Primary human leucocyte RNA expression of unrelated Dutch individuals.

Multiple common variants for celiac disease influencing immune gene expression The goal of this study was to study the effect of genetic variation on gene expression of untouched primary leucocytes. We obtained peripheral blood RNA from unrelated Dutch individuals using PAXgene tubes. We performed a second-generation genome wide association study of 4,533 celiac disease cases and 10,750 controls. We genotyped 113 selected SNPs with PGWAS<10-4, and 18 SNPs from 14 known loci, in a further 4,918 cases and 5,684 controls. Variants from 13 new regions reached genome wide significance (Pcombined<5x10-8), most contain immune function genes (BACH2, CCR4, CD80, CIITA/SOCS1/CLEC16A, ICOSLG, ZMIZ1) with ETS1, RUNX3, THEMIS and TNFRSF14 playing key roles in thymic T cell selection. A further 13 regions had suggestive association evidence. In an expression quantitative trait meta-analysis of 1,469 whole blood samples, 20 of 38 (52.6%) tested loci had celiac risk variants correlated (P<0.0028, FDR 5%) with cis gene expression. *** Due to privacy concerns, the SNP data is not available with unrestricted access. Individuals wishing to obtain this data for research purposes may request access directly from the submitter (contact info below). ***