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Validation of prostate cancer risk variants rs10993994 and rs7098889 by CRISPR/Cas9 mediated genome editing

Wang, Xing ; Hayes, James E. ; Xu, Xing ; Gao, Xiaoni ; Mehta, Dipti ; Lilja, Hans G. LU orcid and Klein, Robert J. (2021) In Gene 768.
Abstract

GWAS have identified numerous SNPs associated with prostate cancer risk. One such SNP is rs10993994. It is located in the β-microseminoprotein (MSMB) promoter region, mediates MSMB prostate secretion levels, and is linked to mRNA expression changes in both MSMB and the adjacent gene NCOA4. In addition, our previous work showed a second SNP, rs7098889, is in positive linkage disequilibrium with rs10993994 and associated with MSMB expression independent of rs10993994. Here, we generate a series of clones with single alleles removed by double guide RNA (gRNA) mediated CRISPR/Cas9 deletions, through which we demonstrate that each of these SNPs independently and greatly alters MSMB expression in an allele-specific manner. We further show... (More)

GWAS have identified numerous SNPs associated with prostate cancer risk. One such SNP is rs10993994. It is located in the β-microseminoprotein (MSMB) promoter region, mediates MSMB prostate secretion levels, and is linked to mRNA expression changes in both MSMB and the adjacent gene NCOA4. In addition, our previous work showed a second SNP, rs7098889, is in positive linkage disequilibrium with rs10993994 and associated with MSMB expression independent of rs10993994. Here, we generate a series of clones with single alleles removed by double guide RNA (gRNA) mediated CRISPR/Cas9 deletions, through which we demonstrate that each of these SNPs independently and greatly alters MSMB expression in an allele-specific manner. We further show that these SNPs have no substantial effect on the expression of NCOA4. These data demonstrate that a single SNP can have a large effect on gene expression and illustrate the importance of functional validation studies to deconvolute observed correlations. The method we have developed is generally applicable to test any SNP for which a relevant heterozygous cell line is available. Author summary: In pursuing the underlying biological mechanism of prostate cancer pathogenesis, scientists utilized the existence of common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the human genome as genetic markers to perform large scale genome wide association studies (GWAS) and have so far identified more than a hundred prostate cancer risk variants. Such variants provide an unbiased and systematic new venue to study the disease mechanism, and the next big challenge is to translate these genetic associations to the causal role of altered gene function in oncogenesis. The majority of these variants are waiting to be studied and lots of them may act in oncogenesis through gene expression regulation. To prove the concept, we took rs10993994 and its linked rs7098889 as an example and engineered single cell clones by allelic-specific CRISPR/Cas9 deletion to separate the effect of each allele. We observed that a single nucleotide difference would lead to surprisingly high level of MSMB gene expression change in a gene specific and cell-type specific manner. Our study strongly supports the notion that differential level of gene expression caused by risk variants and their associated genetic locus play a major role in oncogenesis and also highlights the importance of studying the function of MSMB encoded β-MSP in prostate cancer pathogenesis.

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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Allelic imbalance in expression, CRISPR/Cas9, Enhancers, Prostate cancer, SNP
in
Gene
volume
768
article number
145265
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85095993901
  • pmid:33122083
ISSN
0378-1119
DOI
10.1016/j.gene.2020.145265
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
7a20499d-234d-4666-84fc-74b5728cdfc8
date added to LUP
2020-11-27 09:19:27
date last changed
2024-03-05 14:11:52
@article{7a20499d-234d-4666-84fc-74b5728cdfc8,
  abstract     = {{<p>GWAS have identified numerous SNPs associated with prostate cancer risk. One such SNP is rs10993994. It is located in the β-microseminoprotein (MSMB) promoter region, mediates MSMB prostate secretion levels, and is linked to mRNA expression changes in both MSMB and the adjacent gene NCOA4. In addition, our previous work showed a second SNP, rs7098889, is in positive linkage disequilibrium with rs10993994 and associated with MSMB expression independent of rs10993994. Here, we generate a series of clones with single alleles removed by double guide RNA (gRNA) mediated CRISPR/Cas9 deletions, through which we demonstrate that each of these SNPs independently and greatly alters MSMB expression in an allele-specific manner. We further show that these SNPs have no substantial effect on the expression of NCOA4. These data demonstrate that a single SNP can have a large effect on gene expression and illustrate the importance of functional validation studies to deconvolute observed correlations. The method we have developed is generally applicable to test any SNP for which a relevant heterozygous cell line is available. Author summary: In pursuing the underlying biological mechanism of prostate cancer pathogenesis, scientists utilized the existence of common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the human genome as genetic markers to perform large scale genome wide association studies (GWAS) and have so far identified more than a hundred prostate cancer risk variants. Such variants provide an unbiased and systematic new venue to study the disease mechanism, and the next big challenge is to translate these genetic associations to the causal role of altered gene function in oncogenesis. The majority of these variants are waiting to be studied and lots of them may act in oncogenesis through gene expression regulation. To prove the concept, we took rs10993994 and its linked rs7098889 as an example and engineered single cell clones by allelic-specific CRISPR/Cas9 deletion to separate the effect of each allele. We observed that a single nucleotide difference would lead to surprisingly high level of MSMB gene expression change in a gene specific and cell-type specific manner. Our study strongly supports the notion that differential level of gene expression caused by risk variants and their associated genetic locus play a major role in oncogenesis and also highlights the importance of studying the function of MSMB encoded β-MSP in prostate cancer pathogenesis.</p>}},
  author       = {{Wang, Xing and Hayes, James E. and Xu, Xing and Gao, Xiaoni and Mehta, Dipti and Lilja, Hans G. and Klein, Robert J.}},
  issn         = {{0378-1119}},
  keywords     = {{Allelic imbalance in expression; CRISPR/Cas9; Enhancers; Prostate cancer; SNP}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Gene}},
  title        = {{Validation of prostate cancer risk variants rs10993994 and rs7098889 by CRISPR/Cas9 mediated genome editing}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gene.2020.145265}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.gene.2020.145265}},
  volume       = {{768}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}