Humans and dogs are both affected by the allergic skin disease atopic dermatitis (AD), caused by an interaction between genetic and environmental factors. The German shepherd dog (GSD) is a high-risk breed for canine AD (CAD). In this study, we used a Swedish cohort of GSDs as a model for human AD. Serum IgA levels are known to be lower in GSDs compared to other breeds. We detected significantly lower IgA levels in the CAD cases compared to controls (p = 1.1×10 −5 ) in our study population. We also detected a separation within the GSD cohort, where dogs could be grouped into two different subpopulations. Disease prevalence differed significantly between the subpopulations contributing to population stratification (λ = 1.3), which was successfully corrected for using a mixed model approach. A genome-wide association analysis of CAD was performed ( n cases = 91, n controls = 88). IgA levels were included in the model, due to the high correlation between CAD and low IgA levels. In addition, we detected a correlation between IgA levels and the age at the time of sampling (corr = 0.42, p = 3.0×10 −9 ), thus age was included in the model. A genome-wide significant association was detected on chromosome 27 (p raw = 3.1×10 −7 , p genome = 0.03). The total associated region was defined as a ∼1.5-Mb-long haplotype including eight genes. Through targeted re-sequencing and additional genotyping of a subset of identified SNPs, we defined 11 smaller haplotype blocks within the associated region. Two blocks showed the strongest association to CAD. The ∼209-kb region, defined by the two blocks, harbors only the PKP2 gene, encoding Plakophilin 2 expressed in the desmosomes and important for skin structure. Our results may yield further insight into the genetics behind both canine and human AD. Author Summary Humans and dogs are both affected by the allergic skin disease atopic dermatitis (AD), caused by an interaction between genetic and environmental factors. The German shepherd dog (GSD) is a high-risk breed for canine AD (CAD), also affected by low serum IgA levels. A Swedish cohort of GSDs was used as a model for human AD in this study. We performed a genome-wide association analysis where a region associated with CAD was identified. IgA levels were included in the model due to strong correlation with CAD. Also, age at sampling was included in the model due to correlation with IgA levels. The associated region, consisting of eight genes, was further fine-mapped with sequencing and additional genotyping. Haplotype association analysis from the fine-mapping data indicates association of the gene, plakophilin 2 ( PKP2 ), known to be important for skin structure. We detected a division of the GSD breed into two subpopulations where one is more prone to develop CAD and to have lower serum IgA levels compared with the other. Here, we present methods for performing genome-wide association analyses when the study population is complex and when the trait is affected by additional parameters. The PKP2 gene found within the associated region became an interesting target for further study of its importance both in canine and human AD.
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