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Guo S, Yang J. Bayesian genome-wide TWAS with reference transcriptomic data of brain and blood tissues identified 141 risk genes for Alzheimer's disease dementia. Alzheimers Res Ther 2024; 16:120. [PMID: 38824563 PMCID: PMC11144322 DOI: 10.1186/s13195-024-01488-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2023] [Accepted: 05/27/2024] [Indexed: 06/03/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Transcriptome-wide association study (TWAS) is an influential tool for identifying genes associated with complex diseases whose genetic effects are likely mediated through transcriptome. TWAS utilizes reference genetic and transcriptomic data to estimate effect sizes of genetic variants on gene expression (i.e., effect sizes of a broad sense of expression quantitative trait loci, eQTL). These estimated effect sizes are employed as variant weights in gene-based association tests, facilitating the mapping of risk genes with genome-wide association study (GWAS) data. However, most existing TWAS of Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia are limited to studying only cis-eQTL proximal to the test gene. To overcome this limitation, we applied the Bayesian Genome-wide TWAS (BGW-TWAS) method to leveraging both cis- and trans- eQTL of brain and blood tissues, in order to enhance mapping risk genes for AD dementia. METHODS We first applied BGW-TWAS to the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) V8 dataset to estimate cis- and trans- eQTL effect sizes of the prefrontal cortex, cortex, and whole blood tissues. Estimated eQTL effect sizes were integrated with the summary data of the most recent GWAS of AD dementia to obtain BGW-TWAS (i.e., gene-based association test) p-values of AD dementia per gene per tissue type. Then we used the aggregated Cauchy association test to combine TWAS p-values across three tissues to obtain omnibus TWAS p-values per gene. RESULTS We identified 85 significant genes in prefrontal cortex, 82 in cortex, and 76 in whole blood that were significantly associated with AD dementia. By combining BGW-TWAS p-values across these three tissues, we obtained 141 significant risk genes including 34 genes primarily due to trans-eQTL and 35 mapped risk genes in GWAS Catalog. With these 141 significant risk genes, we detected functional clusters comprised of both known mapped GWAS risk genes of AD in GWAS Catalog and our identified TWAS risk genes by protein-protein interaction network analysis, as well as several enriched phenotypes related to AD. CONCLUSION We applied BGW-TWAS and aggregated Cauchy test methods to integrate both cis- and trans- eQTL data of brain and blood tissues with GWAS summary data, identifying 141 TWAS risk genes of AD dementia. These identified risk genes provide novel insights into the underlying biological mechanisms of AD dementia and potential gene targets for therapeutics development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shuyi Guo
- Center for Computational and Quantitative Genetics, Department of Human Genetics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA
- Department of Biostatistics and Data Science, School of Public Health, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - Jingjing Yang
- Center for Computational and Quantitative Genetics, Department of Human Genetics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA.
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Zhu H, Du Z, Lu R, Zhou Q, Shen Y, Jiang Y. Investigating the Mechanism of Chufan Yishen Formula in Treating Depression through Network Pharmacology and Experimental Verification. ACS OMEGA 2024; 9:12698-12710. [PMID: 38524447 PMCID: PMC10955564 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.3c08350] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2023] [Revised: 01/29/2024] [Accepted: 02/23/2024] [Indexed: 03/26/2024]
Abstract
Objective: To investigate the antidepressant effect and potential mechanism of the Chufan Yishen Formula (CFYS) through network pharmacology, molecular docking, and experimental verification. Methods: The active ingredients and their target genes of CFYS were identified through Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology (TCMSP) and TCM-ID. We obtained the differentially expressed genes in patients with depression from the GEO database and screened out the genes intersecting with the target genes of CFYS to construct the PPI network. The key pathways were selected through STRING and KEGG. Then, molecular docking and experimental verification were performed. Results: A total of 113 effective components and 195 target genes were obtained. After intersecting the target genes with the differentially expressed genes in patients with depression, we obtained 37 differential target genes, among which HMOX1, VEGFA, etc., were the key genes. After enriching the differential target genes by KEGG, we found that the "chemical carcinogenesis-reactive oxygen species" pathway was the key pathway for the CFYS antidepressant effect. Besides, VEGFA might be a key marker for depression. Experimental verification found that CFYS could significantly improve the behavioral indicators of rats with depression models, including improving the antioxidant enzyme activity and increasing VEGFA levels. The results are consistent with the network pharmacology analysis. Conclusions: CFYS treatment for depression is a multicomponent, multitarget, and multipathway complex process, which may mainly exert an antidepressant effect by improving the neuron antioxidant stress response and regulating VEGFA levels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haohao Zhu
- Mental Health
Center of
Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214151, China
| | - Zhiqiang Du
- Mental Health
Center of
Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214151, China
| | - Rongrong Lu
- Mental Health
Center of
Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214151, China
| | - Qin Zhou
- Mental Health
Center of
Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214151, China
| | - Yuan Shen
- Mental Health
Center of
Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214151, China
| | - Ying Jiang
- Mental Health
Center of
Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214151, China
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3
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He J, Antonyan L, Zhu H, Ardila K, Li Q, Enoma D, Zhang W, Liu A, Chekouo T, Cao B, MacDonald ME, Arnold PD, Long Q. A statistical method for image-mediated association studies discovers genes and pathways associated with four brain disorders. Am J Hum Genet 2024; 111:48-69. [PMID: 38118447 PMCID: PMC10806749 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2023.11.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2023] [Revised: 11/04/2023] [Accepted: 11/16/2023] [Indexed: 12/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Brain imaging and genomics are critical tools enabling characterization of the genetic basis of brain disorders. However, imaging large cohorts is expensive and may be unavailable for legacy datasets used for genome-wide association studies (GWASs). Using an integrated feature selection/aggregation model, we developed an image-mediated association study (IMAS), which utilizes borrowed imaging/genomics data to conduct association mapping in legacy GWAS cohorts. By leveraging the UK Biobank image-derived phenotypes (IDPs), the IMAS discovered genetic bases underlying four neuropsychiatric disorders and verified them by analyzing annotations, pathways, and expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs). A cerebellar-mediated mechanism was identified to be common to the four disorders. Simulations show that, if the goal is identifying genetic risk, our IMAS is more powerful than a hypothetical protocol in which the imaging results were available in the GWAS dataset. This implies the feasibility of reanalyzing legacy GWAS datasets without conducting additional imaging, yielding cost savings for integrated analysis of genetics and imaging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jingni He
