ACR Meeting Abstracts

ACR Meeting Abstracts

Abstract Number: 2879

Genome-Wide Pathway Analysis Reveals That VEGF Genetic Pathway Is Associated with Oral Ulcers in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Antonio Julià1, Patricia Carreira2, Ricardo Blanco3, Victor Martinez Taboada4, Luis Carreño5, Jose Javier Perez Venegas6, Alejandro Olivé7, Jose Luis Andreu8, Maria Ángeles Aguirre Zamorano9, Paloma Vela10, Joan Miquel Nolla11, José Luis Marenco de la Fuente12, Antonio Zea13, JM Pego-Reigosa14, Mercedes Freire15, Elvira Diez Alvarez16, Adrìa Aterido1, Arnald Alonso1, Maria López-Lasanta17, Mireia López18, Raül Tortosa1, Sara Marsal19 and Antonio Fernandez-Nebro20, 1Rheumatology Research Group, Vall d'Hebron Hospital Research Institute, Barcelona, Spain, 2Department of Rheumatology, Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, Madrid, Spain, 3Rheumatology, Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla. IDIVAL, Santander, Spain, 4Hospital Marqués de Valdecilla., Santander, Spain, 5Rheumatology, HGU Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain, 6Rheumatology, Hospital de Jerez de la Frontera, Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, 7Rheumatology, Hospital Universitario Germans Trias i Pujol, Barcelona, Spain, 8Rheumatology, Hospital Universitario Puerta de Hierro Majadahonda, Madrid, Spain, 9Rheumatology service, IMIBIC/Reina Sofia Hospital/University of Cordoba, Cordoba, Spain, 10Dpt. Rheumatology, Hospital General Universitario Alicante, Alicante, Spain, 11Rheumatology, Bellvitge University Hospital, Barcelona, Spain, 12Rheumatology, Hospital de Valme, Seville, Spain, 13Hospital Ramón y Cajal. Madrid, Madrid, Spain, 14Rheumatology Section, Hospital de Meixoeiro, Pontevedra, Spain, Vigo, Spain, 15Servicio de Reumatología. Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de A Coruña (INIBIC). Complexo HospitalarioUniversitario de A Coruña (CHUAC), Sergas. Universidade da Coruña (UDC), A Coruña, Spain, 16Rheumatology, Hospital de León, León, Spain, 17Vall d'Hebron Hospital Research Institute, Barcelona, Spain, 18Servicio de Reumatología, Hospital Universitario Vall d´Hebron, Barcelona, Spain, 19Rheumatology Research Unit, Vall d'Hebron Hospital, Barcelona, Spain, 20Rheumatology, Hospital Universitario Carlos Haya, Malaga, Spain

Meeting: 2016 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting

Date of first publication: September 28, 2016

Keywords: , , ,

Session Information

Date: Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Session Title: Systemic Lupus Erythematosus – Human Etiology and Pathogenesis - Poster II

Session Type: ACR Poster Session C

Session Time: 9:00AM-11:00AM

Background/Purpose: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a genetically complex rheumatic disease with heterogeneous clinical manifestations. Recent studies have suggested the existence of a genetic basis for the diverse SLE clinical phenotypes. Also, there is increasing evidence indicating that a substantial part of the genetic variation associated with complex diseases could be explained by small-effect genes from common genetic pathways. The objective of the present study was to identify new genetic variation associated with SLE phenotypes using a genome-wide association study at the pathway level.

Methods:  A total of 598,258 SNPs were genotyped in a discovery cohort of n=482 SLE patients of southern European ancestry using the Illumina platform Quad610. After quality control analysis, including ancestry estimation using principal-component analysis, genome-wide pathway analysis was performed. A total of 14 clinically relevant SLE phenotypes were tested for association in n>700 reference genetic pathways. Significantly associated pathways (corrected P-value < 0.05) were subsequently tested for validation in an independent cohort of n=425 SLE patients from the same ancestry. Both discovery and validation cohort patients were Caucasian European and from Spanish origin, and were recruited by n=15 rheumatology departments from Spanish university hospitals. The validated genetic pathways were functionally characterized using in silico analysis on cell types of relevance in SLE pathogenesis.

Results:  In the discovery stage, two genetic pathways were significantly associated with the presence of oral ulcers and antinuclear antibodies in SLE (PFDR<0.05). In the replication stage, we validated the association between oral ulcers and the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) genetic pathway (P=1.3e-2). Analyzing the transcriptional effect of the topical immunotherapies used for the treatment of oral ulcers in SLE, we found a significant differential expression of VEGF pathway genes (P<0.05).

Conclusion:  In this work we have performed the first genome-wide association study for clinically relevant SLE phenotype using a pathway-based approach. With this new approach, we have identified and validated the association of VEGF genetic pathway with oral ulcers in SLE. These findings represent an important step towards the characterization of the genetic basis of phenotype heterogeneity in SLE.

Disclosure: A. Julià, None; P. Carreira, None; R. Blanco, None; V. Martinez Taboada, None; L. Carreño, None; J. J. Perez Venegas, None; A. Olivé, None; J. L. Andreu, None; M. Á. Aguirre Zamorano, None; P. Vela, None; J. M. Nolla, None; J. L. Marenco de la Fuente, None; A. Zea, None; J. Pego-Reigosa, None; M. Freire, None; E. Diez Alvarez, None; A. Aterido, None; A. Alonso, None; M. López-Lasanta, None; M. López, None; R. Tortosa, None; S. Marsal, None; A. Fernandez-Nebro, None.

To cite this abstract in AMA style:

Julià A, Carreira P, Blanco R, Martinez Taboada V, Carreño L, Perez Venegas JJ, Olivé A, Andreu JL, Aguirre Zamorano MÁ, Vela P, Nolla JM, Marenco de la Fuente JL, Zea A, Pego-Reigosa J, Freire M, Diez Alvarez E, Aterido A, Alonso A, López-Lasanta M, López M, Tortosa R, Marsal S, Fernandez-Nebro A. Genome-Wide Pathway Analysis Reveals That VEGF Genetic Pathway Is Associated with Oral Ulcers in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus [abstract]. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2016; 68 (suppl 10). https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/genome-wide-pathway-analysis-reveals-that-vegf-genetic-pathway-is-associated-with-oral-ulcers-in-systemic-lupus-erythematosus/. Accessed January 25, 2021.

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