Eight novel susceptibility loci and putative causal variants in atopic dermatitis
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Background
Atopic dermatitis (AD) is the most common allergic disease in the world. While genetic components play critical roles in its pathophysiology, a large proportion of its genetic background is still unexplored.
Objectives
This study sought to illuminate the genetic associations with AD using genome-wide association study (GWAS) and its downstream analyses.
Methods
This study conducted a GWAS for AD comprising 2,639 cases and 115,648 controls in the Japanese population, followed by a trans-ethnic meta-analysis with UK Biobank data and downstream analyses including partitioning heritability analysis by linkage disequilibrium score regression.
Results
This study identified 17 significant susceptibility loci, among which 4 loci--AFF1, ITGB8, EHMT1, and EGR2--were novel in the Japanese GWAS. The trans-ethnic meta-analysis revealed 4 additional novel loci, namely--ZBTB38, LOC105755953/LOC101928272, TRAF3, andIQGAP1. This study found a missense variant (R243W) with a deleterious functional effect in NLRP10 and a variant altering expression of CCDC80 via enhancer expression as highly likely causal variants. These 2 regions were Asian-specific, and these population-specific associations could be explained by the frequency of causal variants. The gene-based test showed SMAD4 as an additional novel significant locus. Downstream analyses revealed substantial overlap of GWAS significant signals in enhancers of skin cells and immune cells, especially CD4 T cells. A highly shared polygenic architecture of AD between Europeans and Asians was also found.
Conclusions
This study identified Japanese-specific loci and novel significant loci shared by different populations. Two putative causal variants were illuminated in Japanese-specific loci. Trans-ethnic analyses revealed strong heritability enrichment in immune-related pathways, and relevant cell types shared among populations.
Article
Title : Eight novel susceptibility loci and putative causal variants in atopic dermatitis
Author : Nao Tanaka, Masaru Koido, Akari Suzuki, Nao Otomo, Hiroyuki Suetsugu, Yuta Kochi, Kouhei Tomizuka, Yukihide Momozawa, Yoichiro Kamatani, The Biobank Japan Project, Shiro Ikegawa, Kazuhiko Yamamoto, and Chikashi Terao.
Publication : Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
