Integrative TWAS and multi-omics analyses prioritize HSPE1 as a candidate risk gene for bipolar disorder with immune cell-specific regulatory evidence.

BACKGROUND

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a severe psychiatric disorder associated with substantial disability. Although genome-wide association studies have identified multiple BD-associated loci, the underlying genes and mechanisms remain incompletely understood.

METHODS

We integrated a European-ancestry BD genome-wide association dataset with cross-tissue and tissue-specific transcriptome-wide association studies (TWAS) and complementary gene-based analysis. Candidate genes were further evaluated using differential expression analysis, consensus clustering, immune infiltration analysis, machine learning, summary-data-based Mendelian randomization, Mendelian randomization using single-cell expression quantitative trait locus data, single-nucleus transcriptomics, phenome-wide association analysis, and virtual screening.

RESULTS

The integrative analyses prioritized 37 candidate genes. Peripheral-blood differential-expression analysis identified 14 genes that remained significant after FDR correction, and their expression profiles separated BD samples into two expression-defined clusters. Machine-learning analysis selected UNC50, LMAN2L, LYG2, HSPE1, and KANSL3 for an exploratory classification nomogram. SMR associated genetically predicted higher HSPE1 expression with increased BD risk in two blood eQTL datasets. Cell-type-specific analyses indicated HSPE1-related associations in T-cell and natural killer cell subsets, while single-nucleus analysis descriptively showed higher HSPE1 expression in medial thalamic T cells from BD samples. PheWAS identified no genome-wide significant associations for HSPE1, whereas virtual screening identified candidate compounds with favorable predicted docking scores against the HSPE1 structure.

CONCLUSION

This integrative multi-omics study identified HSPE1 as a candidate BD risk gene with immune-cell-related regulatory evidence, providing insight into BD pathogenesis and supporting functional validation.