1
|
Chen LG, Tubbs JD, Liu Z, Thach TQ, Sham PC. Mendelian randomization: causal inference leveraging genetic data. Psychol Med 2024; 54:1461-1474. [PMID: 38639006 DOI: 10.1017/s0033291724000321] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/20/2024]
Abstract
Mendelian randomization (MR) leverages genetic information to examine the causal relationship between phenotypes allowing for the presence of unmeasured confounders. MR has been widely applied to unresolved questions in epidemiology, making use of summary statistics from genome-wide association studies on an increasing number of human traits. However, an understanding of essential concepts is necessary for the appropriate application and interpretation of MR. This review aims to provide a non-technical overview of MR and demonstrate its relevance to psychiatric research. We begin with the origins of MR and the reasons for its recent expansion, followed by an overview of its statistical methodology. We then describe the limitations of MR, and how these are being addressed by recent methodological advances. We showcase the practical use of MR in psychiatry through three illustrative examples - the connection between cannabis use and psychosis, the link between intelligence and schizophrenia, and the search for modifiable risk factors for depression. The review concludes with a discussion of the prospects of MR, focusing on the integration of multi-omics data and its extension to delineating complex causal networks.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lane G Chen
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Clinical Medicine, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Justin D Tubbs
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Clinical Medicine, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Zipeng Liu
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Clinical Medicine, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Thuan-Quoc Thach
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Clinical Medicine, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Pak C Sham
- Department of Psychiatry, School of Clinical Medicine, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
- Centre for PanorOmic Sciences, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Wen C, Margolis M, Dai R, Zhang P, Przytycki PF, Vo DD, Bhattacharya A, Matoba N, Tang M, Jiao C, Kim M, Tsai E, Hoh C, Aygün N, Walker RL, Chatzinakos C, Clarke D, Pratt H, Peters MA, Gerstein M, Daskalakis NP, Weng Z, Jaffe AE, Kleinman JE, Hyde TM, Weinberger DR, Bray NJ, Sestan N, Geschwind DH, Roeder K, Gusev A, Pasaniuc B, Stein JL, Love MI, Pollard KS, Liu C, Gandal MJ. Cross-ancestry atlas of gene, isoform, and splicing regulation in the developing human brain. Science 2024; 384:eadh0829. [PMID: 38781368 DOI: 10.1126/science.adh0829] [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: 02/14/2023] [Accepted: 03/07/2024] [Indexed: 05/25/2024]
Abstract
Neuropsychiatric genome-wide association studies (GWASs), including those for autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia, show strong enrichment for regulatory elements in the developing brain. However, prioritizing risk genes and mechanisms is challenging without a unified regulatory atlas. Across 672 diverse developing human brains, we identified 15,752 genes harboring gene, isoform, and/or splicing quantitative trait loci, mapping 3739 to cellular contexts. Gene expression heritability drops during development, likely reflecting both increasing cellular heterogeneity and the intrinsic properties of neuronal maturation. Isoform-level regulation, particularly in the second trimester, mediated the largest proportion of GWAS heritability. Through colocalization, we prioritized mechanisms for about 60% of GWAS loci across five disorders, exceeding adult brain findings. Finally, we contextualized results within gene and isoform coexpression networks, revealing the comprehensive landscape of transcriptome regulation in development and disease.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Cindy Wen
- Interdepartmental Program in Bioinformatics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Michael Margolis
- Department of Psychiatry, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Rujia Dai
- Department of Psychiatry, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA
| | - Pan Zhang
- Department of Psychiatry, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Pawel F Przytycki
- Gladstone Institute of Data Science and Biotechnology, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Daniel D Vo
- Department of Psychiatry, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
- Lifespan Brain Institute, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Arjun Bhattacharya
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Institute for Quantitative and Computational Biosciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Nana Matoba
- Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
- UNC Neuroscience Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | - Miao Tang
- Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
- Lifespan Brain Institute, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Chuan Jiao
- Department of Psychiatry, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA
- Université Paris Cité, Institute of Psychiatry and Neuroscience of Paris (IPNP), INSERM U1266, Team Krebs, 75014 Paris, France
| | - Minsoo Kim
- Department of Psychiatry, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Ellen Tsai
- Department of Psychiatry, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Celine Hoh
- Department of Psychiatry, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Nil Aygün
- Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
- UNC Neuroscience Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | - Rebecca L Walker
- Interdepartmental Program in Bioinformatics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Christos Chatzinakos
- Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA
- McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA 02478, USA
- Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
| | - Declan Clarke
- Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
| | - Henry Pratt
- Program in Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01605, USA
| | - Mette A Peters
- CNS Data Coordination Group, Sage Bionetworks, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Mark Gerstein
- Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
- Program in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
- Department of Computer Science, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
- Department of Statistics and Data Science, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
| | - Nikolaos P Daskalakis
- Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA
- McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA 02478, USA
- Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
| | - Zhiping Weng
- Program in Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01605, USA
| | - Andrew E Jaffe
- Lieber Institute for Brain Development, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
- Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
- Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
- Department of Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
- Neumora Therapeutics, Watertown, MA 02472, USA
| | - Joel E Kleinman
- Lieber Institute for Brain Development, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Thomas M Hyde
- Lieber Institute for Brain Development, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Daniel R Weinberger
- Lieber Institute for Brain Development, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
- Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
| | - Nicholas J Bray
- MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics & Genomics, Division of Psychological Medicine & Clinical Neurosciences, Cardiff University School of Medicine, Cardiff CF24 4HQ, UK
| | - Nenad Sestan
- Department of Comparative Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
| | - Daniel H Geschwind
- Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Program in Neurogenetics, Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Institute for Precision Health, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Kathryn Roeder
- Department of Statistics & Data Science, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
- Computational Biology Department, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Alexander Gusev
- Department of Medical Oncology, Division of Population Sciences, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02215, USA
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA
- Division of Genetics, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA 02215, USA
| | - Bogdan Pasaniuc
- Interdepartmental Program in Bioinformatics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Institute for Precision Health, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Department of Computational Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Jason L Stein
- Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
- UNC Neuroscience Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | - Michael I Love
- Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
- Department of Biostatistics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | - Katherine S Pollard
- Gladstone Institute of Data Science and Biotechnology, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
- Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
- Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Chunyu Liu
- Department of Psychiatry, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA
- Center for Medical Genetics & Hunan Key Laboratory of Medical Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410008, China
