Chromosome contacts in activated T cells identify autoimmune disease candidate genes.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Autoimmune disease-associated variants are preferentially found in regulatory regions in immune cells, particularly CD4⁺ T cells. Linking such regulatory regions to gene promoters in disease-relevant cell contexts facilitates identification of candidate disease genes.

Results

Within 4 h, activation of CD4⁺ T cells invokes changes in histone modifications and enhancer RNA transcription that correspond to altered expression of the interacting genes identified by promoter capture Hi-C. By integrating promoter capture Hi-C data with genetic associations for five autoimmune diseases, we prioritised 245 candidate genes with a median distance from peak signal to prioritised gene of 153 kb. Just under half (108/245) prioritised genes related to activ

SUBMITTER: Burren OS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5584004 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature