The increasing prevalence of obesity in urban Indian children is indicative of an impending crisis of metabolic disorders. Although perturbations in the secretion of adipokines and inflammatory molecules in childhood obesity are well documented, the contribution of common variants of genes encoding them is not well investigated. We assessed the association of 125 common variants from 21 genes, encoding adipocytokines and inflammatory markers in 1,325 urban Indian children (862 normal weight [NW group] and 463 overweight/obese [OW/OB group]) and replicated top loci in 1,843 Indian children (1,399 NW children and 444 OW/OB children). Variants of four genes (PBEF1 [rs3801266] [P = 4.5 × 10−4], IL6 [rs2069845] [P = 8.7 × 10−4], LEPR [rs1137100] [P = 1.8 × 10−3], and IL6R [rs7514452] [P = 2.1 × 10−3]) were top signals in the discovery sample. Associations of rs2069845, rs1137100, and rs3801266 were replicated (P = 7.9 × 10−4, 8.3 × 10−3, and 0.036, respectively) and corroborated in meta-analysis (P = 2.3 × 10−6, 3.9 × 10−5, and 4.3 × 10−4, respectively) that remained significant after multiple testing corrections. These variants also were associated with quantitative measures of adiposity (weight, BMI, and waist and hip circumferences). Allele dosage analysis of rs2069845, rs1137100, and rs3801266 revealed that children with five to six risk alleles had an approximately four times increased risk of obesity than children with less than two risk alleles (P = 1.2 × 10−7). In conclusion, our results demonstrate the association of the common variants of IL6, LEPR, and PBEF1 with obesity in Indian children.

Polymorphic variants of DNA repair and damage response genes play major role in carcinogenesis. These variants are suspected as predisposition factors to Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC). For identification of susceptible variants affecting OSCC development in Indian population, the “maximally informative” method of SNP selection from HapMap data to non-HapMap populations was applied. Three hundred twenty-five SNPs from 11 key genes involved in double strand break repair, mismatch repair and DNA damage response pathways were genotyped on a total of 373 OSCC, 253 leukoplakia and 535 unrelated control individuals. The significantly associated SNPs were validated in an additional cohort of 144 OSCC patients and 160 controls. The rs12515548 of MSH3 showed significant association with OSCC both in the discovery and validation phases (discovery P-value: 1.43E-05, replication P-value: 4.84E-03). Two SNPs (rs12360870 of MRE11A, P-value: 2.37E-07 and rs7003908 of PRKDC, P-value: 7.99E-05) were found to be significantly associated only with leukoplakia. Stratification of subjects based on amount of tobacco consumption identified SNPs that were associated with either high or low tobacco exposed group. The study reveals a synergism between associated SNPs and lifestyle factors in predisposition to OSCC and leukoplakia.

Background

FTO variants are robustly associated with obesity and related traits in many population and shown to have variable impact during life course. Although studies have shown association of FTO variants with adiposity in adult Indian, its association in Indian children is yet to be confirmed.

Methods

Here we examined association of FTO variants (rs9939609 and rs8050136) with obesity and related anthropometric and biochemical traits in 3,126 Indian children (aged 11–17 years) including 2,230 normal-weight and 896 over-weight/obese children. We also compared effects observed in the present study with that observed in previous studies on South Asian adults and children of other ethnic groups.

Results

The variant rs9939609 showed significant association with risk of obesity [OR = 1.21, P = 2.5×10−3] and its measures BMI, weight, waist circumference and hip circumference [β range = 0.11 to 0.14 Z-score units; P range = 1.3×10−4 to 1.6×10−7] in children. The observed effect sizes in Indian children were similar to those reported for European children. Variant rs9939609 explained 0.88% of BMI variance in Indian children. The effect sizes of rs9939609 on BMI and WC were ∼2 fold higher in children than adults. Interestingly rs9939609 was also associated with serum levels of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) [β = 0.10 Z-score, P = 5.8×10−3]. The other variant rs8050136 was in strong linkage disequilibrium with rs9939609 (r2 = 0.97) and provided similar association results.

Conclusion

The study provides first report of association of FTO variants with obesity and related anthropometric traits in Indian children with higher impact in children compared to adults. We also demonstrated association of FTO variant with serum levels of TSH, indicating putative influence of FTO in hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis.

Background & objectives:

N-acetyltransferases 1 and 2 (NAT1 and NAT2) are important enzymes for metabolism of tobacco carcinogens. Due to polymorphisms, improper activities of these enzymes might lead to the formation of DNA adducts that may modulate risk of tobacco related oral precancer and cancer. Previously, it was shown that NAT2 polymorphisms did not modulate the risk of oral precancer and cancer. We undertook this study to check whether polymorphisms at NAT1 can modulate the risk of oral leukoplakia and cancer either alone or in combination with NAT2.

Methods:

Genotypes at four SNPs on NAT1 were determined by TaqMan method in 389 controls, 224 leukoplakia and 310 cancer patients. Genotype data were analyzed to know haplotypes and acetylation status of individuals and, then to estimate the risk of diseases. Using our previously published NAT2 data, combination of NAT1 and NAT2 acetylation genotypes of patients and controls were also analyzed to estimate the risk of diseases.

Results:

Analysis of NAT1 genotype data revealed that 1088T and 1095C alleles exist in strong linkage disequilibrium (r2=0.97, P<0.0001) and SNPs are in Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium (P=0.1). Wild type or normal acetylating and variant or rapid acetylating alleles were two major alleles (frequencies 0.62 and 0.36, respectively) present in the control population. NAT1 rapid acetylation could not modulate the risk of leukoplakia and cancer (OR=0.9, 95% CI: 0.6-1.3; OR=1.0, 95% CI: 0.7-1.4, respectively). Analysis of combined NAT1 and NAT2 acetylating data also showed no significant enhancement of the risk of diseases.

Interpretation & conclusions:

NAT1 rapid acetylation alone as well as combination of NAT1 rapid-NAT2 slow acetylation did not modulate the risk of oral precancer and cancer in our patient population. So, NAT1/NAT2 metabolized carcinogen products may not be involved in tobacco related oral precancer and cancer. It may be interpreted that large sample size as well as combination of polymorphisms at other candidate loci may be important to estimate the risk of a complex disease like oral cancer.

Background

Hyperhomocysteinemia is regarded as a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and obesity. Manifestation of these chronic metabolic disorders starts in early life marked by increase in body mass index (BMI). We hypothesized that perturbations in homocysteine metabolism in early life could be a link between childhood obesity and adult metabolic disorders. Thus here we investigated association of common variants from homocysteine metabolism pathway genes with obesity in 3,168 urban Indian children.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We genotyped 90 common variants from 18 genes in 1,325 children comprising of 862 normal-weight (NW) and 463 over-weight/obese (OW/OB) children in stage 1. The top signal obtained was replicated in an independent sample set of 1843 children (1,399 NW and 444 OW/OB) in stage 2. Stage 1 association analysis revealed association between seven variants and childhood obesity at P<0.05, but association of only rs2796749 in AMD1 [OR = 1.41, P = 1.5×10-4] remained significant after multiple testing correction. Association of rs2796749 with childhood obesity was validated in stage 2 [OR = 1.28, P = 4.2×10-3] and meta-analysis [OR = 1.35, P = 1.9×10-6]. AMD1 variant rs2796749 was also associated with quantitative measures of adiposity and plasma leptin levels that was also replicated and corroborated in combined analysis.

Conclusions/Significance

Our study provides first evidence for the association of AMD1 variant with obesity and plasma leptin levels in children. Further studies to confirm this association, its functional significance and mechanism of action need to be undertaken.

Genetic Analysis Workshop 17 (GAW17) provided a platform for evaluating existing statistical genetic methods and for developing novel methods to analyze rare variants that modulate complex traits. In this article, we present an overview of the 1000 Genomes Project exome data and simulated phenotype data that were distributed to GAW17 participants for analyses, the different issues addressed by the participants, and the process of preparation of manuscripts resulting from the discussions during the workshop.

Clinical binary end-point traits are often governed by quantitative precursors. Hence it may be a prudent strategy to analyze a clinical end-point trait by considering a multivariate phenotype vector, possibly including both quantitative and qualitative phenotypes. A major statistical challenge lies in integrating the constituent phenotypes into a reduced univariate phenotype for association analyses. We assess the performances of certain reduced phenotypes using analysis of variance and a model-free quantile-based approach. We find that analysis of variance is more powerful than the quantile-based approach in detecting association, particularly for rare variants. We also find that using a principal component of the quantitative phenotypes and the residual of a logistic regression of the binary phenotype on the quantitative phenotypes may be an optimal method for integrating a binary phenotype with quantitative phenotypes to define a reduced univariate phenotype.

