1
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Spargo TP, Opie-Martin S, Bowles H, Lewis CM, Iacoangeli A, Al-Chalabi A. Calculating variant penetrance from family history of disease and average family size in population-scale data. Genome Med 2022; 14:141. [PMID: 36522764 PMCID: PMC9753373 DOI: 10.1186/s13073-022-01142-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2022] [Accepted: 11/18/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Genetic penetrance is the probability of a phenotype when harbouring a particular pathogenic variant. Accurate penetrance estimates are important across biomedical fields including genetic counselling, disease research, and gene therapy. However, existing approaches for penetrance estimation require, for instance, large family pedigrees or availability of large databases of people affected and not affected by a disease. METHODS We present a method for penetrance estimation in autosomal dominant phenotypes. It examines the distribution of a variant among people affected (cases) and unaffected (controls) by a phenotype within population-scale data and can be operated using cases only by considering family disease history. It is validated through simulation studies and candidate variant-disease case studies. RESULTS Our method yields penetrance estimates which align with those obtained via existing approaches in the Parkinson's disease LRRK2 gene and pulmonary arterial hypertension BMPR2 gene case studies. In the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis case studies, examining penetrance for variants in the SOD1 and C9orf72 genes, we make novel penetrance estimates which correspond closely to understanding of the disease. CONCLUSIONS The present approach broadens the spectrum of traits for which reliable penetrance estimates can be obtained. It has substantial utility for facilitating the characterisation of disease risks associated with rare variants with an autosomal dominant inheritance pattern. The yielded estimates avoid any kinship-specific effects and can circumvent ascertainment biases common when sampling rare variants among control populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas P Spargo
- Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, King's College London, London, SE5 9RX, UK
| | - Sarah Opie-Martin
- Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, King's College London, London, SE5 9RX, UK
| | - Harry Bowles
- Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, King's College London, London, SE5 9RX, UK
| | - Cathryn M Lewis
- Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, de Crespigny Park, London, SE5 8AF, UK
- Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics, Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Alfredo Iacoangeli
- Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, King's College London, London, SE5 9RX, UK.
- Department of Biostatistics and Health Informatics, King's College London, London, UK.
- NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London, London, UK.
| | - Ammar Al-Chalabi
- Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, King's College London, London, SE5 9RX, UK.
- King's College Hospital, Bessemer Road, London, SE5 9RS, UK.
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2
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Amorós MA, Choi ES, Cofré AR, Dokholyan NV, Duzzioni M. Motor neuron-derived induced pluripotent stem cells as a drug screening platform for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Front Cell Dev Biol 2022; 10:962881. [PMID: 36105357 PMCID: PMC9467621 DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2022.962881] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2022] [Accepted: 07/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The development of cell culture models that recapitulate the etiology and features of nervous system diseases is central to the discovery of new drugs and their translation onto therapies. Neuronal tissues are inaccessible due to skeletal constraints and the invasiveness of the procedure to obtain them. Thus, the emergence of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology offers the opportunity to model different neuronal pathologies. Our focus centers on iPSCs derived from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients, whose pathology remains in urgent need of new drugs and treatment. In this sense, we aim to revise the process to obtain motor neurons derived iPSCs (iPSC-MNs) from patients with ALS as a drug screening model, review current 3D-models and offer a perspective on bioinformatics as a powerful tool that can aid in the progress of finding new pharmacological treatments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mariana A. Amorós
- Laboratory of Pharmacological Innovation, Institute of Biological Sciences and Health, Federal University of Alagoas, Maceió, Alagoas, Brazil
| | - Esther S. Choi
- Department of Pharmacology, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, United States
| | - Axel R. Cofré
- Laboratory of Pharmacological Innovation, Institute of Biological Sciences and Health, Federal University of Alagoas, Maceió, Alagoas, Brazil
| | - Nikolay V. Dokholyan
- Department of Pharmacology, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, United States
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, United States
| | - Marcelo Duzzioni
- Laboratory of Pharmacological Innovation, Institute of Biological Sciences and Health, Federal University of Alagoas, Maceió, Alagoas, Brazil
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3
