Genetic architecture of the inflammatory bowel diseases across East Asian and European ancestries

Nat Genet. 2023 May;55(5):796-806. doi: 10.1038/s41588-023-01384-0. Epub 2023 May 8.

Abstract

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) are chronic disorders of the gastrointestinal tract with the following two subtypes: Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). To date, most IBD genetic associations were derived from individuals of European (EUR) ancestries. Here we report the largest IBD study of individuals of East Asian (EAS) ancestries, including 14,393 cases and 15,456 controls. We found 80 IBD loci in EAS alone and 320 when meta-analyzed with ~370,000 EUR individuals (~30,000 cases), among which 81 are new. EAS-enriched coding variants implicate many new IBD genes, including ADAP1 and GIT2. Although IBD genetic effects are generally consistent across ancestries, genetics underlying CD appears more ancestry dependent than UC, driven by allele frequency (NOD2) and effect (TNFSF15). We extended the IBD polygenic risk score (PRS) by incorporating both ancestries, greatly improving its accuracy and highlighting the importance of diversity for the equitable deployment of PRS.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Colitis, Ulcerative* / genetics
  • Crohn Disease* / genetics
  • East Asian People
  • European People
  • Genetic Predisposition to Disease
  • Genome-Wide Association Study
  • Humans
  • Inflammatory Bowel Diseases* / genetics
  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / genetics
  • Tumor Necrosis Factor Ligand Superfamily Member 15 / genetics

Substances

  • ADAP1 protein, human
  • GIT2 protein, human
  • NOD2 protein, human
  • TNFSF15 protein, human
  • Tumor Necrosis Factor Ligand Superfamily Member 15