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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Heather Cordell
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Epidemiological studies suggest that allergy risk is preferentially transmitted through mothers. This can be due to genomic imprinting, where the phenotype effect of an allele depends on its parental origin, or due to maternal effects reflecting the maternal genome's influence on the child during prenatal development. Loss-of-function mutations in the filaggrin gene (FLG) cause skin barrier deficiency and strongly predispose to atopic dermatitis (AD). We investigated the 4 most prevalent European FLG mutations (c.2282del4, p.R501X, p.R2447X, and p.S3247X) in two samples including 759 and 450 AD families. We used the multinomial and maximum-likelihood approach implemented in the PREMIM/EMIM tool to model parent-of-origin effects. Beyond the known role of FLG inheritance in AD (R1(meta-analysis) = 2.4, P = 1.0 x 10(-36)), we observed a strong maternal FLG genotype effect that was consistent in both independent family sets and for all 4 mutations analysed. Overall, children of FLG-carrier mothers had a 1.5-fold increased AD risk (S1 = 1.50, Pmeta-analysis = 8.4 x 10(-8)). Our data point to two independent and additive effects of FLG mutations: i) carrying a mutation and ii) having a mutation carrier mother. The maternal genotype effect was independent of mutation inheritance and can be seen as a non-genetic transmission of a genetic effect. The FLG maternal effect was observed only when mothers had allergic sensitization (elevated allergen-specific IgE antibody plasma levels), suggesting that FLG mutation-induced systemic immune responses in the mother may influence AD risk in the child. Notably, the maternal effect reported here was stronger than most common genetic risk factors for AD recently identified through genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Our study highlights the power of family-based studies in the identification of new etiological mechanisms and reveals, for the first time, a direct influence of the maternal genotype on the offspring's susceptibility to a common human disease.
Author(s): Esparza-Gordillo J, Matanovic A, Marenholz I, Bauerfeind A, Rohde K, Nemat K, Lee-Kirsch MA, Nordenskjold M, Winge MCG, Keil T, Kruger R, Lau S, Beyer K, Kalb B, Niggemann B, Hubner N, Cordell HJ, Bradley M, Lee YA
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: PLoS Genetics
Year: 2015
Volume: 11
Issue: 3
Online publication date: 10/03/2015
Acceptance date: 16/02/2015
Date deposited: 03/07/2015
ISSN (print): 1553-7390
ISSN (electronic): 1553-7404
Publisher: Public Library of Science
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1005076
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1005076
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