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Lilit Antonyan
- Department of Medical Genetics, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; The Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research & Education, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Harold Zhu
- Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Karen Ardila
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Qing Li
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - David Enoma
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | | | - Andy Liu
- Sir Winston Churchill High School, Calgary, AB, Canada; College of Letters and Science, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Thierry Chekouo
- Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Faculty of Science, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Division of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Bo Cao
- Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
| | - M Ethan MacDonald
- The Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research & Education, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Department of Electrical and Software Engineering, Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Department of Radiology, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Paul D Arnold
- Department of Medical Genetics, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; The Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research & Education, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
| | - Quan Long
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Department of Medical Genetics, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; The Mathison Centre for Mental Health Research & Education, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Faculty of Science, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
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4
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Alvarado CX, Makarious MB, Weller CA, Vitale D, Koretsky MJ, Bandres-Ciga S, Iwaki H, Levine K, Singleton A, Faghri F, Nalls MA, Leonard HL. omicSynth: An open multi-omic community resource for identifying druggable targets across neurodegenerative diseases. Am J Hum Genet 2024; 111:150-164. [PMID: 38181731 PMCID: PMC10806756 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2023.12.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2023] [Revised: 12/04/2023] [Accepted: 12/04/2023] [Indexed: 01/07/2024] Open
Abstract
Treatments for neurodegenerative disorders remain rare, but recent FDA approvals, such as lecanemab and aducanumab for Alzheimer disease (MIM: 607822), highlight the importance of the underlying biological mechanisms in driving discovery and creating disease modifying therapies. The global population is aging, driving an urgent need for therapeutics that stop disease progression and eliminate symptoms. In this study, we create an open framework and resource for evidence-based identification of therapeutic targets for neurodegenerative disease. We use summary-data-based Mendelian randomization to identify genetic targets for drug discovery and repurposing. In parallel, we provide mechanistic insights into disease processes and potential network-level consequences of gene-based therapeutics. We identify 116 Alzheimer disease, 3 amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (MIM: 105400), 5 Lewy body dementia (MIM: 127750), 46 Parkinson disease (MIM: 605909), and 9 progressive supranuclear palsy (MIM: 601104) target genes passing multiple test corrections (pSMR_multi < 2.95 × 10-6 and pHEIDI > 0.01). We created a therapeutic scheme to classify our identified target genes into strata based on druggability and approved therapeutics, classifying 41 novel targets, 3 known targets, and 115 difficult targets (of these, 69.8% are expressed in the disease-relevant cell type from single-nucleus experiments). Our novel class of genes provides a springboard for new opportunities in drug discovery, development, and repurposing in the pre-competitive space. In addition, looking at drug-gene interaction networks, we identify previous trials that may require further follow-up such as riluzole in Alzheimer disease. We also provide a user-friendly web platform to help users explore potential therapeutic targets for neurodegenerative diseases, decreasing activation energy for the community.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chelsea X Alvarado
- Center for Alzheimer's and Related Dementias (CARD), National Institute on Aging and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA; Data Tecnica LLC, Washington, DC 20037, USA
| | - Mary B Makarious
- Laboratory of Neurogenetics, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA; Department of Clinical and Movement Neurosciences, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London WC1N 3BG, UK; UCL Movement Disorders Centre, University College London, London WC1N 3BG, UK
| | - Cory A Weller
- Center for Alzheimer's and Related Dementias (CARD), National Institute on Aging and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA; Data Tecnica LLC, Washington, DC 20037, USA
| | - Dan Vitale
- Center for Alzheimer's and Related Dementias (CARD), National Institute on Aging and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA; Data Tecnica LLC, Washington, DC 20037, USA
| | - Mathew J Koretsky
- Center for Alzheimer's and Related Dementias (CARD), National Institute on Aging and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA
| | - Sara Bandres-Ciga
- Center for Alzheimer's and Related Dementias (CARD), National Institute on Aging and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA
| | - Hirotaka Iwaki
- Center for Alzheimer's and Related Dementias (CARD), National Institute on Aging and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA; Data Tecnica LLC, Washington, DC 20037, USA; Laboratory of Neurogenetics, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA
| | - Kristin Levine
- Center for Alzheimer's and Related Dementias (CARD), National Institute on Aging and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA; Data Tecnica LLC, Washington, DC 20037, USA
| | - Andrew Singleton
- Center for Alzheimer's and Related Dementias (CARD), National Institute on Aging and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA; Laboratory of Neurogenetics, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA
| | - Faraz Faghri
- Center for Alzheimer's and Related Dementias (CARD), National Institute on Aging and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA; Data Tecnica LLC, Washington, DC 20037, USA; Laboratory of Neurogenetics, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA
| | - Mike A Nalls
- Center for Alzheimer's and Related Dementias (CARD), National Institute on Aging and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA; Data Tecnica LLC, Washington, DC 20037, USA; Laboratory of Neurogenetics, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA
| | - Hampton L Leonard
- Center for Alzheimer's and Related Dementias (CARD), National Institute on Aging and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA; Data Tecnica LLC, Washington, DC 20037, USA; Laboratory of Neurogenetics, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Tübingen, Germany.
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5
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Seidlitz J, Mallard TT, Vogel JW, Lee YH, Warrier V, Ball G, Hansson O, Hernandez LM, Mandal AS, Wagstyl K, Lombardo MV, Courchesne E, Glessner JT, Satterthwaite TD, Bethlehem RAI, Bernstock JD, Tasaki S, Ng B, Gaiteri C, Smoller JW, Ge T, Gur RE, Gandal MJ, Alexander-Bloch AF. The molecular genetic landscape of human brain size variation. Cell Rep 2023; 42:113439. [PMID: 37963017 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.113439] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2022] [Revised: 06/13/2023] [Accepted: 10/27/2023] [Indexed: 11/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Human brain size changes dynamically through early development, peaks in adolescence, and varies up to 2-fold among adults. However, the molecular genetic underpinnings of interindividual variation in brain size remain unknown. Here, we leveraged postmortem brain RNA sequencing and measurements of brain weight (BW) in 2,531 individuals across three independent datasets to identify 928 genome-wide significant associations with BW. Genes associated with higher or lower BW showed distinct neurodevelopmental trajectories and spatial patterns that mapped onto functional and cellular axes of brain organization. Expression of BW genes was predictive of interspecies differences in brain size, and bioinformatic annotation revealed enrichment for neurogenesis and cell-cell communication. Genome-wide, transcriptome-wide, and phenome-wide association analyses linked BW gene sets to neuroimaging measurements of brain size and brain-related clinical traits. Cumulatively, these results represent a major step toward delineating the molecular pathways underlying human brain size variation in health and disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jakob Seidlitz
- Lifespan Brain Institute, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Penn Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
| | - Travis T Mallard
- Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit, Center for Genomic Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA; Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Boston, MA 02142, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02142, USA
| | - Jacob W Vogel
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Lifespan Informatics and Neuroimaging Center, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Younga H Lee
- Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit, Center for Genomic Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA; Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Boston, MA 02142, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02142, USA
| | - Varun Warrier
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1TN, UK; Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1TN, UK
| | - Gareth Ball
- Developmental Imaging, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, VIC 3052, Australia; Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3052, Australia
| | - Oskar Hansson
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences Malmö, Lund University, Malmö P663+Q9, Sweden; Memory Clinic, Skåne University Hospital, Malmö P663+Q9, Sweden
| | - Leanna M Hernandez
- Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
| | - Ayan S Mandal
- Lifespan Brain Institute, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Penn Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Konrad Wagstyl
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1N 3AR, UK
| | - Michael V Lombardo
- Laboratory for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Center for Neuroscience and Cognitive Systems @UniTn, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 38068 Rovereto, Italy
| | - Eric Courchesne
- Department of Neuroscience, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA 92093, USA; Autism Center of Excellence, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA 92093, USA
| | - Joseph T Glessner
- The Center for Applied Genomics, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Department of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Theodore D Satterthwaite
- Lifespan Brain Institute, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Penn Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Lifespan Informatics and Neuroimaging Center, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | | | - Joshua D Bernstock
- Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Department of Neurosurgery, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA; David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Shinya Tasaki
- Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL 60612, USA
| | - Bernard Ng
- Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL 60612, USA
| | - Chris Gaiteri
- Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL 60612, USA
| | - Jordan W Smoller
- Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit, Center for Genomic Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA; Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Boston, MA 02142, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02142, USA; Center for Precision Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Tian Ge
- Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit, Center for Genomic Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA; Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Boston, MA 02142, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02142, USA; Center for Precision Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Raquel E Gur
- Lifespan Brain Institute, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Penn Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Michael J Gandal
- Lifespan Brain Institute, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Penn Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Department of Genetics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Aaron F Alexander-Bloch
- Lifespan Brain Institute, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Penn Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
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Strober BJ, Zhang MJ, Amariuta T, Rossen J, Price AL. Fine-mapping causal tissues and genes at disease-associated loci. MEDRXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR HEALTH SCIENCES 2023:2023.11.01.23297909. [PMID: 37961337 PMCID: PMC10635248 DOI: 10.1101/2023.11.01.23297909] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2023]
Abstract
Heritable diseases often manifest in a highly tissue-specific manner, with different disease loci mediated by genes in distinct tissues or cell types. We propose Tissue-Gene Fine-Mapping (TGFM), a fine-mapping method that infers the posterior probability (PIP) for each gene-tissue pair to mediate a disease locus by analyzing GWAS summary statistics (and in-sample LD) and leveraging eQTL data from diverse tissues to build cis-predicted expression models; TGFM also assigns PIPs to causal variants that are not mediated by gene expression in assayed genes and tissues. TGFM accounts for both co-regulation across genes and tissues and LD between SNPs (generalizing existing fine-mapping methods), and incorporates genome-wide estimates of each tissue's contribution to disease as tissue-level priors. TGFM was well-calibrated and moderately well-powered in simulations; unlike previous methods, TGFM was able to attain correct calibration by modeling uncertainty in cis-predicted expression models. We applied TGFM to 45 UK Biobank diseases/traits (average N = 316 K ) using eQTL data from 38 GTEx tissues. TGFM identified an average of 147 PIP > 0.5 causal genetic elements per disease/trait, of which 11% were gene-tissue pairs. Implicated gene-tissue pairs were concentrated in known disease-critical tissues, and causal genes were strongly enriched in disease-relevant gene sets. Causal gene-tissue pairs identified by TGFM recapitulated known biology (e.g., TPO-thyroid for Hypothyroidism), but also included biologically plausible novel findings (e.g., SLC20A2-artery aorta for Diastolic blood pressure). Further application of TGFM to single-cell eQTL data from 9 cell types in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), analyzed jointly with GTEx tissues, identified 30 additional causal gene-PBMC cell type pairs at PIP > 0.5-primarily for autoimmune disease and blood cell traits, including the well-established role of CTLA4 in CD8+ T cells for All autoimmune disease. In conclusion, TGFM is a robust and powerful method for fine-mapping causal tissues and genes at disease-associated loci.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin J. Strober
- Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Martin Jinye Zhang
- Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
- Computational Biology Department, School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Tiffany Amariuta
- Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Jordan Rossen
- Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Alkes L. Price
- Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
- Program in Medical and Population Genetics, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
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7
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Nephew BC, Murgatroyd C, Polcari JJ, Santos HP, Incollingo Rodriguez AC. Increasing the use of functional and multimodal genetic data in social science research. Behav Brain Sci 2023; 46:e223. [PMID: 37695007 DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x2200228x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/12/2023]
Abstract
Genetic studies in the social sciences could be augmented through the additional consideration of functional (transcriptome, methylome, metabolome) and/or multimodal genetic data when attempting to understand the genetics of social phenomena. Understanding the biological pathways linking genetics and the environment will allow scientists to better evaluate the functional importance of polygenic scores.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin C Nephew
- Department of Biology and Biotechnology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, USA
| | - Chris Murgatroyd
- School of Healthcare Science, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK
| | - Justin J Polcari
- Department of Biology and Biotechnology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, USA
| | - Hudson P Santos
- Department of Nursing, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA
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8
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Mai J, Lu M, Gao Q, Zeng J, Xiao J. Transcriptome-wide association studies: recent advances in methods, applications and available databases. Commun Biol 2023; 6:899. [PMID: 37658226 PMCID: PMC10474133 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-05279-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2023] [Accepted: 08/24/2023] [Indexed: 09/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Genome-wide association study has identified fruitful variants impacting heritable traits. Nevertheless, identifying critical genes underlying those significant variants has been a great task. Transcriptome-wide association study (TWAS) is an instrumental post-analysis to detect significant gene-trait associations focusing on modeling transcription-level regulations, which has made numerous progresses in recent years. Leveraging from expression quantitative loci (eQTL) regulation information, TWAS has advantages in detecting functioning genes regulated by disease-associated variants, thus providing insight into mechanisms of diseases and other phenotypes. Considering its vast potential, this review article comprehensively summarizes TWAS, including the methodology, applications and available resources.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jialin Mai
- National Genomics Data Center, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and China National Center for Bioinformation, Beijing, 100101, China
- CAS Key Laboratory of Genome Sciences and Information, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and China National Center for Bioinformation, Beijing, 100101, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - Mingming Lu
- National Genomics Data Center, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and China National Center for Bioinformation, Beijing, 100101, China
- CAS Key Laboratory of Genome Sciences and Information, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and China National Center for Bioinformation, Beijing, 100101, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - Qianwen Gao
- National Genomics Data Center, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and China National Center for Bioinformation, Beijing, 100101, China
- CAS Key Laboratory of Genome Sciences and Information, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and China National Center for Bioinformation, Beijing, 100101, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - Jingyao Zeng
- National Genomics Data Center, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and China National Center for Bioinformation, Beijing, 100101, China.
