Systematic identification of trans eQTLs as putative drivers of known disease associations

HJ Westra, Marjolein Peters, T Esko, H Yaghootkar, C Schurmann, J Kettunen, MW Christiansen, BP Fairfax, K Schramm, JE Powell, A Zhernakova, DV Zhernakova, JH Veldink, LH van den Berg, J Karjalainen, S Withoff, André Uitterlinden, Bert Hofman, Fernando Rivadeneira, PAC 't HoenE Reinmaa, K (Kirsten) Fischer, M Nelis, L Milani, D Melzer, L Ferrucci, AB Singleton, DG Hernandez, MA Nalls, G Homuth, M Nauck, D Radke, U Volker, M Perola, V Salomaa, J Brody, A Suchy-Dicey, SA Gharib, DA Enquobahrie, T Lumley, GW Montgomery, S Makino, H Prokisch, Cindy Herder, M Roden, H Grallert, T Meitinger, K Strauch, Y Li, RC Jansen, PM Visscher, JC Knight, BM Psaty, S Ripatti, A Teumer, TM Frayling, A Metspalu, Joyce van Meurs, L Franke

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1290 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Identifying the downstream effects of disease-associated SNPs is challenging. To help overcome this problem, we performed expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) meta-analysis in non-transformed peripheral blood samples from 5,311 individuals with replication in 2,775 individuals. We identified and replicated trans eQTLs for 233 SNPs (reflecting 103 independent loci) that were previously associated with complex traits at genome-wide significance. Some of these SNPs affect multiple genes in trans that are known to be altered in individuals with disease: rs4917014, previously associated with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)(1), altered gene expression of C1QB and five type I interferon response genes, both hallmarks of SLE2-4. DeepSAGE RNA sequencing showed that rs4917014 strongly alters the 3' UTR levels of IKZF1 in cis, and chromatin immunoprecipitation and sequencing analysis of the trans-regulated genes implicated IKZF1 as the causal gene. Variants associated with cholesterol metabolism and type 1 diabetes showed similar phenomena, indicating that large-scale eQTL mapping provides insight into the downstream effects of many trait-associated variants.
Original languageUndefined/Unknown
Pages (from-to)1238-U195
JournalNature Genetics
Volume45
Issue number10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2013

Research programs

  • EMC MM-01-39-09-A
  • EMC NIHES-01-64-02

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