| | - Michael J Gandal
- Interdepartmental Program in Bioinformatics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
- Lifespan Brain Institute, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Qiu S, Sun M, Xu Y, Hu Y. Integrating multi-omics data to reveal the effect of genetic variant rs6430538 on Alzheimer's disease risk. Front Neurosci 2024; 18:1277187. [PMID: 38562299 PMCID: PMC10982421 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2024.1277187] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2023] [Accepted: 02/26/2024] [Indexed: 04/04/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction Growing evidence highlights a potential genetic overlap between Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD); however, the role of the PD risk variant rs6430538 in AD remains unclear. Methods In Stage 1, we investigated the risk associated with the rs6430538 C allele in seven large-scale AD genome-wide association study (GWAS) cohorts. In Stage 2, we performed expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) analysis to calculate the cis-regulated effect of rs6430538 on TMEM163 in both AD and neuropathologically normal samples. Stage 3 involved evaluating the differential expression of TMEM163 in 4 brain tissues from AD cases and controls. Finally, in Stage 4, we conducted a transcriptome-wide association study (TWAS) to identify any association between TMEM163 expression and AD. Results The results showed that genetic variant rs6430538 C allele might increase the risk of AD. eQTL analysis revealed that rs6430538 up-regulated TMEM163 expression in AD brain tissue, but down-regulated its expression in normal samples. Interestingly, TMEM163 showed differential expression in entorhinal cortex (EC) and temporal cortex (TCX). Furthermore, the TWAS analysis indicated strong associations between TMEM163 and AD in various tissues. Discussion In summary, our findings suggest that rs6430538 may influence AD by regulating TMEM163 expression. These discoveries may open up new opportunities for therapeutic strategies targeting AD.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Shizheng Qiu
- School of Computer Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China
| | - Meili Sun
- Beidahuang Industry Group General Hospital, Harbin, China
| | - Yanwei Xu
- Beidahuang Group Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Jiamusi, China
| | - Yang Hu
- School of Computer Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Zhao S, Crouse W, Qian S, Luo K, Stephens M, He X. Adjusting for genetic confounders in transcriptome-wide association studies improves discovery of risk genes of complex traits. Nat Genet 2024; 56:336-347. [PMID: 38279041 PMCID: PMC10864181 DOI: 10.1038/s41588-023-01648-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2022] [Accepted: 12/14/2023] [Indexed: 01/28/2024]
Abstract
Many methods have been developed to leverage expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) data to nominate candidate genes from genome-wide association studies. These methods, including colocalization, transcriptome-wide association studies (TWAS) and Mendelian randomization-based methods; however, all suffer from a key problem-when assessing the role of a gene in a trait using its eQTLs, nearby variants and genetic components of other genes' expression may be correlated with these eQTLs and have direct effects on the trait, acting as potential confounders. Our extensive simulations showed that existing methods fail to account for these 'genetic confounders', resulting in severe inflation of false positives. Our new method, causal-TWAS (cTWAS), borrows ideas from statistical fine-mapping and allows us to adjust all genetic confounders. cTWAS showed calibrated false discovery rates in simulations, and its application on several common traits discovered new candidate genes. In conclusion, cTWAS provides a robust statistical framework for gene discovery.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Siming Zhao
- Department of Biomedical Data Science, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA.
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
- Dartmouth Cancer Center, Lebanon, NH, USA.
| | - Wesley Crouse
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Sheng Qian
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Kaixuan Luo
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Matthew Stephens
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
- Department of Statistics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
| | - Xin He
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Bhattacharya A, Vo DD, Jops C, Kim M, Wen C, Hervoso JL, Pasaniuc B, Gandal MJ. Isoform-level transcriptome-wide association uncovers genetic risk mechanisms for neuropsychiatric disorders in the human brain. Nat Genet 2023; 55:2117-2128. [PMID: 38036788 PMCID: PMC10703692 DOI: 10.1038/s41588-023-01560-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2022] [Accepted: 10/05/2023] [Indexed: 12/02/2023]
Abstract
Methods integrating genetics with transcriptomic reference panels prioritize risk genes and mechanisms at only a fraction of trait-associated genetic loci, due in part to an overreliance on total gene expression as a molecular outcome measure. This challenge is particularly relevant for the brain, in which extensive splicing generates multiple distinct transcript-isoforms per gene. Due to complex correlation structures, isoform-level modeling from cis-window variants requires methodological innovation. Here we introduce isoTWAS, a multivariate, stepwise framework integrating genetics, isoform-level expression and phenotypic associations. Compared to gene-level methods, isoTWAS improves both isoform and gene expression prediction, yielding more testable genes, and increased power for discovery of trait associations within genome-wide association study loci across 15 neuropsychiatric traits. We illustrate multiple isoTWAS associations undetectable at the gene-level, prioritizing isoforms of AKT3, CUL3 and HSPD1 in schizophrenia and PCLO with multiple disorders. Results highlight the importance of incorporating isoform-level resolution within integrative approaches to increase discovery of trait associations, especially for brain-relevant traits.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Arjun Bhattacharya
- Department of Epidemiology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
- Institute for Data Science in Oncology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
| | - Daniel D Vo
- Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Lifespan Brain Institute at Penn Med and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Connor Jops
- Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Lifespan Brain Institute at Penn Med and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Minsoo Kim
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Semel Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Cindy Wen
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Semel Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Bioinformatics Interdepartmental Program, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Jonatan L Hervoso
- Bioinformatics Interdepartmental Program, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Bogdan Pasaniuc
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Bioinformatics Interdepartmental Program, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Department of Computational Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Michael J Gandal
- Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
- Lifespan Brain Institute at Penn Med and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Semel Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
- Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
- Department of Genetics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Brotman SM, El-Sayed Moustafa JS, Guan L, Broadaway KA, Wang D, Jackson AU, Welch R, Currin KW, Tomlinson M, Vadlamudi S, Stringham HM, Roberts AL, Lakka TA, Oravilahti A, Silva LF, Narisu N, Erdos MR, Yan T, Bonnycastle LL, Raulerson CK, Raza Y, Yan X, Parker SCJ, Kuusisto J, Pajukanta P, Tuomilehto J, Collins FS, Boehnke M, Love MI, Koistinen HA, Laakso M, Mohlke KL, Small KS, Scott LJ. Adipose tissue eQTL meta-analysis reveals the contribution of allelic heterogeneity to gene expression regulation and cardiometabolic traits. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.10.26.563798. [PMID: 37961277 PMCID: PMC10634839 DOI: 10.1101/2023.10.26.563798] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2023]
Abstract
Complete characterization of the genetic effects on gene expression is needed to elucidate tissue biology and the etiology of complex traits. Here, we analyzed 2,344 subcutaneous adipose tissue samples and identified 34K conditionally distinct expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) signals in 18K genes. Over half of eQTL genes exhibited at least two eQTL signals. Compared to primary signals, non-primary signals had lower effect sizes, lower minor allele frequencies, and less promoter enrichment; they corresponded to genes with higher heritability and higher tolerance for loss of function. Colocalization of eQTL with conditionally distinct genome-wide association study signals for 28 cardiometabolic traits identified 3,605 eQTL signals for 1,861 genes. Inclusion of non-primary eQTL signals increased colocalized signals by 46%. Among 30 genes with ≥2 pairs of colocalized signals, 21 showed a mediating gene dosage effect on the trait. Thus, expanded eQTL identification reveals more mechanisms underlying complex traits and improves understanding of the complexity of gene expression regulation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sarah M Brotman
- Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | | | - Li Guan
