Identification of Potential targets for Stroke and Its Subtypes by Integrating Proteomes and Genetics from Human Plasma

BackgroundPrevious genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified several risk genes for stroke; however, it remains unclear how they confer risk for the disease. We conducted an integrative analysis to identify candidate genes for stroke and stroke subtypes by integrating blood-derived multi-omics data with genetic data. MethodWe systematically integrated the latest stroke GWAS database (73,652 patients and 1,234,808 controls) with human plasma proteomes (N=7,213) and performed proteome-wide association studies (PWAS), Mendelian randomization (MR), Bayesian colocalization analysis, and transcriptome-wide association study (TWAS) to prioritize genes that associate the risk of stroke and its subtypes with their expression and protein abundance in plasma. Cell-type specificity and functional enrichment analysis using single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and Gene Ontology (GO) databases were then performed to select target genes. A two-step MR analysis was followed to explore the potential mechanisms. ResultsWe found that the protein abundance of seven genes (MMP12, F11, SH3BGRL3, ENGASE, SCARA5, SWAP70, and SPATA20) in the plasma was associated with stroke and its subtypes, with six genes (MMP12, F11, SH3BGRL3, SCARA5, SWAP70, and SPATA20) causally related with stroke and its subtypes (P < 0.05/proteins identified for PWAS; P < 0.05/8 for MR; posterior probability of hypothesis 4 [&ge;] 75 % for Bayesian colocalization). The effect of F11, SH3BGRL, SPATA20, and SWAP70 on each subtype was mediated by Factor XI inhibitors (FXI), atrial fibrillation, T2D, and SBP respectively (p<0.05). We also found that SCARA5 and SWAP70 were related to stroke and ischemic stroke at the transcriptome level. ConclusionsOur present proteomic findings have identified new causal genes in the pathogenesis of stroke, which may offer potential future therapeutic targets for stroke prevention.