A systems biology approach uncovers cell-specific gene regulatory effects of genetic associations in multiple sclerosis

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified more than 50,000 unique associations with common human traits. While this represents a substantial step forward, establishing the biology underlying these associations has proven extremely difficult. Even determining which cell types and which p...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Comabella López, Manuel|||0000-0002-2373-6657
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2019
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:224082
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/224082
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1038/s41467-019-09773-y
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Gene Expression Regulation
Genes, Regulator
Genetic Predisposition to Disease
Genome-Wide Association Study
Genotype
Humans
Multiple Sclerosis
Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
Systems Biology
Descripción
Sumario:Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified more than 50,000 unique associations with common human traits. While this represents a substantial step forward, establishing the biology underlying these associations has proven extremely difficult. Even determining which cell types and which particular gene(s) are relevant continues to be a challenge. Here, we conduct a cell-specific pathway analysis of the latest GWAS in multiple sclerosis (MS), which had analyzed a total of 47,351 cases and 68,284 healthy controls and found more than 200 non-MHC genome-wide associations. Our analysis identifies pan immune cell as well as cell-specific susceptibility genes in T cells, B cells and monocytes. Finally, genotype-level data from 2,370 patients and 412 controls is used to compute intra-individual and cell-specific susceptibility pathways that offer a biological interpretation of the individual genetic risk to MS. This approach could be adopted in any other complex trait for which genome-wide data is available.