The identification of blood-derived response eQTLs reveals complex effects of regulatory variants on inflammatory and infectious disease risk.

Hundreds of risk loci for immune mediated inflammatory and infectious diseases have been identified by genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Yet, what causal variants and genes in risk loci underpin the observed associations remains poorly understood for most. The identification of colocalized cis...

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Main Authors: Claire Liefferinckx, David Stern, Hélène Perée, Jérémie Bottieau, Alice Mayer, Christophe Dubussy, Eric Quertinmont, Vjola Tafciu, Charlotte Minsart, Vyacheslav Petrov, Alex Kvasz, Wouter Coppieters, Latifa Karim, Souad Rahmouni, Michel Georges, Denis Franchimont
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2025-04-01
Series:PLoS Genetics
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1011599
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author Claire Liefferinckx
David Stern
Hélène Perée
Jérémie Bottieau
Alice Mayer
Christophe Dubussy
Eric Quertinmont
Vjola Tafciu
Charlotte Minsart
Vyacheslav Petrov
Alex Kvasz
Wouter Coppieters
Latifa Karim
Souad Rahmouni
Michel Georges
Denis Franchimont
author_facet Claire Liefferinckx
David Stern
Hélène Perée
Jérémie Bottieau
Alice Mayer
Christophe Dubussy
Eric Quertinmont
Vjola Tafciu
Charlotte Minsart
Vyacheslav Petrov
Alex Kvasz
Wouter Coppieters
Latifa Karim
Souad Rahmouni
Michel Georges
Denis Franchimont
author_sort Claire Liefferinckx
collection DOAJ
description Hundreds of risk loci for immune mediated inflammatory and infectious diseases have been identified by genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Yet, what causal variants and genes in risk loci underpin the observed associations remains poorly understood for most. The identification of colocalized cis-expression Quantitative Trait Loci (cis-eQTLs) is a promising way to identify candidate causative genes. The catalogue of cis-eQTLs of the immune system is likely incomplete as many cis-eQTLs may be context-specific. We built a large cohort of 406 healthy individuals and expanded the immune cis-regulome through their whole blood transcriptome obtained after stimulation with specific toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists and T-cell receptor (TCR) antagonist. We report three mechanisms that may explain why an eQTL could only be revealed after immune stimulation. More than half of the cis-eQTLs detected in this study would have been overlooked without specific immune stimulations. We then mined this new catalogue of response (r)eQTLs, with public GWAS summary statistics of three diseases through a colocalization approach: inflammatory bowel diseases, rheumatoid arthritis and COVID-19 disease. We identified reQTL-specific colocalizations for risk loci for which no matching eQTL were reported before, revealing interesting new candidate causal genes.
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spelling doaj-art-352a699a664743429cbd06aa73f3ffc12025-08-20T02:19:22ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS Genetics1553-73901553-74042025-04-01214e101159910.1371/journal.pgen.1011599The identification of blood-derived response eQTLs reveals complex effects of regulatory variants on inflammatory and infectious disease risk.Claire LiefferinckxDavid SternHélène PeréeJérémie BottieauAlice MayerChristophe DubussyEric QuertinmontVjola TafciuCharlotte MinsartVyacheslav PetrovAlex KvaszWouter CoppietersLatifa KarimSouad RahmouniMichel GeorgesDenis FranchimontHundreds of risk loci for immune mediated inflammatory and infectious diseases have been identified by genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Yet, what causal variants and genes in risk loci underpin the observed associations remains poorly understood for most. The identification of colocalized cis-expression Quantitative Trait Loci (cis-eQTLs) is a promising way to identify candidate causative genes. The catalogue of cis-eQTLs of the immune system is likely incomplete as many cis-eQTLs may be context-specific. We built a large cohort of 406 healthy individuals and expanded the immune cis-regulome through their whole blood transcriptome obtained after stimulation with specific toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists and T-cell receptor (TCR) antagonist. We report three mechanisms that may explain why an eQTL could only be revealed after immune stimulation. More than half of the cis-eQTLs detected in this study would have been overlooked without specific immune stimulations. We then mined this new catalogue of response (r)eQTLs, with public GWAS summary statistics of three diseases through a colocalization approach: inflammatory bowel diseases, rheumatoid arthritis and COVID-19 disease. We identified reQTL-specific colocalizations for risk loci for which no matching eQTL were reported before, revealing interesting new candidate causal genes.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1011599
spellingShingle Claire Liefferinckx
David Stern
Hélène Perée
Jérémie Bottieau
Alice Mayer
Christophe Dubussy
Eric Quertinmont
Vjola Tafciu
Charlotte Minsart
Vyacheslav Petrov
Alex Kvasz
Wouter Coppieters
Latifa Karim
Souad Rahmouni
Michel Georges
Denis Franchimont
The identification of blood-derived response eQTLs reveals complex effects of regulatory variants on inflammatory and infectious disease risk.
PLoS Genetics
title The identification of blood-derived response eQTLs reveals complex effects of regulatory variants on inflammatory and infectious disease risk.
title_full The identification of blood-derived response eQTLs reveals complex effects of regulatory variants on inflammatory and infectious disease risk.
title_fullStr The identification of blood-derived response eQTLs reveals complex effects of regulatory variants on inflammatory and infectious disease risk.
title_full_unstemmed The identification of blood-derived response eQTLs reveals complex effects of regulatory variants on inflammatory and infectious disease risk.
title_short The identification of blood-derived response eQTLs reveals complex effects of regulatory variants on inflammatory and infectious disease risk.
title_sort identification of blood derived response eqtls reveals complex effects of regulatory variants on inflammatory and infectious disease risk
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1011599
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