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Background Cardiometabolic diseases are highly comorbid, but their relationship with female‐specific or overwhelmingly female‐predominant health conditions (breast cancer, endometriosis, pregnancy complications) is understudied. This study aimed to estimate the cross‐trait genetic overlap and influence of genetic burden of cardiometabolic traits on health conditions unique to women. Methods and Results Using electronic health record data from 71 008 ancestrally diverse women, we examined relationships between 23 obstetrical/gynecological conditions and 4 cardiometabolic phenotypes (body mass index, coronary artery disease, type 2 diabetes, and hypertension) by performing 4 analyses: (1) cross‐trait genetic correlation analyses to compare genetic architecture, (2) polygenic risk score–based association tests to characterize shared genetic effects on disease risk, (3) Mendelian randomization for significant associations to assess cross‐trait causal relationships, and (4) chronology analyses to visualize the timeline of events unique to groups of women with high and low genetic burden for cardiometabolic traits and highlight the disease prevalence in risk groups by age. We observed 27 significant associations between cardiometabolic polygenic scores and obstetrical/gynecological conditions (body mass index and endometrial cancer, body mass index and polycystic ovarian syndrome, type 2 diabetes and gestational diabetes, type 2 diabetes and polycystic ovarian syndrome). Mendelian randomization analysis provided additional evidence of independent causal effects. We also identified an inverse association between coronary artery disease and breast cancer. High cardiometabolic polygenic scores were associated with early development of polycystic ovarian syndrome and gestational hypertension. Conclusions We conclude that polygenic susceptibility to cardiometabolic traits is associated with elevated risk of certain female‐specific health conditions.

Exome sequencing in hundreds of thousands of persons may enable the identification of rare protein-coding genetic variants associated with protection from human diseases like liver cirrhosis, providing a strategy for the discovery of new therapeutic targets.We performed a multistage exome sequencing and genetic association analysis to identify genes in which rare protein-coding variants were associated with liver phenotypes. We conducted in vitro experiments to further characterize associations.The multistage analysis involved 542,904 persons with available data on liver aminotransferase levels, 24,944 patients with various types of liver disease, and 490,636 controls without liver disease. We found that rare coding variants inRare germline mutations in

Introduction Obesity accounts for a substantial and growing burden of disease globally. Body adiposity is highly heritable, and human genetic studies can lead to biological and therapeutic insights. Rationale Whole-exome sequencing of hundreds of thousands of individuals is complementary to approaches used to date in obesity genetics and has the potential to identify rare protein-coding variants with large phenotypic impact. We sequenced the exomes of 645,626 individuals from the UK, the US, and Mexico and estimated associations of rare coding variants with body mass index (BMI), a measure of overall adiposity used to define obesity in clinical practice. We complemented exome sequencing with fine-mapping of common alleles, polygenic score analysis, and in vitro and in vivo modeling work. Results We identified 16 genes for which the burden of rare nonsynonymous variants was associated with BMI at exome-wide statistical significance (inverse-variance weighted meta-analysis P < 3.6 × 10−7), including associations at five brain-expressed G protein–coupled receptors (CALCR, MC4R, GIPR, GPR151, and GPR75). We observed an overrepresentation of genes highly expressed in the hypothalamus, a key center for the neuroendocrine regulation of energy balance. Protein-truncating variants in GPR75 were found in ~4/10,000 sequenced people and were associated with 1.8 kg/m2 lower BMI, 5.3 kg lower bodyweight, and 54% lower odds of obesity in heterozygous carriers. Knock out of Gpr75 in mice resulted in resistance to weight gain in a high-fat diet model, which was allele-dose dependent (25% and 44% lower weight gain, respectively, for heterozygous Gpr75−/+ mice and knockout Gpr75−/− mice compared with wild type) and accompanied by improved glycemic control and insulin sensitivity. Protein-truncating variants in CALCR were associated with higher BMI and obesity risk, whereas protein-truncating variants in GIPR and two missense alleles [Arg190→Gln (Arg190Gln), Glu288Gly], which we show result in loss of function in vitro, were associated with lower adiposity. Among monogenic obesity genes in the leptin-melanocortin pathway, heterozygous predicted loss-of-function variants in LEP, POMC, PCSK1, and MC4R (but not LEPR) were associated with higher BMI. Rare protein-truncating variants in UBR2, ANO4, and PCSK1 were associated with more than twofold higher odds of obesity in heterozygous carriers, similar to predicted-deleterious nonsynonymous variants in MC4R, which are considered the most common cause of monogenic obesity. Polygenic predisposition due to >2 million common genetic variants influenced the penetrance of obesity in rare variant carriers in an additive fashion. Conclusion These results suggest that inhibition of GPR75 may be a therapeutic strategy for obesity and illustrate the power of massive-scale exome sequencing for the identification of large-effect coding variant associations and drug targets for complex traits.