- CAS Key Laboratory of Genome Sciences and Information, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and China National Center for Bioinformation, Beijing, 100101, China.
| | - Jingfa Xiao
- National Genomics Data Center, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and China National Center for Bioinformation, Beijing, 100101, China.
- CAS Key Laboratory of Genome Sciences and Information, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and China National Center for Bioinformation, Beijing, 100101, China.
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
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9
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de Leeuw C, Werme J, Savage JE, Peyrot WJ, Posthuma D. On the interpretation of transcriptome-wide association studies. PLoS Genet 2023; 19:e1010921. [PMID: 37676898 PMCID: PMC10508613 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1010921] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2023] [Revised: 09/19/2023] [Accepted: 08/15/2023] [Indexed: 09/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Transcriptome-wide association studies (TWAS) aim to detect relationships between gene expression and a phenotype, and are commonly used for secondary analysis of genome-wide association study (GWAS) results. Results from TWAS analyses are often interpreted as indicating a genetic relationship between gene expression and a phenotype, but this interpretation is not consistent with the null hypothesis that is evaluated in the traditional TWAS framework. In this study we provide a mathematical outline of this TWAS framework, and elucidate what interpretations are warranted given the null hypothesis it actually tests. We then use both simulations and real data analysis to assess the implications of misinterpreting TWAS results as indicative of a genetic relationship between gene expression and the phenotype. Our simulation results show considerably inflated type 1 error rates for TWAS when interpreted this way, with 41% of significant TWAS associations detected in the real data analysis found to have insufficient statistical evidence to infer such a relationship. This demonstrates that in current implementations, TWAS cannot reliably be used to investigate genetic relationships between gene expression and a phenotype, but that local genetic correlation analysis can serve as a potential alternative.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christiaan de Leeuw
- Department of Complex Trait Genetics, Centre for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Josefin Werme
- Department of Complex Trait Genetics, Centre for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Jeanne E. Savage
- Department of Complex Trait Genetics, Centre for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Wouter J. Peyrot
- Department of Complex Trait Genetics, Centre for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC, location VUmc, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Danielle Posthuma
- Department of Complex Trait Genetics, Centre for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychology and Psychiatry, section Complex Trait Genetics, Amsterdam Neuroscience, VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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10
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Zhang D, Gao B, Feng Q, Manichaikul A, Peloso GM, Tracy RP, Durda P, Taylor KD, Liu Y, Johnson WC, Gabriel S, Gupta N, Smith JD, Aguet F, Ardlie KG, Blackwell TW, Gerszten RE, Rich SS, Rotter JI, Scott LJ, Zhou X, Lee S. Proteome-Wide Association Studies for Blood Lipids and Comparison with Transcriptome-Wide Association Studies. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.08.17.553749. [PMID: 37662416 PMCID: PMC10473643 DOI: 10.1101/2023.08.17.553749] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/05/2023]
Abstract
Blood lipid traits are treatable and heritable risk factors for heart disease, a leading cause of mortality worldwide. Although genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have discovered hundreds of variants associated with lipids in humans, most of the causal mechanisms of lipids remain unknown. To better understand the biological processes underlying lipid metabolism, we investigated the associations of plasma protein levels with total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) in blood. We trained protein prediction models based on samples in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) and applied them to conduct proteome-wide association studies (PWAS) for lipids using the Global Lipids Genetics Consortium (GLGC) data. Of the 749 proteins tested, 42 were significantly associated with at least one lipid trait. Furthermore, we performed transcriptome-wide association studies (TWAS) for lipids using 9,714 gene expression prediction models trained on samples from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in MESA and 49 tissues in the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project. We found that although PWAS and TWAS can show different directions of associations in an individual gene, 40 out of 49 tissues showed a positive correlation between PWAS and TWAS signed p-values across all the genes, which suggests a high-level consistency between proteome-lipid associations and transcriptome-lipid associations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daiwei Zhang
- Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA USA
- Department of Biostatistics and Center for Statistical Genetics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI USA
| | - Boran Gao
- Department of Biostatistics and Center for Statistical Genetics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI USA
| | - Qidi Feng
- Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, Cambridge, MA USA
- Department of Biostatistics and Center for Statistical Genetics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI USA
| | - Ani Manichaikul
- Center for Public Health Genomics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA USA
| | - Gina M Peloso
- Department of Biostatistics, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA USA
| | - Russell P Tracy
- Departments of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, and Biochemistry, Larner College of Medicine, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT USA
| | - Peter Durda
- Departments of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, Larner College of Medicine, The University of Vermont, Burlington, VT USA
| | - Kent D Taylor
- The Institute for Translational Genomics and Population Sciences, Department of Pediatrics, The Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, CA USA
| | - Yongmei Liu
- Department of Medicine, Divisions of Cardiology and Neurology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC USA
| | - W Craig Johnson
- Department of Biostatistics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA USA
| | - Stacey Gabriel
- Genomics Platform, Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, Cambridge, MA USA
| | - Namrata Gupta
- Genomics Platform, Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, Cambridge, MA USA
| | - Joshua D Smith
- Department of Genome Sciences, Human Genetics and Translational Genomics, The University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Francois Aguet
- Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, Cambridge, MA USA
| | - Kristin G Ardlie
- Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, Cambridge, MA USA
| | - Thomas W Blackwell
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO USA
| | - Robert E Gerszten
- Genomics Platform, Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, Cambridge, MA USA
| | - Stephen S Rich
- Center for Public Health Genomics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA USA
| | - Jerome I Rotter
- The Institute for Translational Genomics and Population Sciences, Department of Pediatrics, The Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, CA USA
| | - Laura J Scott
- Department of Biostatistics and Center for Statistical Genetics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI USA
| | - Xiang Zhou
- Department of Biostatistics and Center for Statistical Genetics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI USA
| | - Seunggeun Lee
- Graduate School of Data Science, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- Department of Biostatistics and Center for Statistical Genetics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI USA
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11
