Genetic variation in the SLC8A1 calcium signaling pathway is associated with susceptibility to Kawasaki disease and coronary artery abnormalities

BACKGROUND: -Kawasaki disease (KD) is an acute pediatric vasculitis in which host genetics influence both susceptibility to KD and the formation of coronary artery aneurysms. Variants discovered by genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and linkage studies only partially explain the influence of genetics on KD susceptibility. METHODS AND RESULTS: -To search for additional functional genetic variation, we performed pathway and gene stability analysis on a GWAS dataset. Pathway analysis using European GWAS data identified 100 significantly associated pathways (p< 5 ×10(-4)). Gene stability selection identified 116 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 26 genes that were responsible for driving the pathway associations and gene ontology analysis demonstrated enrichment for calcium transport (p=1.05 ×10(-4)). Three SNPs in solute carrier family 8 member 1 (SLC8A1), a sodium/calcium exchanger encoding NCX1, were validated in an independent Japanese GWAS dataset (metaanalysis p=0.0001). Patients homozygous for the A (risk) allele of rs13017968 had higher rates of coronary artery abnormalities (p=0.029). NCX1, the protein encoded by SLC8A1, was expressed in spindle-shaped and inflammatory cells in the aneurysm wall. Increased intracellular calcium mobilization was observed in B cell lines from healthy controls carrying the risk allele. CONCLUSIONS: -Pathway-based association analysis followed by gene stability selection proved to be a valuable tool for identifying risk alleles in a rare disease with complex genetics. The role of SLC8A1 polymorphisms in altering calcium flux in cells that mediate coronary artery damage in KD suggests that this pathway may be a therapeutic target and supports the study of calcineurin inhibitors in acute KD