Charlotte Kreucher
Research Mentor: Matthew Patrick
Mentor Department: Department of Dermatology, Medicine
Author(s): Charlotte Kreucher, Matthew Patrick
Session: Session 3 (11:00 AM – 11:50 AM)
Presentation Type: Poster 122
Abstract
Psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) are closely related autoimmune diseases, but differ in their manifestations and impact. Psoriasis is a condition causing red, scaly, itchy patches on the skin. PsA leads to joint pain, stiffness, and swelling. These conditions affect millions of people in the United States alone. In this project, I conducted a series of two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses to examine associations between psoriasis, PsA, and other diseases. Using the TwoSampleMR package in R, I performed MR analyses leveraging large-scale genetic data from multiple Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS). I tested the exposures psoriasis and PsA against thousands of traits included in the GWAS database. In addition, I performed complementary reverse analyses using traits in the database as exposures and psoriasis and PsA as outcomes. I examined traits with low p-values, with particular emphasis on associations that differed between psoriasis and PsA. The analysis identified several traits heavily associated with PsA, but not with psoriasis. These PsA-specific associations included Thyroid disease, Ankylosing spondylitis, and Complement C2. My findings demonstrate PsA has distinct trait-disease associations beyond those observed in psoriasis, when evaluated using Mendelian Randomization. By highlighting traits linked specifically to PsA, my research points to which areas and processes may be most important to study next, including disease biology, related health conditions, and possible treatment strategies.
