TRIBAL overexpression in HepG2 cells

Objective - The TRIB1 locus has been linked to hepatic triglyceride metabolism in mice and to plasma triglycerides and coronary artery disease (CAD) in humans. The lipid associated SNPs identified by genome-wide association studies (GWAS) are located ~ 30 kb downstream from TRIB1 suggesting complex regulatory effects on genes or pathways relevant to hepatic triglyceride metabolism. The goal of this study was to investigate the functional relationship between common SNPs at the TRIB1 locus and plasma lipid traits. Methods & Results - Characterization of the risk locus reveals that it encompasses a gene, TRIB1 associated locus (TRIBAL) comprised of a well conserved promoter region and an alternatively spliced transcript. Bioinformatic analysis and re-sequencing identified a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), rs2001844, within the promoter region that associates with increased plasma triglycerides, reduced HDL-C and CAD risk. Furthermore, we show that rs2001844 is an expression trait locus (eQTL) for TRIB1 expression in blood and alters TRIBAL promoter activity in a reporter assay model. The TRIBAL transcript has features typical of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNA), including poor sequence conservation. Modulation of TRIBAL expression had limited impact on either TRIB1 or lipid regulatory genes mRNA levels in human hepatocyte models. In contrast, TRIB1 knockdown markedly increased TRIBAL expression in HepG2 cells and primary human hepatocytes. Conclusions - These studies demonstrate an interplay between a novel locus,TRIBAL, and TRIB1. TRIBAL is located in the GWAS identified risk locus, responds to altered expression of TRIB1, harbors a risk SNP that is an eQTL for TRIB1 expression and associates with plasma triglyceride concentrations. HepG2 hepatoma cells were stably infected with TRIBAL1 or no insert carrying lentiviruses