scholarly journals Asthma-associated genetic variants induce IL33 differential expression through a novel regulatory region.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivy Aneas ◽  
Donna Decker ◽  
Chanie Howard ◽  
Debora Sobreira ◽  
Noboru Sakabe ◽  
...  

Abstract Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have implicated the IL33 locus in asthma, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we identify a 5 kb region within the GWAS-defined segment that acts as a strong regulatory element in vivo and in vitro. Chromatin conformation capture showed that this 5 kb region loops to the IL33 promoter, potentially regulating its expression. We show that genotype at the asthma-associated SNP rs1888909, located within the 5 kb region, is associated with IL33 gene expression in human airway epithelial cells and IL-33 protein expression in human plasma, potentially through differential binding of OCT-1 (POU2F1) to the asthma-risk allele. Our data demonstrate that asthma-associated variants at the IL33 locus mediate allele-specific regulatory activity and IL33 expression, providing a novel mechanism through which a regulatory SNP contributes to genetic risk of asthma.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivy Aneas ◽  
Donna C. Decker ◽  
Chanie L. Howard ◽  
Débora R. Sobreira ◽  
Noboru J. Sakabe ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTGenome-wide association studies (GWAS) have implicated the IL33 locus in asthma, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we identify a 5 kb region within the GWAS-defined segment that acts as a strong regulatory element in vivo and in vitro. Chromatin conformation capture showed that this 5 kb region loops to the IL33 promoter, potentially regulating its expression. Supporting this notion, we show that genotype at an asthma-associated SNP, rs1888909, located within the 5 kb region, is associated with IL33 gene expression in human airway epithelial cells and IL-33 protein expression in human plasma, potentially through differential binding of OCT-1 (POU2F1) to the asthma-risk allele. Our data demonstrate that asthma-associated variants at the IL33 locus mediate allele-specific regulatory activity and IL33 expression, providing a novel mechanism through which a regulatory SNP contributes to genetic risk of asthma.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivy Aneas ◽  
Donna C. Decker ◽  
Chanie L. Howard ◽  
Débora R. Sobreira ◽  
Noboru J. Sakabe ◽  
...  

AbstractGenome-wide association studies (GWAS) have implicated the IL33 locus in asthma, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we identify a 5 kb region within the GWAS-defined segment that acts as an enhancer-blocking element in vivo and in vitro. Chromatin conformation capture showed that this 5 kb region loops to the IL33 promoter, potentially regulating its expression. We show that the asthma-associated single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs1888909, located within the 5 kb region, is associated with IL33 gene expression in human airway epithelial cells and IL-33 protein expression in human plasma, potentially through differential binding of OCT-1 (POU2F1) to the asthma-risk allele. Our data demonstrate that asthma-associated variants at the IL33 locus mediate allele-specific regulatory activity and IL33 expression, providing a mechanism through which a regulatory SNP contributes to genetic risk of asthma.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kousuke Mouri ◽  
Michael H. Guo ◽  
Carl G. de Boer ◽  
Greg A. Newby ◽  
Matteo Gentili ◽  
...  

Genome-wide association studies have uncovered hundreds of autoimmune disease-associated loci; however, the causal genetic variant(s) within each locus are mostly unknown. Here, we perform high-throughput allele-specific reporter assays to prioritize disease-associated variants for five autoimmune diseases. By examining variants that both promote allele-specific reporter expression and are located in accessible chromatin, we identify 60 putatively causal variants that enrich for statistically fine-mapped variants by up to 57.8-fold. We introduced the risk allele of a prioritized variant (rs72928038) into a human T cell line and deleted the orthologous sequence in mice, both resulting in reduced BACH2 expression. Naive CD8 T cells from mice containing the deletion had reduced expression of genes that suppress activation and maintain stemness. Our results represent an example of an effective approach for prioritizing variants and studying their physiologically relevant effects.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Antoinette F. van Ouwerkerk ◽  
Fernanda M. Bosada ◽  
Karel van Duijvenboden ◽  
Matthew C. Hill ◽  
Lindsey E. Montefiori ◽  
...  

Abstract Disease-associated genetic variants that lie in non-coding regions found by genome-wide association studies are thought to alter the functionality of transcription regulatory elements and target gene expression. To uncover causal genetic variants, variant regulatory elements and their target genes, here we cross-reference human transcriptomic, epigenomic and chromatin conformation datasets. Of 104 genetic variant regions associated with atrial fibrillation candidate target genes are prioritized. We optimize EMERGE enhancer prediction and use accessible chromatin profiles of human atrial cardiomyocytes to more accurately predict cardiac regulatory elements and identify hundreds of sub-threshold variants that co-localize with regulatory elements. Removal of mouse homologues of atrial fibrillation-associated regions in vivo uncovers a distal regulatory region involved in Gja1 (Cx43) expression. Our analyses provide a shortlist of genes likely affected by atrial fibrillation-associated variants and provide variant regulatory elements in each region that link genetic variation and target gene regulation, helping to focus future investigations.


