scholarly journals Genome-wide association and functional analyses identify CASC20 and KIF26B as target loci in heterotopic ossification

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Konstantinos Hatzikotoulas ◽  
George AE Pickering ◽  
Matthew J Clark ◽  
Favour Felix-Ilemhenbhio ◽  
Klaudia Kocsy ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTHeterotopic ossification (HO) is bone formation that occurs after trauma within tissues that do not normally have the property of ossification, resulting in pain and disability. The genetic architecture of HO remains unclear. In the first genome-wide association studies of this disease, we identify the human-only long non-coding RNA-encoding gene CASC20 as a robust, replicating susceptibility locus for HO and KIF26B as a potential severity locus. We find that both CASC20 and KIF26B are expressed in human bone. Both CASC20 and KIF26B expression is upregulated upon BMP2 induced osteogenic differentiation in primary human mesenchymal stem cells, followed by RUNX2 and OSTERIX upregulation and mineralised nodule formation. A CRISPR-Cas9 mediated knockout of Kif26b inhibits BMP2-induced Runx2, Sp7/Osterix, Col1A1, Alp, and Bglap/Osteocalcin expression in a murine myocyte model of osteogenic trans-differentiation, and prevents mineralised nodule formation. These studies provide the first insights into the heritable biology of common, complex HO.

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 287
Author(s):  
Courtney M. Vecera ◽  
Gabriel R. Fries ◽  
Lokesh R. Shahani ◽  
Jair C. Soares ◽  
Rodrigo Machado-Vieira

Despite being the most widely studied mood stabilizer, researchers have not confirmed a mechanism for lithium’s therapeutic efficacy in Bipolar Disorder (BD). Pharmacogenomic applications may be clinically useful in the future for identifying lithium-responsive patients and facilitating personalized treatment. Six genome-wide association studies (GWAS) reviewed here present evidence of genetic variations related to lithium responsivity and side effect expression. Variants were found on genes regulating the glutamate system, including GAD-like gene 1 (GADL1) and GRIA2 gene, a mutually-regulated target of lithium. In addition, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) discovered on SESTD1 may account for lithium’s exceptional ability to permeate cell membranes and mediate autoimmune and renal effects. Studies also corroborated the importance of epigenetics and stress regulation on lithium response, finding variants on long, non-coding RNA genes and associations between response and genetic loading for psychiatric comorbidities. Overall, the precision medicine model of stratifying patients based on phenotype seems to derive genotypic support of a separate clinical subtype of lithium-responsive BD. Results have yet to be expounded upon and should therefore be interpreted with caution.


2021 ◽  
pp. annrheumdis-2019-216794
Author(s):  
Akari Suzuki ◽  
Matteo Maurizio Guerrini ◽  
Kazuhiko Yamamoto

For more than a decade, genome-wide association studies have been applied to autoimmune diseases and have expanded our understanding on the pathogeneses. Genetic risk factors associated with diseases and traits are essentially causative. However, elucidation of the biological mechanism of disease from genetic factors is challenging. In fact, it is difficult to identify the causal variant among multiple variants located on the same haplotype or linkage disequilibrium block and thus the responsible biological genes remain elusive. Recently, multiple studies have revealed that the majority of risk variants locate in the non-coding region of the genome and they are the most likely to regulate gene expression such as quantitative trait loci. Enhancer, promoter and long non-coding RNA appear to be the main target mechanisms of the risk variants. In this review, we discuss functional genetics to challenge these puzzles.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ειρήνη Ζαχαροπούλου

