Cited by 21Alzheimer's disease research and treatmentsSingle-cell and spatial transcriptomicsGenomics and Chromatin Dynamics

Integrative single-nucleus multi-omics analysis prioritizes candidate cis and trans regulatory networks and their target genes in Alzheimer’s disease brains

Open access
Gamache, Julia, Gingerich, Daniel, Shwab, E. Keats, Barrera, Julio, Garrett, Melanie E., Hume, Cordelia, Crawford, Gregory E., Ashley-Koch, Allison E. +1 more·2023·Cell & Bioscience

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The genetic underpinnings of late-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD) are yet to be fully elucidated. Although numerous LOAD-associated loci have been discovered, the causal variants and their target genes remain largely unknown. Since the brain is composed of heterogenous cell subtypes, it is imperative to study the brain on a cell subtype specific level to explore the biological processes underlying LOAD. METHODS: Here, we present the largest parallel single-nucleus (sn) multi-omics study to simultaneously profile gene expression (snRNA-seq) and chromatin accessibility (snATAC-seq) to date, using nuclei from 12 normal and 12 LOAD brains. We identified cell subtype clusters based on gene expression and chromatin accessibility profiles and characterized cell subtype-specific LOAD-associated differentially expressed genes (DEGs), differentially accessible peaks (DAPs) and cis co-accessibility networks (CCANs). RESULTS: Integrative analysis defined disease-relevant CCANs in multiple cell subtypes and discovered LOAD-associated cell subtype-specific candidate cis regulatory elements (cCREs), their candidate target genes, and trans-interacting transcription factors (TFs), some of which, including ELK1, JUN, and SMAD4 in excitatory neurons, were also LOAD-DEGs. Finally, we focused on a subset of cell subtype-specific CCANs that overlap known LOAD-GWAS regions and catalogued putative functional SNPs changing the affinities of TF motifs within LOAD-cCREs linked to LOAD-DEGs, including APOE and MYO1E in a specific subtype of microglia and BIN1 in a subpopulation of oligodendrocytes. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, this study represents the most comprehensive systematic interrogation to date of regulatory networks and the impact of genetic variants on gene dysregulation in LOAD at a cell subtype resolution. Our findings reveal crosstalk between epigenetic, genomic, and transcriptomic determinants of LOAD pathogenesis and define catalogues of candidate genes, cCREs, and variants involved in LOAD genetic etiology and the cell subtypes in which they act to exert their pathogenic effects. Overall, these results suggest that cell subtype-specific cis-trans interactions between regulatory elements and TFs, and the genes dysregulated by these networks contribute to the development of LOAD.

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Crossref · 10.1186/s13578-023-01120-5

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  • Findings from the AMP-AD consortium originally attributed to immune-metabolic hubs were later found to reflect cell composition shifts rather than genuine regulatory networks.

    “For instance, findings from the Accelerating Medicines Partnership–Alzheimer's Disease (AMP-AD) consortium originally attributed to immune-metabolic hubs were later found to reflect cell composition shifts rather than genuine regulatory networks318,319.”

    From Artificial intelligence-driven multi-omics approaches in Alzheimer's disease: Progress, challenges, and future directions (2025) · cites this paper as [319]

    The Results section on cell-type characterization reports differences in cell-subtype proportions between Alzheimer’s and control samples, but does not connect them to AMP-AD immune-metabolic hubs. Searches for AMP-AD, immune-metabolic hubs, and a reinterpretation of regulatory networks found no passage making the claimed attribution. (LLM, conf=0.74)

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Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. [16]Kunkle BW Grenier-Boley B Sims R Bis JC Damotte V Naj AC Boland A Vronskaya M van der Lee SJ Amlie-Wolf A Genetic meta-analysis of diagnosed Alzheimer's disease identifies new risk loci and implicates Abeta, tau, immunity and lipid processing Nat Genet 2019 51 414 430 10.1038/s41588-019-0358-2 30820047 PMC6463297 · DOI · Paper page
  2. [73]Barrera J Song L Safi A Yun Y Garrett ME Gamache J Premasinghe I Sprague D Chipman D Li J Sex dependent glial-specific changes in the chromatin accessibility landscape in late-onset Alzheimer’s disease brains bioRxiv 2021 10.1101/2021.04.07.438835 PMC8383438 34429139 · DOI
  3. [110]Hafemeister C Satija R Normalization and variance stabilization of single-cell RNA-seq data using regularized negative binomial regression Genome Biol 2019 20 20 31870423 PMC6927181

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Authors
Gamache, J., Gingerich, D., Shwab, E. K., Barrera, J., Garrett, M. E., Hume, C., Crawford, G. E., Ashley-Koch, A. E., & Chiba-Falek, O.
Affiliations
Duke University (US)
Corresponding author
Crawford, Gregory E.
Venue
Cell & Bioscience
Published
2023-10-03
Volume
13
Issue
1
Pages
185-185
ISSN
2045-3701 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W4387312350
Cited by
20
References
131
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 6
FWCI
3.73
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Cell & Bioscience (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
National Institute on Aging (R01 AG057522, RF1 AG077695)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Alzheimer's disease research and treatments
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Single-cell and spatial transcriptomics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Genomics and Chromatin Dynamics
Keywords
late-onset Alzheimer's disease, single-nucleus multiomics, cis-regulatory elements, chromatin accessibility, excitatory neurons, microglia, oligodendrocytes, apolipoprotein E, MYO1E, BIN1, Elk-1, c-Jun, SMAD4, functional SNPs, transcription factor binding motifs

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