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Abood A, Mesner L, Rosenow W, Al-Barghouthi BM, Horowitz N, Morgan EF, Gerstenfeld LC, Farber CR. Identification of Known and Novel Long Noncoding RNAs Potentially Responsible for the Effects of Bone Mineral Density (BMD) Genomewide Association Study (GWAS) Loci. J Bone Miner Res 2022; 37:1500-1510. [PMID: 35695880 PMCID: PMC9545622 DOI: 10.1002/jbmr.4622] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2021] [Revised: 04/26/2022] [Accepted: 06/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
Osteoporosis, characterized by low bone mineral density (BMD), is the most common complex disease affecting bone and constitutes a major societal health problem. Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified over 1100 associations influencing BMD. It has been shown that perturbations to long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) influence BMD and the activities of bone cells; however, the extent to which lncRNAs are involved in the genetic regulation of BMD is unknown. Here, we combined the analysis of allelic imbalance (AI) in human acetabular bone fragments with a transcriptome-wide association study (TWAS) and expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) colocalization analysis using data from the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project to identify lncRNAs potentially responsible for GWAS associations. We identified 27 lncRNAs in bone that are located in proximity to a BMD GWAS association and harbor single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) demonstrating AI. Using GTEx data we identified an additional 31 lncRNAs whose expression was associated (false discovery rate [FDR] correction < 0.05) with BMD through TWAS and had a colocalizing eQTL (regional colocalization probability [RCP] > 0.1). The 58 lncRNAs are located in 43 BMD associations. To further support a causal role for the identified lncRNAs, we show that 23 of the 58 lncRNAs are differentially expressed as a function of osteoblast differentiation. Our approach identifies lncRNAs that are potentially responsible for BMD GWAS associations and suggest that lncRNAs play a role in the genetics of osteoporosis. © 2022 The Authors. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR).
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Affiliation(s)
- Abdullah Abood
- Center for Public Health Genomics, School of Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA.,Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
| | - Larry Mesner
- Center for Public Health Genomics, School of Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA.,Department of Public Health Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
| | - Will Rosenow
- Center for Public Health Genomics, School of Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
| | - Basel M Al-Barghouthi
- Center for Public Health Genomics, School of Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA.,Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
| | - Nina Horowitz
- Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Elise F Morgan
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
| | | | - Charles R Farber
- Center for Public Health Genomics, School of Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA.,Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA.,Department of Public Health Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
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Al-Barghouthi BM, Rosenow WT, Du KP, Heo J, Maynard R, Mesner L, Calabrese G, Nakasone A, Senwar B, Gerstenfeld L, Larner J, Ferguson V, Ackert-Bicknell C, Morgan E, Brautigan D, Farber CR. Transcriptome-wide association study and eQTL colocalization identify potentially causal genes responsible for human bone mineral density GWAS associations. eLife 2022; 11:77285. [PMID: 36416764 PMCID: PMC9683789 DOI: 10.7554/elife.77285] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2022] [Accepted: 11/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) for bone mineral density (BMD) in humans have identified over 1100 associations to date. However, identifying causal genes implicated by such studies has been challenging. Recent advances in the development of transcriptome reference datasets and computational approaches such as transcriptome-wide association studies (TWASs) and expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) colocalization have proven to be informative in identifying putatively causal genes underlying GWAS associations. Here, we used TWAS/eQTL colocalization in conjunction with transcriptomic data from the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project to identify potentially causal genes for the largest BMD GWAS performed to date. Using this approach, we identified 512 genes as significant using both TWAS and eQTL colocalization. This set of genes was enriched for regulators of BMD and members of bone relevant biological processes. To investigate the significance of our findings, we selected PPP6R3, the gene with the strongest support from our analysis which was not previously implicated in the regulation of BMD, for further investigation. We observed that Ppp6r3 deletion in mice decreased BMD. In this work, we provide an updated resource of putatively causal BMD genes and demonstrate that PPP6R3 is a putatively causal BMD GWAS gene. These data increase our understanding of the genetics of BMD and provide further evidence for the utility of combined TWAS/colocalization approaches in untangling the genetics of complex traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Basel Maher Al-Barghouthi
- Center for Public Health Genomics, School of Medicine, University of VirginiaCharlottesvilleUnited States,Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine, University of VirginiaCharlottesvilleUnited States
| | - Will T Rosenow
- Center for Public Health Genomics, School of Medicine, University of VirginiaCharlottesvilleUnited States
| | - Kang-Ping Du
- Department of Radiation Oncology, University of VirginiaCharlottesvilleUnited States
| | - Jinho Heo
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology, School of Medicine, University of VirginiaCharlottesvilleUnited States
| | - Robert Maynard
- Department of Orthopedics, Anschutz Medical Campus, University of ColoradoAuroraUnited States
| | - Larry Mesner
- Center for Public Health Genomics, School of Medicine, University of VirginiaCharlottesvilleUnited States,Department of Public Health Sciences, School of Medicine, University of VirginiaCharlottesvilleUnited States
| | - Gina Calabrese
- Center for Public Health Genomics, School of Medicine, University of VirginiaCharlottesvilleUnited States
| | - Aaron Nakasone
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Boston UniversityBostonUnited States
| | - Bhavya Senwar
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado BoulderBoulderUnited States
| | - Louis Gerstenfeld
- Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Boston University Medical CenterBostonUnited States
| | - James Larner
- Department of Radiation Oncology, University of VirginiaCharlottesvilleUnited States
| | - Virginia Ferguson
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado BoulderBoulderUnited States
| | - Cheryl Ackert-Bicknell
- Department of Orthopedics, Anschutz Medical Campus, University of ColoradoAuroraUnited States
| | - Elise Morgan
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Boston UniversityBostonUnited States
| | - David Brautigan
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology, School of Medicine, University of VirginiaCharlottesvilleUnited States
| | - Charles R Farber
- Center for Public Health Genomics, School of Medicine, University of VirginiaCharlottesvilleUnited States,Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine, University of VirginiaCharlottesvilleUnited States,Department of Public Health Sciences, School of Medicine, University of VirginiaCharlottesvilleUnited States
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