Multifactor dimensionality reduction reveals the effect of interaction between ERAP1 and IFIH1 polymorphisms in psoriasis susceptibility genes

The expression of ERAP1 is favorable for the prognosis and immunotherapy in colorectal cancer: a study based on the bioinformatic and immunohistochemical analysis

BACKGROUND

Endoplasmic reticulum aminopeptidase 1 (ERAP1) is an emerging pharmacological target in cancer immunotherapy. This study was set out to examine the expression profiles and implications for prognosis and immunotherapy of ERAP1 in CRC.

METHODS

Based on bioinformatics and immunohistochemical analysis, we analyzed ERAP1 for potential diagnostic and prognostic significance in CRC. Functional enrichment analysis was conducted to detect the pathways associated with ERAP1, thus determining possible mechanisms. ESTIMATE, TIMER, and CIBESORT probed the links between ERAP1 and tumor-infiltrating immune cells. Lastly, we examined how ERAP1 expression correlated with the sensitivity to immunotherapy.

RESULTS

Tumor tissues had decreased levels of ERAP1 expression relative to normal tissues. Patients whose ERAP1 expression was low suffered a worse chance of survival. Besides, it was shown that ERAP1 expression was associated with the advanced M stage and pathologic stage. Survival analysis revealed that low ERAP1 expression, age, pathologic stage, T stage, and M stage were independent indicators for unfavorable CRC patients' prognoses. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year OS calibration curves all fit well with the ideal model, suggesting that the age-ERAP1-T-stage-M-stage nomogram is a reliable predictor of OS. Additionally, we discovered that ERAP1 expression was associated with immune response and infiltration of various immune cells, such as down-regulated inhibitory immune cells and up-regulated stimulating immune cells. Sensitivity to PD-1 and CTLA4 inhibitors was associated with high ERAP1 levels.

CONCLUSIONS

In summary, ERAP1 has potential as a diagnostic and prognostic biological marker, highlighting new insights into the study of CRC and the design of effective therapies.

Effects of Sjogren's Syndrome on essential hypertension: a two-sample mendelian randomization study

BACKGROUND

Sjogren's Syndrome (SS) plays important roles in the development of essential hypertension. Nevertheless, with the limitation of reverse causality and confounder in observational studies, such a relationship remains unclear. We aimed to assess the causal relationship of SS and hypertension by the Mendelian randomization (MR) approach.

METHODS

We used MR to investigate a causal association between SS and essential hypertension. Inverse variance weighted (IVW), MR Egger regression, Maximum likelihood, Weighted median, and MR pleiotropy residual sum and outlier test (MR-PRESSO) were used in this MR analysis.

RESULTS

In this study, we found that the ratio of IVW is 1.00024 (95% CI: 1.00013- 1.00036, P=0.0387), This result was also confirmed by sensitivity analysis methods such as Maximum likelihood is 1.00025 (95% CI: 1.00013-1.00037, P=0.036), MR Egger is 1.00071 (95% CI: 1.00047-1.00095, P=0.0045), and Weighted median is 1.00040 (95% CI: 1.00021- 1.00059, P=0.0322). And MR-Egger intercept method revealed the absence of horizontal pleiotropy in this investigation (P>0.05). The Cochran's Q Test indicated an absence of heterogeneity among them (P>0.05). Heterogeneity and horizontal pleiotropy tests further demonstrate that the results of MR are relatively stable. The above results all suggest that pSS may promote the risk of hypertension.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study provides evidence of a causal relationship of SS and hypertension. It is suggested to pay attention to early screening for hypertension, reduce disability and mortality rates, and improve patient prognosis in patients with SS.

Novel genetic insight for psoriasis: integrative genome-wide analyses in 863 080 individuals and proteome-wide Mendelian randomization

Psoriasis affects a significant proportion of the worldwide population and causes an extremely heavy psychological and physical burden. The existing therapeutic schemes have many deficiencies such as limited efficacies and various side effects. Therefore, novel ways of treating psoriasis are urgently needed. A large-scale meta-analysis of psoriasis genome-wide association studies (GWAS) totaling 20 105 cases and 842 975 controls was conducted. Based on the GWAS results, Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses were then performed on three cis-protein quantitative trait loci (pQTL) data in blood. Furthermore, druggability verification and mouse knock-out models were utilized to explore the clinical value of screened proteins. We identified 42 genome-wide significant psoriasis risk variants (P < 5 × 10-8), of which 33 were previously unreported. MR analyses unveiled 19 unique circulating proteins that were associated with psoriasis, among which only AIF1, FCGR3A, NEU1, HSPA1A, TNXB, and ABO were the potential proteins that interacted with psoriasis risk after being analyzed with high evidence of colocalization (PP.H4 > 0.9). In addition, AIF1, FCGR3A, and HSPA1A have been finally determined to be feasible therapeutic targets for psoriasis after being confirmed by druggability verification and specific mouse knock-out models. This large-scale GWAS meta-analysis identified 33 new variants for psoriasis. This study announced that AIF1, FCGR3, and HSPA1A were the unexplored but material variants of psoriasis, thus providing novel and valuable targets for psoriasis treatment and broadening new orientation of drug development for psoriasis.