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Alvarado CX, Makarious MB, Weller CA, Vitale D, Koretsky MJ, Bandres-Ciga S, Iwaki H, Levine K, Singleton A, Faghri F, Nalls MA, Leonard HL. omicSynth: an Open Multi-omic Community Resource for Identifying Druggable Targets across Neurodegenerative Diseases. MEDRXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR HEALTH SCIENCES 2023:2023.04.06.23288266. [PMID: 37090611 PMCID: PMC10120805 DOI: 10.1101/2023.04.06.23288266] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/25/2023]
Abstract
Treatments for neurodegenerative disorders remain rare, although recent FDA approvals, such as Lecanemab and Aducanumab for Alzheimer's Disease, highlight the importance of the underlying biological mechanisms in driving discovery and creating disease modifying therapies. The global population is aging, driving an urgent need for therapeutics that stop disease progression and eliminate symptoms. In this study, we create an open framework and resource for evidence-based identification of therapeutic targets for neurodegenerative disease. We use Summary-data-based Mendelian Randomization to identify genetic targets for drug discovery and repurposing. In parallel, we provide mechanistic insights into disease processes and potential network-level consequences of gene-based therapeutics. We identify 116 Alzheimer's disease, 3 amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, 5 Lewy body dementia, 46 Parkinson's disease, and 9 Progressive supranuclear palsy target genes passing multiple test corrections (pSMR_multi < 2.95×10-6 and pHEIDI > 0.01). We created a therapeutic scheme to classify our identified target genes into strata based on druggability and approved therapeutics - classifying 41 novel targets, 3 known targets, and 115 difficult targets (of these 69.8% are expressed in the disease relevant cell type from single nucleus experiments). Our novel class of genes provides a springboard for new opportunities in drug discovery, development and repurposing in the pre-competitive space. In addition, looking at drug-gene interaction networks, we identify previous trials that may require further follow-up such as Riluzole in AD. We also provide a user-friendly web platform to help users explore potential therapeutic targets for neurodegenerative diseases, decreasing activation energy for the community [https://nih-card-ndd-smr-home-syboky.streamlit.app/].
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Affiliation(s)
- Chelsea X. Alvarado
- Center for Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias (CARD), National Institute on Aging and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA, 20814
- Data Tecnica International, Washington, DC, USA, 20037
| | - Mary B. Makarious
- Laboratory of Neurogenetics, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA, 20814
- Department of Clinical and Movement Neurosciences, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, UK, WC1N 3BG
- UCL Movement Disorders Centre, University College London, London, UK, WC1N 3BG
| | - Cory A. Weller
- Center for Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias (CARD), National Institute on Aging and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA, 20814
- Data Tecnica International, Washington, DC, USA, 20037
| | - Dan Vitale
- Center for Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias (CARD), National Institute on Aging and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA, 20814
- Data Tecnica International, Washington, DC, USA, 20037
| | - Mathew J. Koretsky
- Center for Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias (CARD), National Institute on Aging and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA, 20814
| | - Sara Bandres-Ciga
- Center for Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias (CARD), National Institute on Aging and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA, 20814
| | - Hirotaka Iwaki
- Center for Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias (CARD), National Institute on Aging and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA, 20814
- Data Tecnica International, Washington, DC, USA, 20037
- Laboratory of Neurogenetics, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA, 20814
| | - Kristin Levine
- Center for Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias (CARD), National Institute on Aging and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA, 20814
- Data Tecnica International, Washington, DC, USA, 20037
| | - Andrew Singleton
- Center for Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias (CARD), National Institute on Aging and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA, 20814
- Laboratory of Neurogenetics, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA, 20814
| | - Faraz Faghri
- Center for Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias (CARD), National Institute on Aging and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA, 20814
- Data Tecnica International, Washington, DC, USA, 20037
- Laboratory of Neurogenetics, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA, 20814
| | - Mike A. Nalls
- Center for Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias (CARD), National Institute on Aging and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA, 20814
- Data Tecnica International, Washington, DC, USA, 20037
- Laboratory of Neurogenetics, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA, 20814
| | - Hampton L. Leonard
- Center for Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias (CARD), National Institute on Aging and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA, 20814
- Data Tecnica International, Washington, DC, USA, 20037
- Laboratory of Neurogenetics, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA, 20814
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Tübingen, Germany
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12
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Guo S, Yang J. Bayesian genome-wide TWAS with reference transcriptomic data of brain and blood tissues identified 93 risk genes for Alzheimer's disease dementia. MEDRXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR HEALTH SCIENCES 2023:2023.07.06.23292336. [PMID: 37503151 PMCID: PMC10370241 DOI: 10.1101/2023.07.06.23292336] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/29/2023]
Abstract
Background Transcriptome-wide association study (TWAS) is an influential tool for identifying novel genes associated with complex diseases, where their genetic effects may be mediated through transcriptome. TWAS utilizes reference genetic and transcriptomic data to estimate genetic effect sizes on expression quantitative traits of target genes (i.e., effect sizes of a broad sense of expression quantitative trait loci, eQTL). These estimated effect sizes are then employed as variant weights in burden gene-based association test statistics, facilitating the mapping of risk genes for complex diseases with genome-wide association study (GWAS) data. However, most existing TWAS of Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia have primarily focused on cis -eQTL, disregarding potential trans -eQTL. To overcome this limitation, we applied the Bayesian Genome-wide TWAS (BGW-TWAS) method which incorporated both cis - and trans -eQTL of brain and blood tissues to enhance mapping risk genes for AD dementia. Methods We first applied BGW-TWAS to the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) V8 dataset to estimate cis - and trans -eQTL effect sizes of the prefrontal cortex, cortex, and whole blood tissues. Subsequently, estimated eQTL effect sizes were integrated with the summary data of the most recent GWAS of AD dementia to obtain BGW-TWAS (i.e., gene-based association test) p-values of AD dementia per tissue type. Finally, we used the aggregated Cauchy association test to combine TWAS p-values across three tissues to obtain omnibus TWAS p-values per gene. Results We identified 37 genes in prefrontal cortex, 55 in cortex, and 51 in whole blood that were significantly associated with AD dementia. By combining BGW-TWAS p-values across these three tissues, we obtained 93 significant risk genes including 29 genes primarily due to trans -eQTL and 50 novel genes. Utilizing protein-protein interaction network and phenotype enrichment analyses with these 93 significant risk genes, we detected 5 functional clusters comprised of both known and novel AD risk genes and 7 enriched phenotypes. Conclusion We applied BGW-TWAS and aggregated Cauchy test methods to integrate both cis - and trans -eQTL data of brain and blood tissues with GWAS summary data to identify risk genes of AD dementia. The risk genes we identified provide novel insights into the underlying biological pathways implicated in AD dementia.