- Department of Computational Medicine & Bioinformatics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - K Alaine Broadaway
- Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Dongmeng Wang
- Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Anne U Jackson
- Department of Biostatistics and Center for Statistical Genetics, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Ryan Welch
- Department of Biostatistics and Center for Statistical Genetics, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Kevin W Currin
- Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Max Tomlinson
- Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King's College London, London, UK
- Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics, King's College London, London, UK
| | | | - Heather M Stringham
- Department of Biostatistics and Center for Statistical Genetics, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Amy L Roberts
- Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Timo A Lakka
- Institute of Biomedicine, School of Medicine, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland
- Department of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland
- Foundation for Research in Health Exercise and Nutrition, Kuopio Research Institute of Exercise Medicine, Kuopio, Finland
| | - Anniina Oravilahti
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, Kuopio University Hospital, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland
| | - Lilian Fernandes Silva
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, Kuopio University Hospital, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland
| | - Narisu Narisu
- Center for Precision Health Research, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Michael R Erdos
- Center for Precision Health Research, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Tingfen Yan
- Center for Precision Health Research, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Lori L Bonnycastle
- Center for Precision Health Research, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | | | - Yasrab Raza
- Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Xinyu Yan
- Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Stephen C J Parker
- Department of Computational Medicine & Bioinformatics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Johanna Kuusisto
- Department of Medicine and Clinical Research, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland
| | - Päivi Pajukanta
- Department of Human Genetics and Institute for Precision Health, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Jaakko Tuomilehto
- Department of Public Health and Welfare, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland
- Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Diabetes Research Group, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Francis S Collins
- Center for Precision Health Research, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Michael Boehnke
- Department of Biostatistics and Center for Statistical Genetics, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Michael I Love
- Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
- Department of Biostatistics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Heikki A Koistinen
- Department of Public Health and Welfare, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland
- University of Helsinki and Department of Medicine, Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland
- Minerva Foundation Institute for Medical Research, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Markku Laakso
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, Kuopio University Hospital, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland
- Department of Medicine and Clinical Research, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland
| | - Karen L Mohlke
- Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Kerrin S Small
- Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Laura J Scott
- Department of Biostatistics and Center for Statistical Genetics, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Pettit RW, Byun J, Han Y, Ostrom QT, Coarfa C, Bondy ML, Amos CI. Heritable Traits and Lung Cancer Risk: A Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2023; 32:1421-1435. [PMID: 37530747 PMCID: PMC10651112 DOI: 10.1158/1055-9965.epi-22-0698] [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: 06/17/2022] [Revised: 02/14/2023] [Accepted: 07/24/2023] [Indexed: 08/03/2023] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Lung cancer is a complex polygenic disorder. Analysis with Mendelian randomization (MR) allows for genetically predicted risks to be estimated between exposures and outcomes. METHODS We analyzed 345 heritable traits from the United Kingdom Biobank and estimated their associated effects on lung cancer outcomes using two sample MR. In addition to estimating effects with overall lung cancer, adenocarcinoma, small cell lung cancer, and squamous cell lung cancers, we performed conditional effect modeling with multivariate MR (MVMR) and the traits of alcohol use, smoking initiation, average pre-tax income, and educational attainment. RESULTS Univariate MR provided evidence for increased age at first sexual intercourse (OR, 0.55; P = 6.15 × 10-13), educational attainment (OR, 0.24; P = 1.07 × 10-19), average household income (OR, 0.58; P = 7.85 × 10-05), and alcohol usually taken with meals (OR, 0.19; P = 1.06 × 10-06) associating with decreased odds of overall lung cancer development. In contrast, a lack of additional educational attainment (OR, 8.00; P = 3.48 × 10-12), body mass index (OR, 1.28; P = 9.00 × 10-08), pack years smoking as a proportion of life span (OR, 9.93; P = 7.96 × 10-12), and weekly beer intake (OR, 3.48; P = 4.08 × 10-07) were associated with an increased risk of overall lung cancer development. CONCLUSIONS Many heritable traits associated with an increased or inverse risk of lung cancer development. Effects vary based on histologic subtype and conditional third trait exposures. IMPACT We identified several heritable traits and presented their genetically predictable impact on lung cancer development, providing valuable insights for consideration.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Rowland W Pettit
- Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
| | - Jinyoung Byun
- Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
- Section of Epidemiology and Population Sciences, Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
| | - Younghun Han
- Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
- Section of Epidemiology and Population Sciences, Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
| | - Quinn T Ostrom
- Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina
| | - Cristian Coarfa
- Dan L. Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
| | - Melissa L Bondy
- Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, California
| | - Christopher I Amos
- Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
- Section of Epidemiology and Population Sciences, Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
- Dan L. Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Aygün N, Liang D, Crouse WL, Keele GR, Love MI, Stein JL. Inferring cell-type-specific causal gene regulatory networks during human neurogenesis. Genome Biol 2023; 24:130. [PMID: 37254169 PMCID: PMC10230710 DOI: 10.1186/s13059-023-02959-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2022] [Accepted: 05/05/2023] [Indexed: 06/01/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Genetic variation influences both chromatin accessibility, assessed in chromatin accessibility quantitative trait loci (caQTL) studies, and gene expression, assessed in expression QTL (eQTL) studies. Genetic variants can impact either nearby genes (cis-eQTLs) or distal genes (trans-eQTLs). Colocalization between caQTL and eQTL, or cis- and trans-eQTLs suggests that they share causal variants. However, pairwise colocalization between these molecular QTLs does not guarantee a causal relationship. Mediation analysis can be applied to assess the evidence supporting causality versus independence between molecular QTLs. Given that the function of QTLs can be cell-type-specific, we performed mediation analyses to find epigenetic and distal regulatory causal pathways for genes within two major cell types of the developing human cortex, progenitors and neurons. RESULTS We find that the expression of 168 and 38 genes is mediated by chromatin accessibility in progenitors and neurons, respectively. We also find that the expression of 11 and 12 downstream genes is mediated by upstream genes in progenitors and neurons. Moreover, we discover that a genetic locus associated with inter-individual differences in brain structure shows evidence for mediation of SLC26A7 through chromatin accessibility, identifying molecular mechanisms of a common variant association to a brain trait. CONCLUSIONS In this study, we identify cell-type-specific causal gene regulatory networks whereby the impacts of variants on gene expression were mediated by chromatin accessibility or distal gene expression. Identification of these causal paths will enable identifying and prioritizing actionable regulatory targets perturbing these key processes during neurodevelopment.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nil Aygün
- Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
- UNC Neuroscience Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
| | - Dan Liang
- Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
- UNC Neuroscience Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
| | - Wesley L Crouse
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA
| | - Gregory R Keele
- The Jackson Laboratory, 600 Main Street, Bar Harbor, ME, 04609, USA
| | - Michael I Love
- Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA.
