Partitioning genetic effects on birthweight at classical human leukocyte antigen loci into maternal and fetal components, using structural equation modelling.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Single nucleotide polymorphisms in the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) region in both maternal and fetal genomes have been robustly associated with birthweight (BW) in previous genetic association studies. However, no study to date has partitioned the association between BW and classical HLA alleles into maternal and fetal components.

Methods

We used structural equation modelling (SEM) to estimate the maternal and fetal effects of classical HLA alleles on BW. Our SEM leverages the data structure of the UK Biobank (UKB), which includes ∼270 000 participants' own BW and/or the BW of their firstborn child.

Results

We show via simulation that our model yields asymptotically unbiased estimates of the maternal and fetal allelic effects on BW and appropriate type I

SUBMITTER: Wang G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10859143 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature