Genetic Predisposition to the Mortality in Septic Shock Patients: From GWAS to the Identification of a Regulatory Variant Modulating the Activity of a CISH Enhancer

Florian Rosier (1) , Audrey Brisebarre (1) , Claire Dupuis (2) , Sabrina Baaklini (1) , Denis Puthier (1) , Christine Brun (1) , Lydie C Pradel (1) , Pascal Rihet (1) , Didier Payen (3)

1 TAGC - Theories and Approaches of Genomic Complexity
2 CHU Clermont-Ferrand
3 INSERM - Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale

The high mortality rate in septic shock patients is likely due to environmental and genetic factors, which influence the host response to infection. Two genome-wide association studies (GWAS) on 832 septic shock patients were performed. We used integrative bioinformatic approaches to annotate and prioritize the sepsis-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). An association of 139 SNPs with death based on a false discovery rate of 5% was detected. The most significant SNPs were within the CISH gene involved in cytokine regulation. Among the 139 SNPs associated with death and the 1311 SNPs in strong linkage disequilibrium with them, we investigated 1439 SNPs within non-coding regions to identify regulatory variants. The highest integrative weighted score (IW-score) was obtained for rs143356980, indicating that this SNP is a robust regulatory candidate. The rs143356980 region is located in a non-coding region close to the CISH gene. A CRISPR-Cas9-mediated deletion of this region and specific luciferase assays in K562 cells showed that rs143356980 modulates the enhancer activity in K562 cells. These analyses allowed us to identify several genes associated with death in patients with septic shock. They suggest that genetic variations in key genes, such as CISH, perturb relevant pathways, increasing the risk of death in sepsis patients

Keywords: GWAS; SNPs; non coding region; CISH; enhancer; CRISPR-Cas9; luciferase assay

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]; Human health and pathology; Human genetics

Florian Rosier, Audrey Brisebarre, Claire Dupuis, Sabrina Baaklini, Denis Puthier, et al.. Genetic Predisposition to the Mortality in Septic Shock Patients: From GWAS to the Identification of a Regulatory Variant Modulating the Activity of a CISH Enhancer. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 2021, 22, ⟨10.3390/ijms22115852⟩. ⟨hal-03245766⟩