Hyperhomocysteinemia, a risk factor for cardiovascular disorder, obesity, and type 2 diabetes, is prevalent among Indians who are at high risk of these metabolic disorders. We evaluated association of common variants of genes involved in homocysteine metabolism or its levels with type 2 diabetes, obesity, and related traits in North Indians. We genotyped 90 variants in initial phase (2.115 subjects) and replicated top signals in an independent sample set (2.085 subjects). The variant MTHFR-rs1801133 was the top signal for association with type 2 diabetes (OR = 0.78 (95%  CI = 0.67–0.92), P = 0.003) and was also associated with 2 h postload plasma glucose (P = 0.04), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (P = 0.004), and total cholesterol (P = 0.01) in control subjects. These associations were neither replicated nor significant after meta-analysis. Studies involving a larger study population and different ethnic groups are required before ruling out the role of these important candidate genes in type 2 diabetes, obesity, and related traits.

Background

High sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) levels are shown to be influenced by genetic variants in Europeans; however, little is explored in Indian population.

Methods

Herein, we comprehensively evaluated association of all previously reported genetic determinants of hsCRP levels, including 18 cis (proximal to CRP gene) and 73 trans-acting (distal to CRP gene) variants in 4,200 North Indians of Indo-European ethnicity. First, we evaluated association of 91 variants from 12 candidate loci with hsCRP levels in 2,115 North Indians (1,042 non-diabetic subjects and 1,073 patients with type 2 diabetes). Then, cis and trans-acting variants contributing maximally to hsCRP level variation were further replicated in an independent 2,085 North Indians (1,047 patients with type 2 diabetes and 1,038 non-diabetic subjects).

Results

We found association of 12 variants from CRP, LEPR, IL1A, IL6, and IL6R with hsCRP levels in non-diabetic subjects. However, only rs3093059-CRP [β = 0.33, P = 9.6×10−5] and the haplotype harboring rs3093059 risk allele [β = 0.32 µg/mL, P = 1.4×10−4/Pperm = 9.0×10−4] retained significance after correcting for multiple testing. The cis-acting variant rs3093059-CRP had maximum contribution to the variance in hsCRP levels (1.14%). Among, trans-acting variants, rs1892534-LEPR was observed to contribute maximally to hsCRP level variance (0.59%). Associations of rs3093059-CRP and rs1892534-LEPR were confirmed by replication and attained higher significance after meta-analysis [βmeta = 0.26/0.22; Pmeta = 4.3×10−7/7.4×10−3 and βmeta = −0.15/−0.12; Pmeta = 2.0×10−6/1.6×10−6 for rs3093059 and rs1892534, respectively in non-diabetic subjects and all subjects taken together].

Conclusion

In conclusion, we identified rs3093059 in CRP and rs1892534 in LEPR as major cis and trans-acting contributor respectively, to the variance in hsCRP levels in North Indian population.

Background

There has been no systematic evaluation of the association between genetic variants of type 2 receptor for TNFα (TNFR2) and type 2 diabetes, despite strong biological evidence for the role of this receptor in the pathogenesis of this complex disorder. In view of this, we performed a comprehensive association analysis of TNFRSF1B variants with type 2 diabetes in 4,200 Indo-European subjects from North India.

Methods

The initial phase evaluated association of seven SNPs viz. rs652625, rs496888, rs6697733, rs945439, rs235249, rs17883432 and rs17884213 with type 2 diabetes in 2,115 participants (1,073 type 2 diabetes patients and 1,042 control subjects). Further, we conducted replication analysis of three associated SNPs in 2,085 subjects (1,047 type 2 diabetes patients and 1,038 control subjects).

Results

We observed nominal association of rs945439, rs235249 and rs17884213 with type 2 diabetes (P < 0.05) in the initial phase. Haplotype CC of rs945439 and rs235249 conferred increased susceptibility for type 2 diabetes [OR = 1.19 (95%CI 1.03-1.37), P = 0.019/Pperm = 0.076] whereas, TG haplotype of rs235249 and rs17884213 provided protection against type 2 diabetes [OR = 0.83 (95%CI 0.72-0.95, P = 7.2 × 10-3/Pperm = 0.019]. We also observed suggestive association of rs496888 with plasma hsCRP levels [P = 0.042]. However, the association of rs945439, rs235249 and rs17884213 with type 2 diabetes was not replicated in the second study population. Meta-analysis of the two studies also failed to detect any association with type 2 diabetes.

