遗传 ›› 2025, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (11): 1244-1255.doi: 10.16288/j.yczz.25-064

• 研究报告 • 上一篇    下一篇

系统性红斑狼疮易感区域FAM167A-BLK遗传变异的调控机制研究

李轲(), 周晓蓉, 朱东丽, 陈晓峰, 郭燕()   

  1. 西安交通大学生命科学与技术学院生物医学信息工程教育部重点实验室,生物医学信息与基因组学中心西安 710049
  • 收稿日期:2025-02-26 修回日期:2025-05-09 出版日期:2025-11-20 发布日期:2025-05-12
  • 通讯作者: 郭燕,博士,教授,博士生导师,研究方向:疾病遗传筛查与预防精准医疗。E-mail: guoyan253@xjtu.edu.cn
  • 作者简介:李轲,硕士研究生,专业方向:遗传学。E-mail: like77@stu.xjtu.edu.cn
  • 基金资助:
    国家自然科学基金项目(82170896);西安交通大学高性能计算平台和仪器分析中心资助

Exploration of the regulatory function of genetic variants at FAM167A-BLK locus in systemic lupus erythematosus

Ke Li(), Xiaorong Zhou, Dongli Zhu, Xiaofeng Chen, Yan Guo()   

  1. Biomedical Informatics & Genomics Center, Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China
  • Received:2025-02-26 Revised:2025-05-09 Published:2025-11-20 Online:2025-05-12
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China(82170896);High-Performance Computing Platform and Instrument Analysis Center of Xi’an Jiaotong University

摘要:

系统性红斑狼疮(systemic lupus erythematosus,SLE)是一种累及多器官的自身免疫性疾病。8p23区域的FAM167A-BLK基因座是SLE既往全基因组关联研究(genome-wide association study,GWAS)报道的热点区域。为探索该区域内功能SNP(single-nucleotide polymorphism)对其相关基因BLKFAM167A调控的作用,本研究利用GCTA软件和fnGWAS进行一系列功能注释,筛选出潜在的功能SNP,并通过双荧光素酶报告基因实验、shRNA敲低和CRISPR/dCas9敲低等功能实验进行验证。结果显示,该区域有4个功能SNP对BLK表达具有等位基因特异性增强效应,但对FAM167A无显著影响。同时,BLK可调控FAM167A表达。FAM167A可能是SLE的潜在致病基因。本研究深化了对FAM167A-BLK区域的遗传变异调控机制的理解,为解析SLE的发生机制研究提供了新视角。

关键词: 系统性红斑狼疮, FAM167A-BLK基因座, SNP, 增强子

Abstract:

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a multisystem autoimmune disease with multi-organ involvement. The FAM167A-BLK locus at 8p23 has been identified as a genetic susceptibility locus for SLE by previous genome-wide association studies (GWAS). To explore the role of functional single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within this locus on the regulation of BLK and FAM167A genes, we perform comprehensive functional annotation using GCTA and fnGWAS approaches to identify candidate functional SNPs,and verify them through dual-luciferase reporter assays, shRNA knockdown experiments, and CRISPR/dCas9 knockdown experiments. The results show that four functional SNPs exhibit allele-specific enhancing effect on BLK expression, while showing no discernible regulatory influence on FAM167A expression. Importantly, BLK is shown to regulate the expression of FAM167A. These findings highlight FAM167A as a potential pathogenic gene contributing to SLE. This study expands the mechanistic understanding of genetic regulation at the FAM167A-BLK locus and provides new insights into SLE development.

Key words: SLE, FAM167A-BLK locus, SNP, enhancer