Scientists are one step closer to discovering the causes of immune diseases such as asthma, multiple sclerosis and arthritis. Research from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, GSK and Biogen, under the Open Targets initiative, has shown that thousands of differences in DNA between individuals, associated with immune diseases, are linked with the switching-on of a specific subtype of immune cells.
Published today (23rd September) in Nature Genetics, this study will help narrow down the search for the molecular pathways involved in immune diseases and could lead to finding drug targets for developing new treatments.
The immune system keeps us healthy by fighting infections. However, if something goes wrong, the cells in our immune system can mistakenly cause inflammation, leading to immune diseases like asthma, multiple sclerosis and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). These diseases affect millions of people worldwide, with more than 5 million asthma patients in the UK alone*, yet it is not known what triggers the immune system to respond in this way, or even the exact cell types involved.
Previous research found that there are thousands of genetic changes - known as genetic variants - that are more common in patients with immune diseases than in healthy people. Understanding these genetic changes could provide clues to the causes and biological pathways involved in immune disease, and in time, lead to identifying new drug targets.
Many of these genetic variants are in poorly understood areas of the genome and are thought to be involved in regulating functions of immune cells. Add to this, cytokines - the signalling proteins released to allow communication between the immune cells during inflammation - and the picture becomes even more complex, making it extremely difficult to pinpoint what is causing the disease.
Researchers at the Sanger Institute and their collaborators aim to understand which immune cell states are most important for immune diseases, in an effort to hone in on potential new drug targets for diseases like asthma and IBD.
In this new study, the team looked at which parts of the genome were active in three types of immune cells from healthy volunteers, and cross-checked these positions against all the genetic variants implicated in different immune diseases. They also added different cytokines, creating a total of 55 different cell states, to mimic immune disease inflammation and understand the effects of the signalling chemicals in these cells.
The study revealed that one particular cell type and cell state - early activation of memory T cells - had the most active DNA across the same regions as the genetic variants implicated in immune diseases. This pointed towards the initial activation of these T cells being important in disease development. Surprisingly, the research showed that the cytokines generally only had subtle effects on the DNA activity, and played a lesser role in most of the diseases studied.
Dr Blagoje Soskic, a lead author on the paper from the Wellcome Sanger Institute and Open Targets, said: "Our study is the first in depth analysis of immune cells and cytokine signals in the context of genetic differences linked to immune diseases. We found links between the disease variants and early activation of memory T cells, suggesting that problems with regulating this early T cell activation could lead to immune diseases."
Dr Rab Prinjha, Chair of the Open Targets Governance Board and Head of Adaptive Immunity and Immuno-Epigenetics Research Unit, GSK said: "At GSK, we deploy both genetics and genomics to identify which parts of the immune system are central to a range of human diseases and to yield better validated targets that could become transformational medicines. To investigate the science of the immune system, functional genomics helps us better understand the role that individual genes may or may not play in triggering pathogenic immune mechanisms. This paper is yet another result from our 5-year collaboration with Open Targets to advance the field and shows our focus on advanced technologies to drive our science."
To enable this complex analysis, the researchers developed a new computational method, called CHEERS, which enabled them to identify cell states relevant for immune diseases. Openly available**, this resource could also be used to find links between genetic variation and mechanisms for other complex diseases.
Dr Gosia Trynka, the senior author from the Wellcome Sanger Institute and Open Targets, said: "There are thousands of different cell types and states in the body, and finding the cause of autoimmune diseases is like finding a needle in a haystack. We have identified early activation of memory T cells as being particularly relevant to immune diseases, and will now be able to dive deeper into studying how this is regulated, to discover genes and pathways that could be used as drug targets."
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Notes to editors:
Publication:
Blagoje Soskic and Eddie Cano-Gamez et al. (2019) Chromatin activity at GWAS loci identifies T cell states driving complex immune disease. Nature Genetics. DOI: 10.1038/s41588-019-0493-9
*Asthma statistics for the UK from https://www.asthma.org.uk/about/media/facts-and-statistics/
5.4 million people in the UK are currently receiving treatment for asthma: 1.1 million children (1 in 11) and 4.3 million adults (1 in 12).
** The CHEERS method is available here: https://github.com/trynkaLab/CHEERS
Funding:
This work was funded by Open Targets (OTAR040), Wellcome (grant WT206194) and a Gates Cambridge Scholarship.
Selected Websites:
Open Targets
Open Targets is a pioneering public-private collaboration that aims to transform drug discovery through the systematic identification and prioritisation of drug targets to improve the success rate for developing new medicines. The consortium is a unique, pre-competitive partnership between pharmaceutical companies and not-for-profit research institutes. The partners are GSK, Biogen, Takeda, Celgene, Sanofi, the Wellcome Sanger Institute and the EMBL's European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI). Open Targets combines the skills, knowledge and technologies of its partner organisations, offering a critical mass of expertise that does not exist in any single institution. Large-scale genomic experiments and computational techniques developed in the public domain are blended with formal pharmaceutical R&D approaches to identify causal links between targets, pathways and diseases. This enables the partners to systematically identify drug targets, and prioritise them for further exploration. Find more at https://www.opentargets.org/science/ or follow @targetvalidate
About GSK
GSK is a science-led global healthcare company with a special purpose: to help people do more, feel better, live longer. For further information please visit http://www.gsk.com [gsk.com].
About Biogen Inc.
At Biogen, our mission is clear: we are pioneers in neuroscience. Biogen discovers, develops and delivers worldwide innovative therapies for people living with serious neurological and neurodegenerative diseases as well as related therapeutic adjacencies. One of the world's first global biotechnology companies, Biogen was founded in 1978 by Charles Weissmann, Heinz Schaller, Kenneth Murray and Nobel Prize winners Walter Gilbert and Phillip Sharp, and today has the leading portfolio of medicines to treat multiple sclerosis, has introduced the first approved treatment for spinal muscular atrophy, commercializes biosimilars of advanced biologics and is focused on advancing research programs in multiple sclerosis and neuroimmunology, neuromuscular disorders, movement disorders, Alzheimer's disease and dementia, ophthalmology, immunology, neurocognitive disorders, acute neurology and pain. We routinely post information that may be important to investors on our website at http://www.biogen.com. To learn more, please visit http://www.biogen.com and follow us on social media - Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube.
The Wellcome Sanger Institute
The Wellcome Sanger Institute is a world leading genomics research centre. We undertake large-scale research that forms the foundations of knowledge in biology and medicine. We are open and collaborative; our data, results, tools and technologies are shared across the globe to advance science. Our ambition is vast - we take on projects that are not possible anywhere else. We use the power of genome sequencing to understand and harness the information in DNA. Funded by Wellcome, we have the freedom and support to push the boundaries of genomics. Our findings are used to improve health and to understand life on Earth. Find out more at http://www.sanger.ac.uk or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and on our Blog.
About Wellcome
Wellcome exists to improve health by helping great ideas to thrive. We support researchers, we take on big health challenges, we campaign for better science, and we help everyone get involved with science and health research. We are a politically and financially independent foundation. http://www.wellcome.ac.uk
Journal
Nature Genetics