Conclusions

Our two-stage association analysis suggests that TNFRSF1B variants are not the determinants of genetic risk of type 2 diabetes in North Indians.

OBJECTIVE

Common variants in PPARG, KCNJ11, TCF7L2, SLC30A8, HHEX, CDKN2A, IGF2BP2, and CDKAL1 genes have been shown to be associated with type 2 diabetes in European populations by genome-wide association studies. We have studied the association of common variants in these eight genes with type 2 diabetes and related traits in Indians by combining the data from two independent case–control studies.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

We genotyped eight single nucleotide polymorphisms (PPARG-rs1801282, KCNJ11-rs5219, TCF7L2-rs7903146, SLC30A8-rs13266634, HHEX-rs1111875, CDKN2A-rs10811661, IGF2BP2-rs4402960, and CDKAL1-rs10946398) in 5,164 unrelated Indians of Indo-European ethnicity, including 2,486 type 2 diabetic patients and 2,678 ethnically matched control subjects.

RESULTS

We confirmed the association of all eight loci with type 2 diabetes with odds ratio (OR) ranging from 1.18 to 1.89 (P = 1.6 × 10−3 to 4.6 × 10−34). The strongest association with the highest effect size was observed for TCF7L2 (OR 1.89 [95% CI 1.71–2.09], P = 4.6 × 10−34). We also found significant association of PPARG and TCF7L2 with homeostasis model assessment of β-cell function (P = 6.9 × 10−8 and 3 × 10−4, respectively), which looked consistent with recessive and under-dominant models, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study replicates the association of well-established common variants with type 2 diabetes in Indians and shows larger effect size for most of them than those reported in Europeans.

BACKGROUND:

There are two major classes of genetic association analyses: population based and family based. Population-based case–control studies have been the method of choice due to the ease of data collection. However, population stratification is one of the major limitations of case–control studies, while family-based studies are protected against stratification. In this study, we carry out extensive simulations under different disease models (both Mendelian as well as complex) to evaluate the relative powers of the two approaches in detecting association.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

The power comparisons are based on a case–control design comprising 200 cases and 200 controls versus a Transmission Disequilibrium Test (TDT) or Pedigree Disequilibrium Test (PDT) design with 200 informative trios. We perform the allele-level test for case–control studies, which is based on the difference of allele frequencies at a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) between unrelated cases and controls. The TDT and the PDT are based on preferential allelic transmissions at a SNP from heterozygous parents to the affected offspring. We considered five disease modes of inheritance: (i) recessive with complete penetrance (ii) dominant with complete penetrance and (iii), (iv) and (v) complex diseases with varying levels of penetrances and phenocopies.

RESULTS:

We find that while the TDT/PDT design with 200 informative trios is in general more powerful than a case–control design with 200 cases and 200 controls (except when the heterozygosity at the marker locus is high), it may be necessary to sample a very large number of trios to obtain the requisite number of informative families.

CONCLUSION:

The current study provides insights into power comparisons between population-based and family-based association studies.

In this report, we present results of a genome-wide linkage scan using as a phenotype the number of externalizing symptoms associated with alcohol use disorders. Subjects were collected by the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism project from families in which at least three first degree relatives were affected by alcohol dependence. We use a novel non-parametric regression method based on kernel smoothing for our analysis. We report a statistically significant linkage close to the ADH gene cluster on Chromosome 4. We also obtain evidence for epistatic interaction between a region on Chromosome 1 and one on Chromosome 15. Although alcoholism as a covariate does not have any effect on the linkage scan, it has an effect on the epistatic interaction.

The group that formed on the theme of genome-wide association of quantitative traits (Group 2) in the Genetic Analysis Workshop 16 comprised eight sets of investigators. Three data sets were available: one on auto-antibodies related to rheumatoid arthritis provided by the North American Rheumatoid Arthritis Consortium; the second on anthropometric, lipid, and biochemical measures provided by the Framingham Heart Study (FHS); and the third a simulated data set modeled after FHS. The different investigators in the group addressed a large set of statistical challenges and applied a wide spectrum of association methods in analyzing quantitative traits at the genome-wide level. While some previously reported genes were validated, some novel chromosomal regions provided significant evidence of association in multiple contributions in the group. In this report, we discuss the different strategies explored by the different investigators with the common goal of improving the power to detect association.