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13
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Cai W, Zhang Y, Chang T, Wang Z, Zhu B, Chen Y, Gao X, Xu L, Zhang L, Gao H, Song J, Li J. The eQTL colocalization and transcriptome-wide association study identify potentially causal genes responsible for economic traits in Simmental beef cattle. J Anim Sci Biotechnol 2023; 14:78. [PMID: 37165455 PMCID: PMC10173583 DOI: 10.1186/s40104-023-00876-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2022] [Accepted: 04/05/2023] [Indexed: 05/12/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND A detailed understanding of genetic variants that affect beef merit helps maximize the efficiency of breeding for improved production merit in beef cattle. To prioritize the putative variants and genes, we ran a comprehensive genome-wide association studies (GWAS) analysis for 21 agronomic traits using imputed whole-genome variants in Simmental beef cattle. Then, we applied expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) mapping between the genotype variants and transcriptome of three tissues (longissimus dorsi muscle, backfat, and liver) in 120 cattle. RESULTS We identified 1,580 association signals for 21 beef agronomic traits using GWAS. We then illuminated 854,498 cis-eQTLs for 6,017 genes and 46,970 trans-eQTLs for 1,903 genes in three tissues and built a synergistic network by integrating transcriptomics with agronomic traits. These cis-eQTLs were preferentially close to the transcription start site and enriched in functional regulatory regions. We observed an average of 43.5% improvement in cis-eQTL discovery using multi-tissue eQTL mapping. Fine-mapping analysis revealed that 111, 192, and 194 variants were most likely to be causative to regulate gene expression in backfat, liver, and muscle, respectively. The transcriptome-wide association studies identified 722 genes significantly associated with 11 agronomic traits. Via the colocalization and Mendelian randomization analyses, we found that eQTLs of several genes were associated with the GWAS signals of agronomic traits in three tissues, which included genes, such as NADSYN1, NDUFS3, LTF and KIFC2 in liver, GRAMD1C, TMTC2 and ZNF613 in backfat, as well as TIGAR, NDUFS3 and L3HYPDH in muscle that could serve as the candidate genes for economic traits. CONCLUSIONS The extensive atlas of GWAS, eQTL, fine-mapping, and transcriptome-wide association studies aid in the suggestion of potentially functional variants and genes in cattle agronomic traits and will be an invaluable source for genomics and breeding in beef cattle.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wentao Cai
- Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100193, China
| | - Yapeng Zhang
- Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100193, China
| | - Tianpeng Chang
- Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100193, China
| | - Zezhao Wang
- Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100193, China
| | - Bo Zhu
- Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100193, China
| | - Yan Chen
- Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100193, China
| | - Xue Gao
- Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100193, China
| | - Lingyang Xu
- Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100193, China
| | - Lupei Zhang
- Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100193, China
| | - Huijiang Gao
- Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100193, China
| | - Jiuzhou Song
- Department of Animal and Avian Science, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA.
| | - Junya Li
- Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100193, China.
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14
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Jain P, Yates M, de Celis CR, Drineas P, Jahanshad N, Thompson P, Paschou P. Multiomic approach and Mendelian randomization analysis identify causal associations between blood biomarkers and subcortical brain structure volumes. MEDRXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR HEALTH SCIENCES 2023:2023.03.30.23287968. [PMID: 37066330 PMCID: PMC10104218 DOI: 10.1101/2023.03.30.23287968] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/18/2023]
Abstract
Alterations in subcortical brain structure volumes have been found to be associated with several neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders. At the same time, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous common variants associated with brain structure. In this study, we integrate these findings, aiming to identify proteins, metabolites, or microbes that have a putative causal association with subcortical brain structure volumes via a two-sample Mendelian randomization approach. This method uses genetic variants as instrument variables to identify potentially causal associations between an exposure and an outcome. The exposure data that we analyzed comprised genetic associations for 2,994 plasma proteins, 237 metabolites, and 103 microbial genera. The outcome data included GWAS data for seven subcortical brain structure volumes including accumbens, amygdala, caudate, hippocampus, pallidum, putamen, and thalamus. Eleven proteins and six metabolites were found to have a significant association with subcortical structure volumes. We found causal associations between amygdala volume and granzyme A as well as association between accumbens volume and plasma protease c1 inhibitor. Among metabolites, urate had the strongest association with thalamic volume. No significant associations were detected between the microbial genera and subcortical brain structure volumes. We also observed significant enrichment for biological processes such as proteolysis, regulation of the endoplasmic reticulum apoptotic signaling pathway, and negative regulation of DNA binding. Our findings provide insights to the mechanisms through which brain volumes may be affected in the pathogenesis of neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders and point to potential treatment targets for disorders that are associated with subcortical brain structure volumes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pritesh Jain
- Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University
| | - Madison Yates
- Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University
| | | | | | - Neda Jahanshad
- Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of South California
| | - Paul Thompson
- Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of South California
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15
