BACKGROUND The narrow host range of Mycobacterium leprae and the fact that it is refractory to growth in culture has limited research on and the biologic understanding of leprosy. Host genetic factors are thought to influence susceptibility to infection as well as disease progression. METHODS We performed a two-stage genomewide association study by genotyping 706 patients and 1225 controls using the Human610-Quad BeadChip (Illumina). We then tested three independent replication sets for an association between the presence of leprosy and 93 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that were most strongly associated with the disease in the genomewide association study. Together, these replication sets comprised 3254 patients and 5955 controls. We also carried out tests of heterogeneity of the associations (or lack thereof) between these 93 SNPs and disease, stratified according to clinical subtype (multibacillary vs. paucibacillary). RESULTS We observed a significant association (P<1.00×10 −10) between SNPs in the genes CCDC122, C13orf31, NOD2, TNFSF15, HLA-DR, and RIPK2 and a trend toward an association (P = 5.10×10 −5) with a SNP in LRRK2. The associations between the SNPs in C13orf31, LRRK2, NOD2, and RIPK2 and multibacillary leprosy were stronger than the associations between these SNPs and paucibacillary leprosy. CONCLUSIONS Variants of genes in the NOD2-mediated signaling pathway (which regulates the innate immune response) are associated with susceptibility to infection with M. leprae.

We report the first large genome-wide association study (GWAS) in a Chinese population to identify susceptibility variants for psoriasis using a two-stage case-control design. In the first stage, we carried out a genome-wide association analysis in 1,139 cases and 1,132 controls of Chinese Han ancestry using Illumina Human 610-Quad BeadChips. In the second stage, we took top SNPs forward for replication in two independent samples of 5,182 cases and 6,516 controls of Chinese Han ancestry, and 539 cases and 824 controls of Chinese Uygur ancestry. In addition to the strong replication for two known susceptibility loci MHC (rs1265181, P = 1.93 x 10(-208), OR = 22.62) and IL12B (rs3213094, P(combined) = 2.58 x 10(-26), OR = 0.78), we identified a new susceptibility locus within the LCE gene cluster on 1q21 (rs4085613, P(combined) = 6.69 x 10(-30), OR = 0.76).

We extended our previous GWAS for psoriasis with a a multistage replication study including 8,312 cases and 12,919 controls from China as well as 3,293 cases, 4,188 controls from Germany and the USA, and 254 nuclear families from the USA. We identified 6 new susceptibility loci associated to psoriasis in Chinese, containing candidate genes ERAP1, PTTG1, CSMD1, GJB2, SERPINB8, ZNF816A (PCombined<5×10−8) and replicated one locus 5q33.1 (TNIP1/ANXA6) previously reported (PCombined=3.8×10−21) in European studies. Two of these loci showed evidence for association evidence in the German study, at ZNF816A and GJB2 with P=3.6×10−3 and P=7.9×10−3, respectively. ERAP1 and ZNF816A were preferentially associated with Type I (early onset) psoriasis in Chinese Han population (test for heterogeneity P=6.5×10−3 and P=1.5×10−3, respectively). Comparisons with previous GWAS of psoriasis highlight the heterogeneity of disease susceptibility between Chinese and European populations. Our study identifies new genetic susceptibility factors and suggests new biological pathways in psoriasis.

Acute leukemia characterized by chromosomal rearrangements requires additional molecular disruptions to develop into full-blown malignancy1,2, yet the cooperative mechanisms remain elusive. Using whole-genome sequencing of a pair of monozygotic twins discordant for MLL (also called KMT2A) gene-rearranged leukemia, we identified a transforming MLL-NRIP3 fusion gene3 and biallelic mutations in SETD2 (encoding a histone H3K36 methyltransferase)4. Moreover, loss-of-function point mutations in SETD2 were recurrent (6.2%) in 241 patients with acute leukemia and were associated with multiple major chromosomal aberrations. We observed a global loss of H3K36 trimethylation (H3K36me3) in leukemic blasts with mutations in SETD2. In the presence of a genetic lesion, downregulation of SETD2 contributed to both initiation and progression during leukemia development by promoting the self-renewal potential of leukemia stem cells. Therefore, our study provides compelling evidence for SETD2 as a new tumor suppressor. Disruption of the SETD2-H3K36me3 pathway is a distinct epigenetic mechanism for leukemia development.

To explore the contribution of functional coding variants to psoriasis, we analyzed nonsynonymous single-nucleotide variants (SNVs) across the genome by exome sequencing in 781 psoriasis cases and 676 controls and through follow-up validation in 1,326 candidate genes by targeted sequencing in 9,946 psoriasis cases and 9,906 controls from the Chinese population. We discovered two independent missense SNVs in IL23R and GJB2 of low frequency and five common missense SNVs in LCE3D, ERAP1, CARD14 and ZNF816A associated with psoriasis at genome-wide significance. Rare missense SNVs in FUT2 and TARBP1 were also observed with suggestive evidence of association. Single-variant and gene-based association analyses of nonsynonymous SNVs did not identify newly associated genes for psoriasis in the regions subjected to targeted resequencing. This suggests that coding variants in the 1,326 targeted genes contribute only a limited fraction of the overall genetic risk for psoriasis.

We conducted a genome-wide association study of generalized vitiligo in the Chinese Han population by genotyping 1,117 cases and 1,429 controls. The 34 most promising SNPs were carried forward for replication in samples from individuals of the Chinese Han (5,910 cases and 9,916 controls) and Chinese Uygur (713 cases and 824 controls) populations. We identified two independent association signals within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) region (rs11966200, Pcombined=1.48x10(-48), OR=1.90; rs9468925, Pcombined=2.21x10(-33), OR=0.74). Further analyses suggested that the strong association at rs11966200 might reflect the reported association of the HLA-A*3001, HLA-B*1302, HLA-C*0602 and HLA-DRB1*0701 alleles and that the association at rs9468925 might represent a previously unknown HLA susceptibility allele. We also identified one previously undescribed risk locus at 6q27 (rs2236313, Pcombined=9.72x10(-17), OR=1.20), which contains three genes: RNASET2, FGFR1OP and CCR6. Our study provides new insights into the genetic basis of vitiligo.

Highlights d GMPs are heterogeneous at the transcriptomic and proteomic level d An early committed neutrophil progenitor (proNeu1) exists within GMPs d proNeu1 gives rise to proNeu2, sequentially differentiating into mature neutrophil d proNeu1 specifically expands during emergency granulopoiesis

N 6 -methyladenosine (m 6 A) is a commonly present modification of mammalian mRNAs and plays key roles in various cellular processes. m 6 A modifiers catalyze this reversible modification. However, the underlying mechanisms by which these m 6 A modifiers are regulated remain elusive. Here we show that expression of m 6 A demethylase ALKBH5 is regulated by chromatin state alteration during leukemogenesis of human acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and ALKBH5 is required for maintaining leukemia stem cell (LSC) function but is dispensable for normal hematopoiesis. Mechanistically, KDM4C regulates ALKBH5 expression via increasing chromatin accessibility of ALKBH5 locus, by reducing H3K9me3 levels and promoting recruitment of MYB and Pol II. Moreover, ALKBH5 affects mRNA stability of receptor tyrosine kinase AXL in an m 6 Adependent way. Thus, our findings link chromatin state dynamics with expression regulation of m 6 A modifiers and uncover a selective and critical role of ALKBH5 in AML that might act as a therapeutic target of specific targeting LSCs.