Rare variant analysis in eczema identifies exonic variants in DUSP1, NOTCH4 and SLC9A4.

Grosche S, Marenholz I, Esparza-Gordillo J, Arnau-Soler A, Pairo-Castineira E, Rüschendorf F, Ahluwalia TS, Almqvist C, Arnold A, Australian Asthma Genetics Consortium (AAGC) , Baurecht H, Bisgaard H, Bønnelykke K, Brown SJ, Bustamante M, Curtin JA, Custovic A, Dharmage SC, Esplugues A, Falchi M, Fernandez-Orth D, Ferreira MAR, Franke A, Gerdes S, Gieger C, Hakonarson H, Holt PG, Homuth G, Hubner N, Hysi PG, Jarvelin M, Karlsson R, Koppelman GH, Lau S, Lutz M, Magnusson PKE, Marks GB, Müller-Nurasyid M, Nöthen MM, Paternoster L, Pennell CE, Peters A, Rawlik K, Robertson CF, Rodriguez E, Sebert S, Simpson A, Sleiman PMA, Standl M, Stölzl D, Strauch K, Szwajda A, Tenesa A, Thompson PJ, Ullemar V, Visconti A, Vonk JM, Wang CA, Weidinger S, Wielscher M, Worth CL, Xu C, Lee Y

Nat Commun 12 (1) 6618 [2021-11-16; online 2021-11-16]

Previous genome-wide association studies revealed multiple common variants involved in eczema but the role of rare variants remains to be elucidated. Here, we investigate the role of rare variants in eczema susceptibility. We meta-analyze 21 study populations including 20,016 eczema cases and 380,433 controls. Rare variants are imputed with high accuracy using large population-based reference panels. We identify rare exonic variants in DUSP1, NOTCH4, and SLC9A4 to be associated with eczema. In DUSP1 and NOTCH4 missense variants are predicted to impact conserved functional domains. In addition, five novel common variants at SATB1-AS1/KCNH8, TRIB1/LINC00861, ZBTB1, TBX21/OSBPL7, and CSF2RB are discovered. While genes prioritized based on rare variants are significantly up-regulated in the skin, common variants point to immune cell function. Over 20% of the single nucleotide variant-based heritability is attributable to rare and low-frequency variants. The identified rare/low-frequency variants located in functional protein domains point to promising targets for novel therapeutic approaches to eczema.

NGI Uppsala (SNP&SEQ Technology Platform) [Service]

National Genomics Infrastructure [Service]

PubMed 34785669

DOI 10.1038/s41467-021-26783-x

Crossref 10.1038/s41467-021-26783-x

pii: 10.1038/s41467-021-26783-x
pmc: PMC8595373


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