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Walker K, Kalra D, Lowdon R, Chen G, Molik D, Soto DC, Dabbaghie F, Khleifat AA, Mahmoud M, Paulin LF, Raza MS, Pfeifer SP, Agustinho DP, Aliyev E, Avdeyev P, Barrozo ER, Behera S, Billingsley K, Chong LC, Choubey D, De Coster W, Fu Y, Gener AR, Hefferon T, Henke DM, Höps W, Illarionova A, Jochum MD, Jose M, Kesharwani RK, Kolora SRR, Kubica J, Lakra P, Lattimer D, Liew CS, Lo BW, Lo C, Lötter A, Majidian S, Mendem SK, Mondal R, Ohmiya H, Parvin N, Peralta C, Poon CL, Prabhakaran R, Saitou M, Sammi A, Sanio P, Sapoval N, Syed N, Treangen T, Wang G, Xu T, Yang J, Zhang S, Zhou W, Sedlazeck FJ, Busby B. The third international hackathon for applying insights into large-scale genomic composition to use cases in a wide range of organisms. F1000Res 2022; 11:530. [PMID: 36262335 PMCID: PMC9557141 DOI: 10.12688/f1000research.110194.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/04/2022] [Indexed: 01/25/2023] Open
Abstract
In October 2021, 59 scientists from 14 countries and 13 U.S. states collaborated virtually in the Third Annual Baylor College of Medicine & DNANexus Structural Variation hackathon. The goal of the hackathon was to advance research on structural variants (SVs) by prototyping and iterating on open-source software. This led to nine hackathon projects focused on diverse genomics research interests, including various SV discovery and genotyping methods, SV sequence reconstruction, and clinically relevant structural variation, including SARS-CoV-2 variants. Repositories for the projects that participated in the hackathon are available at https://github.com/collaborativebioinformatics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kimberly Walker
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - Divya Kalra
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | | | - Guangyi Chen
- Drug Bioinformatics, Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), Saarbrücken, Germany
- Center for Bioinformatics, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - David Molik
- Tropical Crop and Commodity Protection Research Unit, Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center, Hilo, HI, 96720, USA
| | - Daniela C. Soto
- Biochemistry & Molecular Medicine, Genome Center, MIND Institute, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, 95616, USA
| | - Fawaz Dabbaghie
- Drug Bioinformatics, Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS), Saarbrücken, Germany
- Institute for Medical Biometry and Bioinformatics, University hospital Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Ahmad Al Khleifat
- Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Medhat Mahmoud
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - Luis F Paulin
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - Muhammad Sohail Raza
- CAS Key Laboratory of Genomic and Precision Medicine, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Beijing, China
| | - Susanne P. Pfeifer
- Center for Evolution and Medicine, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Daniel Paiva Agustinho
- Department of Molecular Microbiology, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA
| | - Elbay Aliyev
- Research Department, Sidra Medicine, Doha, Qatar
| | - Pavel Avdeyev
- Computational Biology Institute, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, 20052, USA
| | - Enrico R. Barrozo
- Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - Sairam Behera
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - Kimberley Billingsley
- Molecular Genetics Section, Laboratory of Neurogenetics, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Li Chuin Chong
- Beykoz Institute of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Bezmialem Vakif University, Beykoz, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Deepak Choubey
- Department of Technology, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, Maharashtra, India
| | - Wouter De Coster
- Applied and Translational Neurogenomics Group, VIB Center for Molecular Neurology, Antwerp, Belgium
- Applied and Translational Neurogenomics Group, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
| | - Yilei Fu
- Department of Computer Science, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Alejandro R. Gener
- Association of Public Health Labs, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Downey, CA, USA
| | - Timothy Hefferon
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA
| | - David Morgan Henke
- Department Molecular Virology and Microbiology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - Wolfram Höps
- EMBL Heidelberg, Genome Biology Unit, Heidelberg, Germany
| | | | - Michael D. Jochum
- Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - Maria Jose
- Centre for Bioinformatics, Pondicherry University, Pondicherry, India
| | - Rupesh K. Kesharwani
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | | | | | - Priya Lakra
- Department of Zoology, University of Delhi, Delhi, India
| | - Damaris Lattimer
- University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria - FH Hagenberg, Mühlkreis, Austria
| | - Chia-Sin Liew
- Center for Biotechnology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, 68588, USA
| | - Bai-Wei Lo
- Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Chunhsuan Lo
- Human Genetics Laboratory, National Institute of Genetics, Japan, Mishima City, Japan
| | - Anneri Lötter
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
| | - Sina Majidian
- Department of Computational Biology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | | | - Rajarshi Mondal
- Department of Biotechnology, The University of Burdwan, West Bengal, India
| | - Hiroko Ohmiya
- Genetic Reagent Development Unit, Medical & Biological Laboratories Co., Ltd., Tokoyo, Japan
| | - Nasrin Parvin
- Department of Biotechnology, The University of Burdwan, West Bengal, India
| | | | | | | | - Marie Saitou
- Center of Integrative Genetics (CIGENE),Faculty of Biosciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, As, Norway
| | - Aditi Sammi
- School of Biochemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India
| | - Philippe Sanio
- University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria - FH Hagenberg, Hagenberg im Mühlkreis, Austria
| | - Nicolae Sapoval
- Department of Computer Science, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Najeeb Syed
- Research Department, Sidra Medicine, Doha, Qatar
