Stochastic search and joint fine-mapping increases accuracy and identifies previously unreported associations in immune-mediated diseases

Nat Commun. 2019 Jul 19;10(1):3216. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-11271-0.

Abstract

Thousands of genetic variants are associated with human disease risk, but linkage disequilibrium (LD) hinders fine-mapping the causal variants. Both lack of power, and joint tagging of two or more distinct causal variants by a single non-causal SNP, lead to inaccuracies in fine-mapping, with stochastic search more robust than stepwise. We develop a computationally efficient multinomial fine-mapping (MFM) approach that borrows information between diseases in a Bayesian framework. We show that MFM has greater accuracy than single disease analysis when shared causal variants exist, and negligible loss of precision otherwise. MFM analysis of six immune-mediated diseases reveals causal variants undetected in individual disease analysis, including in IL2RA where we confirm functional effects of multiple causal variants using allele-specific expression in sorted CD4+ T cells from genotype-selected individuals. MFM has the potential to increase fine-mapping resolution in related diseases enabling the identification of associated cellular and molecular phenotypes.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Alleles
  • Autoimmunity / genetics*
  • Bayes Theorem
  • CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes
  • CTLA-4 Antigen / genetics
  • Chromosome Mapping
  • Gene Expression Regulation
  • Genetic Association Studies / methods*
  • Genetic Predisposition to Disease / genetics*
  • Genome-Wide Association Study / methods*
  • Genotype
  • Humans
  • Interleukin-2 Receptor alpha Subunit / genetics
  • Linkage Disequilibrium
  • Models, Genetic*
  • Phenotype
  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide

Substances

  • CTLA-4 Antigen
  • CTLA4 protein, human
  • IL2RA protein, human
  • Interleukin-2 Receptor alpha Subunit