Expression quantitative trait loci analysis using human immune cells in a Japanese population

Recent evidence suggests that a substantial portion of complex disease risk alleles modify gene expression in a cell-specific manner. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that cell-specific expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) analysis can identify the candidate causal mechanisms of complex diseases (an eQTL is a variant whose polymorphism affects gene expression). We fractionated peripheral blood from 105 healthy Japanese volunteers into five major immune cell subsets (CD4⁺ T cells, CD8⁺ T cells, B cells, NK cells, and monocytes). We quantified gene and exon expression by RNA sequencing, and tested associations with neighboring common variants (MAF ? 0.05).

• Type: Expression quantitative trait loci analysis
• Archiver: Japanese Genotype-phenotype Archive (JGA)