Identification of Genetic Variants Regulating the Abundance of Clinically Relevant Plasma Proteins using the Diversity Outbred Mouse Model

Abstract Background: Levels of plasma proteins are under control of environmental and genetic factors. To use plasma proteins in biomarker studies, we need to understand how genetic modifiers influence their abundance. Although there has been expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) studies on a few limited numbers of proteins, the effect of genetic variants on the levels of multiple plasma proteins still warrants more systematic investigation.Results: To identify genetic modifiers that influence the levels of clinically relevant plasma proteins, we performed protein quantitative trait locus (pQTL) mapping on the 92 proteins present in the Olink Mouse Exploratory Panel using the Diversity Outbred (DO) mouse population. We identified 12 significant pQTL that were located in cis and 6 that were in trans. Among them, we discovered that the presence of coding variants in the gene encoding for the Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor (Ahr) had a significant effect on its abundance in plasma. Most interestingly, we identified variants in the Regulatory Factor X1 (Rfx1) gene that influence the abundance of the IL-17A protein in plasma.Conclusion: Our study reports an innovative pipeline for the identification of genetic modifiers that may be targeted for drug development.