- Department of Biostatistics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA.
| | - Jason L Stein
- Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA.
- UNC Neuroscience Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Wen C, Margolis M, Dai R, Zhang P, Przytycki PF, Vo DD, Bhattacharya A, Matoba N, Jiao C, Kim M, Tsai E, Hoh C, Aygün N, Walker RL, Chatzinakos C, Clarke D, Pratt H, Consortium P, Peters MA, Gerstein M, Daskalakis NP, Weng Z, Jaffe AE, Kleinman JE, Hyde TM, Weinberger DR, Bray NJ, Sestan N, Geschwind DH, Roeder K, Gusev A, Pasaniuc B, Stein JL, Love MI, Pollard KS, Liu C, Gandal MJ. Cross-ancestry, cell-type-informed atlas of gene, isoform, and splicing regulation in the developing human brain. MEDRXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR HEALTH SCIENCES 2023:2023.03.03.23286706. [PMID: 36945630 PMCID: PMC10029021 DOI: 10.1101/2023.03.03.23286706] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/23/2023]
Abstract
Genomic regulatory elements active in the developing human brain are notably enriched in genetic risk for neuropsychiatric disorders, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD), schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. However, prioritizing the specific risk genes and candidate molecular mechanisms underlying these genetic enrichments has been hindered by the lack of a single unified large-scale gene regulatory atlas of human brain development. Here, we uniformly process and systematically characterize gene, isoform, and splicing quantitative trait loci (xQTLs) in 672 fetal brain samples from unique subjects across multiple ancestral populations. We identify 15,752 genes harboring a significant xQTL and map 3,739 eQTLs to a specific cellular context. We observe a striking drop in gene expression and splicing heritability as the human brain develops. Isoform-level regulation, particularly in the second trimester, mediates the greatest proportion of heritability across multiple psychiatric GWAS, compared with eQTLs. Via colocalization and TWAS, we prioritize biological mechanisms for ~60% of GWAS loci across five neuropsychiatric disorders, nearly two-fold that observed in the adult brain. Finally, we build a comprehensive set of developmentally regulated gene and isoform co-expression networks capturing unique genetic enrichments across disorders. Together, this work provides a comprehensive view of genetic regulation across human brain development as well as the stage-and cell type-informed mechanistic underpinnings of neuropsychiatric disorders.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Cindy Wen
- Interdepartmental Program in Bioinformatics, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
- Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - Michael Margolis
- Department of Psychiatry, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
- Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - Rujia Dai
- Department of Psychiatry, SUNY Upstate Medical University; Syracuse, NY, 13210, USA
| | - Pan Zhang
- Department of Psychiatry, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
- Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - Pawel F Przytycki
- Gladstone Institute of Data Science and Biotechnology; San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA
| | - Daniel D Vo
- Department of Psychiatry, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
- Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania; Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
- Lifespan Brain Institute, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
| | - Arjun Bhattacharya
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
- Institute for Quantitative and Computational Biosciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - Nana Matoba
- Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
- UNC Neuroscience Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
| | - Chuan Jiao
- Department of Psychiatry, SUNY Upstate Medical University; Syracuse, NY, 13210, USA
| | - Minsoo Kim
- Department of Psychiatry, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
- Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - Ellen Tsai
- Department of Psychiatry, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
- Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - Celine Hoh
- Department of Psychiatry, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
- Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - Nil Aygün
- Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
- UNC Neuroscience Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
| | - Rebecca L Walker
- Interdepartmental Program in Bioinformatics, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
- Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - Christos Chatzinakos
- Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA, 02215, USA
- McLean Hospital; Belmont, MA, 02478, USA
- Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; Cambridge, MA, 02142, USA
| | - Declan Clarke
- Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University; New Haven, CT, 06520, USA
| | - Henry Pratt
- Program in Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School; Worcester, MA, 01605, USA
| | - PsychENCODE Consortium
- Interdepartmental Program in Bioinformatics, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
- Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, SUNY Upstate Medical University; Syracuse, NY, 13210, USA
- Gladstone Institute of Data Science and Biotechnology; San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania; Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
- Lifespan Brain Institute, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
- Institute for Quantitative and Computational Biosciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
- Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
- UNC Neuroscience Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA, 02215, USA
- McLean Hospital; Belmont, MA, 02478, USA
- Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; Cambridge, MA, 02142, USA
- Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University; New Haven, CT, 06520, USA
- Program in Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School; Worcester, MA, 01605, USA
- CNS Data Coordination Group, Sage Bionetworks; Seattle, WA, 98109, USA
- Program in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Yale University; New Haven, CT, 06520, USA
- Department of Computer Science, Yale University; New Haven, CT, 06520, USA
- Department of Statistics and Data Science, Yale University; New Haven, CT, 06520, USA
- Lieber Institute for Brain Development; Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA
- Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA
- Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA
- Department of Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA
- Neumora Therapeutics; Watertown, MA, 02472, USA
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA
- MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics & Genomics, Division of Psychological Medicine & Clinical Neurosciences, Cardiff University School of Medicine; Cardiff, CF24 4HQ, UK
- Department of Comparative Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine; New Haven, CT, 06520, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine; New Haven, CT, 06520, USA
- Program in Neurogenetics, Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
- Institute for Precision Health, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
- Department of Statistics & Data Science, Carnegie Mellon University; Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA
- Computational Biology Department, Carnegie Mellon University; Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA
- Department of Medical Oncology, Division of Population Sciences, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Boston, MA, 02215, USA
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; Cambridge, MA, 02142, USA
- Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA, 02215, USA
- Division of Genetics, Brigham and Women's Hospital; Boston, MA, 02215, USA
- Department of Computational Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
- Department of Biostatistics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
- Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco; San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA
- Chan Zuckerberg Biohub; San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA
- Center for Medical Genetics & Hunan Key Laboratory of Medical Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Central South University; Changsha, Hunan, 410008, China
| | - Mette A Peters
- CNS Data Coordination Group, Sage Bionetworks; Seattle, WA, 98109, USA
| | - Mark Gerstein
- Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University; New Haven, CT, 06520, USA
- Program in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Yale University; New Haven, CT, 06520, USA
- Department of Computer Science, Yale University; New Haven, CT, 06520, USA
- Department of Statistics and Data Science, Yale University; New Haven, CT, 06520, USA
| | - Nikolaos P Daskalakis
- Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA, 02215, USA
- McLean Hospital; Belmont, MA, 02478, USA
- Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; Cambridge, MA, 02142, USA
| | - Zhiping Weng
- Program in Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School; Worcester, MA, 01605, USA
| | - Andrew E Jaffe
- Lieber Institute for Brain Development; Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA
- Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA
- Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA
- Department of Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA
- Neumora Therapeutics; Watertown, MA, 02472, USA
| | - Joel E Kleinman
- Lieber Institute for Brain Development; Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA
| | - Thomas M Hyde
- Lieber Institute for Brain Development; Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA
| | - Daniel R Weinberger
- Lieber Institute for Brain Development; Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA
- Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA
- Department of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA
| | - Nicholas J Bray
- MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics & Genomics, Division of Psychological Medicine & Clinical Neurosciences, Cardiff University School of Medicine; Cardiff, CF24 4HQ, UK
| | - Nenad Sestan
- Department of Comparative Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine; New Haven, CT, 06520, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine; New Haven, CT, 06520, USA
| | - Daniel H Geschwind
- Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
- Program in Neurogenetics, Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
- Institute for Precision Health, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - Kathryn Roeder
- Department of Statistics & Data Science, Carnegie Mellon University; Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA
- Computational Biology Department, Carnegie Mellon University; Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, USA
| | - Alexander Gusev
- Department of Medical Oncology, Division of Population Sciences, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Boston, MA, 02215, USA
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; Cambridge, MA, 02142, USA
- Harvard Medical School; Boston, MA, 02215, USA
- Division of Genetics, Brigham and Women's Hospital; Boston, MA, 02215, USA
| | - Bogdan Pasaniuc
- Interdepartmental Program in Bioinformatics, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
- Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
- Institute for Precision Health, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
- Department of Computational Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - Jason L Stein
- Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
- UNC Neuroscience Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
| | - Michael I Love
- Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
- Department of Biostatistics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
| | - Katherine S Pollard
- Gladstone Institute of Data Science and Biotechnology; San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA
- Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco; San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA
- Chan Zuckerberg Biohub; San Francisco, CA, 94158, USA
| | - Chunyu Liu
- Department of Psychiatry, SUNY Upstate Medical University; Syracuse, NY, 13210, USA
- Center for Medical Genetics & Hunan Key Laboratory of Medical Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Central South University; Changsha, Hunan, 410008, China
| | - Michael J Gandal
- Interdepartmental Program in Bioinformatics, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
- Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles; Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania; Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
- Lifespan Brain Institute, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Okamoto J, Wang L, Yin X, Luca F, Pique-Regi R, Helms A, Im HK, Morrison J, Wen X. Probabilistic integration of transcriptome-wide association studies and colocalization analysis identifies key molecular pathways of complex traits. Am J Hum Genet 2023; 110:44-57. [PMID: 36608684 PMCID: PMC9892769 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2022.12.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2022] [Accepted: 12/06/2022] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Integrative genetic association methods have shown great promise in post-GWAS (genome-wide association study) analyses, in which one of the most challenging tasks is identifying putative causal genes and uncovering molecular mechanisms of complex traits. Recent studies suggest that prevailing computational approaches, including transcriptome-wide association studies (TWASs) and colocalization analysis, are individually imperfect, but their joint usage can yield robust and powerful inference results. This paper presents INTACT, a computational framework to integrate probabilistic evidence from these distinct types of analyses and implicate putative causal genes. This procedure is flexible and can work with a wide range of existing integrative analysis approaches. It has the unique ability to quantify the uncertainty of implicated genes, enabling rigorous control of false-positive discoveries. Taking advantage of this highly desirable feature, we further propose an efficient algorithm, INTACT-GSE, for gene set enrichment analysis based on the integrated probabilistic evidence. We examine the proposed computational methods and illustrate their improved performance over the existing approaches through simulation studies. We apply the proposed methods to analyze the multi-tissue eQTL data from the GTEx project and eight large-scale complex- and molecular-trait GWAS datasets from multiple consortia and the UK Biobank. Overall, we find that the proposed methods markedly improve the existing putative gene implication methods and are particularly advantageous in evaluating and identifying key gene sets and biological pathways underlying complex traits.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jeffrey Okamoto
- Department of Biostatistics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
| | - Lijia Wang
- Department of Biostatistics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Xianyong Yin
- Department of Biostatistics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Francesca Luca
- Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48201, USA
| | - Roger Pique-Regi
- Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48201, USA
| | - Adam Helms
- University of Michigan School of Medicine, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Hae Kyung Im
- Section of Genetic Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Jean Morrison
- Department of Biostatistics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Xiaoquan Wen