ERAP1 Gene Variants and Haplotypes Associated With Psoriasis Vulgaris of Han Chinese in Inner Mongolia

BACKGROUND

This study aimed to investigate the association between genetic variants of ERAP1 (OMIM: 606832) and psoriasis vulgaris (PsV) susceptibility in Inner Mongolia Han nationality.

METHODS

For primary screening, the subjects included 142 PsV cases and 100 healthy controls without psoriasis. The 27 exons of ERAP1 gene were sequenced to screen significant genetic variants. For the validation study, the subjects included 1030 PsV cases and 965 healthy controls. A total of 18 mutations were detected for genetic variants of significance in primary screening and previously reported genetic variants.

RESULTS

In primary screening stage, 13 genetic variants of ERAP1 showed an association with psoriasis. A total of 18 genetic variants were typed for the validation, and 12 genetic variants were associated with PsV in Inner Mongolia Han population. Stratified analysis showed significant differences in the allele frequencies of 8 ERAP1 genetic variants in cases with positive family history, and significant differences in allele frequencies among 9 ERAP1 genetic variants in patients with negative family history. A risk haplotype (TCCCTCCAGACC) was significantly associated with PsV, and the most risk haplotype was E730/K528/R127/E56.

CONCLUSION

ERAP1 gene mutation may be associated with PsV and HLA-C*06:02 in Han nationality in Inner Mongolia. A risk haplotype of four-nonsynonymous mutation (E730/K528/R127/E56) is associated with PsV.

Disentangling the complexity of psoriasis in the post-genome-wide association era

In recent years, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been instrumental in unraveling the genetic architecture of complex diseases, including psoriasis. The application of large-scale GWA studies in psoriasis has illustrated several associated loci that participate in the cutaneous inflammation, however explaining a fraction of the disease heritability. With the advent of high-throughput sequencing technologies and functional genomics approaches, the post-GWAS era aims to unravel the functional mechanisms underlying the inter-individual variability in psoriasis patients. In this review, we present the key advances of psoriasis GWAS in under-represented populations, rare, non-coding and structural variants and epistatic phenomena that orchestrate the interplay between different cell types. We further review the gene-gene and gene-environment interactions contributing to the disease predisposition and development of comorbidities through Mendelian randomization studies and pleiotropic effects of psoriasis-associated loci. We finally examine the holistic approaches conducted in psoriasis through system genetics and state-of-the-art transcriptomic analyses, discussing their potential implication in the expanding field of precision medicine and characterization of comorbidities.

The IFIH1/MDA5 rs1990760 Gene Variant (946Thr) Differentiates Early- vs. Late-Onset Skin Disease and Increases the Risk of Arthritis in a Spanish Cohort of Psoriasis

The melanoma differentiation-associated protein 5 (MDA5; encoded by the IFIH1 gene) mediates the activation of the interferon pathway in response to a viral infection. This protein is also upregulated in autoimmune diseases and psoriasis skin lesions. IFIH1 gene variants that increase MDA5 activity have been associated with an increased risk for immune-mediated diseases, including psoriasis. Our aim is to determine the association between three IFIH1 variants (rs35337543 G/C, intron8 + 1; rs35744605 C/A, Glu627Stop; and rs1990760 C/T, Ala946Thr) and the main clinical findings in a cohort of Spanish patients with psoriasis (N = 572; 77% early-onset). Early-onset psoriasis patients (EOPs) had a significantly higher frequency of severe disease and the Cw6*0602 allele. Carriers of rs1990760 T (946Thr) were more common in the EOPs (p < 0.001), and the effect was more pronounced among Cw6*0602-negatives. This variant was also associated with an increased risk of psoriatic arthritis (PsA) independent from other factors (OR = 1.62, 95%CI = 1.11-2.37). The rs3533754 and rs35744605 polymorphisms did not show significant differences between the two onset age or PsA groups. Compared to the controls, the 946Thr variant was more common in the EOPs (nonsignificant difference) and significantly less common in patients aged >40 years (p = 0.005). In conclusion, the common IFIH1 rs1990760 T allele was significantly more frequent in early-onset compared to late-onset patients. This variant was also an independent risk factor for PsA in our cohort. Our study reinforces the widely reported role of the IFIH1 gene variants on psoriatic disease.