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John M, Grimm D, Korte A. Predicting Gene Regulatory Interactions Using Natural Genetic Variation. Methods Mol Biol 2023; 2698:301-322. [PMID: 37682482 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-3354-0_18] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/09/2023]
Abstract
Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) are a powerful tool to elucidate the genotype-phenotype map. Although GWAS are usually used to assess simple univariate associations between genetic markers and traits of interest, it is also possible to infer the underlying genetic architecture and to predict gene regulatory interactions. In this chapter, we describe the latest methods and tools to perform GWAS by calculating permutation-based significance thresholds. For this purpose, we first provide guidelines on univariate GWAS analyses that are extended in the second part of this chapter to more complex models that enable the inference of gene regulatory networks and how these networks vary.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maura John
- Technical University of Munich & Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences, Campus Straubing for Biotechnology and Sustainability, Bioinformatics, Straubing, Germany
| | - Dominik Grimm
- Technical University of Munich & Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences, Campus Straubing for Biotechnology and Sustainability, Bioinformatics, Straubing, Germany
| | - Arthur Korte
- Center for Computational and Theoretical Biology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
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16
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Toikumo S, Xu H, Gelernter J, Kember RL, Kranzler HR. Integrating human brain proteomic data with genome-wide association study findings identifies novel brain proteins in substance use traits. Neuropsychopharmacology 2022; 47:2292-2299. [PMID: 35941285 PMCID: PMC9630289 DOI: 10.1038/s41386-022-01406-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2022] [Revised: 06/13/2022] [Accepted: 07/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Despite the identification of a growing number of genetic risk loci for substance use traits (SUTs), the impact of these loci on protein abundance and the potential utility of relevant proteins as therapeutic targets are unknown. We conducted a proteome-wide association study (PWAS) in which we integrated human brain proteomes from discovery (Banner; N = 152) and validation (ROSMAP; N = 376) datasets with genome-wide association study (GWAS) summary statistics for 4 SUTs. The 4 samples comprised GWAS of European-ancestry individuals for smoking initiation [Smk] (N = 1,232,091), alcohol use disorder [AUD] (N = 313,959), cannabis use disorder [CUD] (N = 384,032), and opioid use disorder [OUD] (N = 302,585). We conducted transcriptome-wide association studies (TWAS) with human brain transcriptomic data to examine the overlap of genetic effects at the proteomic and transcriptomic levels and characterize significant genes through conditional, colocalization, and fine-mapping analyses. We identified 27 genes (Smk = 21, AUD = 3, CUD = 2, OUD = 1) that were significantly associated with cis-regulated brain protein abundance. Of these, 7 showed evidence for causality (Smk: NT5C2, GMPPB, NQO1, RHOT2, SRR and ACTR1B; and AUD: CTNND1). Cis-regulated transcript levels for 8 genes (Smk = 6, CUD = 1, OUD = 1) were associated with SUTs, indicating that genetic loci could confer risk for these SUTs by modulating both gene expression and proteomic abundance. Functional studies of the high-confidence risk proteins identified here are needed to determine whether they are modifiable targets and useful in developing medications and biomarkers for these SUTs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sylvanus Toikumo
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center, Crescenz VAMC, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Heng Xu
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Joel Gelernter
- Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Rachel L Kember
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
- Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center, Crescenz VAMC, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
| | - Henry R Kranzler
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
- Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center, Crescenz VAMC, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
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17
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Liu W, Zhong W, Chen J, Huang B, Hu M, Li Y. Understanding Regulatory Mechanisms of Brain Function and Disease through 3D Genome Organization. Genes (Basel) 2022; 13:genes13040586. [PMID: 35456393 PMCID: PMC9027261 DOI: 10.3390/genes13040586] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2022] [Revised: 03/17/2022] [Accepted: 03/23/2022] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
The human genome has a complex and dynamic three-dimensional (3D) organization, which plays a critical role for gene regulation and genome function. The importance of 3D genome organization in brain development and function has been well characterized in a region- and cell-type-specific fashion. Recent technological advances in chromosome conformation capture (3C)-based techniques, imaging approaches, and ligation-free methods, along with computational methods to analyze the data generated, have revealed 3D genome features at different scales in the brain that contribute to our understanding of genetic mechanisms underlying neuropsychiatric diseases and other brain-related traits. In this review, we discuss how these advances aid in the genetic dissection of brain-related traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Weifang Liu
- Department of Biostatistics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA; (W.L.); (J.C.)
| | - Wujuan Zhong
- Biostatistics and Research Decision Sciences, Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ 07065, USA;
| | - Jiawen Chen
- Department of Biostatistics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA; (W.L.); (J.C.)
| | - Bo Huang
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA;
- Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
| | - Ming Hu
- Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA
- Correspondence: (M.H.); (Y.L.)
| | - Yun Li
- Department of Biostatistics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA; (W.L.); (J.C.)
- Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
- Department of Computer Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
- Correspondence: (M.H.); (Y.L.)
