Identifying COPD subtypes using multi-trait genetics

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) has a simple physiological diagnostic criterion but a wide range of clinical characteristics. The mechanisms underlying this variability in COPD phenotypes are unclear. To investigate the potential contribution of genetic variants to phenotypic heterogeneity, we examined the association of genome-wide associated lung function, COPD, and asthma variants with other phenotypes using phenome-wide association results derived in the UK Biobank. Our clustering analysis of the variants-phenotypes association matrix identified three clusters of genetic variants with different effects on white blood cell counts, height, and body mass index (BMI). To assess the potential clinical and molecular effects of these groups of variants, we investigated the association between cluster-specific genetic risk scores and phenotypes in the COPDGene cohort. We observed differences in steroid use, BMI, lymphocyte counts, chronic bronchitis, and differential gene and protein expression across the three genetic risk scores. Our results suggest that multi-phenotype analysis of obstructive lung disease-related risk variants may identify genetically driven phenotypic patterns in COPD.