyautoimmunity.

scholarly journals DeepWAS: Multivariate genotype-phenotype associations by directly integrating regulatory information using deep learning

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janine Arloth ◽  
Gökcen Eraslan ◽  
Till F.M. Andlauer ◽  
Jade Martins ◽  
Stella Iurato ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Deep Learning ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽  
Cell Type ◽  
Individual Snps ◽  
Multivariate Gwas ◽  
Regulatory Effects ◽  
Joint Contribution

AbstractGenome-wide association studies (GWAS) identify genetic variants associated with quantitative traits or disease. Thus, GWAS never directly link variants to regulatory mechanisms, which, in turn, are typically inferred during post-hoc analyses. In parallel, a recent deep learning-based method allows for prediction of regulatory effects per variant on currently up to 1,000 cell type-specific chromatin features. We here describe “DeepWAS”, a new approach that directly integrates predictions of these regulatory effects of single variants into a multivariate GWAS setting. As a result, single variants associated with a trait or disease are, by design, coupled to their impact on a chromatin feature in a cell type. Up to 40,000 regulatory single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were associated with multiple sclerosis (MS, 4,888 cases and 10,395 controls), major depressive disorder (MDD, 1,475 cases and 2,144 controls), and height (5,974 individuals) to each identify 43-61 regulatory SNPs, called deepSNPs, which are shown to reach at least nominal significance in large GWAS. MS- and height-specific deepSNPs resided in active chromatin and introns, whereas MDD-specific deepSNPs located mostly to intragenic regions and repressive chromatin states. We found deepSNPs to be enriched in public or cohort-matched expression and methylation quantitative trait loci and demonstrate the potential of the DeepWAS method to directly generate testable functional hypotheses based on genotype data alone. DeepWAS is an innovative GWAS approach with the power to identify individual SNPs in non-coding regions with gene regulatory capacity with a joint contribution to disease risk. DeepWAS is available at https://github.com/cellmapslab/DeepWAS.

scholarly journals Genetic Variants Shaping Inter-individual Differences in Response to Dietary Intakes—A Narrative Review of the Case of Vitamins

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aikaterini Niforou ◽  
Valentini Konstantinidou ◽  
Androniki Naska
Keyword(s):  
Vitamin D ◽  
Vitamin C ◽  
Genetic Variants ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Genetic Variations ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽  
Dietary Intakes ◽  
Genes Encoding

Recent advances in the field of nutrigenetics have provided evidence on how genetic variations can impact the individuals' response to dietary intakes. An objective and reliable assessment of dietary exposures should rely on combinations of methodologies including frequency questionnaires, short-term recalls or records, together with biological samples to evaluate markers of intake or status and to identify genetic susceptibilities. In an attempt to present current knowledge on how genetic fingerprints contribute to an individual's nutritional status, we present a review of current literature describing associations between genetic variants and levels of well-established biomarkers of vitamin status in free-living and generally healthy individuals. Based on the outcomes of candidate gene, genome-wide-association studies and meta-analyses thereof, we have identified several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) involved in the vitamins' metabolic pathways. Polymorphisms in genes encoding proteins involved in vitamin metabolism and transport are reported to have an impact on vitamin D status; while genetic variants of vitamin D receptor were most frequently associated with health outcomes. Genetic variations that can influence vitamin E status include SNPs involved in its uptake and transport, such as in SCAR-B1 gene, and in lipoprotein metabolism. Variants of the genes encoding the sodium-dependent vitamin C transport proteins are greatly associated with the body's status on vitamin C. Regarding the vitamins of the B-complex, special reference is made to the widely studied variant in the MTHFR gene. Methodological attributes of genetic studies that may limit the comparability and interpretability of the findings are also discussed. Our understanding of how genes affect our responses to nutritional triggers will enhance our capacity to evaluate dietary exposure and design personalized nutrition programs to sustain health and prevent disease.

scholarly journals From Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms to Constant Immunosuppression: Mesenchymal Stem Cell Therapy for Autoimmune Diseases

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raghavan Chinnadurai ◽  
Edmund K. Waller ◽  
Jacques Galipeau ◽  
Ajay K. Nooka
Keyword(s):  
Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽  
Autoimmune Diseases ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Autoimmune Disorders ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽  
Single Nucleotide ◽  
Mesenchymal Stem Cell Therapy ◽  
Immune Mediated ◽  
Wide Range

The regenerative abilities and the immunosuppressive properties of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) make them potentially the ideal cellular product of choice for treatment of autoimmune and other immune mediated disorders. Although the usefulness of MSCs for therapeutic applications is in early phases, their potential clinical use remains of great interest. Current clinical evidence of use of MSCs from both autologous and allogeneic sources to treat autoimmune disorders confers conflicting clinical benefit outcomes. These varied results may possibly be due to MSC use across wide range of autoimmune disorders with clinical heterogeneity or due to variability of the cellular product. In the light of recent genome wide association studies (GWAS), linking predisposition of autoimmune diseases to single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the susceptible genetic loci, the clinical relevance of MSCs possessing SNPs in the critical effector molecules of immunosuppression is largely undiscussed. It is of further interest in the allogeneic setting, where SNPs in the target pathway of MSC's intervention may also modulate clinical outcome. In the present review, we have discussed the known critical SNPs predisposing to disease susceptibility in various autoimmune diseases and their significance in the immunomodulatory properties of MSCs.

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