Background

Type 2 diabetes is a complex metabolic disorder with obesity being a major contributing factor in its development. Susceptibility loci for type 2 diabetes and obesity have been localized on different chromosomal regions by various genome-wide linkage scans. Of these chromosomal regions, 20q13 is one of the strongest linked regions for type 2 diabetes as well as obesity. On 20q13 lies DOK5 that seems to be a strong functional and positional candidate for type 2 diabetes and obesity because of its involvement in insulin signaling and immune responses. Hence, for the first time, we explored DOK5 as a potential type 2 diabetes and obesity susceptibility gene.

Methods

We sequenced 43 subjects for polymorphisms in functionally relevant regions of DOK5. A total of 10 SNPs that included 5 that were identified by sequencing and 5 additional SNPs from NCBI Variation Database were genotyped in 2,115 participants comprising of 1,073 patients with type 2 diabetes and 1,042 controls of Indo-European ethnicity from North India.

Results

We identified a novel variant in intron 7 referred to as DK176673. We found nominal association of three SNPs-rs6064099 (OR = 0.75, P = 0.019), rs873079 (OR = 0.76, P = 0.036) and DK176673 (OR = 1.55, P = 0.037) with type 2 diabetes among normal-weight subjects [BMI < 23 kg/m2]. The haplotype GGC harboring rs6068916, rs6064099 and rs873079 showed strong association with type 2 diabetes among normal-weight subjects (OR = 1.37, P/Pperm = 5.8 × 10-3/0.037). Association analysis with obesity revealed that rs6064099 is associated with reduced susceptibility for obesity (OR = 0.48, P = 6.8 × 10-3). Also, haplotype GGC conferred increased susceptibility for obesity (OR = 1.27, P/Pperm = 9.0 × 10-3/0.039). Also, rs6064099 was significantly associated with reduced BMI [median(IQR) = 24.0(20.7-27.1) vs 23.9(20.2-26.8) vs 21.8(19.2-24.7) for GG vs GC vs CC, P = 7.0 × 10-3].

Conclusions

We identified DOK5 as a novel susceptibility gene for obesity and type 2 diabetes in North Indian subjects. Association of DOK5 variants both with obesity and type 2 diabetes suggests that these variants might modulate type 2 diabetes susceptibility through obesity.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a complex, chronic inflammatory disease implicated to have several plausible candidate loci; however, these may not account for all the genetic variations underlying RA. Common disorders are hypothesized to be highly complex with interaction among genes and other risk factors playing a major role in the disease process. This complexity is further magnified because such interactions may be with or without a strong independent effect and are thus difficult to detect using traditional statistical methodologies. The main challenge to analyze such gene × gene and gene × environment interaction is attributed to a phenomenon referred to as the "curse of dimensionality." Several combinatorial methodologies have been proposed to tackle this analytical challenge. Because quantitative traits underlie complex phenotypes and contain more information on the trait variation within genotypes than qualitative dichotomy, analyzing quantitative traits correlated with the affection status is a more powerful tool for mapping such trait genes. Recently, a generalized multifactor dimensionality reduction method was proposed that allows for adjustment for discrete and quantitative traits and can be used to analyze qualitative and quantitative phenotypes in a population based study design.

In this report, we evaluate the efficiency of the generalized multifactor dimensionality reduction statistical suite to decipher small interacting factors that contribute to RA disease pathogenesis.

Genetic association of population-based quantitative trait data has traditionally been analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA). However, violations of certain statistical assumptions may lead to false-positive association results. In this study, we have explored model-free alternatives to ANOVA using correlations between allele frequencies in the different quantile intervals of the quantitative trait and the quantile values. We performed genome-wide association scans on anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide and rheumatoid factor-immunoglobulin M, two quantitative traits correlated with rheumatoid arthritis, using the data provided in Genetic Analysis Workshop 16. Both the quantitative traits exhibited significant evidence of association on Chromosome 6, although not in the human leukocyte antigen region which is known to harbor a major gene predisposing to rheumatoid arthritis. We found that while a majority of the significant findings using the asymptotic thresholds of ANOVA was not validated using permutations, a relatively higher proportion of the significant findings using the asymptotic cut-offs of the correlation statistic were validated using permutations.

