Incorporating biological pathways via a Markov random field model in genome-wide association studies.

ABSTRACT: Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) examine a large number of markers across the genome to identify associations between genetic variants and disease. Most published studies examine only single markers, which may be less informative than considering multiple markers and multiple genes jointly because genes may interact with each other to affect disease risk. Much knowledge has been accumulated in the literature on biological pathways and interactions. It is conceivable that appropriate incorporation of such prior knowledge may improve the likelihood of making genuine discoveries. Although a number of methods have been developed recently to prioritize genes using prior biological knowledge, such as pathways, most methods treat genes in a specific pathway as an exchangeable set without co

SUBMITTER: Chen M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3072362 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature