Genomic and functional evaluation of TNFSF14 in multiple sclerosis susceptibility.

Among multiple sclerosis (MS) susceptibility genes, the strongest non-human leukocyte antigen (HLA) signal in the Italian population maps to the TNFSF14 gene encoding LIGHT, a glycoprotein involved in dendritic cell (DC) maturation. Through fine-mapping in a large Italian dataset (4,198 patients with MS and 3,903 controls), we show that the TNFSF14 intronic SNP rs1077667 is the primarily MS-associated variant in the region. Expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) analysis indicates that the MS risk allele is significantly associated with reduced TNFSF14 messenger RNA levels in blood cells, which is consistent with the allelic imbalance in RNA-Seq reads (P < 0.0001). The MS risk allele is associated with reduced levels of TNFSF14 gene expression (P < 0.01) in blood cells from 84 Italian patients with MS and 80 healthy controls (HCs). Interestingly, patients with MS are lower expressors of TNFSF14 compared to HC (P < 0.007). Individuals homozygous for the MS risk allele display an increased percentage of LIGHT-positive peripheral blood myeloid DCs (CD11c

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Copyright © 2021 Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Genetics Society of China. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Conflict of interest For the following authors this is the conflict of interest statement. No conflict of interest for all the other authors. Prof. Filippi is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Neurology, Associate Editor of Human Brain Mapping, Associate Editor of  Radiology, and Associate Editor of Neurological Sciences; received compensation for consulting services and/or speaking activities from Alexion, Almirall, Bayer, Biogen, Celgene, Eli Lilly, Genzyme, Merck-Serono, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi, Takeda, and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries; and receives research support from Biogen Idec, Merck-Serono, Novartis, Roche, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Italian Ministry of Health, Fondazione Italiana Sclerosi Multipla, and ARiSLA (Fondazione Italiana di Ricerca per la SLA). Dr. Gajofatto received fees from Biogen and Merck to participate in advisory boards. Dr. Vittorio Martinelli received compensation for speaking and/or for consultancy and support for travel expenses and participation in Congresses from Biogen, Merck-Serono, Novartis, Roche, Genzyme and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries. Prof. Filippo Martinelli Boneschi has received compensation for consulting services and/or speaking activities from Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Sanofi Genzyme, Merck-Serono, Biogen Idec, Roche, Medday, Excemed, and received research support from Merck, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Italian Ministry of Health, Fondazione Italiana Sclerosi Multipla and Fondazione Cariplo.