CRISPR perturbations at many coronary artery disease loci impair vascular endothelial cell functions [RNA-seq]
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens
PROVIDER: GSE165924 | GEO | 2021/02/11
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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Project description:Genome-wide association studies have identified 161 genetic variants associated with coronary artery disease (CAD), but the causal genes and biological pathways remain unknown at most loci. This knowledge is critical to optimize precision medicine strategies and develop new drugs for CAD. Here, we performed multiple pooled CRISPR screens to test the impact of CAD-associated genetic variants on vascular endothelial cell functions. Using CRISPR knockout, inhibition and activation, we targeted 1998 variants at 83 CAD loci to assess their effect by flow cytometry on three adhesion proteins (E-selectin, ICAM1, VCAM1) and three key endothelial functions (nitric oxide and reactive oxygen species production, calcium signaling). At a false discovery rate ≤10%, we identified 42 significant variants located within 26 CAD loci. Although a few of these loci include genes previously characterized in endothelial cells (e.g. MIA3/AIDA, FURIN, ARHGEF26, ADAMTS7), most are implicated in endothelial dysfunction for the first time. Detailed cellular and molecular characterization of the RNA helicase DHX38, as well as CRISPR-mediated over-expression experiments at the FURIN/FES, CCDC92/ZNF664 and CNNM2 loci, revealed a strong effect on vascular endothelial cell senescence. Our findings implicate many CAD-associated loci in the regulation of atherosclerosis-related endothelial functions and offer new insights into how modulating these functions could help prevent or treat CAD.
2021-02-11 | GSE165923 | GEO
Project description:Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified 100s of loci associated with coronary artery disease (CAD) and blood pressure (BP)/hypertension. Many of these loci are not associated with traditional risk factors, nor include obvious candidate genes, complicating their functional characterization. We hypothesized that many GWAS loci associated with vascular diseases modulate endothelial functions. Endothelial cells play critical roles in regulating vascular homeostasis (e.g. selective barrier, inflammation, hemostasis, vascular tone) and endothelial dysfunction is a hallmark of atherosclerosis and hypertension. We generated an integrated map of gene expression (RNA-sequencing), open chromatin regions (ATAC-sequencing), and 3D interactions (Hi-C) in resting and TNFα-treated human endothelial cells. We showed that genetic variants associated with CAD and BP are enriched in open chromatin regions identified in endothelial cells. We used physical loops identified by Hi-C to link open chromatin peaks that include CAD or BP SNPs with the promoter of genes expressed in endothelial cells. This analysis highlighted 4,548 combinations of regulatory elements-promoters, including 108 pairs that involve a differentially open chromatin site and a differentially expressed gene following TNFα treatment. At a CAD locus, we validated one of these pairs by engineering a deletion of the TNFα-sensitive regulatory element using CRISPR/Cas9 and measuring an effect on the expression of the novel CAD candidate gene AIDA. Our data support an important role played by genetic variants acting in the vascular endothelium to modulate inter-individual risk in CAD or hypertension
2019-06-25 | GSE126199 | GEO
Project description:Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified 100s of loci associated with coronary artery disease (CAD) and blood pressure (BP)/hypertension. Many of these loci are not associated with traditional risk factors, nor include obvious candidate genes, complicating their functional characterization. We hypothesized that many GWAS loci associated with vascular diseases modulate endothelial functions. Endothelial cells play critical roles in regulating vascular homeostasis (e.g. selective barrier, inflammation, hemostasis, vascular tone) and endothelial dysfunction is a hallmark of atherosclerosis and hypertension. We generated an integrated map of gene expression (RNA-sequencing), open chromatin regions (ATAC-sequencing), and 3D interactions (Hi-C) in resting and TNFα-treated human endothelial cells. We showed that genetic variants associated with CAD and BP are enriched in open chromatin regions identified in endothelial cells. We used physical loops identified by Hi-C to link open chromatin peaks that include CAD or BP SNPs with the promoter of genes expressed in endothelial cells. This analysis highlighted 4,548 combinations of regulatory elements-promoters, including 108 pairs that involve a differentially open chromatin site and a differentially expressed gene following TNFα treatment. At a CAD locus, we validated one of these pairs by engineering a deletion of the TNFα-sensitive regulatory element using CRISPR/Cas9 and measuring an effect on the expression of the novel CAD candidate gene AIDA. Our data support an important role played by genetic variants acting in the vascular endothelium to modulate inter-individual risk in CAD or hypertension
2019-06-25 | GSE126198 | GEO
Project description:Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified 100s of loci associated with coronary artery disease (CAD) and blood pressure (BP)/hypertension. Many of these loci are not associated with traditional risk factors, nor include obvious candidate genes, complicating their functional characterization. We hypothesized that many GWAS loci associated with vascular diseases modulate endothelial functions. Endothelial cells play critical roles in regulating vascular homeostasis (e.g. selective barrier, inflammation, hemostasis, vascular tone) and endothelial dysfunction is a hallmark of atherosclerosis and hypertension. We generated an integrated map of gene expression (RNA-sequencing), open chromatin regions (ATAC-sequencing), and 3D interactions (Hi-C) in resting and TNFα-treated human endothelial cells. We showed that genetic variants associated with CAD and BP are enriched in open chromatin regions identified in endothelial cells. We used physical loops identified by Hi-C to link open chromatin peaks that include CAD or BP SNPs with the promoter of genes expressed in endothelial cells. This analysis highlighted 4,548 combinations of regulatory elements-promoters, including 108 pairs that involve a differentially open chromatin site and a differentially expressed gene following TNFα treatment. At a CAD locus, we validated one of these pairs by engineering a deletion of the TNFα-sensitive regulatory element using CRISPR/Cas9 and measuring an effect on the expression of the novel CAD candidate gene AIDA. Our data support an important role played by genetic variants acting in the vascular endothelium to modulate inter-individual risk in CAD or hypertension
