Examination of non-brain traits found, as expected, associations with salient tissues. For example, as shown in Figure 1D and Table S2, inflammatory bowel disease was strongly associated with immune tissues (blood, spleen) and alimentary tissues impacted by the disease (small intestine and colon). Lung and adipose tissue were also significantly associated with inflammatory bowel disease, possibly because of the high specificity of immune genes in these two tissues (Figure S3). Type 2 diabetes was associated with the pancreas, while hemoglobin A1C, which is used to diagnose type 2 diabetes and monitor glycemic controls in diabetic patients, was associated with the pancreas, liver and stomach (Figure 1D). Stroke and coronary artery disease were most associated with blood vessels (Figure 1D, Figure S4) and waist to hip ratio was most associated with adipose tissue (Figure S4). Thus, our approach can identify the expected tissue associations given the pathophysiology of the different traits.
