PM20D1 is a quantitative trait locus associated with Alzheimer's disease

6 páginas, 3 figuras. En material suplementario 3 tablas, 7 figuras.The chances to develop Alzheimer’s disease (AD) result from a combination of genetic and non-genetic risk factors1, the latter likely mediated by epigenetic mechanisms2. In the past, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified an important number of risk loci associated with AD pathology3, but a causal relationship thereof remains difficult to establish. In contrast, locus-specific or epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS) have revealed site-specific epigenetic alterations and thereby provide mechanistic insights for a particular risk gene, but often lack the statistical power of GWAS4. Here, combining both approaches, we report a hitherto unidentified association of the Peptidase M20 domain-containing protein 1 (PM20D1) with AD. We find that PM20D1 is a methylation/expression quantitative trait locus (mQTL/eQTL) coupled to an AD-risk associated haplotype, which displays enhancer-like characteristics and contacts the PM20D1 promoter via a haplotype-dependent, CTCF-mediated chromatin loop. Furthermore, PM20D1 is increased following AD-related neurotoxic insults, at symptomatic stages in the APP/PS1 mouse model of AD and in human AD patients, who are carriers of the non-risk haplotype. Importantly, genetically increasing and decreasing the expression of PM20D1 reduces and aggravates AD-related pathologies, respectively. These findings suggest that in a particular genetic background, PM20D1 contributes to neuroprotection against AD.The work in the laboratory of J.G. is supported by the SYNAPSIS Foundation, the Béatrice Ederer-Weber Stiftung, the Floshield Foundation and the Alzheimer’s Association (grant no. NIRG-15-363964). The laboratory of D.M. is supported by the Foundation Jérôme Lejeune, Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Competitividad (grant no. BFU2014-53093). The laboratory of J.P.-T. is supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad and the FEDER programme from the EU (grant no. SAF2014-59469-R) and the CIBERNED. J.V.S.-M. is supported by a SYNAPSIS Foundation Fellowship for Advanced PostDocs and the Heidi Seiler-Stiftung foundation. H.H. is a Miguel Servet (CP14/00229) researcher funded by the Spanish Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII). B.A.S. is an EMBO long-term fellow (ALTF 1605-2014, Marie Curie Actions, LTFCOFUND2013, GA-2013-609409). A.M.-S. is a recipient of a FPI PhD studentship from MINECO. M.E. is an ICREA Research Professor. J.G. is an MQ fellow and a NARSAD Independent Investigator.Peer reviewe