The trouble with triples: Examining the impact of measurement error in mediation analysis.

ABSTRACT: Mediation analysis is used in genetic mapping studies to identify candidate gene mediators of quantitative trait loci (QTL). We consider genetic mediation analysis of triplets-sets of three variables consisting of a target trait, the genotype at a QTL for the target trait, and a candidate mediator that is the abundance of a transcript or protein whose coding gene co-locates with the QTL. We show that, in the presence of measurement error, mediation analysis can infer partial mediation even in the absence of a causal relationship between the candidate mediator and the target. We describe a measurement error model and a corresponding latent variable model with estimable parameters that are combinations of the causal effects and measurement errors across all three variables. The relative magn

SUBMITTER: Gastonguay MS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10158839 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature