Brain-wide genome-wide colocalization study for integrating genetics, transcriptomics and brain morphometry in Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases. However, the AD mechanism has not yet been fully elucidated to date, hindering the development of effective therapies. In our work, we perform a brain imaging genomics study to link genetics, single-cell gene express...

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Main Authors: Jingxuan Bao, Junhao Wen, Zixuan Wen, Shu Yang, Yuhan Cui, Zhijian Yang, Guray Erus, Andrew J. Saykin, Qi Long, Christos Davatzikos, Li Shen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2023-10-01
Series:NeuroImage
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811923004974
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author Jingxuan Bao
Junhao Wen
Zixuan Wen
Shu Yang
Yuhan Cui
Zhijian Yang
Guray Erus
Andrew J. Saykin
Qi Long
Christos Davatzikos
Li Shen
author_facet Jingxuan Bao
Junhao Wen
Zixuan Wen
Shu Yang
Yuhan Cui
Zhijian Yang
Guray Erus
Andrew J. Saykin
Qi Long
Christos Davatzikos
Li Shen
author_sort Jingxuan Bao
collection DOAJ
description Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases. However, the AD mechanism has not yet been fully elucidated to date, hindering the development of effective therapies. In our work, we perform a brain imaging genomics study to link genetics, single-cell gene expression data, tissue-specific gene expression data, brain imaging-derived volumetric endophenotypes, and disease diagnosis to discover potential underlying neurobiological pathways for AD. To do so, we perform brain-wide genome-wide colocalization analyses to integrate multidimensional imaging genomic biobank data. Specifically, we use (1) the individual-level imputed genotyping data and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data from the UK Biobank, (2) the summary statistics of the genome-wide association study (GWAS) from multiple European ancestry cohorts, and (3) the tissue-specific cis-expression quantitative trait loci (cis-eQTL) summary statistics from the GTEx project. We apply a Bayes factor colocalization framework and mediation analysis to these multi-modal imaging genomic data. As a result, we derive the brain regional level GWAS summary statistics for 145 brain regions with 482,831 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) followed by posthoc functional annotations. Our analysis yields the discovery of a potential AD causal pathway from a systems biology perspective: the SNP chr10:124165615:G>A (rs6585827) mutation upregulates the expression of BTBD16 gene in oligodendrocytes, a specialized glial cells, in the brain cortex, leading to a reduced risk of volumetric loss in the entorhinal cortex, resulting in the protective effect on AD. We substantiate our findings with multiple evidence from existing imaging, genetic and genomic studies in AD literature. Our study connects genetics, molecular and cellular signatures, regional brain morphologic endophenotypes, and AD diagnosis, providing new insights into the mechanistic understanding of the disease. Our findings can provide valuable guidance for subsequent therapeutic target identification and drug discovery in AD.
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spelling doaj.art-a1c9974470b342f383526495380eba112023-09-16T05:28:56ZengElsevierNeuroImage1095-95722023-10-01280120346Brain-wide genome-wide colocalization study for integrating genetics, transcriptomics and brain morphometry in Alzheimer's diseaseJingxuan Bao0Junhao Wen1Zixuan Wen2Shu Yang3Yuhan Cui4Zhijian Yang5Guray Erus6Andrew J. Saykin7Qi Long8Christos Davatzikos9Li Shen10Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USACenter for Biomedical Image Computing and Analytics, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Laboratory of AI and Biomedical Science, Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine of USC, University of Southern California, Marina del Rey, CA 90292, USADepartment of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USADepartment of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USACenter for Biomedical Image Computing and Analytics, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USACenter for Biomedical Image Computing and Analytics, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USACenter for Biomedical Image Computing and Analytics, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USADepartment of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USADepartment of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USACenter for Biomedical Image Computing and Analytics, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USADepartment of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Corresponding author.Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases. However, the AD mechanism has not yet been fully elucidated to date, hindering the development of effective therapies. In our work, we perform a brain imaging genomics study to link genetics, single-cell gene expression data, tissue-specific gene expression data, brain imaging-derived volumetric endophenotypes, and disease diagnosis to discover potential underlying neurobiological pathways for AD. To do so, we perform brain-wide genome-wide colocalization analyses to integrate multidimensional imaging genomic biobank data. Specifically, we use (1) the individual-level imputed genotyping data and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data from the UK Biobank, (2) the summary statistics of the genome-wide association study (GWAS) from multiple European ancestry cohorts, and (3) the tissue-specific cis-expression quantitative trait loci (cis-eQTL) summary statistics from the GTEx project. We apply a Bayes factor colocalization framework and mediation analysis to these multi-modal imaging genomic data. As a result, we derive the brain regional level GWAS summary statistics for 145 brain regions with 482,831 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) followed by posthoc functional annotations. Our analysis yields the discovery of a potential AD causal pathway from a systems biology perspective: the SNP chr10:124165615:G>A (rs6585827) mutation upregulates the expression of BTBD16 gene in oligodendrocytes, a specialized glial cells, in the brain cortex, leading to a reduced risk of volumetric loss in the entorhinal cortex, resulting in the protective effect on AD. We substantiate our findings with multiple evidence from existing imaging, genetic and genomic studies in AD literature. Our study connects genetics, molecular and cellular signatures, regional brain morphologic endophenotypes, and AD diagnosis, providing new insights into the mechanistic understanding of the disease. Our findings can provide valuable guidance for subsequent therapeutic target identification and drug discovery in AD.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811923004974Alzheimer's diseaseImaging-geneticsMulti-modalityColocalizationMediation analysis
spellingShingle Jingxuan Bao
Junhao Wen
Zixuan Wen
Shu Yang
Yuhan Cui
Zhijian Yang
Guray Erus
Andrew J. Saykin
Qi Long
Christos Davatzikos
Li Shen
Brain-wide genome-wide colocalization study for integrating genetics, transcriptomics and brain morphometry in Alzheimer's disease
NeuroImage
Alzheimer's disease
Imaging-genetics
Multi-modality
Colocalization
Mediation analysis
title Brain-wide genome-wide colocalization study for integrating genetics, transcriptomics and brain morphometry in Alzheimer's disease
title_full Brain-wide genome-wide colocalization study for integrating genetics, transcriptomics and brain morphometry in Alzheimer's disease
title_fullStr Brain-wide genome-wide colocalization study for integrating genetics, transcriptomics and brain morphometry in Alzheimer's disease
title_full_unstemmed Brain-wide genome-wide colocalization study for integrating genetics, transcriptomics and brain morphometry in Alzheimer's disease
title_short Brain-wide genome-wide colocalization study for integrating genetics, transcriptomics and brain morphometry in Alzheimer's disease
title_sort brain wide genome wide colocalization study for integrating genetics transcriptomics and brain morphometry in alzheimer s disease
topic Alzheimer's disease
Imaging-genetics
Multi-modality
Colocalization
Mediation analysis
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811923004974
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