Identification of an Association of TNFAIP3 Polymorphisms With Matrix Metalloproteinase Expression in Fibroblasts in an Integrative Study of Systemic Sclerosis-Associated Genetic and Environmental Factors*

Authors

Peng Wei, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Yang Yang, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houstonn
Xinjian Guo, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Nainan Hei, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Syeling Lai, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
Shervin Assassi, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Mengyuan Liu, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Filemon Tan, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Xiaodong Zhou, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

Publication Date

3-2016

Journal

Arthritis & Rheumatology (Hoboken, N.J.)

DOI

10.1002/art.39476

PMID

26474180

PMCID

PMC4767670

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

3-1-2017

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Author MSS

Published Open-Access

no

Keywords

Adult, African Americans, DNA-Binding Proteins, Dose-Response Relationship, Immunologic, European Continental Ancestry Group, Extracellular Matrix, Female, Fibroblasts, Gene Expression, Genetic Variation, Genotype, Hispanic Americans, Humans, Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins, Male, Matrix Metalloproteinase 1, Matrix Metalloproteinase 3, Middle Aged, Nuclear Proteins, Polymorphism, Genetic, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Scleroderma, Systemic, Silicon Dioxide, Tumor Necrosis Factor alpha-Induced Protein 3

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a fibrotic disease attributed to both genetic susceptibility and environmental factors. This study was undertaken to investigate the associations between SSc-associated genetic variants and the expression of extracellular matrix (ECM) genes in human fibroblasts stimulated with silica particles in time-course and dose-response experiments.

METHODS: A total of 200 fibroblast strains were examined for ECM gene expression after stimulation with silica particles. The fibroblasts were genetically profiled using Immunochip assays and then subjected to whole-genome genotype imputation. Associations of genotypes and gene expression were first analyzed in a Caucasian cohort and then validated in a meta-analysis combining the results from Caucasian, African American, and Hispanic subjects. A linear mixed model for longitudinal data analysis was used to identify genetic variants associated with the expression of ECM genes, and the associations were validated by using a haplotype-based longitudinal association test on regions that included the loci identified.

RESULTS: The single-nucleotide polymorphism rs58905141 in TNFAIP3 was consistently associated with time-course and/or dose-response expression of MMP3 and MMP1 in the fibroblasts stimulated with silica particles in both the analysis of Caucasian subjects only and the meta-analysis. Results of the haplotype-based analysis validated the association signals.

CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that a genetic variant of TNFAIP3 is strongly associated with the silica-induced profibrotic response of fibroblasts. In silico functional analysis based on the ENCODE database revealed that rs58905141 might affect the binding activities of the transcription factors for TNFAIP3. This is the first genome-wide study of interactions between genetic and environmental factors in a complex SSc fibroblast model.

Comments

*Manuscript version is titled: Integrative Studies of Scleroderma-Associated Genetic and Environmental Factors with Fibroblasts Identify Polymorphisms of TNFAIP3 in Association with MMP Expression.