Ένας αυξανόμενος αριθμός μελετών ευρέως γονιδιώματος (Genome Wide Association Studies, GWAS) έχει αναδείξει εκατοντάδες πολυμορφισμούς που σχετίζονται με τον κίνδυνο εκδήλωσης ιδιοπαθών φλεγμονωδών νόσων του εντέρου (ΙΦΝΕ), όπως η νόσος Crohn (NC) και η ελκώδης κολίτιδα (ΕΚ). Πρόσφατα, έχει δειχθεί ότι τα μεγάλα μη-κωδικά RNA μετάγραφα (large non-coding RNA transcripts, LncRNAs) διαδραματίζουν ρυθμιστικό ρόλο σε ποικίλα νοσήματα, μεταβάλλοντας το επίπεδο έκφρασης των γονιδίων προκαλώντας εναλλακτικό μάτισμα ή επιδρώντας στη δευτεροταγή δομή τους, συμπεριλαμβανομένων των ΙΦΝΕ. Ωστόσο, η παθογένεση των ΙΦΝΕ παραμένει έως σήμερα ασαφής και υπάρχουν περιορισμένα δεδομένα σχετικά με το ρόλο των lncRNAs σε αυτές τις παθήσεις. Επομένως, στόχος της παρούσας μελέτης είναι να εκτιμήσει τη συσχέτιση μεταξύ πολυμορφισμών σε lncRNA γονίδια και την εκδήλωση ΙΦΝΕ στον ελληνικό πληθυσμό και να συμβάλει στην αποσαφήνιση της παθοφυσιολογίας των ΙΦΝΕ. Πραγματοποιήθηκε μελέτη πληθυσμού ασθενώνμαρτύρων και γονοτύπηση των πολυμορφισμών μονού νουκλεοτιδίου (single nucleotide polymorphisms, SNPs) rs1476514, rs3757247 και rs597325 σε δείγμα ορού αίματος από 242 ασθενείς με NC, 185 ασθενείς με ΕΚ και 220 υγιείς μάρτυρες.Βρέθηκε ότι η συχνότητα του αλληλόμορφου Α του SNP rs1476514 επικρατή στον υγιή πληθυσμό. Επιπροσθέτως, σχετικά με τον SNP rs3757247, η συχνότητα του αλληλόμορφου G είναι υψηλότερη στους υγιείς μάρτυρες σε σύγκριση με του ασθενείς με ΕΚ ενώ σε όλα τα υπό μελέτη δείγματα διαπιστώθηκε ετεροζυγωτία για τον SNP rs597325. Συμπερασματικά, η κατανόηση των μηχανισμών που συμμετέχουν στην εκδήλωση των ΙΦΝΕ είναι επί του παρόντος περιορισμένη και η αιτιολογία τους παραμένει άγνωστη. Καθώς όμως συσσωρεύονται δεδομένα που υποδεικνύουν ότι υπάρχει συσχέτιση ορισμένων SNPs σε lncRNAs με τις ΙΦΝΕ, θα χρειαστούν μελέτες με μεγαλύτερο πληθυσμό ώστε να επιβεβαιωθούν τα αποτελέσματα και να αναζητηθεί ο ρόλος των απορρυθμισμένων lncRNAs στην παθογένεση των ΙΦΝΕ.


2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nada A. Al-Tassan ◽  
Nicola Whiffin ◽  
Fay J. Hosking ◽  
Claire Palles ◽  
Susan M. Farrington ◽  
...  

Abstract Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of colorectal cancer (CRC) have identified 23 susceptibility loci thus far. Analyses of previously conducted GWAS indicate additional risk loci are yet to be discovered. To identify novel CRC susceptibility loci, we conducted a new GWAS and performed a meta-analysis with five published GWAS (totalling 7,577 cases and 9,979 controls of European ancestry), imputing genotypes utilising the 1000 Genomes Project. The combined analysis identified new, significant associations with CRC at 1p36.2 marked by rs72647484 (minor allele frequency [MAF] = 0.09) near CDC42 and WNT4 (P = 1.21 × 10−8, odds ratio [OR] = 1.21 ) and at 16q24.1 marked by rs16941835 (MAF = 0.21, P = 5.06 × 10−8; OR = 1.15) within the long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) RP11-58A18.1 and ~500 kb from the nearest coding gene FOXL1. Additionally we identified a promising association at 10p13 with rs10904849 intronic to CUBN (MAF = 0.32, P = 7.01 × 10-8; OR = 1.14). These findings provide further insights into the genetic and biological basis of inherited genetic susceptibility to CRC. Additionally, our analysis further demonstrates that imputation can be used to exploit GWAS data to identify novel disease-causing variants.


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