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. 2023 Sep 21:14:1240517.
doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1240517. eCollection 2023.

Potential drug targets for asthma identified in the plasma and brain through Mendelian randomization analysis

Yuting Wang  1 , Jiaxi Wang  1 , Zhanfeng Yan  2 , Siming Liu  2 , Wenlong Xu  2
Affiliations

Potential drug targets for asthma identified in the plasma and brain through Mendelian randomization analysis

Yuting Wang et al. Front Immunol. .

Abstract

Background: Asthma is a heterogeneous disease, and the involvement of neurogenic inflammation is crucial in its development. The standardized treatments focus on alleviating symptoms. Despite the availability of medications for asthma, they have proven to be inadequate in controlling relapses and halting the progression of the disease. Therefore, there is a need for novel drug targets to prevent asthma.

Methods: We utilized Mendelian randomization to investigate potential drug targets for asthma. We analyzed summary statistics from the UK Biobank and then replicated our findings in GWAS data by Demenais et al. and the FinnGen cohort. We obtained genetic instruments for 734 plasma and 73 brain proteins from recently reported GWAS. Next, we utilized reverse causal relationship analysis, Bayesian co-localization, and phenotype scanning as part of our sensitivity analysis. Furthermore, we performed a comparison and protein-protein interaction analysis to identify causal proteins. We also analyzed the possible consequences of our discoveries by the given existing asthma drugs and their targets.

Results: Using Mendelian randomization analysis, we identified five protein-asthma pairs that were significant at the Bonferroni level (P < 6.35 × 10-5). Specifically, in plasma, we found that an increase of one standard deviation in IL1R1 and ECM1 was associated with an increased risk of asthma, while an increase in ADAM19 was found to be protective. The corresponding odds ratios were 1.03 (95% CI, 1.02-1.04), 1.00 (95% CI, 1.00-1.01), and 0.99 (95% CI, 0.98-0.99), respectively. In the brain, per 10-fold increase in ECM1 (OR, 1.05; 95% CI, 1.03-1.08) and PDLIM4 (OR, 1.05; 95% CI, 1.04-1.07) increased the risk of asthma. Bayesian co-localization found that ECM1 in the plasma (coloc.abf-PPH4 = 0.965) and in the brain (coloc.abf-PPH4 = 0.931) shared the same mutation with asthma. The target proteins of current asthma medications were found to interact with IL1R1. IL1R1 and PDLIM4 were validated in two replication cohorts.

Conclusion: Our integrative analysis revealed that asthma risk is causally affected by the levels of IL1R1, ECM1, and PDLIM4. The results suggest that these three proteins have the potential to be used as drug targets for asthma, and further investigation through clinical trials is needed.

Keywords: Mendelian randomization; asthma; drug target; neurogenic inflammation; protein quantitative trait loci.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Study design for the identification of plasma and brain proteins causally associated with asthma.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mendelian randomization (MR) results for plasma and brain proteins and the risk of asthma. Volcano plots of the MR results for (A) 734 plasma and (B) 73 brain proteins on the risk of asthma. (A, B) MR analysis with Wald ratio or inverse variance weighted method on plasma and brain proteins on the risk of asthma, respectively. The ORs for increased risk of asthma were expressed as per SD increase in plasma protein levels and per 10-fold increase in brain protein levels. The dashed horizontal black line corresponded to P = 6.35 × 10−5 (0.05/788). Ln, natural logarithm; PVE, proportion of variance explained.
Figure 3
Figure 3
External validation of the causal relationship between five potential causal proteins and asthma. The ORs for increased risk of asthma were expressed as per SD increase in plasma protein levels and per 10-fold increase in brain protein levels.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Analysis of the potential drug target IL1R1, the IL1R1 interaction protein ICAM1, and medications.
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This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81904261) and the Fundamental Research Funds for Beijing University of Chinese Medicine (2021-BUCMXJKY010).