The landscape of host genetic factors involved in immune response to common viral infections

Abstract

Background: Humans and viruses have co-evolved for millennia resulting in a complex host genetic architecture. Understanding the genetic mechanisms of immune response to viral infection provides insight into disease etiology and therapeutic opportunities. Methods: We conducted a comprehensive study including genome-wide and transcriptome-wide association analyses to identify genetic loci associated with immunoglobulin G antibody response to 28 antigens for 16 viruses using serological data from 7924 European ancestry participants in the UK Biobank cohort. Results: Signals in human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class II region dominated the landscape of viral antibody response, with 40 independent loci and 14 independent classical alleles, 7 of which exhibited pleiotropic effects across viral families. We identified specific amino acid (AA) residues that are associated with seroreactivity, the strongest associations presented in a range of AA positions within DRβ1 at positions 11, 13, 71, and 74 for Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), Varicella zoster virus (VZV), human herpesvirus 7, (HHV7), and Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCV). Genome-wide association analyses discovered 7 novel genetic loci outside the HLA associated with viral antibody response (P < 5.0 × 10−8), including FUT2 (19q13.33) for human polyomavirus BK (BKV), STING1 (5q31.2) for MCV, and CXCR5 (11q23.3) and TBKBP1 (17q21.32) for HHV7. Transcriptome-wide association analyses identified 114 genes associated with response to viral infection, 12 outside of the HLA region, including ECSCR: P = 5.0 × 10−15 (MCV), NTN5: P = 1.1 × 10−9 (BKV), and P2RY13: P = 1.1 × 10−8 EBV nuclear antigen. We also demonstrated pleiotropy between viral response genes and complex diseases, from autoimmune disorders to cancer to neurodegenerative and psychiatric conditions. Conclusions: Our study confirms the importance of the HLA region in host response to viral infection and elucidates novel genetic determinants beyond the HLA that contribute to host-virus interaction.