Identification of plasma proteomic markers underlying polygenic risk of type 2 diabetes and related comorbidities.

Douglas P Loesch; Manik Garg; Dorota Matelska; Dimitrios Vitsios; Xiao Jiang; Scott C Ritchie; Benjamin B Sun; Heiko Runz; Christopher D Whelan; Rury R Holman; Robert J Mentz; Filipe A Moura; Stephen D Wiviott; Marc S Sabatine; Miriam S Udler; Ingrid A Gause-Nilsson; Slavé Petrovski; Jan Oscarsson; Abhishek Nag; Dirk S Paul; Michael Inouye
Abstract
Genomics can provide insight into the etiology of type 2 diabetes and its comorbidities, but assigning functionality to non-coding variants remains challenging. Polygenic scores, which aggregate variant effects, can uncover mechanisms when paired with molecular data. Here, we test polygenic scores for type 2 diabetes and cardiometabolic comorbidities for associations with 2,922 circulating proteins in the UK Biobank. The genome-wide type 2 diabetes polygenic score associates with 617 proteins, of which 75% also associate with another cardiometabolic score. Partitioned type 2 diabetes scores, which capture distinct disease biology, associate with 342 proteins (20% unique). In this work, we identify key pathways (e.g., complement cascade), potential therapeutic targets (e.g., FAM3D in type 2 diabetes), and biomarkers of diabetic comorbidities (e.g., EFEMP1 and IGFBP2) through causal inference, pathway enrichment, and Cox regression of clinical trial outcomes. Our results are available via an interactive portal ( https://public.cgr.astrazeneca.com/t2d-pgs/v1/ ).
Journal NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
ISSN 2041-1723
Published 03 Mar 2025
Volume 16
Issue 1
Pages 2124
DOI 10.1038/s41467-025-56695-z
Type Journal Article
Sponsorship