Tissue-specific regulatory circuits reveal variable modular perturbations across complex diseases

摘要

Mapping the molecular circuits that are perturbed by genetic variants underlying complex traits and diseases remains a great challenge. We present a comprehensive resource of 394 cell type and tissue-specific gene regulatory networks for human, each specifying the genome-wide connectivity between transcription factors, enhancers, promoters and genes. Integration with 37 genome-wide association studies (GWASs) shows that disease-associated genetic variants — including variants that do not reach genome-wide significance — often perturb regulatory modules that are highly specific to disease-relevant cell types or tissues. Our resource opens the door to systematic analysis of regulatory programs across hundreds of human cell types and tissues.