RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 A broken network of susceptibility genes in the monocytes of Crohn’s disease patients
JF Life Science Alliance
JO Life Sci. Alliance
FD Life Science Alliance LLC
SP e202302394
DO 10.26508/lsa.202302394
VO 7
IS 9
A1 Liu, Hankui
A1 Guan, Liping
A1 Su, Xi
A1 Zhao, Lijian
A1 Shu, Qing
A1 Zhang, Jianguo
YR 2024
UL https://www.life-science-alliance.org/content/7/9/e202302394.abstract
AB Genome-wide association studies have identified over 200 genetic loci associated with inflammatory bowel disease; however, the mechanism of such a large amount of susceptibility genes remains uncertain. In this study, we integrated bioinformatics analysis and two independent single-cell transcriptome datasets to investigate the expression network of 232 susceptibility genes in Crohn’s disease (CD) patients and healthy controls. The study revealed that most of the susceptibility genes are specifically and strictly expressed in the monocytes of the human intestinal tract. The susceptibility genes established a network within the monocytes of health control. The robustness of a gene network may prevent disease onset that is influenced by the genetic and environmental alteration in the expression of susceptibility genes. In contrast, we showed a sparse network in pediatric/adult CD patients, suggesting the broken network contributed to the CD etiology. The network status of susceptibility genes at the single-cell level of monocytes provided novel insight into the etiology.