piRNA-eQTL

piRNA-eQTL evaluates the effects of genetic variants on PIWI-interacting RNA (piRNA) expression across 33 cancer types.

Key Features:

• Data collection and scope: Integrates genotyping and piRNA expression data from 10,997 samples across 33 cancer types sourced from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA).
• cis-eQTL mapping: Performs cis-eQTL analysis using linear regression with adjustment for relevant covariates.
• Results scale: Identifies SNP–piRNA pairs totaling 76,924,831 in tumor tissues and 24,431,061 in normal tissues.
• Functional analyses: Includes differential expression and survival analyses and integration with genome-wide association study (GWAS) data.

Scientific Applications:

• Cancer genetics: Enables investigation of how genetic variants influence piRNA expression across multiple cancer types.
• Tumorigenesis research: Supports studies linking cis-piRNA eQTLs to differential expression and patient survival outcomes.
• GWAS interpretation: Facilitates linking GWAS loci to piRNA expression changes to explore genetic risk factors for cancer.

Methodology:

cis-eQTL mapping was performed by linear regression with covariate adjustment on TCGA genotyping and piRNA expression data; differential expression and survival analyses were also conducted, yielding the reported SNP–piRNA pair counts in tumor and normal tissues.