| | - Todd Treangen
- Department of Computer Science, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA
| | | | - Tiancheng Xu
- Department of Computer Science, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Jianzhi Yang
- Department of Quantitative and Computational Biology,, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Shangzhe Zhang
- School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK
| | - Weiyu Zhou
- Department of Statistical Science, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, USA
| | - Fritz J Sedlazeck
- Human Genome Sequencing Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
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4
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Al Khleifat A, Iacoangeli A, van Vugt JJFA, Bowles H, Moisse M, Zwamborn RAJ, van der Spek RAA, Shatunov A, Cooper-Knock J, Topp S, Byrne R, Gellera C, López V, Jones AR, Opie-Martin S, Vural A, Campos Y, van Rheenen W, Kenna B, Van Eijk KR, Kenna K, Weber M, Smith B, Fogh I, Silani V, Morrison KE, Dobson R, van Es MA, McLaughlin RL, Vourc'h P, Chio A, Corcia P, de Carvalho M, Gotkine M, Panades MP, Mora JS, Shaw PJ, Landers JE, Glass JD, Shaw CE, Basak N, Hardiman O, Robberecht W, Van Damme P, van den Berg LH, Veldink JH, Al-Chalabi A. Structural variation analysis of 6,500 whole genome sequences in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. NPJ Genom Med 2022; 7:8. [PMID: 35091648 PMCID: PMC8799638 DOI: 10.1038/s41525-021-00267-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2020] [Accepted: 10/21/2021] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
There is a strong genetic contribution to Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) risk, with heritability estimates of up to 60%. Both Mendelian and small effect variants have been identified, but in common with other conditions, such variants only explain a little of the heritability. Genomic structural variation might account for some of this otherwise unexplained heritability. We therefore investigated association between structural variation in a set of 25 ALS genes, and ALS risk and phenotype. As expected, the repeat expansion in the C9orf72 gene was identified as associated with ALS. Two other ALS-associated structural variants were identified: inversion in the VCP gene and insertion in the ERBB4 gene. All three variants were associated both with increased risk of ALS and specific phenotypic patterns of disease expression. More than 70% of people with respiratory onset ALS harboured ERBB4 insertion compared with 25% of the general population, suggesting respiratory onset ALS may be a distinct genetic subtype.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ahmad Al Khleifat
- King's College London, Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, De Crespigny Park, London, UK
| | - Alfredo Iacoangeli
- King's College London, Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, De Crespigny Park, London, UK
- Department of Biostatistics and Health Informatics, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Joke J F A van Vugt
- Department of Neurology, UMC Utrecht Brain Center, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Harry Bowles
- King's College London, Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, De Crespigny Park, London, UK
| | - Matthieu Moisse
- KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Department of Neurosciences, Experimental Neurology; VIB Center for Brain & Disease Research, Laboratory of Neurobiology, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Ramona A J Zwamborn
- Department of Neurology, UMC Utrecht Brain Center, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Rick A A van der Spek
- Department of Neurology, UMC Utrecht Brain Center, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Aleksey Shatunov
- King's College London, Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, De Crespigny Park, London, UK
| | - Johnathan Cooper-Knock
- Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN), University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
| | - Simon Topp
- King's College London, Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, De Crespigny Park, London, UK
| | - Ross Byrne
- Complex Trait Genomics Laboratory, Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Cinzia Gellera
- Department of Neurology and Laboratory of Neuroscience, IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano and Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, "Dino Ferrari" Center, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy
| | - Victoria López
- Department of Neurology and Laboratory of Neuroscience, IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano and Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, "Dino Ferrari" Center, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy
| | - Ashley R Jones
- King's College London, Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, De Crespigny Park, London, UK
| | - Sarah Opie-Martin
- King's College London, Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, De Crespigny Park, London, UK
| | - Atay Vural
- Koc University, School of Medicine, Translational Medicine Research Center- NDAL, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Yolanda Campos
- Mitochondrial pathology Unit, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
| | - Wouter van Rheenen
- Department of Neurology, UMC Utrecht Brain Center, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Brendan Kenna
- Department of Neurology, UMC Utrecht Brain Center, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Kristel R Van Eijk
- Department of Neurology, UMC Utrecht Brain Center, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Kevin Kenna
- Department of Neurology, UMC Utrecht Brain Center, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Markus Weber
- Neuromuscular Diseases Unit/ALS Clinic, Kantonsspital St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland
| | - Bradley Smith
- King's College London, Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, De Crespigny Park, London, UK
| | - Isabella Fogh
- King's College London, Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, De Crespigny Park, London, UK
| | - Vincenzo Silani
- Department of Neurology and Laboratory of Neuroscience, IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano and Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, "Dino Ferrari" Center, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy
| | - Karen E Morrison
- Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK
| | - Richard Dobson
- Department of Biostatistics and Health Informatics, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
- Institute of Health Informatics, University College London, London, UK
| | - Michael A van Es
- Department of Neurology, UMC Utrecht Brain Center, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Russell L McLaughlin
- Complex Trait Genomics Laboratory, Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | | | - Adriano Chio
- Rita Levi Montalcini, Department of Neuroscience, ALS Centre, University of Torino, Turin, Italy
- Azienda Ospedaliera Citta della Salute e della Scienza, Torino, Italy
| | - Philippe Corcia
- Centre SLA, CHRU de Tours, Tours, France
- Federation des Centres SLA Tours and Limoges, LITORALS, Tours, France
| | - Mamede de Carvalho
- Physiology Institute, Faculty of Medicine, Instituto de Medicina Molecular, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
| | | | - Monica P Panades
- Neurology Department, Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge, Barcelona, Spain
| | | | - Pamela J Shaw
- Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN), University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
| | - John E Landers
- Department of Neurology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA
| | - Jonathan D Glass
- Department of Neurology, Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| | - Christopher E Shaw
- King's College London, Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, De Crespigny Park, London, UK
- King's College Hospital, Denmark Hill, London, UK
| | - Nazli Basak
- Koc University, School of Medicine, Translational Medicine Research Center- NDAL, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Orla Hardiman
- Academic Unit of Neurology, Trinity College Dublin, Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
- Department of Neurology, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
| | - Wim Robberecht
- KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Department of Neurosciences, Experimental Neurology; VIB Center for Brain & Disease Research, Laboratory of Neurobiology, Leuven, Belgium
- Neurology Department, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Philip Van Damme
- KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Department of Neurosciences, Experimental Neurology; VIB Center for Brain & Disease Research, Laboratory of Neurobiology, Leuven, Belgium
- Neurology Department, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Leonard H van den Berg
- Department of Neurology, UMC Utrecht Brain Center, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Jan H Veldink
- Department of Neurology, UMC Utrecht Brain Center, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Ammar Al-Chalabi
- King's College London, Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, De Crespigny Park, London, UK.
- King's College Hospital, Denmark Hill, London, UK.
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5
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Hu J, Lepore R, Dobson RJB, Al-Chalabi A, M. Bean D, Iacoangeli A. DGLinker: flexible knowledge-graph prediction of disease-gene associations. Nucleic Acids Res 2021; 49:W153-W161. [PMID: 34125897 PMCID: PMC8262728 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkab449] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2021] [Revised: 04/30/2021] [Accepted: 05/17/2021] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
As a result of the advent of high-throughput technologies, there has been rapid progress in our understanding of the genetics underlying biological processes. However, despite such advances, the genetic landscape of human diseases has only marginally been disclosed. Exploiting the present availability of large amounts of biological and phenotypic data, we can use our current understanding of disease genetics to train machine learning models to predict novel genetic factors associated with the disease. To this end, we developed DGLinker, a webserver for the prediction of novel candidate genes for human diseases given a set of known disease genes. DGLinker has a user-friendly interface that allows non-expert users to exploit biomedical information from a wide range of biological and phenotypic databases, and/or to upload their own data, to generate a knowledge-graph and use machine learning to predict new disease-associated genes. The webserver includes tools to explore and interpret the results and generates publication-ready figures. DGLinker is available at https://dglinker.rosalind.kcl.ac.uk. The webserver is free and open to all users without the need for registration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiajing Hu
- Department of Biostatistics and Health Informatics, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, SE5 8AF, London, UK
- Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, SE5 9RT, UK
| | - Rosalba Lepore
- BSC-CNS Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Barcelona, 08034, Spain
| | - Richard J B Dobson
- Department of Biostatistics and Health Informatics, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, SE5 8AF, London, UK
- Health Data Research UK London, University College London, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
- Institute of Health Informatics, University College London, London, NW1 2DA, UK
| | - Ammar Al-Chalabi
- Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, SE5 9RT, UK
- King′s College Hospital, Bessemer Road, Denmark Hill, London, SE5 9RS, UK
