Genome-wide association analysis of neutrophil granularity identifies CDK6 as a regulator of primary granules

Summary: Neutrophils are essential immune cells loaded with cytosolic granules that contain potent antimicrobial and immunostimulatory molecules. Alterations of neutrophil granule contents are associated with immunodeficiency and hyperinflammation. Identification of regulators of granule development...

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Main Authors: Kathryn Fleming, Kate Burley, Fernando Ponce-Garcia, Parsa Akbari, Claire Naveh, Chris Rice, Przemysław Zakrzewski, Willem Gibbs, Sarah Groves, Drinalda Cela, Venizelos Papayannopoulos, Christopher J. Harbort, Andrew Mumford, Borko Amulic
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-08-01
Series:iScience
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004225013331
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author Kathryn Fleming
Kate Burley
Fernando Ponce-Garcia
Parsa Akbari
Claire Naveh
Chris Rice
Przemysław Zakrzewski
Willem Gibbs
Sarah Groves
Drinalda Cela
Venizelos Papayannopoulos
Christopher J. Harbort
Andrew Mumford
Borko Amulic
author_facet Kathryn Fleming
Kate Burley
Fernando Ponce-Garcia
Parsa Akbari
Claire Naveh
Chris Rice
Przemysław Zakrzewski
Willem Gibbs
Sarah Groves
Drinalda Cela
Venizelos Papayannopoulos
Christopher J. Harbort
Andrew Mumford
Borko Amulic
author_sort Kathryn Fleming
collection DOAJ
description Summary: Neutrophils are essential immune cells loaded with cytosolic granules that contain potent antimicrobial and immunostimulatory molecules. Alterations of neutrophil granule contents are associated with immunodeficiency and hyperinflammation. Identification of regulators of granule development can aid in understanding of neutrophil-driven pathologies. Here, we perform a systematic prioritization of genetic variants associated with neutrophil cytometric side scatter (SSC), a proxy for granularity, identified in a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of blood parameters in healthy individuals. We show that triangulation of GWAS data with epigenetic and eQTL data identifies previously unknown factors regulating neutrophil granularity. We validate this approach using cellular and animal models to confirm that cyclin dependent kinase 6 (encoded by CDK6) regulates neutrophil granule development. CDK6 specifically regulates the abundance of primary granules without affecting neutrophil maturation. Our approach demonstrates the utility of cell counter-derived SSC data paired with genomics as a tool to investigate neutrophil development and function.
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publishDate 2025-08-01
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spelling doaj-art-4aa05d4a1ee14d4190a22d996d0bf85e2025-08-20T03:39:36ZengElsevieriScience2589-00422025-08-0128811307210.1016/j.isci.2025.113072Genome-wide association analysis of neutrophil granularity identifies CDK6 as a regulator of primary granulesKathryn Fleming0Kate Burley1Fernando Ponce-Garcia2Parsa Akbari3Claire Naveh4Chris Rice5Przemysław Zakrzewski6Willem Gibbs7Sarah Groves8Drinalda Cela9Venizelos Papayannopoulos10Christopher J. Harbort11Andrew Mumford12Borko Amulic13School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK; Corresponding authorSchool of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UKSchool of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UKBritish Heart Foundation Cardiovascular Epidemiology Unit, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Wort’s Causeway, Cambridge, UK; Department of Human Genetics, The Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, UKSchool of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UKSchool of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UKSchool of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UKSchool of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UKSchool of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UKThe Francis Crick Institute, Antimicrobial Defence Laboratory, London, UKThe Francis Crick Institute, Antimicrobial Defence Laboratory, London, UKCellular Microbiology, Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Chariteplatz 1, Berlin, GermanySchool of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UKSchool of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK; Corresponding authorSummary: Neutrophils are essential immune cells loaded with cytosolic granules that contain potent antimicrobial and immunostimulatory molecules. Alterations of neutrophil granule contents are associated with immunodeficiency and hyperinflammation. Identification of regulators of granule development can aid in understanding of neutrophil-driven pathologies. Here, we perform a systematic prioritization of genetic variants associated with neutrophil cytometric side scatter (SSC), a proxy for granularity, identified in a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of blood parameters in healthy individuals. We show that triangulation of GWAS data with epigenetic and eQTL data identifies previously unknown factors regulating neutrophil granularity. We validate this approach using cellular and animal models to confirm that cyclin dependent kinase 6 (encoded by CDK6) regulates neutrophil granule development. CDK6 specifically regulates the abundance of primary granules without affecting neutrophil maturation. Our approach demonstrates the utility of cell counter-derived SSC data paired with genomics as a tool to investigate neutrophil development and function.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004225013331Biological sciencesGeneticsImmunologyNatural sciences
spellingShingle Kathryn Fleming
Kate Burley
Fernando Ponce-Garcia
Parsa Akbari
Claire Naveh
Chris Rice
Przemysław Zakrzewski
Willem Gibbs
Sarah Groves
Drinalda Cela
Venizelos Papayannopoulos
Christopher J. Harbort
Andrew Mumford
Borko Amulic
Genome-wide association analysis of neutrophil granularity identifies CDK6 as a regulator of primary granules
iScience
Biological sciences
Genetics
Immunology
Natural sciences
title Genome-wide association analysis of neutrophil granularity identifies CDK6 as a regulator of primary granules
title_full Genome-wide association analysis of neutrophil granularity identifies CDK6 as a regulator of primary granules
title_fullStr Genome-wide association analysis of neutrophil granularity identifies CDK6 as a regulator of primary granules
title_full_unstemmed Genome-wide association analysis of neutrophil granularity identifies CDK6 as a regulator of primary granules
title_short Genome-wide association analysis of neutrophil granularity identifies CDK6 as a regulator of primary granules
title_sort genome wide association analysis of neutrophil granularity identifies cdk6 as a regulator of primary granules
topic Biological sciences
Genetics
Immunology
Natural sciences
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004225013331
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