Gene expression endophenotypes: a novel approach for gene discovery in Alzheimer's disease.

ABSTRACT: Uncovering the underlying genetic component of any disease is key to the understanding of its pathophysiology and may open new avenues for development of therapeutic strategies and biomarkers. In the past several years, there has been an explosion of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) resulting in the discovery of novel candidate genes conferring risk for complex diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases. Despite this success, there still remains a substantial genetic component for many complex traits and conditions that is unexplained by the GWAS findings. Additionally, in many cases, the mechanism of action of the newly discovered disease risk variants is not inherently obvious. Furthermore, a genetic region with multiple genes may be identified via GWAS, making it difficult to

SUBMITTER: Ertekin-Taner N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3113300 | biostudies-literature | 2011 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature