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Mews MA, Naj AC, Griswold AJ, Below JE, Bush WS. Brain and Blood Transcriptome-Wide Association Studies Identify Five Novel Genes Associated with Alzheimer's Disease. MEDRXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR HEALTH SCIENCES 2024:2024.04.17.24305737. [PMID: 38699333 PMCID: PMC11065015 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.17.24305737] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/05/2024]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Transcriptome-wide Association Studies (TWAS) extend genome-wide association studies (GWAS) by integrating genetically-regulated gene expression models. We performed the most powerful AD-TWAS to date, using summary statistics from cis -eQTL meta-analyses and the largest clinically-adjudicated Alzheimer's Disease (AD) GWAS. METHODS We implemented the OTTERS TWAS pipeline, leveraging cis -eQTL data from cortical brain tissue (MetaBrain; N=2,683) and blood (eQTLGen; N=31,684) to predict gene expression, then applied these models to AD-GWAS data (Cases=21,982; Controls=44,944). RESULTS We identified and validated five novel gene associations in cortical brain tissue ( PRKAG1 , C3orf62 , LYSMD4 , ZNF439 , SLC11A2 ) and six genes proximal to known AD-related GWAS loci (Blood: MYBPC3 ; Brain: MTCH2 , CYB561 , MADD , PSMA5 , ANXA11 ). Further, using causal eQTL fine-mapping, we generated sparse models that retained the strength of the AD-TWAS association for MTCH2 , MADD , ZNF439 , CYB561 , and MYBPC3 . DISCUSSION Our comprehensive AD-TWAS discovered new gene associations and provided insights into the functional relevance of previously associated variants.
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Wigdor EM, Samocha KE, Eberhardt RY, Chundru VK, Firth HV, Wright CF, Hurles ME, Martin HC. Investigating the role of common cis-regulatory variants in modifying penetrance of putatively damaging, inherited variants in severe neurodevelopmental disorders. Sci Rep 2024; 14:8708. [PMID: 38622173 PMCID: PMC11018828 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-58894-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2023] [Accepted: 04/04/2024] [Indexed: 04/17/2024] Open
Abstract
Recent work has revealed an important role for rare, incompletely penetrant inherited coding variants in neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). Additionally, we have previously shown that common variants contribute to risk for rare NDDs. Here, we investigate whether common variants exert their effects by modifying gene expression, using multi-cis-expression quantitative trait loci (cis-eQTL) prediction models. We first performed a transcriptome-wide association study for NDDs using 6987 probands from the Deciphering Developmental Disorders (DDD) study and 9720 controls, and found one gene, RAB2A, that passed multiple testing correction (p = 6.7 × 10-7). We then investigated whether cis-eQTLs modify the penetrance of putatively damaging, rare coding variants inherited by NDD probands from their unaffected parents in a set of 1700 trios. We found no evidence that unaffected parents transmitting putatively damaging coding variants had higher genetically-predicted expression of the variant-harboring gene than their child. In probands carrying putatively damaging variants in constrained genes, the genetically-predicted expression of these genes in blood was lower than in controls (p = 2.7 × 10-3). However, results for proband-control comparisons were inconsistent across different sets of genes, variant filters and tissues. We find limited evidence that common cis-eQTLs modify penetrance of rare coding variants in a large cohort of NDD probands.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emilie M Wigdor
- Human Genetics Programme, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, UK.
| | - Kaitlin E Samocha
- Program in Medical and Population Genetics, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, USA
- Analytic and Translational Genetics Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA
- Center for Genomic Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA
| | - Ruth Y Eberhardt
- Human Genetics Programme, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, UK
| | - V Kartik Chundru
- Human Genetics Programme, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, UK
- Department of Clinical and Biomedical Sciences, University of Exeter Medical School, Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, Exeter, UK
| | - Helen V Firth
- Department of Medical Genetics, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge University Hospitals, Cambridge, UK
| | - Caroline F Wright
- Institute of Biomedical and Clinical Science, University of Exeter Medical School, Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, Exeter, UK
| | - Matthew E Hurles
- Human Genetics Programme, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, UK
| | - Hilary C Martin
- Human Genetics Programme, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, UK.
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Zhang X, Gomez L, Below JE, Naj AC, Martin ER, Kunkle BW, Bush WS. An X Chromosome Transcriptome Wide Association Study Implicates ARMCX6 in Alzheimer's Disease. J Alzheimers Dis 2024; 98:1053-1067. [PMID: 38489177 DOI: 10.3233/jad-231075] [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: 03/17/2024]
Abstract
Background The X chromosome is often omitted in disease association studies despite containing thousands of genes that may provide insight into well-known sex differences in the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Objective To model the expression of X chromosome genes and evaluate their impact on AD risk in a sex-stratified manner. Methods Using elastic net, we evaluated multiple modeling strategies in a set of 175 whole blood samples and 126 brain cortex samples, with whole genome sequencing and RNA-seq data. SNPs (MAF > 0.05) within the cis-regulatory window were used to train tissue-specific models of each gene. We apply the best models in both tissues to sex-stratified summary statistics from a meta-analysis of Alzheimer's Disease Genetics Consortium (ADGC) studies to identify AD-related genes on the X chromosome. Results Across different model parameters, sample sex, and tissue types, we modeled the expression of 217 genes (95 genes in blood and 135 genes in brain cortex). The average model R2 was 0.12 (range from 0.03 to 0.34). We also compared sex-stratified and sex-combined models on the X chromosome. We further investigated genes that escaped X chromosome inactivation (XCI) to determine if their genetic regulation patterns were distinct. We found ten genes associated with AD at p < 0.05, with only ARMCX6 in female brain cortex (p = 0.008) nearing the significance threshold after adjusting for multiple testing (α = 0.002). Conclusions We optimized the expression prediction of X chromosome genes, applied these models to sex-stratified AD GWAS summary statistics, and identified one putative AD risk gene, ARMCX6.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xueyi Zhang
- Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA
| | - Lissette Gomez
- John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA
| | - Jennifer E Below
- Vanderbilt Genetics Institute, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Adam C Naj
- Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Informatics, Penn Neurodegeneration Genomics Center, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Eden R Martin
- John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA
| | - Brian W Kunkle
- John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA
| | - William S Bush
- Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA
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Macauda A, Briem K, Clay-Gilmour A, Cozen W, Försti A, Giaccherini M, Corradi C, Sainz J, Niazi Y, Ter Horst R, Li Y, Netea MG, Vogel U, Hemminki K, Slager SL, Varkonyi J, Andersen V, Iskierka-Jazdzewska E, Mártinez-Lopez J, Zaucha J, Camp NJ, Rajkumar SV, Druzd-Sitek A, Bhatti P, Chanock SJ, Kumar SK, Subocz E, Mazur G, Landi S, Machiela MJ, Jerez A, Norman AD, Hildebrandt MAT, Kadar K, Berndt SI, Ziv E, Buda G, Nagler A, Dumontet C, Raźny M, Watek M, Butrym A, Grzasko N, Dudzinski M, Rybicka-Ramos M, Matera EL, García-Sanz R, Goldschmidt H, Jamroziak K, Jurczyszyn A, Clavero E, Giles GG, Pelosini M, Zawirska D, Kruszewski M, Marques H, Haastrup E, Sánchez-Maldonado JM, Bertsch U, Rymko M, Raab MS, Brown EE, Hofmann JN, Vachon C, Campa D, Canzian F. Identification of novel genetic loci for risk of multiple myeloma by functional annotation. Leukemia 2023; 37:2326-2329. [PMID: 37723249 PMCID: PMC10624610 DOI: 10.1038/s41375-023-02022-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2023] [Revised: 08/08/2023] [Accepted: 09/04/2023] [Indexed: 09/20/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Angelica Macauda
- Genomic Epidemiology Group, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Klara Briem
- Genomic Epidemiology Group, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Alyssa Clay-Gilmour
- Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA
| | - Wendy Cozen
- Division of Hematology/Oncology, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Susan and Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences, Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Asta Försti
- Division of Pediatric Neurooncology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
- Hopp Children's Cancer Center (KiTZ), Heidelberg, Germany Division of Pediatric Neurooncology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Heidelberg, Germany
| | | | | | - Juan Sainz
- Genomic Oncology Area, GENYO. Centre for Genomics and Oncological Research: Pfizer / University of Granada / Andalusian Regional Government, PTS, Granada, Spain
- Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria IBs.Granada, Granada, Spain
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology I, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
| | - Yasmeen Niazi
- Division of Pediatric Neurooncology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
- Hopp Children's Cancer Center (KiTZ), Heidelberg, Germany Division of Pediatric Neurooncology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Rob Ter Horst
- Department of Internal Medicine and Radboud Center for Infectious Diseases, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria
| | - Yang Li
- Department of Internal Medicine and Radboud Center for Infectious Diseases, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Centre for Individualised Infection Medicine (CiiM) & TWINCORE, joint ventures between the Helmholtz-Centre for Infection Research (HZI) and the Hannover Medical School (MHH), Hannover, Germany
| | - Mihai G Netea
- Department of Internal Medicine and Radboud Center for Infectious Diseases, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Department for Immunology & Metabolism, Life and Medical Sciences Institute (LIMES), University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
| | - Ulla Vogel
- National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Kari Hemminki
- Biomedical Center, Faculty of Medicine, Charles University Pilsen, Pilsen, Czech Republic
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Susan L Slager
- Division of Biomedical Statistics & Informatics, Department of Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA
| | - Judit Varkonyi
- Department of Hematology, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Vibeke Andersen
- Molecular Diagnostics and Clinical Research Unit, Institute of Regional Health Research, University Hospital of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
- Institute of Regional Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
- Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
| | | | - Joaquin Mártinez-Lopez
- Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, Instituto de Investigación del Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, 28041, Madrid, Spain
| | - Jan Zaucha
- Department of Haematology & Transplantology, Medical University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
| | - Nicola J Camp
- Division of Hematology and Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
| | - S Vincent Rajkumar
- Division of Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA
| | - Agnieszka Druzd-Sitek
- Department of Lymphoproliferative Diseases, Maria Skłodowska-Curie National Research Institute of Oncology, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Parveen Bhatti
- Cancer Control Research, BC Cancer, Vancouver, BC, Canada
- Program in Epidemiology, Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Stephen J Chanock
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Shaji K Kumar
- Division of Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA
| | - Edyta Subocz
- Department of Hematology, Warmian-Masurian Cancer Center of The Ministry Of The Interior And Administration's Hospital, Olsztyn, Poland
| | | | - Stefano Landi
- Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Mitchell J Machiela
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Andrés Jerez
- Hematology and Medical Oncology Department, University Hospital Morales Meseguer, IMIB, Murcia, Spain
| | - Aaron D Norman
- Division of Biomedical Statistics & Informatics, Department of Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA
- Division of Epidemiology, Department of Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA
| | - Michelle A T Hildebrandt
- Department of Lymphoma - Myeloma, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA
| | | | - Sonja I Berndt
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Elad Ziv
- Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Gabriele Buda
- Hematology Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Arnon Nagler
- Hematology Division Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel
| | | | - Malgorzata Raźny
- Department of Hematology, Rydygier Specialistic Hospital, Cracow, Poland
| | - Marzena Watek
- Department of Hematology, Institute of Hematology and Transfusion Medicine, Warsaw, Poland
- Department of Hematology, Holycross Cancer Center, Kielce, Poland
| | - Aleksandra Butrym
- Wroclaw Medical University, Wroclaw, Poland
- Alfred Sokolowski Specialist Hospital in Walbrzych Oncology Support Centre for Clinical Trials, Wałbrzych, Poland
| | - Norbert Grzasko
- Department of Experimental Hematooncology, Medical University of Lublin, Lublin, Poland
| | - Marek Dudzinski
- Institute of Medical Sciences, College of Medical Sciences, University of Rzeszow, Rzeszow, Poland
| | - Malwina Rybicka-Ramos
- Department of Hematology, Specialist Hospital No.1 in Bytom, Academy of Silesia, Faculty of Medicine, Katowice, Poland
| | | | - Ramón García-Sanz
- University Hospital of Salamanca, Diagnostic Laboratory Unit in Hematology, University Hospital of Salamanca, IBSAL, CIBERONC, Centro de Investigación del Cáncer-IBMCC (USAL-CSIC), Salamanca, Spain
| | - Hartmut Goldschmidt
- Department of Internal Medicine V, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany
- National Centre for Tumour Diseases (NCT), University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
- National Centre for Tumour Diseases (NCT), University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany. GMMG Study Group at University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Krzysztof Jamroziak
- Department of Hematology, Institute of Hematology and Transfusion Medicine, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Artur Jurczyszyn
- Hematology Department, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Cracow, Poland
| | - Esther Clavero
- Hematology Department, Virgen de las Nieves University Hospital, Granada, Spain
| | - Graham G Giles
- Cancer Epidemiology Division, Cancer Council Victoria, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Precision Medicine, School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia
| | - Matteo Pelosini
- U.O. Dipartimento di Ematologia, Azienda USL Toscana Nord Ovest, Livorno, Italy
| | - Daria Zawirska
- Department of Hematology, University Hospital, Crakow, Poland
| | - Marcin Kruszewski
- Department of Hematology, University Hospital No. 2 in Bydgoszcz, Bydgoszcz, Poland
| | - Herlander Marques
- Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Health Sciences, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
- ICVS/3B's - PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal
| | - Eva Haastrup
- Department of Clinical Immunology, the Bloodbank, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, København, Denmark
| | - José Manuel Sánchez-Maldonado
- Genomic Oncology Area, GENYO. Centre for Genomics and Oncological Research: Pfizer / University of Granada / Andalusian Regional Government, PTS, Granada, Spain
- Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria IBs.Granada, Granada, Spain
| | - Uta Bertsch
- Department of Internal Medicine V, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany
- National Centre for Tumour Diseases (NCT), University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Marcin Rymko
- Department of Hematology, Provincial Polyclinical Hospital in Torun, Torun, Poland
| | - Marc-Steffen Raab
- Department of Internal Medicine V, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Elizabeth E Brown
- Department of Pathology, School of Medicine at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, AL, USA
| | - Jonathan N Hofmann
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Celine Vachon
- Division of Biomedical Statistics & Informatics, Department of Health Sciences Research, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA
| | - Daniele Campa
- Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Federico Canzian
- Genomic Epidemiology Group, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany.
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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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Liu W, Deng W, Chen M, Dong Z, Zhu B, Yu Z, Tang D, Sauler M, Lin C, Wain LV, Cho MH, Kaminski N, Zhao H. A statistical framework to identify cell types whose genetically regulated proportions are associated with complex diseases. PLoS Genet 2023; 19:e1010825. [PMID: 37523391 PMCID: PMC10414598 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1010825] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2022] [Revised: 08/10/2023] [Accepted: 06/12/2023] [Indexed: 08/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Finding disease-relevant tissues and cell types can facilitate the identification and investigation of functional genes and variants. In particular, cell type proportions can serve as potential disease predictive biomarkers. In this manuscript, we introduce a novel statistical framework, cell-type Wide Association Study (cWAS), that integrates genetic data with transcriptomics data to identify cell types whose genetically regulated proportions (GRPs) are disease/trait-associated. On simulated and real GWAS data, cWAS showed good statistical power with newly identified significant GRP associations in disease-associated tissues. More specifically, GRPs of endothelial and myofibroblasts in lung tissue were associated with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, respectively. For breast cancer, the GRP of blood CD8+ T cells was negatively associated with breast cancer (BC) risk as well as survival. Overall, cWAS is a powerful tool to reveal cell types associated with complex diseases mediated by GRPs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wei Liu
- Program of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America
| | - Wenxuan Deng
- Department of Biostatistics, Yale School of Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America
| | - Ming Chen
- Department of Biostatistics, Yale School of Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America
| | - Zihan Dong
- Department of Biostatistics, Yale School of Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America
| | - Biqing Zhu
- Program of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America
| | - Zhaolong Yu
- Program of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America
| | - Daiwei Tang
- Department of Biostatistics, Yale School of Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America
| | - Maor Sauler
- Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America
| | - Chen Lin
- Department of Biostatistics, Yale School of Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America
| | - Louise V. Wain
- Department of Health Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom
- National Institute for Health Research, Leicester Respiratory Biomedical Research Centre, Glenfield Hospital, Leicester, United Kingdom
| | - Michael H. Cho
- Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Naftali Kaminski
- Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America
| | - Hongyu Zhao
- Program of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America
- Department of Biostatistics, Yale School of Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America
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7
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Spanbauer C, Pan W. Sparse prediction informed by genetic annotations using the logit normal prior for Bayesian regression tree ensembles. Genet Epidemiol 2023; 47:26-44. [PMID: 36349692 PMCID: PMC9892284 DOI: 10.1002/gepi.22505] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2022] [Revised: 09/08/2022] [Accepted: 09/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
Using high-dimensional genetic variants such as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) to predict complex diseases and traits has important applications in basic research and other clinical settings. For example, predicting gene expression is a necessary first step to identify (putative) causal genes in transcriptome-wide association studies. Due to weak signals, high-dimensionality, and linkage disequilibrium (correlation) among SNPs, building such a prediction model is challenging. However, functional annotations at the SNP level (e.g., as epigenomic data across multiple cell- or tissue-types) are available and could be used to inform predictor importance and aid in outcome prediction. Existing approaches to incorporate annotations have been based mainly on (generalized) linear models. Bayesian additive regression trees (BART), in contrast, is a reliable method to obtain high-quality nonlinear out of sample predictions without overfitting. Unfortunately, the default prior from BART may be too inflexible to handle sparse situations where the number of predictors approaches or surpasses the number of observations. Motivated by our real data application, this article proposes an alternative prior based on the logit normal distribution because it provides a framework that is adaptive to sparsity and can model informative functional annotations. It also provides a framework to incorporate prior information about the between SNP correlations. Computational details for carrying out inference are presented along with the results from a simulation study and a genome-wide prediction analysis of the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charles Spanbauer
- Division of Biostatistics, University of Minnesota, MN, USA,Corresponding author;
| | - Wei Pan
- Division of Biostatistics, University of Minnesota, MN, USA
| | - The Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative
- Data used in preparation of this article were obtained from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database (adni.loni.usc.edu). As such, the investigators within the ADNI contributed to the design and implementation of ADNI and/or provided data but did not participate in analysis or writing of this report. A complete listing of ADNI investigators can be found at: http://adni.loni.usc.edu/wp-content/uploads/how_to_apply/ADNI_Acknowledgement_List.pdf
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Agarwal I, Fuller ZL, Myers SR, Przeworski M. Relating pathogenic loss-of-function mutations in humans to their evolutionary fitness costs. eLife 2023; 12:83172. [PMID: 36648429 PMCID: PMC9937649 DOI: 10.7554/elife.83172] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [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: 09/01/2022] [Accepted: 01/16/2023] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Causal loss-of-function (LOF) variants for Mendelian and severe complex diseases are enriched in 'mutation intolerant' genes. We show how such observations can be interpreted in light of a model of mutation-selection balance and use the model to relate the pathogenic consequences of LOF mutations at present to their evolutionary fitness effects. To this end, we first infer posterior distributions for the fitness costs of LOF mutations in 17,318 autosomal and 679 X-linked genes from exome sequences in 56,855 individuals. Estimated fitness costs for the loss of a gene copy are typically above 1%; they tend to be largest for X-linked genes, whether or not they have a Y homolog, followed by autosomal genes and genes in the pseudoautosomal region. We compare inferred fitness effects for all possible de novo LOF mutations to those of de novo mutations identified in individuals diagnosed with one of six severe, complex diseases or developmental disorders. Probands carry an excess of mutations with estimated fitness effects above 10%; as we show by simulation, when sampled in the population, such highly deleterious mutations are typically only a couple of generations old. Moreover, the proportion of highly deleterious mutations carried by probands reflects the typical age of onset of the disease. The study design also has a discernible influence: a greater proportion of highly deleterious mutations is detected in pedigree than case-control studies, and for autism, in simplex than multiplex families and in female versus male probands. Thus, anchoring observations in human genetics to a population genetic model allows us to learn about the fitness effects of mutations identified by different mapping strategies and for different traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ipsita Agarwal
- Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia UniversityNew YorkUnited States
- Department of Statistics, University of OxfordOxfordUnited Kingdom
| | - Zachary L Fuller
- Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia UniversityNew YorkUnited States
| | - Simon R Myers
- Department of Statistics, University of OxfordOxfordUnited Kingdom
- The Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, University of OxfordOxfordUnited Kingdom
| | - Molly Przeworski
- Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia UniversityNew YorkUnited States
- Department of Systems Biology, Columbia UniversityNew YorkUnited States
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9
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Gu J, Dai J, Lu H, Zhao H. Comprehensive analysis of ubiquitously expressed genes in human, from a data-driven perspective. GENOMICS, PROTEOMICS & BIOINFORMATICS 2022:S1672-0229(22)00042-0. [PMID: 35569803 PMCID: PMC10373092 DOI: 10.1016/j.gpb.2021.08.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2020] [Revised: 07/18/2021] [Accepted: 09/27/2021] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
Comprehensive characterization of spatial and temporal gene expression patterns in humans is critical for uncovering the regulatory codes of the human genome and understanding the molecular mechanism of human disease. The ubiquitously expressed genes (UEGs) refer to those genes expressed across a majority, if not all, phenotypic and physiological conditions of an organism. It is known that many human genes are broadly expressed across tissues. However, most previous UEG studies have only focused on providing a list of UEGs without capturing their global expression patterns, thus limiting the potential use of UEG information. In this article, we proposed a novel data-driven framework to leverage the extensive collection of ∼40,000 human transcriptomes to derive a list of UEGs and their corresponding global expression patterns, which offers a valuable resource to further characterize human transcriptome. Our results suggest that about half (12,234; 49.01%) of the human genes are expressed in at least 80% of human transcriptomes, and the median size of the human transcriptome is 16,342 (65.44%). Through gene clustering, we identified a set of UEGs, named LoVarUEGs, that have stable expression across human transcriptomes and can be used as internal reference genes for expression measurement. To further demonstrate the usefulness of this resource, we evaluated the global expression patterns for 16 previously predicted disallowed genes in islets beta cells and found that seven of these genes showed relatively more varied expression patterns, suggesting that the repression of these genes may not be unique to islets beta cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jianlei Gu
- SJTU-Yale Joint Center for Biostatistics and Data Science, Department of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China; Center for Biomedical Informatics, Shanghai Engineering Research Center for Big Data in Pediatric Precision Medicine, Shanghai Children's Hospital, Shanghai 200040, China; Department of Biostatistics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06511, United States
| | - Jiawei Dai
- SJTU-Yale Joint Center for Biostatistics and Data Science, Department of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
| | - Hui Lu
- SJTU-Yale Joint Center for Biostatistics and Data Science, Department of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China; Center for Biomedical Informatics, Shanghai Engineering Research Center for Big Data in Pediatric Precision Medicine, Shanghai Children's Hospital, Shanghai 200040, China.
| | - Hongyu Zhao
- Department of Biostatistics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06511, United States.
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10
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Wang X, Huang K, Yang F, Chen D, Cai S, Huang L. Association between structural brain features and gene expression by weighted gene co-expression network analysis in conversion from MCI to AD. Behav Brain Res 2021; 410:113330. [PMID: 33940051 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2021.113330] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2021] [Revised: 04/16/2021] [Accepted: 04/26/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) represents a state of cognitive function between normal cognition and dementia. Longitudinal studies showed that some MCI patients remained in a state of MCI, and some developed AD. The reason for these different conversions from MCI remains to be investigated. 180 MCI participants were followed for eight years. 143 MCI patients maintained the MCI state (MCI_S), and the remaining thirty-seven MCI patients were re-evaluated as having AD (MCI_AD). We obtained 1,036 structural brain characteristics and 15,481 gene expression values from the 180 MCI participants and applied weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) to explore the relationship between structural brain features and gene expression. Regulating mediator effect analysis was employed to explore the relationships among gene expression, brain region measurements and clinical phenotypes. We found that 60 genes from the MCI_S group and 18 genes from the MCI_AD group respectively had the most significant correlations with left paracentral lobule and sulcus (L.PTS) and right subparietal sulcus (R.SubPS) thickness; CTCF, UQCR11 and WDR5B were the mutual genes between the two groups. The expression of CTCF gene and clinical score are completely mediated by L.PTS thickness, and the UQCR11 and WDR5B gene expression levels significantly regulate the mediating effect pathway. In conclusion, the factors affecting the different conversions from MCI are closely related to L.PTS thickness and the CTCF, UQCR11 and WDR5B gene expression levels. Our results add a theoretical foundation of imaging genetics for conversion from MCI to AD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xuwen Wang
- School of Life Sciences and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710071, PR China
| | - Kexin Huang
- School of Life Sciences and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710071, PR China
| | - Fan Yang
- School of Life Sciences and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710071, PR China
| | - Dihun Chen
- School of Life Sciences and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710071, PR China
| | - Suping Cai
- School of Life Sciences and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710071, PR China.
