Project description:Genome-wide association studies of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) nominate 3,073 genetic variants at 91 risk loci. To systematically screen these variants for allelic transcriptional enhancer activity, we constructed a massively parallel reporter assays (MPRA) library comprising 12,396 DNA oligonucleotides containing the genomic context around every allele of each SLE variant. Transfection into Epstein-Barr virus-transformed B cell line GM12878 revealed 482 variants with enhancer activity, with 51 variants showing genotype-dependent (allelic) enhancer activity at 27 risk loci. Combined with allelic enhancer activity analyses in Jurkat cell line, we identified shared and unique allelic transcriptional regulatory mechanisms at SLE risk loci. In-depth analysis of allelic transcription factor (TF) binding at and around 51 allelic variants identified one class of TFs whose DNA-binding motif tends to be directly altered by the risk variant and a second, larger class of TFs that also bind allelically but do not have their motifs directly altered by the variant. Collectively, our approach provides a blueprint for the discovery of allelic gene regulation at risk loci for any disease and offers insight into the transcriptional regulatory mechanisms underlying SLE.
Project description:The IRF5-SLE risk haplotype is associated with SLE disease severity. We hypothesized that neutrophils from healthy risk donors would carry a pathogenic gene signature compared to non-risk donors. To compare basal neutrophil gene signature between risk and non-risk healthy individuals, fresh whole blood was collected from healthy donors, and granulocytes were extracted from the remaining pellet following Ficoll purification. RNA-seq libraries were prepared from globin-reduced RNA extracted from the granulocytes using the Qiagen RNA preparation kit.
Project description:Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified twenty melanoma susceptibility loci. To identify susceptibility genes and variants simultaneously from multiple GWAS loci, we integrated massively-parallel reporter assays (MPRA) with melanocyte-specific expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) profiling. We identified thirty-nine candidate functional variants displaying allelic transcriptional activity, of which nine from four loci were also correlated with local gene expression in melanocytes (CTSS, CASP8, MX2, and MAFF). Among these, we further characterized the locus in MX2 gene on chromosome band Chr21q22.3 and validated a functional variant, rs398206. The functional variant mediates allelic transcriptional activity via binding of the transcription factor, YY1. This allelic transcriptional regulation largely accounts for a significant cis-eQTL of the HIV-1 restriction gene, MX2, in primary melanocytes, where the melanoma risk-associated A allele is correlated with higher MX2 levels. Melanocyte-specific transgenic expression of human MX2 in a zebrafish model demonstrated an accelerated melanoma formation in a BRAFV600E background. Thus, using an efficient scalable approach to streamline GWAS follow-up functional studies, we uncovered a pleiotropic function of MX2 in melanoma susceptibility.
Project description:Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified twenty melanoma susceptibility loci. To identify susceptibility genes and variants simultaneously from multiple GWAS loci, we integrated massively-parallel reporter assays (MPRA) with melanocyte-specific expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) profiling. We identified thirty-nine candidate functional variants displaying allelic transcriptional activity, of which nine from four loci were also correlated with local gene expression in melanocytes (CTSS, CASP8, MX2, and MAFF). Among these, we further characterized the locus in MX2 gene on chromosome band Chr21q22.3 and validated a functional variant, rs398206. The functional variant mediates allelic transcriptional activity via binding of the transcription factor, YY1. This allelic transcriptional regulation largely accounts for a significant cis-eQTL of the HIV-1 restriction gene, MX2, in primary melanocytes, where the melanoma risk-associated A allele is correlated with higher MX2 levels. Melanocyte-specific transgenic expression of human MX2 in a zebrafish model demonstrated an accelerated melanoma formation in a BRAFV600E background. Thus, using an efficient scalable approach to streamline GWAS follow-up functional studies, we uncovered a pleiotropic function of MX2 in melanoma susceptibility.
Project description:Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified twenty melanoma susceptibility loci. To identify susceptibility genes and variants simultaneously from multiple GWAS loci, we integrated massively-parallel reporter assays (MPRA) with melanocyte-specific expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) profiling. We identified thirty-nine candidate functional variants displaying allelic transcriptional activity, of which nine from four loci were also correlated with local gene expression in melanocytes (CTSS, CASP8, MX2, and MAFF). Among these, we further characterized the locus in MX2 gene on chromosome band Chr21q22.3 and validated a functional variant, rs398206. The functional variant mediates allelic transcriptional activity via binding of the transcription factor, YY1. This allelic transcriptional regulation largely accounts for a significant cis-eQTL of the HIV-1 restriction gene, MX2, in primary melanocytes, where the melanoma risk-associated A allele is correlated with higher MX2 levels. Melanocyte-specific transgenic expression of human MX2 in a zebrafish model demonstrated an accelerated melanoma formation in a BRAFV600E background. Thus, using an efficient scalable approach to streamline GWAS follow-up functional studies, we uncovered a pleiotropic function of MX2 in melanoma susceptibility.
Project description:Increased risk of premature cardiovascular disease (CVD) is well recognized in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and significantly contributes to morbidity and mortality. To date, no pharmacologic intervention has shown to reduce CV risk in SLE. Dysregulation of innate immune responses, including aberrant type I-Interferon (IFN)-neutrophil interactions, has been proposed to significantly contribute to enhanced CV risk in SLE. In lupus animal models, the Janus kinase/signal transducers and activators of transcription (JAK/STAT) inhibitor tofacitinib improves clinical features, immune dysregulation and vascular dysfunction. We hypothesized that JAK/STAT inhibition in SLE subjects would result in amelioration of cardiometabolic and immunologic parameters previously associated with enhanced CVD risk.
Project description:Functional enhancer annotation is a valuable first step for understanding tissue-specific transcriptional regulation and prioritizing disease-associated non-coding variants for investigation. However, unbiased enhancer discovery in physiologically relevant contexts remains a major challenge. To discover regulatory elements pertinent to diabetes, we conducted a CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) screen in the human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC) pancreatic differentiation system. Among the enhancers uncovered, we focused on a long-range enhancer ~664 kb from the ONECUT1 promoter, as coding mutations in ONECUT1 cause pancreatic hypoplasia and neonatal diabetes. Homozygous enhancer deletion in hESCs was associated with a near-complete loss of ONECUT1 gene expression and compromised pancreatic differentiation. We then identified a type 2 diabetes (T2D) associated variant (rs528350911) in the enhancer which disrupts a GATA motif. Introduction of the risk variant into hESCs revealed substantially reduced binding of key pancreatic transcription factors (GATA4, GATA6 and FOXA2) on the edited allele, accompanied by a subtle reduction of ONECUT1 transcription, supporting a causal role for this risk variant in metabolic disease. This work expands our knowledge about transcriptional regulation in pancreatic development through the characterization of a long-range enhancer and highlights the utility of enhancer discovery in disease-relevant settings for understanding monogenic and complex disease.