The engineering of conditional alleles has evolved from simple floxing of regions of genes to more elaborate methods. Previously, we developed Conditional by Inversion (COIN), an allele design that utilizes an exon-splitting intron and an invertible genetrap-like module (COIN module) to create null alleles upon Cre-mediated inversion. Here we build upon COINs by generating a new Multifunctional Allele (MFA), that utilizes a single gene-targeting step and three site-specific recombination systems, to generate four allelic states: 1. The initial MFA (generated upon targeting) functions as a null with reporter (plus drug selection cassette) allele, wherein the gene of interest is inactivated by both inversion of a critical region of its coding sequence and simultaneous insertion of a reporter gene. MFAs can also be used as 'reverse-conditional' alleles as they are functionally wild type when they are converted to COIN alleles. 2. Null with reporter (minus drug selection cassette), wherein the selection cassette, the inverted critical region, and the COIN module are removed. 3. COIN-based conditional-null via removal of the selection cassette and reporter and simultaneous re-inversion of the critical region of the target. 4. Inverted COIN allele, wherein the COIN allele in turn is reconverted to a null allele by taking advantage of the COIN module's gene trap while simultaneously deleting the critical region.

We previously showed that Nuclear Factor kappaB (NF-kappaB) inactivation in astrocytes leads to improved functional recovery following spinal cord injury (SCI). This correlated with reduced expression of pro-inflammatory mediators and chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans, and increased white matter preservation. Hence we hypothesized that inactivation of astrocytic NF-kappaB would create a more permissive environment for axonal sprouting and regeneration. We induced both contusive and complete transection SCI in GFAP-Inhibitor of kappaB-dominant negative (GFAP-IkappaBalpha-dn) and wild-type (WT) mice and performed retrograde [fluorogold (FG)] and anterograde [biotinylated dextran amine (BDA)] tracing 8 weeks after injury. Following contusive SCI, more FG-labeled cells were found in motor cortex, reticular formation, and raphe nuclei of transgenic mice. Spared and sprouting BDA-positive corticospinal axons were found caudal to the lesion in GFAP-IkappaBalpha-dn mice. Higher numbers of FG-labeled neurons were detected immediately rostral to the lesion in GFAP-IkappaBalpha-dn mice, accompanied by increased expression of synaptic and axonal growth-associated molecules. After transection, however, no FG-labeled neurons or BDA-filled axons were found rostral and caudal to the lesion, respectively, in either genotype. These data demonstrated that inhibiting astroglial NF-kappaB resulted in a growth-supporting terrain promoting sparing and sprouting, rather than regeneration, of supraspinal and propriospinal circuitries essential for locomotion, hence contributing to the improved functional recovery observed after SCI in GFAP-IkappaBalpha-dn mice.

In the CNS, the transcription factor NF-κB is a key regulator of inflammation and secondary injury processes. Following trauma or disease, the expression of NF-κB-dependent genes is activated, leading to both protective and detrimental effects. In this study, we show that transgenic inactivation of astroglial NF-κB (glial fibrillary acidic protein-IκBα-dominant-negative mice) resulted in reduced disease severity and improved functional recovery following experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. At the chronic stage of the disease, transgenic mice exhibited an overall higher presence of leukocytes in spinal cord and brain, and a markedly higher percentage of CD8+CD122+ T regulatory cells compared with wild type, which correlated with the timing of clinical recovery. We also observed that expression of proinflammatory genes in both spinal cord and cerebellum was delayed and reduced, whereas the loss of neuronal-specific molecules essential for synaptic transmission was limited compared with wild-type mice. Furthermore, death of retinal ganglion cells in affected retinas was almost abolished, suggesting the activation of neuroprotective mechanisms. Our data indicate that inhibiting NF-κB in astrocytes results in neuroprotective effects following experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, directly implicating astrocytes in the pathophysiology of this disease.

Conditional mutagenesis is becoming a method of choice for studying gene function, but constructing conditional alleles is often laborious, limited by target gene structure, and at times, prone to incomplete conditional ablation. To address these issues, we developed a technology termed conditionals by inversion (COIN). Before activation, COINs contain an inverted module (COIN module) that lies inertly within the antisense strand of a resident gene. When inverted into the sense strand by a site-specific recombinase, the COIN module causes termination of the target gene’s transcription and simultaneously provides a reporter for tracking this event. COIN modules can be inserted into natural introns (intronic COINs) or directly into coding exons as part of an artificial intron (exonic COINs), greatly simplifying allele design and increasing flexibility over previous conditional KO approaches. Detailed analysis of over 20 COIN alleles establishes the reliability of the method and its broad applicability to any gene, regardless of exon–intron structure. Our extensive testing provides rules that help ensure success of this approach and also explains why other currently available conditional approaches often fail to function optimally. Finally, the ability to split exons using the COIN’s artificial intron opens up engineering modalities for the generation of multifunctional alleles.