| | - Liyu Huang
- School of Life Sciences and Technology, Xidian University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710071, PR China.
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Liu N, Xu J, Liu H, Zhang S, Li M, Zhou Y, Qin W, Li MJ, Yu C. Hippocampal transcriptome-wide association study and neurobiological pathway analysis for Alzheimer's disease. PLoS Genet 2021; 17:e1009363. [PMID: 33630843 PMCID: PMC7906391 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1009363] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2020] [Accepted: 01/12/2021] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified multiple susceptibility loci for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), which is characterized by early and progressive damage to the hippocampus. However, the association of hippocampal gene expression with AD and the underlying neurobiological pathways remain largely unknown. Based on the genomic and transcriptomic data of 111 hippocampal samples and the summary data of two large-scale meta-analyses of GWASs, a transcriptome-wide association study (TWAS) was performed to identify genes with significant associations between hippocampal expression and AD. We identified 54 significantly associated genes using an AD-GWAS meta-analysis of 455,258 individuals; 36 of the genes were confirmed in another AD-GWAS meta-analysis of 63,926 individuals. Fine-mapping models further prioritized 24 AD-related genes whose effects on AD were mediated by hippocampal expression, including APOE and two novel genes (PTPN9 and PCDHA4). These genes are functionally related to amyloid-beta formation, phosphorylation/dephosphorylation, neuronal apoptosis, neurogenesis and telomerase-related processes. By integrating the predicted hippocampal expression and neuroimaging data, we found that the hippocampal expression of QPCTL and ERCC2 showed significant difference between AD patients and cognitively normal elderly individuals as well as correlated with hippocampal volume. Mediation analysis further demonstrated that hippocampal volume mediated the effect of hippocampal gene expression (QPCTL and ERCC2) on AD. This study identifies two novel genes associated with AD by integrating hippocampal gene expression and genome-wide association data and reveals candidate hippocampus-mediated neurobiological pathways from gene expression to AD. The hippocampus is a potential neuroimaging endophenotype for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This study identifies genes whose expression in hippocampal tissue is associated with AD and establishes the pathways from hippocampal gene expression to hippocampal volume to AD. We demonstrate that 24 genes are associated with AD in hippocampal tissue, and these genes are enriched for AD-related biological processes of amyloid-beta formation, phosphorylation/dephosphorylation, neuronal apoptosis, neurogenesis and telomerase-related processes. We further show that hippocampal volume mediates the effects of the hippocampal gene expression of QPCTL and ERCC2 on AD. These findings improve our understanding of the genetic and neural mechanisms of AD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nana Liu
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
| | - Jiayuan Xu
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
| | - Huaigui Liu
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
| | - Shijie Zhang
- The Province and Ministry Co-sponsored Collaborative Innovation Center for Medical Epigenetics, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Medical Epigenetics, Department of Pharmacology, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China
| | - Miaoxin Li
- Department of Medical Genetics, Center for Genome Research, Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
- Centre for Genomic Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
- Department of Psychiatry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
- Centre for Reproduction, Development and Growth, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China
| | - Yao Zhou
- The Province and Ministry Co-sponsored Collaborative Innovation Center for Medical Epigenetics, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Medical Epigenetics, Department of Pharmacology, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China
| | - Wen Qin
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
| | - Mulin Jun Li
- The Province and Ministry Co-sponsored Collaborative Innovation Center for Medical Epigenetics, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Medical Epigenetics, Department of Pharmacology, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China
- * E-mail: (MJL); (CY)
| | - Chunshui Yu
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
- * E-mail: (MJL); (CY)
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