Pos0187 drug repurposing for treating lupus nephritis based on transcriptome profiling and autoimmunity-related serological markers

BackgroundLupus nephritis (LN) is one of the most severe organ manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and constitutes an important cause of morbidity and death among patients with SLE [1]. The associated renal injury, and ultimately damage, is the result of an immune-mediated process which involves leukocytes, immune complexes, complement and cytokines [2].ObjectivesLupus nephritis (LN) is one of the most severe organ manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and constitutes an important cause of morbidity and death among patients with SLE [1]. The associated renal injury, and ultimately damage, is the result of an immune-mediated process which involves leukocytes, immune complexes, complement and cytokines [2].MethodsWe analysed differentially expressed genes (DEGs), pathways and their druggability via the Drug Gene Interaction database (DGIdb) [3] in active LN (n=41) versus healthy controls (HC; n=497), and eQTLs in active or past LN (n=87), based on validated (identified in two independent SLE populations) DEGs in SLE (n=350) vs HC (n=497), in whole blood collected within the frame of the European PRECISESADS consortium [4]. Genome-wide RNA-sequencing and genotyping was previously performed by Illumina assays, and serum levels of 17 cytokines and 18 autoantibodies were analysed using a Luminex assay, ELISA, IDS-iSYS and SPAPLUS analyser [4].ResultsA total of 6 869 significant and validated DEGs were identified in active LN patients compared with HC. Of these, 1010 validated DEGs were tagged to 34 KEGG pathways including 24 DEGs with a |fold change (FC)| > 1.5, genes of 18 cis-eQTLs and 3 trans-eQTLs, and 1 gene from cytokines that differed significantly between active LN and HC. Moreover, 2446 validated DEGs were tagged to 216 Reactome pathways included 85 DEGs with a |FC| > 1.5, genes of 21 cis-eQTLs and 5 trans-eQTLs, and 1 gene from cytokines that differed significantly between active LN and HC. These genes could be targeted by 203 different drugs, with the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib interfering with cathepsin B (CTSB) regulation and cyclophosphamide interfering with the regulation of tumour necrosis factor receptor superfamily member 1A (TNFRSF1A) being of particular interest.ConclusionIntegrated multilevel omics analysis in LN revealed a set of enriched pathways of potential interest for future drug investigation. A prospect for proteasome inhibition was implicated.References[1]Croca SC, Rodrigues T, Isenberg DA. Assessment of a lupus nephritis cohort over a 30-year period. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2011 Aug; 50(8):1424-1430.[2]Anders HJ, Saxena R, Zhao MH, Parodis I, Salmon JE, Mohan C. Lupus nephritis. Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2020 Jan 23; 6(1):7.[3]Wagner AH, Coffman AC, Ainscough BJ, Spies NC, Skidmore ZL, Campbell KM, et al. DGIdb 2.0: mining clinically relevant drug-gene interactions. Nucleic Acids Res. 2016 Jan 4; 44(D1):D1036-1044.[4]Barturen G, Babaei S, Català-Moll F, Martínez-Bueno M, Makowska Z, Martorell-Marugán J, et al. Integrative Analysis Reveals a Molecular Stratification of Systemic Autoimmune Diseases. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2021 Jun; 73(6):1073-1085.[5]Kanehisa M, Furumichi M, Tanabe M, Sato Y, Morishima K. KEGG: new perspectives on genomes, pathways, diseases and drugs. Nucleic Acids Res. 2017 Jan 4; 45(D1):D353-d361.[6]Jassal B, Matthews L, Viteri G, Gong C, Lorente P, Fabregat A, et al. The reactome pathway knowledgebase. Nucleic Acids Res. 2020 Jan 8; 48(D1):D498-d503.AcknowledgementsThe PRECISESADS Clinical ConsortiumDisclosure of InterestsNone declared