Abstract
It is hypothesised that peripheral immune states responding to regional environmental triggers contribute to central neurodegeneration. Region-specific genetic selection pressures require this hypothesis to be assessed in an ancestry specific manner. Here we utilise genome-wide association studies and expression quantitative trait loci from African, East Asian and European ancestries to show that genes causing neurodegeneration are preferentially expressed in innate rather than adaptive immune cells, and that expression of these genes mediates the risk of neurodegenerative disease in monocytes in an ancestry-specific manner.
Competing Interest Statement
RHR is currently employed by CoSyne Therapeutics (Lead Computational Biologist). All work performed for this publication was performed in her own time, and not as a part of her duties as an employee.