2019-06-25 | GSE126197 | GEO
Project description:Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified 100s of loci associated with coronary artery disease (CAD) and blood pressure (BP)/hypertension. Many of these loci are not associated with traditional risk factors, nor include obvious candidate genes, complicating their functional characterization. We hypothesized that many GWAS loci associated with vascular diseases modulate endothelial functions. Endothelial cells play critical roles in regulating vascular homeostasis (e.g. selective barrier, inflammation, hemostasis, vascular tone) and endothelial dysfunction is a hallmark of atherosclerosis and hypertension. We generated an integrated map of gene expression (RNA-sequencing), open chromatin regions (ATAC-sequencing), and 3D interactions (Hi-C) in resting and TNFα-treated human endothelial cells. We showed that genetic variants associated with CAD and BP are enriched in open chromatin regions identified in endothelial cells. We used physical loops identified by Hi-C to link open chromatin peaks that include CAD or BP SNPs with the promoter of genes expressed in endothelial cells. This analysis highlighted 4,548 combinations of regulatory elements-promoters, including 108 pairs that involve a differentially open chromatin site and a differentially expressed gene following TNFα treatment. At a CAD locus, we validated one of these pairs by engineering a deletion of the TNFα-sensitive regulatory element using CRISPR/Cas9 and measuring an effect on the expression of the novel CAD candidate gene AIDA. Our data support an important role played by genetic variants acting in the vascular endothelium to modulate inter-individual risk in CAD or hypertension
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Project description:Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have discovered thousands of risk loci for common, complex diseases, each of which could point to genes and gene programs that influence disease. For some diseases, it has been observed that GWAS signals converge on a smaller number of biological programs, and that this convergence can help to identify causal genes. However, identifying such convergence remains challenging: each GWAS locus can have 2-20 candidate genes, the cellular programs a gene participates in are difficult to define in an unbiased fashion, and it remains unclear which genes and programs would be likely to influence disease risk. Here, we explored a new approach to address this challenge, by creating an unbiased catalog of gene programs and their regulators in endothelial cells to link variants to functions for coronary artery disease (CAD). To do so, we applied CRISPRi-Perturb-seq to knock down all expressed genes within 500 Kb of all CAD GWAS loci (2,285 genes in total) and measure their effects on the transcriptome using single-cell RNA-seq. We used consensus non-negative matrix factorization to define 60 gene expression programs—including core cellular programs, such as ribosome biogenesis, and endothelial cell-specific programs, such as flow response and angiogenesis—and link these programs to upstream regulators including transcription factors, chromatin regulators, metabolic enzymes, and signaling cascades. By combining this gene-to-program catalog with variant-to-gene maps, we find that candidate CAD genes converge onto 6 interrelated gene programs, together involving known and novel genes in 39 of 229 CAD GWAS loci. Analysis of these programs revealed that the cerebral cavernous malformations (CCM) complex—whose potential connection to CAD has not been previously explored—acts upstream to regulate other CAD genes involved in cytoskeletal organization, extracellular matrix remodeling, and cell migration. The strongest regulator of these programs is TLNRD1, a highly conserved but poorly studied gene that we show acts in the CCM pathway and regulates actin organization and endothelial cell barrier function. Together, our study nominates new genes that likely influence risk for CAD, identifies convergence of CAD risk loci into certain gene programs in endothelial cells, and demonstrates a generalizable strategy to catalog gene programs to connect disease variants to functions.
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Project description:Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have discovered thousands of risk loci for common, complex diseases, each of which could point to genes and gene programs that influence disease. For some diseases, it has been observed that GWAS signals converge on a smaller number of biological programs, and that this convergence can help to identify causal genes. However, identifying such convergence remains challenging: each GWAS locus can have 2-20 candidate genes, the cellular programs a gene participates in are difficult to define in an unbiased fashion, and it remains unclear which genes and programs would be likely to influence disease risk. Here, we explored a new approach to address this challenge, by creating an unbiased catalog of gene programs and their regulators in endothelial cells to link variants to functions for coronary artery disease (CAD). To do so, we applied CRISPRi-Perturb-seq to knock down all expressed genes within 500 Kb of all CAD GWAS loci (2,285 genes in total) and measure their effects on the transcriptome using single-cell RNA-seq. We used consensus non-negative matrix factorization to define 60 gene expression programs—including core cellular programs, such as ribosome biogenesis, and endothelial cell-specific programs, such as flow response and angiogenesis—and link these programs to upstream regulators including transcription factors, chromatin regulators, metabolic enzymes, and signaling cascades. By combining this gene-to-program catalog with variant-to-gene maps, we find that candidate CAD genes converge onto 6 interrelated gene programs, together involving known and novel genes in 39 of 229 CAD GWAS loci. Analysis of these programs revealed that the cerebral cavernous malformations (CCM) complex—whose potential connection to CAD has not been previously explored—acts upstream to regulate other CAD genes involved in cytoskeletal organization, extracellular matrix remodeling, and cell migration. The strongest regulator of these programs is TLNRD1, a highly conserved but poorly studied gene that we show acts in the CCM pathway and regulates actin organization and endothelial cell barrier function. Together, our study nominates new genes that likely influence risk for CAD, identifies convergence of CAD risk loci into certain gene programs in endothelial cells, and demonstrates a generalizable strategy to catalog gene programs to connect disease variants to functions.
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