Using Chromatin Architecture to Develop of Therapeutic Pipeline for Juvenile Arthritis

摘要 在这个项目中，我们的目标是朝着确定青少年治疗的新靶点迈出重要的一步。 特发性关节炎(JIA)。为了做到这一点，我们将使用从基因组产生的遗传信息- 广泛关联研究和遗传精细定位研究。这些研究表明，许多 JIA的遗传风险存在于高度富含增强子功能的基因组区域，这一特征 贾跃亭与几乎所有其他自身免疫性疾病都有共同之处。这项工作的基本前提是，通过 识别改变增强子功能的遗传风险变异，然后识别其表达的基因 当增强子功能改变时，水平会发生变化，我们将确定有希望的新治疗靶点。 在这个概念验证项目中，我们将重点关注IL2RA，这是JIA和其他多个组织的重要风险区域 自身免疫性疾病。我们先前已经证明，IL2RA基因座包含一个内含子增强子，其 我们最初在儿童全基因组测序中发现的遗传变异会削弱功能 与多关节形式的JIA。我们的目标是确定这些遗传变异的靶基因，即基因 当内含子增强子的功能减弱时，其表达水平会发生变化。要做到这一点 目标，我们依赖的事实是，虽然增强剂可能不总是调节最近的基因，它们通常调节 同一染色质环或拓扑相关结构域(TAD)内的基因。我们将使用RNA引导 用与表观基因组编辑酶偶联的失活核酸酶进行表观基因组编辑，Krüppel相关 盒(KRAB)抑制物(DCAS-KRAB)。然后，我们将使用传统的RTPCR方法来识别哪些 包含IL2RA增强子的TAD中的12个基因表现出表达的变化 当该增强剂被衰减时的等级。 如果成功，我们将建立使用更广泛的染色质的效用作为概念验证 将JIA风险单倍型和RNA引导的表观基因组编辑作为策略的体系结构 确定JIA的治疗靶点。我们预计这项工作的完成将很快导致一个更大的项目 目的是识别JIA风险基因座内所有转基因增强子的目标基因。此外， 成功完成还将导致与主要行业领导者建立合作伙伴关系，以迅速 将这些发现转化为临床环境。 好了！

Abstract In this project, we aim to take an important step toward identifying novel targets of therapy in juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). To do this, we will use genetic information that has been generated from genome- wide association studies (GWAS) and genetic fine mapping studies. These studies have shown that much of the genetic risk for JIA lies within genomic regions that are highly enriched for enhancer function, a feature that JIA shares with almost every other autoimmune disease. The underlying premise of this work is that, by identifying genetic risk variants that alter enhancer function, and then identifying the genes whose expression levels change when enhancer function is altered, we will identify promising new therapeutic targets. In this proof-of-concept project, we will focus on IL2RA, an important risk locus for JIA and multiple other autoimmune diseases. We have previously shown that the IL2RA locus contains an intronic enhancer whose function is attenuated by genetic variants that we initially identified on whole genome sequencing of children with the polyarticular form of JIA. We aim to identify the target genes of these genetic variants, i.e., the genes whose expression levels are altered when function of the intronic enhancer is attenuated. To accomplish this aim, we rely on the fact that, while enhancers may not always regulate the nearest gene, they typically regulate genes within the same chromatin loop or topologically associated domain (TAD). We will use RNA-guided epigenome editing with a deactivated nuclease coupled to an epigenome editing enzyme, Krüppel associated box (KRAB) repressor (dCAS-KRAB). We will then use conventional rtPCR approaches to identify which of the 12 genes that are incorporated within the TAD that contains the IL2RA enhancer show changes in expression level when that enhancer is attenuated. If successful, we will have established as proof-of-concept the utility of using the broader chromatin architecture that incorporates the JIA risk haplotypes and RNA-guided epigenome editing as a strategy for identify therapeutic targets in JIA. We expect that completion of this work will lead quickly to a larger project aimed at identifying all the target genes of genetically altered enhancers within the JIA risk loci. Furthermore, successful completion will also lead to the development of partnerships with key industry leaders to rapidly translate these findings to the clinical setting. !