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Abstract: PO1673

Using Clustering to Facilitate Gene-Based Rare-Variant Collapsing for a Diverse Cohort of FSGS Patients

Session Information

Category: Genetic Diseases of the Kidneys

  • 1002 Genetic Diseases of the Kidneys: Non-Cystic

Authors

  • Povysil, Gundula, Institute for Genomic Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, US, New York, New York, United States
  • Ahram, Dina, Division of Nephrology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, US, New York, New York, United States
  • Mitrotti, Adele, Division of Nephrology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, US, New York, United States
  • Jin, Gina Ying, Division of Nephrology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, US, New York, New York, United States
  • Scolari, Francesco, Cattedra di Nefrologia, Università di Brescia, Seconda Divisione di Nefrologia, Azienda Ospedaliera Spedali Civili di Brescia Presidio di Montichiari, Brescia, Italy, Brescia, Italy
  • Santoro, Domenico, Department of Nephrology, University of Messina, Messina, Italy, Messina, Italy
  • Gesualdo, Loreto, Section of Nephrology, Department of Emergency and Organ Transplantation, University of Bari, Bari, Italy, Bari, Italy
  • Fiaccadori, Enrico, Internal Medicine and Nephrology Dept., Parma University Medical School, Parma, Italy, Parma, Italy
  • Milosevic, Danko, Department of Pediatric Nephrology, Dialysis and Transplantation, University Hospital Center Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia, Zagreb, Croatia
  • Tasic, Velibor, University Children's Hospital, Medical Faculty of Skopje, Skopje, Macedonia, Skopje, Macedonia (the former Yugoslav Republic of)
  • Saraga, Marijan, Department of Pediatrics, University Hospital of Split, Split, Croatia, Split, Croatia
  • Zaza, Gianluigi, Renal and Dialysis Unit, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Verona, Verona, Italy, Verona, Italy
  • Westland, Rik, Division of Nephrology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, US, New York, United States
  • Simões e silva, Ana cristina, Faculty of Medicine, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Minas Gerais, Brazil, Minas Gerais, Brazil
  • Gharavi, Ali G., Division of Nephrology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, US, New York, New York, United States
  • Armisen, Javier, Centre for Genomics Research, Discovery Sciences, BioPharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZeneca, Cambridge, UK, Cambridge, United Kingdom
  • Paul, Dirk S., Centre for Genomics Research, Discovery Sciences, BioPharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZeneca, Cambridge, UK, Cambridge, United Kingdom
  • Haefliger, Carolina, Centre for Genomics Research, Discovery Sciences, BioPharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZeneca, Cambridge, UK, Cambridge, United Kingdom
  • Ghiggeri, Gian Marco, Division of Nephrology, Dialysis, Transplantation, and Laboratory on Pathophysiology of Uremia, Istituto G. Gaslini, Genoa, Italy, Genoa, Italy
  • Goldstein, David B., Institute for Genomic Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, US, New York, New York, United States
  • Sanna-Cherchi, Simone, Division of Nephrology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, US, New York, New York, United States
Background

Several focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) genes have been discovered through family studies. Rare-variant case-control studies, however, have been largely underpowered and/or restricted to a single ancestry.

Methods

We performed exome sequencing of 1,989 cases with FSGS and compared them to 18,835 controls. Using gene-based collapsing, we looked for genes with an excess of rare qualifying variants (QVs) in cases or controls. Standard collapsing was complicated by the diverse ancestry of our cases that not only included African, Asian, and Hispanic samples, but also Caucasian subpopulations not well represented in public databases or our controls. Therefore, we extended our collapsing workflow by a clustering step based on principal components reflecting ancestry. We performed coverage harmonization and frequency filtering within the clusters to capture population-specific differences. We used the Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel test to test for an association between disease status and QV status while controlling for cluster membership.

Results

Collapsing analyses were conducted on all cases together and on pediatric, adult, steroid-resistant, and steroid-sensitive subgroups. We detected a significant enrichment of QVs in known FSGS genes WT1, INF2, and NPHS2; additional signals in other FSGS genes (e.g. PAX2, COL4A3, COL4A5, CD2AP); and two novel ones that did not reach study-wide significance due to the limited sample size and phenotype heterogeneity. In several models and subgroups, the majority of the top 10 genes was formed by known FSGS genes, confirming the robustness of our novel approach.

Conclusion

We show that our new collapsing approach decreases inflation when samples with different ancestries are analyzed together, while preserving the underlying disease signals. We are currently more than doubling our case cohort, which should increase the power to detect significant signals in known FSGS genes, clarify the suggestive signal in two new genes, and allow well-powered sub-phenotype analyses.

Funding

  • Commercial Support –