- Department of Biostatistics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Zhao H, Rasheed H, Nøst TH, Cho Y, Liu Y, Bhatta L, Bhattacharya A, Hemani G, Davey Smith G, Brumpton BM, Zhou W, Neale BM, Gaunt TR, Zheng J. Proteome-wide Mendelian randomization in global biobank meta-analysis reveals multi-ancestry drug targets for common diseases. CELL GENOMICS 2022; 2:None. [PMID: 36388766 PMCID: PMC9646482 DOI: 10.1016/j.xgen.2022.100195] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2022] [Revised: 06/06/2022] [Accepted: 09/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Proteome-wide Mendelian randomization (MR) shows value in prioritizing drug targets in Europeans but with limited evidence in other ancestries. Here, we present a multi-ancestry proteome-wide MR analysis based on cross-population data from the Global Biobank Meta-analysis Initiative (GBMI). We estimated the putative causal effects of 1,545 proteins on eight diseases in African (32,658) and European (1,219,993) ancestries and identified 45 and 7 protein-disease pairs with MR and genetic colocalization evidence in the two ancestries, respectively. A multi-ancestry MR comparison identified two protein-disease pairs with MR evidence in both ancestries and seven pairs with specific effects in the two ancestries separately. Integrating these MR signals with clinical trial evidence, we prioritized 16 pairs for investigation in future drug trials. Our results highlight the value of proteome-wide MR in informing the generalizability of drug targets for disease prevention across ancestries and illustrate the value of meta-analysis of biobanks in drug development.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Huiling Zhao
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU), Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK
| | - Humaria Rasheed
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU), Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK
- K.G. Jebsen Center for Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Nursing, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
- Division of Medicine and Laboratory Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Therese Haugdahl Nøst
- K.G. Jebsen Center for Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Nursing, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
- Department of Community Medicine, UIT The Arctic University of Norway, 9037 Tromsø, Norway
| | - Yoonsu Cho
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU), Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK
| | - Yi Liu
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU), Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK
| | - Laxmi Bhatta
- K.G. Jebsen Center for Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Nursing, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Arjun Bhattacharya
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Institute of Quantitative and Computational Biosciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Global Biobank Meta-analysis Initiative
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU), Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK
- K.G. Jebsen Center for Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Nursing, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
- Division of Medicine and Laboratory Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- Department of Community Medicine, UIT The Arctic University of Norway, 9037 Tromsø, Norway
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Institute of Quantitative and Computational Biosciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- NIHR Bristol Biomedical Research Centre, Bristol, UK
- HUNT Research Center, Department of Public Health and Nursing, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7600 Levanger, Norway
- Clinic of Medicine, St. Olavs Hospital, Trondheim University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
- Analytic and Translational Genetics Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA
- Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
- Department of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases, Shanghai Institute of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
- Shanghai National Clinical Research Center for Metabolic Diseases, Key Laboratory for Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases of the National Health Commission of the PR China, Shanghai Key Laboratory for Endocrine Tumor, State Key Laboratory of Medical Genomics, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Gibran Hemani
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU), Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK
| | - George Davey Smith
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU), Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK
- NIHR Bristol Biomedical Research Centre, Bristol, UK
| | - Ben Michael Brumpton
- Division of Medicine and Laboratory Sciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- HUNT Research Center, Department of Public Health and Nursing, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7600 Levanger, Norway
- Clinic of Medicine, St. Olavs Hospital, Trondheim University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Wei Zhou
- Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
- Analytic and Translational Genetics Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA
- Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
| | - Benjamin M. Neale
- Analytic and Translational Genetics Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA
- Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
| | - Tom R. Gaunt
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU), Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK
- NIHR Bristol Biomedical Research Centre, Bristol, UK
| | - Jie Zheng
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU), Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK
- Department of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases, Shanghai Institute of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
- Shanghai National Clinical Research Center for Metabolic Diseases, Key Laboratory for Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases of the National Health Commission of the PR China, Shanghai Key Laboratory for Endocrine Tumor, State Key Laboratory of Medical Genomics, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Bhattacharya A, Hirbo JB, Zhou D, Zhou W, Zheng J, Kanai M, Pasaniuc B, Gamazon ER, Cox NJ. Best practices for multi-ancestry, meta-analytic transcriptome-wide association studies: Lessons from the Global Biobank Meta-analysis Initiative. CELL GENOMICS 2022; 2:100180. [PMID: 36341024 PMCID: PMC9631681 DOI: 10.1016/j.xgen.2022.100180] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
The Global Biobank Meta-analysis Initiative (GBMI), through its diversity, provides a valuable opportunity to study population-wide and ancestry-specific genetic associations. However, with multiple ascertainment strategies and multi-ancestry study populations across biobanks, GBMI presents unique challenges in implementing statistical genetics methods. Transcriptome-wide association studies (TWASs) boost detection power for and provide biological context to genetic associations by integrating genetic variant-to-trait associations from genome-wide association studies (GWASs) with predictive models of gene expression. TWASs present unique challenges beyond GWASs, especially in a multi-biobank, meta-analytic setting. Here, we present the GBMI TWAS pipeline, outlining practical considerations for ancestry and tissue specificity, meta-analytic strategies, and open challenges at every step of the framework. We advise conducting ancestry-stratified TWASs using ancestry-specific expression models and meta-analyzing results using inverse-variance weighting, showing the least test statistic inflation. Our work provides a foundation for adding transcriptomic context to biobank-linked GWASs, allowing for ancestry-aware discovery to accelerate genomic medicine.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Arjun Bhattacharya
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA,Institute of Quantitative and Computational Biosciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA,Corresponding author
| | - Jibril B. Hirbo
- Department of Medicine, Division of Genetic Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, USA,Vanderbilt Genetics Institute, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Dan Zhou
- Department of Medicine, Division of Genetic Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, USA,Vanderbilt Genetics Institute, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Wei Zhou
- Analytic and Translational Genetics Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA,Program in Medical and Population Genetics, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA,Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Jie Zheng