2015 ◽  
Vol 35 (22) ◽  
pp. 3880-3891 ◽  
Author(s):  
Parul Mehra ◽  
Andrew D. Wells

Interleukin-2 (IL-2) is a potent cytokine with roles in both immunity and tolerance. Genetic studies in humans and mice demonstrate a role forIl2in autoimmune disease susceptibility, and for decades the proximalIl2upstream regulatory region has served as a paradigm of tissue-specific, inducible gene regulation. In this study, we have identified a novel long-range enhancer of theIl2gene located 83 kb upstream of the transcription start site. This element can potently enhanceIl2transcription in recombinant reporter assaysin vitro, and the native region undergoes chromatin remodeling, transcribes a bidirectional enhancer RNA, and loops to physically interact with theIl2genein vivoin a CD28-dependent manner in CD4+T cells. Thiscisregulatory element is evolutionarily conserved and is situated near a human single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) associated with multiple autoimmune disorders. These results indicate that the regulatory architecture of theIl2locus is more complex than previously appreciated and suggest a novel molecular basis for the genetic association ofIl2polymorphism with autoimmune disease.


2009 ◽  
Vol 53 (8) ◽  
pp. 3285-3293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn L. Cannon ◽  
Lisa A. Hogue ◽  
Ravy K. Vajravelu ◽  
George H. Capps ◽  
Aida Ibricevic ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The expanding clinical challenge of respiratory tract infections due to resistant bacteria necessitates the development of new forms of therapy. The development of a compound composed of silver coupled to a methylated caffeine carrier (silver carbene complex 1 [SCC1]) that demonstrated in vitro efficacy against bacteria, including drug-resistant organisms, isolated from patients with respiratory tract infections was described previously. The findings of current in vitro studies now suggest that bactericidal concentrations of SCC1 are not toxic to airway epithelial cells in primary culture. Thus, it was hypothesized that SCC1 could be administered by the aerosolized route to concentrate delivery to the lung while minimizing systemic toxicity. In vivo, aerosolized SCC1 delivered to mice resulted in mild aversion behavior, but it was otherwise well tolerated and did not cause lung inflammation following administration over a 5-day period. The therapeutic efficacy of SCC1 compared to that of water was shown in a 3-day prophylaxis protocol, in which mice infected with a clinical strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa had increased survival, decreased amounts of bacteria in the lung, and a lower prevalence of bacteremia. Similarly, by using an airway infection model in which bacteria were impacted in the airways by agarose beads, the administration of SCC1 was significantly superior to water in decreasing the lung bacterial burden and the levels of bacteremia and markers of airway inflammation. These observations indicate that aerosolized SCC1, a novel antimicrobial agent, warrants further study as a potential therapy for bacterial respiratory tract infections.


2008 ◽  
Vol 295 (2) ◽  
pp. L303-L313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aura Perez ◽  
Anna M. van Heeckeren ◽  
David Nichols ◽  
Sanhita Gupta ◽  
Jean F. Eastman ◽  
...  

The pathophysiology of cystic fibrosis (CF) inflammatory lung disease is not well understood. CF airway epithelial cells respond to inflammatory stimuli with increased production of proinflammatory cytokines as a result of increased NF-κB activation. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPARγ) inhibits NF-κB activity and is reported to be reduced in CF. If PPARγ participates in regulatory dysfunction in the CF lung, perhaps PPARγ ligands might be useful therapeutically. Cell models of CF airway epithelium were used to evaluate PPARγ expression and binding to NF-κB at basal and under conditions of inflammatory stimulation by Pseudomonas aeruginosa or TNFα/IL-1β. An animal model of CF was used to evaluate the potential of PPARγ agonists as therapeutic agents in vivo. In vitro, PPARγ agonists reduced IL-8 and MMP-9 release from airway epithelial cells in response to PAO1 or TNFα/IL-1β stimulation. Less NF-κB bound to PPARγ in CF than normal cells, in two different assays; PPARγ agonists abrogated this reduction. PPARγ bound less to its target DNA sequence in CF cells. To test the importance of the reported PPARγ inactivation by phosphorylation, we observed that inhibitors of ERK, but not JNK, were synergistic with PPARγ agonists in reducing IL-8 secretion. In vivo, administration of PPARγ agonists reduced airway inflammation in response to acute infection with P. aeruginosa in CF, but not wild-type, mice. In summary, PPARγ inhibits the inflammatory response in CF, at least in part by interaction with NF-κB in airway epithelial cells. PPARγ agonists may be therapeutic in CF.


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