{"title":"Analysis of Rare Coding Variants in 470,000 UK Biobank Participants Reveals Genetic Associations With Childhood Asthma Predisposition","authors":"Zhenzhen Liu, David Curtis","doi":"10.1111/iji.12714","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div>\n \n <p>Previous studies of genetic contributions to risk of childhood asthma have implicated common variants with small effect sizes. Some studies using exome sequence data have reported associations with rare coding variants having larger effects on risk, notably an analysis of 145,000 subjects which found association with loss of function (LOF) variants in <i>FLG</i>, the gene coding for filaggrin. Here, we report the results of an analysis of rare nonsynonymous and LOF variants, carried out on the full UK Biobank cohort of 470,000 exome-sequenced participants. The phenotype of childhood asthma was defined as reporting asthma with onset before 18. Regression analysis was applied to gene-wise tests for association of LOF and nonsynonymous variants. Forty-five tests using different pathogenicity predictors were applied to the first cohort of 200,000 participants. Subsequently, the 100 genes showing strongest evidence for association were analysed in the second cohort of 270,000 participants, using only the best-performing predictor for each gene. For <i>FLG</i>, separate analyses were carried out for participants with atopic dermatitis. Three genes achieved statistical significance after correction for testing these 100 genes: <i>FLG</i>, <i>IL33</i> and <i>PRKCQ</i>. The effects on asthma risk and frequencies of variants in different functional categories were characterised for these genes. Damaging coding variants were associated with increased risk of asthma in <i>FLG</i> and <i>IL33</i> but reduced risk in <i>PRKCQ</i>. <i>FLG</i> LOF variants were also associated with the risk of atopic dermatitis, and their effect on asthma risk was higher in people who reported a diagnosis of atopic dermatitis. Rare coding variants in a small number of genes have important effects on asthma risk. Further study of individual variant effects might elucidate mechanisms of pathogenesis. This research has been conducted using the UK Biobank Resource.</p>\n </div>","PeriodicalId":14003,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Immunogenetics","volume":"52 3","pages":"155-161"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3000,"publicationDate":"2025-05-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal of Immunogenetics","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/iji.12714","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"GENETICS & HEREDITY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Previous studies of genetic contributions to risk of childhood asthma have implicated common variants with small effect sizes. Some studies using exome sequence data have reported associations with rare coding variants having larger effects on risk, notably an analysis of 145,000 subjects which found association with loss of function (LOF) variants in FLG, the gene coding for filaggrin. Here, we report the results of an analysis of rare nonsynonymous and LOF variants, carried out on the full UK Biobank cohort of 470,000 exome-sequenced participants. The phenotype of childhood asthma was defined as reporting asthma with onset before 18. Regression analysis was applied to gene-wise tests for association of LOF and nonsynonymous variants. Forty-five tests using different pathogenicity predictors were applied to the first cohort of 200,000 participants. Subsequently, the 100 genes showing strongest evidence for association were analysed in the second cohort of 270,000 participants, using only the best-performing predictor for each gene. For FLG, separate analyses were carried out for participants with atopic dermatitis. Three genes achieved statistical significance after correction for testing these 100 genes: FLG, IL33 and PRKCQ. The effects on asthma risk and frequencies of variants in different functional categories were characterised for these genes. Damaging coding variants were associated with increased risk of asthma in FLG and IL33 but reduced risk in PRKCQ. FLG LOF variants were also associated with the risk of atopic dermatitis, and their effect on asthma risk was higher in people who reported a diagnosis of atopic dermatitis. Rare coding variants in a small number of genes have important effects on asthma risk. Further study of individual variant effects might elucidate mechanisms of pathogenesis. This research has been conducted using the UK Biobank Resource.
期刊介绍:
The International Journal of Immunogenetics (formerly European Journal of Immunogenetics) publishes original contributions on the genetic control of components of the immune system and their interactions in both humans and experimental animals. The term ''genetic'' is taken in its broadest sense to include studies at the evolutionary, molecular, chromosomal functional and population levels in both health and disease. Examples are:
-studies of blood groups and other surface antigens-
cell interactions and immune response-
receptors, antibodies, complement components and cytokines-
polymorphism-
evolution of the organisation, control and function of immune system components-
anthropology and disease associations-
the genetics of immune-related disease: allergy, autoimmunity, immunodeficiency and other immune pathologies-
All papers are seen by at least two independent referees and only papers of the highest quality are accepted.