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU), Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Oakfield Grove, Bristol BS8 2BN, UK
| | - Masahiro Kanai
- Analytic and Translational Genetics Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA,Program in Medical and Population Genetics, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA,Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA,Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA,Department of Statistical Genetics, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita 565-0871, Japan
| | | | - Bogdan Pasaniuc
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA,Department of Human Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA,Department of Computational Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Eric R. Gamazon
- Department of Medicine, Division of Genetic Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, USA,Vanderbilt Genetics Institute, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA,MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Nancy J. Cox
- Department of Medicine, Division of Genetic Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, USA,Vanderbilt Genetics Institute, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Yin X, Bose D, Kwon A, Hanks SC, Jackson AU, Stringham HM, Welch R, Oravilahti A, Fernandes Silva L, Locke AE, Fuchsberger C, Service SK, Erdos MR, Bonnycastle LL, Kuusisto J, Stitziel NO, Hall IM, Morrison J, Ripatti S, Palotie A, Freimer NB, Collins FS, Mohlke KL, Scott LJ, Fauman EB, Burant C, Boehnke M, Laakso M, Wen X. Integrating transcriptomics, metabolomics, and GWAS helps reveal molecular mechanisms for metabolite levels and disease risk. Am J Hum Genet 2022; 109:1727-1741. [PMID: 36055244 PMCID: PMC9606383 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2022.08.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2022] [Accepted: 08/09/2022] [Indexed: 01/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Transcriptomics data have been integrated with genome-wide association studies (GWASs) to help understand disease/trait molecular mechanisms. The utility of metabolomics, integrated with transcriptomics and disease GWASs, to understand molecular mechanisms for metabolite levels or diseases has not been thoroughly evaluated. We performed probabilistic transcriptome-wide association and locus-level colocalization analyses to integrate transcriptomics results for 49 tissues in 706 individuals from the GTEx project, metabolomics results for 1,391 plasma metabolites in 6,136 Finnish men from the METSIM study, and GWAS results for 2,861 disease traits in 260,405 Finnish individuals from the FinnGen study. We found that genetic variants that regulate metabolite levels were more likely to influence gene expression and disease risk compared to the ones that do not. Integrating transcriptomics with metabolomics results prioritized 397 genes for 521 metabolites, including 496 previously identified gene-metabolite pairs with strong functional connections and suggested 33.3% of such gene-metabolite pairs shared the same causal variants with genetic associations of gene expression. Integrating transcriptomics and metabolomics individually with FinnGen GWAS results identified 1,597 genes for 790 disease traits. Integrating transcriptomics and metabolomics jointly with FinnGen GWAS results helped pinpoint metabolic pathways from genes to diseases. We identified putative causal effects of UGT1A1/UGT1A4 expression on gallbladder disorders through regulating plasma (E,E)-bilirubin levels, of SLC22A5 expression on nasal polyps and plasma carnitine levels through distinct pathways, and of LIPC expression on age-related macular degeneration through glycerophospholipid metabolic pathways. Our study highlights the power of integrating multiple sets of molecular traits and GWAS results to deepen understanding of disease pathophysiology.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Xianyong Yin
- Department of Biostatistics and Center for Statistical Genetics, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Debraj Bose
- Department of Biostatistics and Center for Statistical Genetics, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Annie Kwon
- Department of Biostatistics and Center for Statistical Genetics, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Sarah C Hanks
- Department of Biostatistics and Center for Statistical Genetics, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Anne U Jackson
- Department of Biostatistics and Center for Statistical Genetics, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Heather M Stringham
- Department of Biostatistics and Center for Statistical Genetics, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Ryan Welch
- Department of Biostatistics and Center for Statistical Genetics, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Anniina Oravilahti
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, Internal Medicine, University of Eastern Finland and Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio 70210, Finland
| | - Lilian Fernandes Silva
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, Internal Medicine, University of Eastern Finland and Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio 70210, Finland
| | - Adam E Locke
- McDonnell Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO 63108, USA
| | - Christian Fuchsberger
- Department of Biostatistics and Center for Statistical Genetics, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA; Institute for Biomedicine, Eurac Research, Bolzano 39100, Italy
| | - Susan K Service
- Center for Neurobehavioral Genetics, Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
| | - Michael R Erdos
- Molecular Genetics Section, Center for Precision Health Research, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Lori L Bonnycastle
- Molecular Genetics Section, Center for Precision Health Research, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Johanna Kuusisto
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, Internal Medicine, University of Eastern Finland and Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio 70210, Finland; Center for Medicine and Clinical Research, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio 70210, Finland
| | - Nathan O Stitziel
- McDonnell Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO 63108, USA; Cardiovascular Division, Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO 63110, USA; Department of Genetics, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Ira M Hall
- Center for Genomic Health, Department of Genetics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06510, USA
| | - Jean Morrison
- Department of Biostatistics and Center for Statistical Genetics, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Samuli Ripatti
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, FIMM, HiLIFE, University of Helsinki, Helsinki 00290, Finland; Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki 00014, Finland; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
| | - Aarno Palotie
- Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, FIMM, HiLIFE, University of Helsinki, Helsinki 00290, Finland; Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki 00014, Finland; Analytic and Translational Genetics Unit, Department of Medicine, Department of Neurology, and Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Nelson B Freimer
- Center for Neurobehavioral Genetics, Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA
| | - Francis S Collins
- Molecular Genetics Section, Center for Precision Health Research, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Karen L Mohlke
- Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | - Laura J Scott
- Department of Biostatistics and Center for Statistical Genetics, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Eric B Fauman
- Internal Medicine Research Unit, Pfizer Worldwide Research, Development and Medical, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Charles Burant
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Michael Boehnke
- Department of Biostatistics and Center for Statistical Genetics, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Markku Laakso
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, Internal Medicine, University of Eastern Finland and Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio 70210, Finland.
