Genetic Regulation of Pigment Epithelium-Derived Factor (PEDF): An Exome-Chip Association Analysis in Chinese Subjects With Type 2 Diabetes

Abstract

Elevated circulating levels of pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) have been reported in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and its associated microvascular complications. This study aimed to 1) identify the genetic determinants influencing circulating PEDF levels in a clinical setting of T2D, 2) examine the relationship between circulating PEDF and diabetes complications, and 3) explore the causal relationship between PEDF and diabetes complications. An exome-chip association study on circulating PEDF levels was conducted in 5,385 Chinese subjects with T2D. A meta-analysis of the association results of the discovery stage (n = 2,936) and replication stage (n = 2,449) was performed. The strongest association was detected at SERPINF1 (p.Met72Thr; P combined = 2.06 3 10 257 ; b [SE] 20.33 [0.02]). Two missense variants of SMYD4 (p.Arg131Ile; P combined = 7.56 3 10 225 ; b [SE] 0.21 [0.02]) and SERPINF2 (p.Arg33Trp; P combined = 8.22 3 10 210 ; b [SE] 20.15 [0.02]) showed novel associations at genome-wide significance. Elevated circulating PEDF levels were associated with increased risks of diabetic nephropathy and sightthreatening diabetic retinopathy. Mendelian randomization analysis showed suggestive evidence of a protective role of PEDF on sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy (P = 0.085). Our study provided new insights into the genetic regulation of PEDF and further support for its potential application as a biomarker for diabetic nephropathy and sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy. Further studies to explore the causal relationship of PEDF with diabetes complications are warranted. Pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) is a multifunctional glycoprotein that belongs to the serine protease inhibitor (serpin) superfamily (1). PEDF is widely distributed in multiple organs and tissues, such as kidney, eye, liver, lung, and adipose tissues (1,2). PEDF possesses diverse biological functions in different tissues, including antiangiogenesis, retina protection, anti-inflammation, antifibrosis, stem cell renewal, neurogenesis, and neuroprotection (1,3-5). Previous studies reported that circulating PEDF levels were significantly higher in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) than in subjects without diabetes (6). Serum PEDF in T2D patients was also shown to be elevated after treatment with metformin, an antihyperglycemia agent (7). On the other hand, it has been suggested that PEDF plays a protective role against

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Identification of four hub genes as promising biomarkers to evaluate the prognosis of ovarian cancer in silico

“…Mutations of this gene are also detected in osteogenesis imperfecta, type VI [39,40]. Individuals suffering from type II diabetes have increasing circulating level of PEDF, confirmed a strong association with this gene at genome-wide significance [41,42]. In cancerous diseases, SERPINF1 functions as a tumor suppressor in cervical cancer, which is downregulated by TXNDC5, resulting in stimulating cell migration, vasculogenic mimicry and angiogenesis [43].…”

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“…Cheung et al. performed an exome-chip association analysis in Chinese subjects with type 2 diabetes ( 46 ). They noticed elevated circulating pigment epithelium-derived factor levels were associated with increased risks of DN and sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy.…”

“…The transcriptomic signatures and the action of the drugs BRD-K04548931 and BRD-K41652870 on renal epithelium cell lines (HA1E) are shown in Supplementary Figure 3. (46). They noticed elevated circulating pigment epithelium-derived factor levels were associated with increased risks of DN and sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy.…”