Inflammation plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes and various lines of evidences suggest an important contribution of type 2 receptor for TNFα (TNFR2), a mediator of inflammatory responses. Though genetic association of TNFRSF1B (encoding TNFR2) polymorphisms have been investigated in various studies, their involvement is not clear because of inconsistent findings. Because of high susceptibility of Indian population to type 2 diabetes and its complications, we evaluated the association of TNFRSF1B polymorphisms-rs1061622 (M196R; exon6) and rs3397 (3′UTR) and (CA)n repeat (intron 4) in 1,852 subjects including 1,040 cases and 812 controls with type 2 diabetes and its associated peripheral neuropathy and hypertension in North Indians of Indo-European ethnicity. The allelic and genotypic distributions of these polymorphisms were comparable among healthy control vs. type 2 diabetes, peripheral neuropathy vs. non-neuropathy and hypertensive vs. normotensive groups. (CA)n polymorphism has been shown to be associated with diabetic neuropathy in Caucasians, however, this could not be replicated in our study (P = 0.27). None of the polymorphisms were found to influence the 14 anthropometric and biochemical traits related to type 2 diabetes studied here. Thus, we conclude that TNFRSF1B is not a major contributing factor to the genetic risk of type 2 diabetes, its associated peripheral neuropathy and hypertension and related metabolic traits in North Indians.

Parametric linkage methods for quantitative trait locus mapping require explicit specification of the probability model of the quantitative trait and hence can lead to misleading linkage inferences when the model assumptions are not valid. Ghosh and Majumder developed a nonparametric regression method based on kernel-smoothing for linkage mapping of quantitative trait locus using squared differences in trait values of independent sib pairs, which is relatively more robust than parametric methods with respect to violations in distributional assumptions. In this study, we modify the above mentioned nonparametric regression method by considering local linear polynomials instead of the Nadaraya-Watson estimator and squared sums of sib-pair trait values in addition to squared differences to perform a genome-wide scan of rheumatoid factor-IgM levels on sib pairs in the Genetic Analysis Workshop 15 simulated data set. We obtain significant evidence of linkage very close to the quantitative trait locus controlling for RF-IgM. We find that the simultaneous use of squared differences and squared sums increases the power to detect linkage compared to using only squared differences. However, because of all the sib pairs are selected for rheumatoid arthritis, there is reduced variance of RF-IgM values, and empirical power to detect linkage is not very high. We also compare the performance of our method with two linear regression approaches: the classical Haseman-Elston method using squared sib-pair trait differences and its extension proposed by Elston et al. using mean-corrected sib-pair cross-products. We find that the proposed nonparametric method yields more power than the linear regression approaches.

Identification of genetic variants responsible for complex disorders using association mapping is an active area of research. There are two broad classes of association methodologies: population-based case-control studies and family-based transmission analyses. While case-control analyses are more popular and in general, more powerful than family-based analyses, they suffer from some inherent limitations. Thus, it is of importance, to understand the implications of an association finding obtained from a case-control study design. This article discusses the relative advantages and disadvantages of the two classes of association analyses, particularly in the context of genetic diversity in Indian populations.

Multivariate phenotypes underlie complex traits. Thus, instead of using the end-point trait, it may be statistically more powerful to use a multivariate phenotype correlated to the end-point trait for detecting linkage. In this study, we develop a reverse regression method to analyze linkage of Kofendrerd Personality Disorder affection status in the New York population of the Genetic Analysis Workshop 14 (GAW14) simulated dataset. When we used the multivariate phenotype, we obtained significant evidence of linkage near four of the six putative loci in at least 25% of the replicates. On the other hand, the linkage analysis based on Kofendrerd Personality Disorder status as a phenotype produced significant findings only near two of the loci and in a smaller proportion of replicates.

Recent advances in statistical methods and genomic technologies have ushered in a new era in mapping clinically important quantitative traits. However, many refinements and novel statistical approaches are required to enable greater successes in this mapping. The possible impact of recent findings pertaining to the structure of the human genome on efforts to map quantitative traits is yet unclear.

Background

Compared to model-based approaches, nonparametric methods for quantitative trait loci mapping are more robust to deviations in distributional assumptions. In this study, we modify a nonparametric regression method and the "contrast function"- based regression method to analyze total cholesterol level in the younger cohort (the offspring generation) of the Genetic Analysis Workshop 13 simulated data set.

Results

We obtained significant evidence of linkage near four of the six non-sex-specific genes in at least 30% of the replicates.

Conclusions

The proposed nonparametric method seems to be a powerful robust alternative to distribution-based methods.