| | - Daniel M. Bean
- Department of Biostatistics and Health Informatics, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, SE5 8AF, London, UK
- Health Data Research UK London, University College London, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Alfredo Iacoangeli
- Department of Biostatistics and Health Informatics, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, SE5 8AF, London, UK
- Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, SE5 9RT, UK
- National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre and Dementia Unit at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London, London, SE5 8AF, UK
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6
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Iacoangeli A, Lin T, Al Khleifat A, Jones AR, Opie-Martin S, Coleman JRI, Shatunov A, Sproviero W, Williams KL, Garton F, Restuadi R, Henders AK, Mather KA, Needham M, Mathers S, Nicholson GA, Rowe DB, Henderson R, McCombe PA, Pamphlett R, Blair IP, Schultz D, Sachdev PS, Newhouse SJ, Proitsi P, Fogh I, Ngo ST, Dobson RJB, Wray NR, Steyn FJ, Al-Chalabi A. Genome-wide Meta-analysis Finds the ACSL5-ZDHHC6 Locus Is Associated with ALS and Links Weight Loss to the Disease Genetics. Cell Rep 2020; 33:108323. [PMID: 33113361 PMCID: PMC7610013 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.108323] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/29/2020] [Revised: 07/28/2020] [Accepted: 10/07/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
We meta-analyze amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) genome-wide association study (GWAS) data of European and Chinese populations (84,694 individuals). We find an additional significant association between rs58854276 spanning ACSL5-ZDHHC6 with ALS (p = 8.3 × 10-9), with replication in an independent Australian cohort (1,502 individuals; p = 0.037). Moreover, B4GALNT1, G2E3-SCFD1, and TRIP11-ATXN3 are identified using a gene-based analysis. ACSL5 has been associated with rapid weight loss, as has another ALS-associated gene, GPX3. Weight loss is frequent in ALS patients and is associated with shorter survival. We investigate the effect of the ACSL5 and GPX3 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), using longitudinal body composition and weight data of 77 patients and 77 controls. In patients' fat-free mass, although not significant, we observe an effect in the expected direction (rs58854276: -2.1 ± 1.3 kg/A allele, p = 0.053; rs3828599: -1.0 ± 1.3 kg/A allele, p = 0.22). No effect was observed in controls. Our findings support the increasing interest in lipid metabolism in ALS and link the disease genetics to weight loss in patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alfredo Iacoangeli
- Department of Biostatistics and Health Informatics, King's College London, London, UK; Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, King's College London, Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, London, UK; National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre and Dementia Unit at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London, London, UK.
| | - Tian Lin
- Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Brisbane QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Ahmad Al Khleifat
- Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, King's College London, Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, London, UK
| | - Ashley R Jones
- Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, King's College London, Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, London, UK
| | - Sarah Opie-Martin
- Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, King's College London, Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, London, UK
| | - Jonathan R I Coleman
- National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre and Dementia Unit at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London, London, UK; Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Aleksey Shatunov
- Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, King's College London, Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, London, UK
| | - William Sproviero
- Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, King's College London, Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, London, UK
| | - Kelly L Williams
- Centre for Motor Neuron Disease Research, Macquarie University, Sidney NSW 2109, Australia
| | - Fleur Garton
- Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Brisbane QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Restuadi Restuadi
- Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Brisbane QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Anjali K Henders
- Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Brisbane QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Karen A Mather
- Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, School of Psychiatry, UNSW Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW, Australia; Neuroscience Research Australia, Randwick NSW, Australia
| | - Merilee Needham
- Fiona Stanley Hospital, 11 Robin Warren Drive, Murdoch Perth WA 6150, Australia; Notre Dame University, 32 Mouat Street, Fremantle WA 6160, Australia; Murdoch University, 90 South Street, Murdoch WA 6150, Australia
| | - Susan Mathers
- Calvary Health Care Bethlehem, Parkdale VIC 3195, Australia
| | - Garth A Nicholson
- ANZAC Research Institute, Concord Repatriation General Hospital, Sydney NSW 2139, Australia
| | - Dominic B Rowe
- Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Robert Henderson
- Centre for Clinical Research, The University of Queensland, Brisbane QLD, Australia; Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane QLD, Australia
| | - Pamela A McCombe
- Centre for Clinical Research, The University of Queensland, Brisbane QLD, Australia; Department of Neurology, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Brisbane QLD, Australia
| | - Roger Pamphlett
- Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney NSW, Australia
| | - Ian P Blair
- Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | - David Schultz
- Flinders Medical Centre, Bedford Park SA 5042, Australia
| | - Perminder S Sachdev
- Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, School of Psychiatry, UNSW Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW, Australia; Neuropsychiatric Institute, Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney NSW Australia
| | - Stephen J Newhouse
- Department of Biostatistics and Health Informatics, King's College London, London, UK; National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre and Dementia Unit at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London, London, UK; Institute of Health Informatics, University College London, London, UK
| | - Petroula Proitsi
- Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, King's College London, Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, London, UK
| | - Isabella Fogh
- Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, King's College London, Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, London, UK; Department of Neurology and Laboratory of Neuroscience, IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milan, Italy
| | - Shyuan T Ngo
- Centre for Clinical Research, The University of Queensland, Brisbane QLD, Australia; Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane QLD, Australia; Department of Neurology, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Brisbane QLD, Australia; Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane QLD, Australia
| | - Richard J B Dobson
- Department of Biostatistics and Health Informatics, King's College London, London, UK; National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre and Dementia Unit at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London, London, UK; Institute of Health Informatics, University College London, London, UK
| | - Naomi R Wray
- Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Brisbane QLD 4072, Australia; Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane QLD, Australia
| | - Frederik J Steyn
- Centre for Clinical Research, The University of Queensland, Brisbane QLD, Australia; Department of Neurology, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Brisbane QLD, Australia; School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane QLD, Australia
| | - Ammar Al-Chalabi
- Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, King's College London, Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, London, UK; King's College Hospital, Bessemer Road, London SE5 9RS, UK
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Bean DM, Al-Chalabi A, Dobson RJB, Iacoangeli A. A Knowledge-Based Machine Learning Approach to Gene Prioritisation in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Genes (Basel) 2020; 11:E668. [PMID: 32575372 PMCID: PMC7349022 DOI: 10.3390/genes11060668] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2020] [Revised: 06/13/2020] [Accepted: 06/16/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a neurodegenerative disease of the upper and lower motor neurons resulting in death from neuromuscular respiratory failure, typically within two to five years of first symptoms. Several rare disruptive gene variants have been associated with ALS and are responsible for about 15% of all cases. Although our knowledge of the genetic landscape of this disease is improving, it remains limited. Machine learning models trained on the available protein-protein interaction and phenotype-genotype association data can use our current knowledge of the disease genetics for the prediction of novel candidate genes. Here, we describe a knowledge-based machine learning method for this purpose. We trained our model on protein-protein interaction data from IntAct, gene function annotation from Gene Ontology, and known disease-gene associations from DisGeNet. Using several sets of known ALS genes from public databases and a manual review as input, we generated a list of new candidate genes for each input set. We investigated the relevance of the predicted genes in ALS by using the available summary statistics from the largest ALS genome-wide association study and by performing functional and phenotype enrichment analysis. The predicted sets were enriched for genes associated with other neurodegenerative diseases known to overlap with ALS genetically and phenotypically, as well as for biological processes associated with the disease. Moreover, using ALS genes from ClinVar and our manual review as input, the predicted sets were enriched for ALS-associated genes (ClinVar p = 0.038 and manual review p = 0.060) when used for gene prioritisation in a genome-wide association study.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel M. Bean
- Department of Biostatistics & Health Informatics, King′s College London, 16 De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK;
- Health Data Research UK London, University College London, 16 De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK
| | - Ammar Al-Chalabi
- King′s College Hospital, Bessemer Road, Denmark Hill, Brixton, London SE5 9RS, UK;
- Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, King′s College London, London, 5 Cutcombe Rd, Brixton, London SE5 9RT, UK
| | - Richard J. B. Dobson
- Department of Biostatistics & Health Informatics, King′s College London, 16 De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK;
- Health Data Research UK London, University College London, 16 De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK
- Institute of Health Informatics, University College London, 222 Euston Rd, London NW1 2DA, UK
| | - Alfredo Iacoangeli
- Department of Biostatistics & Health Informatics, King′s College London, 16 De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK;
- Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, King′s College London, London, 5 Cutcombe Rd, Brixton, London SE5 9RT, UK
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