Variant to gene mapping for carpal tunnel syndrome risk loci implicates skeletal muscle regulatory elementsResearch in context

Summary: Background: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a common disorder caused by compression of the median nerve in the wrist, resulting in pain and numbness throughout the hand and forearm. While multiple behavioural and physiological factors influence CTS risk, a growing body of evidence supports...

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Main Authors: Matthew C. Pahl, Lin Liu, James A. Pippin, Yadav Wagley, Keith Boehm, Kurt D. Hankenson, Andrew D. Wells, Wenli Yang, Struan F.A. Grant
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2024-03-01
Series:EBioMedicine
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352396424000732
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author Matthew C. Pahl
Lin Liu
James A. Pippin
Yadav Wagley
Keith Boehm
Kurt D. Hankenson
Andrew D. Wells
Wenli Yang
Struan F.A. Grant
author_facet Matthew C. Pahl
Lin Liu
James A. Pippin
Yadav Wagley
Keith Boehm
Kurt D. Hankenson
Andrew D. Wells
Wenli Yang
Struan F.A. Grant
author_sort Matthew C. Pahl
collection DOAJ
description Summary: Background: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a common disorder caused by compression of the median nerve in the wrist, resulting in pain and numbness throughout the hand and forearm. While multiple behavioural and physiological factors influence CTS risk, a growing body of evidence supports a strong genetic contribution. Recent genome-wide association study (GWAS) efforts have reported 53 independent signals associated with CTS. While GWAS can identify genetic loci conferring risk, it does not determine which cell types drive the genetic aetiology of the trait, which variants are “causal” at a given signal, and which effector genes correspond to these non-coding variants. These obstacles limit interpretation of potential disease mechanisms. Methods: We analysed CTS GWAS findings in the context of chromatin conformation between gene promoters and accessible chromatin regions across cellular models of bone, skeletal muscle, adipocytes and neurons. We identified proxy variants in high LD with the lead CTS sentinel SNPs residing in promoter connected open chromatin in the skeletal muscle and bone contexts. Findings: We detected significant enrichment for heritability in skeletal muscle myotubes, as well as a weaker correlation in human mesenchymal stem cell-derived osteoblasts. In myotubes, our approach implicated 117 genes contacting 60 proxy variants corresponding to 20 of the 53 GWAS signals. In the osteoblast context we implicated 30 genes contacting 24 proxy variants coinciding with 12 signals, of which 19 genes shared. We subsequently prioritized BZW2 as a candidate effector gene in CTS and implicated it as novel gene that perturbs myocyte differentiation in vitro. Interpretation: Taken together our results suggest that the CTS genetic component influences the size, integrity, and organization of multiple tissues surrounding the carpal tunnel, in particular muscle and bone, to predispose the nerve to being compressed in this disease setting. Funding: This work was supported by NIH Grant UM1 DK126194 (SFAG and WY), R01AG072705 (SFAG & KDH) and the Center for Spatial and Functional Genomics at CHOP (SFAG & ADW). SFAG is supported by the Daniel B. Burke Endowed Chair for Diabetes Research. WY is supported by the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania.
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spelling doaj.art-936e1d8008fc4156b7c5db74b867d0b62024-02-29T05:19:25ZengElsevierEBioMedicine2352-39642024-03-01101105038Variant to gene mapping for carpal tunnel syndrome risk loci implicates skeletal muscle regulatory elementsResearch in contextMatthew C. Pahl0Lin Liu1James A. Pippin2Yadav Wagley3Keith Boehm4Kurt D. Hankenson5Andrew D. Wells6Wenli Yang7Struan F.A. Grant8Center for Spatial and Functional Genomics, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Division of Human Genetics, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USADepartment of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Institute for Diabetes, Obesity & Metabolism, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA19104, USACenter for Spatial and Functional Genomics, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Division of Human Genetics, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USAOrthopaedic Research Laboratories, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USACenter for Spatial and Functional Genomics, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Division of Human Genetics, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USAOrthopaedic Research Laboratories, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USACenter for Spatial and Functional Genomics, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, 3615 Civic Center Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Institute for Immunology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, 3615 Civic Center Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA, USADepartment of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Institute for Diabetes, Obesity & Metabolism, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA19104, USA; Corresponding author. Department of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.Center for Spatial and Functional Genomics, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Division of Human Genetics, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Department of Pediatrics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Corresponding author. Center for Spatial and Functional Genomics, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.Summary: Background: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a common disorder caused by compression of the median nerve in the wrist, resulting in pain and numbness throughout the hand and forearm. While multiple behavioural and physiological factors influence CTS risk, a growing body of evidence supports a strong genetic contribution. Recent genome-wide association study (GWAS) efforts have reported 53 independent signals associated with CTS. While GWAS can identify genetic loci conferring risk, it does not determine which cell types drive the genetic aetiology of the trait, which variants are “causal” at a given signal, and which effector genes correspond to these non-coding variants. These obstacles limit interpretation of potential disease mechanisms. Methods: We analysed CTS GWAS findings in the context of chromatin conformation between gene promoters and accessible chromatin regions across cellular models of bone, skeletal muscle, adipocytes and neurons. We identified proxy variants in high LD with the lead CTS sentinel SNPs residing in promoter connected open chromatin in the skeletal muscle and bone contexts. Findings: We detected significant enrichment for heritability in skeletal muscle myotubes, as well as a weaker correlation in human mesenchymal stem cell-derived osteoblasts. In myotubes, our approach implicated 117 genes contacting 60 proxy variants corresponding to 20 of the 53 GWAS signals. In the osteoblast context we implicated 30 genes contacting 24 proxy variants coinciding with 12 signals, of which 19 genes shared. We subsequently prioritized BZW2 as a candidate effector gene in CTS and implicated it as novel gene that perturbs myocyte differentiation in vitro. Interpretation: Taken together our results suggest that the CTS genetic component influences the size, integrity, and organization of multiple tissues surrounding the carpal tunnel, in particular muscle and bone, to predispose the nerve to being compressed in this disease setting. Funding: This work was supported by NIH Grant UM1 DK126194 (SFAG and WY), R01AG072705 (SFAG & KDH) and the Center for Spatial and Functional Genomics at CHOP (SFAG & ADW). SFAG is supported by the Daniel B. Burke Endowed Chair for Diabetes Research. WY is supported by the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352396424000732Carpal tunnel syndromeEpigeneticsChromatin conformationSkeletal muscleOsteoblastsGenome-wide association study
spellingShingle Matthew C. Pahl
Lin Liu
James A. Pippin
Yadav Wagley
Keith Boehm
Kurt D. Hankenson
Andrew D. Wells
Wenli Yang
Struan F.A. Grant
Variant to gene mapping for carpal tunnel syndrome risk loci implicates skeletal muscle regulatory elementsResearch in context
EBioMedicine
Carpal tunnel syndrome
Epigenetics
Chromatin conformation
Skeletal muscle
Osteoblasts
Genome-wide association study
title Variant to gene mapping for carpal tunnel syndrome risk loci implicates skeletal muscle regulatory elementsResearch in context
title_full Variant to gene mapping for carpal tunnel syndrome risk loci implicates skeletal muscle regulatory elementsResearch in context
title_fullStr Variant to gene mapping for carpal tunnel syndrome risk loci implicates skeletal muscle regulatory elementsResearch in context
title_full_unstemmed Variant to gene mapping for carpal tunnel syndrome risk loci implicates skeletal muscle regulatory elementsResearch in context
title_short Variant to gene mapping for carpal tunnel syndrome risk loci implicates skeletal muscle regulatory elementsResearch in context
title_sort variant to gene mapping for carpal tunnel syndrome risk loci implicates skeletal muscle regulatory elementsresearch in context
topic Carpal tunnel syndrome
Epigenetics
Chromatin conformation
Skeletal muscle
Osteoblasts
Genome-wide association study
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352396424000732
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