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18
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Patasova K, Haarman AEG, Musolf AM, Mahroo OA, Rahi JS, Falchi M, Verhoeven VJM, Bailey-Wilson JE, Klaver CCW, Duggal P, Klein A, Guggenheim JA, Hammond CJ, Hysi PG. Association analyses of rare variants identify two genes associated with refractive error. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0272379. [PMID: 36137074 PMCID: PMC9499304 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0272379] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2021] [Accepted: 07/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE Genetic variants identified through population-based genome-wide studies are generally of high frequency, exerting their action in the central part of the refractive error spectrum. However, the power to identify associations with variants of lower minor allele frequency is greatly reduced, requiring considerable sample sizes. Here we aim to assess the impact of rare variants on genetic variation of refractive errors in a very large general population cohort. METHODS Genetic association analyses of non-cyclopaedic autorefraction calculated as mean spherical equivalent (SPHE) used whole-exome sequence genotypic information from 50,893 unrelated participants in the UK Biobank of European ancestry. Gene-based analyses tested for association with SPHE using an optimised SNP-set kernel association test (SKAT-O) restricted to rare variants (minor allele frequency < 1%) within protein-coding regions of the genome. All models were adjusted for age, sex and common lead variants within the same locus reported by previous genome-wide association studies. Potentially causal markers driving association at significant loci were elucidated using sensitivity analyses by sequentially dropping the most associated variants from gene-based analyses. RESULTS We found strong statistical evidence for association of SPHE with the SIX6 (p-value = 2.15 x 10-10, or Bonferroni-Corrected p = 4.41x10-06) and the CRX gene (p-value = 6.65 x 10-08, or Bonferroni-Corrected p = 0.001). The SIX6 gene codes for a transcription factor believed to be critical to the eye, retina and optic disc development and morphology, while CRX regulates photoreceptor specification and expression of over 700 genes in the retina. These novel associations suggest an important role of genes involved in eye morphogenesis in refractive error. CONCLUSION The results of our study support previous research highlighting the importance of rare variants to the genetic risk of refractive error. We explain some of the origins of the genetic signals seen in GWAS but also report for the first time a completely novel association with the CRX gene.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karina Patasova
- Department of Ophthalmology, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
- Department of Twins Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Annechien E. G. Haarman
- Department of Ophthalmology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
- Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Anthony M. Musolf
- Computational and Statistical Genomics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Omar A. Mahroo
- Department of Ophthalmology, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
- Department of Twins Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
- NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, London, United Kingdom
- Department of Ophthalmology, St Thomas’ Hospital, Guys and St ’Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom
- Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Jugnoo S. Rahi
- UCL Great Ormond Street Hospital Institute of Child Health, London, United Kingdom
- Ulverscroft Vision Research Group, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Mario Falchi
- Department of Twins Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Virginie J. M. Verhoeven
- Department of Ophthalmology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
- Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Joan E. Bailey-Wilson
- Computational and Statistical Genomics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Caroline C. W. Klaver
- Department of Ophthalmology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
- Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
- Department of Ophthalmology, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Priya Duggal
- Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, United States of America
| | - Alison Klein
- Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, United States of America
- Department of Oncology, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
- Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Jeremy A. Guggenheim
- School of Optometry & Vision Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom
| | - Chris J. Hammond
- Department of Ophthalmology, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
- Department of Twins Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Pirro G. Hysi
- Department of Ophthalmology, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
- Department of Twins Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
- UCL Great Ormond Street Hospital Institute of Child Health, London, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
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19
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Kaminker JD, Timoshenko AV. Expression, Regulation, and Functions of the Galectin-16 Gene in Human Cells and Tissues. Biomolecules 2021; 11:1909. [PMID: 34944551 PMCID: PMC8699332 DOI: 10.3390/biom11121909] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2021] [Revised: 12/15/2021] [Accepted: 12/16/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Galectins comprise a family of soluble β-galactoside-binding proteins, which regulate a variety of key biological processes including cell growth, differentiation, survival, and death. This paper aims to address the current knowledge on the unique properties, regulation, and expression of the galectin-16 gene (LGALS16) in human cells and tissues. To date, there are limited studies on this galectin, with most focusing on its tissue specificity to the placenta. Here, we report the expression and 8-Br-cAMP-induced upregulation of LGALS16 in two placental cell lines (BeWo and JEG-3) in the context of trophoblastic differentiation. In addition, we provide the results of a bioinformatics search for LGALS16 using datasets available at GEO, Human Protein Atlas, and prediction tools for relevant transcription factors and miRNAs. Our findings indicate that LGALS16 is detected by microarrays in diverse human cells/tissues and alters expression in association with cancer, diabetes, and brain diseases. Molecular mechanisms of the transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of LGALS16 are also discussed based on the available bioinformatics resources.
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20
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Branch CL, Semenov GA, Wagner DN, Sonnenberg BR, Pitera AM, Bridge ES, Taylor SA, Pravosudov VV. The genetic basis of spatial cognitive variation in a food-caching bird. Curr Biol 2021; 32:210-219.e4. [PMID: 34735793 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.10.036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2021] [Revised: 09/15/2021] [Accepted: 10/14/2021] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
Spatial cognition is used by most organisms to navigate their environment. Some species rely particularly heavily on specialized spatial cognition to survive, suggesting that a heritable component of cognition may be under natural selection. This idea remains largely untested outside of humans, perhaps because cognition in general is known to be strongly affected by learning and experience.1-4 We investigated the genetic basis of individual variation in spatial cognition used by non-migratory food-caching birds to recover food stores and survive harsh montane winters. Comparing the genomes of wild, free-living birds ranging from best to worst in their performance on a spatial cognitive task revealed significant associations with genes involved in neuron growth and development and hippocampal function. These results identify candidate genes associated with differences in spatial cognition and provide a critical link connecting individual variation in spatial cognition with natural selection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carrie L Branch
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA.
| | - Georgy A Semenov
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
| | - Dominique N Wagner
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
| | - Benjamin R Sonnenberg
- Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology Graduate Program, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA
| | - Angela M Pitera
- Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology Graduate Program, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA
| | - Eli S Bridge
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019, USA
| | - Scott A Taylor
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
| | - Vladimir V Pravosudov
- Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology Graduate Program, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA.
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21
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Shan N, Xie Y, Song S, Jiang W, Wang Z, Hou L. A novel transcriptional risk score for risk prediction of complex human diseases. Genet Epidemiol 2021; 45:811-820. [PMID: 34245595 DOI: 10.1002/gepi.22424] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2020] [Revised: 06/08/2021] [Accepted: 06/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Recently polygenetic risk score (PRS) has been successfully used in the risk prediction of complex human diseases. Many studies incorporated internal information, such as effect size distribution, or external information, such as linkage disequilibrium, functional annotation, and pleiotropy among multiple diseases, to optimize the performance of PRS. To leverage on multiomics datasets, we developed a novel flexible transcriptional risk score (TRS), in which messenger RNA expression levels were imputed and weighted for risk prediction. In simulation studies, we demonstrated that single-tissue TRS has greater prediction power than LDpred, especially when there is a large effect of gene expression on the phenotype. Multitissue TRS improves prediction accuracy when there are multiple tissues with independent contributions to disease risk. We applied our method to complex traits, including Crohn's disease, type 2 diabetes, and so on. The single-tissue TRS method outperformed LDpred and AnnoPred across the tested traits. The performance of multitissue TRS is trait-dependent. Moreover, our method can easily incorporate information from epigenomic and proteomic data upon the availability of reference datasets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nayang Shan
- Center for Statistical Science, Department of Industrial Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
| | - Yuhan Xie
- Department of Biostatistics, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - Shuang Song
- Center for Statistical Science, Department of Industrial Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
| | - Wei Jiang
- Department of Biostatistics, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - Zuoheng Wang
- Department of Biostatistics, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - Lin Hou
- Center for Statistical Science, Department of Industrial Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.,MOE Key Laboratory of Bioinformatics, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
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