| | - Xiaoquan Wen
- Department of Biostatistics and Center for Statistical Genetics, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
Wolc A, Dekkers JCM. Application of Bayesian genomic prediction methods to genome-wide association analyses. Genet Sel Evol 2022; 54:31. [PMID: 35562659 PMCID: PMC9103490 DOI: 10.1186/s12711-022-00724-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2022] [Accepted: 04/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Bayesian genomic prediction methods were developed to simultaneously fit all genotyped markers to a set of available phenotypes for prediction of breeding values for quantitative traits, allowing for differences in the genetic architecture (distribution of marker effects) of traits. These methods also provide a flexible and reliable framework for genome-wide association (GWA) studies. The objective here was to review developments in Bayesian hierarchical and variable selection models for GWA analyses. Results By fitting all genotyped markers simultaneously, Bayesian GWA methods implicitly account for population structure and the multiple-testing problem of classical single-marker GWA. Implemented using Markov chain Monte Carlo methods, Bayesian GWA methods allow for control of error rates using probabilities obtained from posterior distributions. Power of GWA studies using Bayesian methods can be enhanced by using informative priors based on previous association studies, gene expression analyses, or functional annotation information. Applied to multiple traits, Bayesian GWA analyses can give insight into pleiotropic effects by multi-trait, structural equation, or graphical models. Bayesian methods can also be used to combine genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, and other -omics data to infer causal genotype to phenotype relationships and to suggest external interventions that can improve performance. Conclusions Bayesian hierarchical and variable selection methods provide a unified and powerful framework for genomic prediction, GWA, integration of prior information, and integration of information from other -omics platforms to identify causal mutations for complex quantitative traits.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Anna Wolc
- Department of Animal Science, Iowa State University, 806 Stange Road, 239 Kildee Hall, Ames, IA, 50010, USA.,Hy-Line International, 2583 240th Street, Dallas Center, IA, 50063, USA
| | - Jack C M Dekkers
- Department of Animal Science, Iowa State University, 806 Stange Road, 239 Kildee Hall, Ames, IA, 50010, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
15
|
Zuber V, Grinberg NF, Gill D, Manipur I, Slob EAW, Patel A, Wallace C, Burgess S. Combining evidence from Mendelian randomization and colocalization: Review and comparison of approaches. Am J Hum Genet 2022; 109:767-782. [PMID: 35452592 PMCID: PMC7612737 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2022.04.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 102] [Impact Index Per Article: 51.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Mendelian randomization and colocalization are two statistical approaches that can be applied to summarized data from genome-wide association studies (GWASs) to understand relationships between traits and diseases. However, despite similarities in scope, they are different in their objectives, implementation, and interpretation, in part because they were developed to serve different scientific communities. Mendelian randomization assesses whether genetic predictors of an exposure are associated with the outcome and interprets an association as evidence that the exposure has a causal effect on the outcome, whereas colocalization assesses whether two traits are affected by the same or distinct causal variants. When considering genetic variants in a single genetic region, both approaches can be performed. While a positive colocalization finding typically implies a non-zero Mendelian randomization estimate, the reverse is not generally true: there are several scenarios which would lead to a non-zero Mendelian randomization estimate but lack evidence for colocalization. These include the existence of distinct but correlated causal variants for the exposure and outcome, which would violate the Mendelian randomization assumptions, and a lack of strong associations with the outcome. As colocalization was developed in the GWAS tradition, typically evidence for colocalization is concluded only when there is strong evidence for associations with both traits. In contrast, a non-zero estimate from Mendelian randomization can be obtained despite only nominally significant genetic associations with the outcome at the locus. In this review, we discuss how the two approaches can provide complementary information on potential therapeutic targets.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Verena Zuber
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK; MRC Centre for Environment and Health, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK; UK Dementia Research Institute at Imperial College, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | | | - Dipender Gill
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK; Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics Section, Institute of Medical and Biomedical Education and Institute for Infection and Immunity, St George's, University of London, London, UK; Clinical Pharmacology Group, Pharmacy and Medicines Directorate, St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK; Genetics Department, Novo Nordisk Research Centre Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Ichcha Manipur
- Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology & Infectious Disease, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK; Department of Medicine, School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Eric A W Slob
- MRC Biostatistics Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Ashish Patel
- MRC Biostatistics Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Chris Wallace
- Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology & Infectious Disease, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK; Department of Medicine, School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK; MRC Biostatistics Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Stephen Burgess
- MRC Biostatistics Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK; Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
| |
Collapse
|
16
|
Hukku A, Sampson MG, Luca F, Pique-Regi R, Wen X. Analyzing and reconciling colocalization and transcriptome-wide association studies from the perspective of inferential reproducibility. Am J Hum Genet 2022; 109:825-837. [PMID: 35523146 PMCID: PMC9118134 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2022.04.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2021] [Accepted: 04/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Transcriptome-wide association studies and colocalization analysis are popular computational approaches for integrating genetic-association data from molecular and complex traits. They show the unique ability to go beyond variant-level genetic-association evidence and implicate critical functional units, e.g., genes, in disease etiology. However, in practice, when the two approaches are applied to the same molecular and complex-trait data, the inference results can be markedly different. This paper systematically investigates the inferential reproducibility between the two approaches through theoretical derivation, numerical experiments, and analyses of four complex trait GWAS and GTEx eQTL data. We identify two classes of inconsistent inference results. We find that the first class of inconsistent results (i.e., genes with strong colocalization but weak transcriptome-wide association study [TWAS] signals) might suggest an interesting biological phenomenon, i.e., horizontal pleiotropy; thus, the two approaches are truly complementary. The inconsistency in the second class (i.e., genes with weak colocalization but strong TWAS signals) can be understood and effectively reconciled. To this end, we propose a computational approach for locus-level colocalization analysis. We demonstrate that the joint TWAS and locus-level colocalization analysis improves specificity and sensitivity for implicating biologically relevant genes.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Abhay Hukku
- Department of Biostatistics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
| | - Matthew G Sampson
- Division of Nephrology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
| | - Francesca Luca
- Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48201, USA
| | - Roger Pique-Regi
- Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48201, USA
| | - Xiaoquan Wen
- Department of Biostatistics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
17
|
Kondratyev NV, Alfimova MV, Golov AK, Golimbet VE. Bench Research Informed by GWAS Results. Cells 2021; 10:3184. [PMID: 34831407 PMCID: PMC8623533 DOI: 10.3390/cells10113184] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2021] [Revised: 11/11/2021] [Accepted: 11/11/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Scientifically interesting as well as practically important phenotypes often belong to the realm of complex traits. To the extent that these traits are hereditary, they are usually 'highly polygenic'. The study of such traits presents a challenge for researchers, as the complex genetic architecture of such traits makes it nearly impossible to utilise many of the usual methods of reverse genetics, which often focus on specific genes. In recent years, thousands of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) were undertaken to explore the relationships between complex traits and a large number of genetic factors, most of which are characterised by tiny effects. In this review, we aim to familiarise 'wet biologists' with approaches for the interpretation of GWAS results, to clarify some issues that may seem counterintuitive and to assess the possibility of using GWAS results in experiments on various complex traits.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Arkadiy K. Golov
- Mental Health Research Center, 115522 Moscow, Russia; (M.V.A.); (A.K.G.); (V.E.G.)
- Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119334 Moscow, Russia
| | - Vera E. Golimbet
- Mental Health Research Center, 115522 Moscow, Russia; (M.V.A.); (A.K.G.); (V.E.G.)
| |
Collapse
|