Project description:With the development of sequencing techniques, there is increasing interest to detect associations between rare variants and complex traits. Quite a few statistical methods to detect associations between rare variants and complex traits have been developed for unrelated individuals. Statistical methods for detecting rare variant associations under family-based designs have not received as much attention as methods for unrelated individuals. Recent studies show that rare disease variants will be enriched in family data and thus family-based designs may improve power to detect rare variant associations. In this article, we propose a novel test to test association between the optimally weighted combination of variants and trait of interests for affected sib-pairs. The optimal weights are analytically derived and can be calculated from sampled genotypes and phenotypes. Based on the optimal weights, the proposed method is robust to the directions of the effects of causal variants and is less affected by neutral variants than existing methods are. Our simulation results show that, in all the cases, the proposed method is substantially more powerful than existing methods based on unrelated individuals and existing methods based on affected sib-pairs.
Project description:BACKGROUND: Schizophrenia is a complex disorder with involvement of multiple genes. METHODS: In this study, genome-wide screening for DNA copy-number variations (CNVs) was conducted for ten pairs, a total of 20 cases, of affected siblings using oligonucleotide array-based CGH. RESULTS: We found negative symptoms were significantly more severe (p < 0.05) in the subgroup that harbored more genetic imbalance (n >== 13, n = number of CNV-disrupted genes) as compared with the subgroup with fewer CNVs (n <== 6), indicating that the degree of genetic imbalance may influence the severity of the negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Four central nervous system (CNS) related genes including CCAAT/enhancer binding protein, delta (CEBPD, 8q11.21), retinoid x receptor, alpha (RXRA, 9q34.2), LIM homeobox protein 5 (LHX5, 12q24.13) and serine/threonine kinase 11 (STK11, 19p13.3) are recurrently (incidence >== 16.7%) disrupted by CNVs. Two genes, PVR (poliovirus receptor) and BU678720, are concordantly deleted in one and two, respectively, pairs of co-affected siblings. However, we did not find a significant association of this BU678720 deletion and schizophrenia in a large case-control sample. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that the high genetic loading of CNVs may be the underlying cause of negative symptoms of schizophrenia, and the CNS-related genes revealed by this study warrant further investigation.
Project description:Genome-wide screening for DNA copy-number variations (CNVs) was conducted for ten pairs, a total of 20 cases, of affected siblings using oligonucleotide array-based CGH. We found negative symptoms were significantly more severe (p < 0.05) in the subgroup that harboring more genetic imbalance (n ≧ 13, n = number of CNV-disrupted genes) as compared with the subgroup with fewer CNVs (n ≦ 6), indicating the degree of genetic imbalance may influence the severity of schizophrenia negative symptoms. Four central nervous system (CNS) related genes including CCAAT/enhancer binding protein, delta (CEBPD, 8q11.21), retinoid X receptor, alpha (RXRA, 9q34.2), LIM homeobox protein 5 (LHX5, 12q24.13) and serine/threonine kinase 11 (STK11, 19p13.3) are recurrently (incidence ≧16.7%) disrupted by CNVs. Two genes, PVR (poliovirus receptor) and BU678720, are concordant deleted in one and two, respectively, pairs of co-affected siblings. However, we did not find significant association of this BU678720 and schizophrenia in a large case-control sample. We conclude that the high genetic loading of CNVs may as the underlying cause of schizophrenia negative symptoms, and the CNS-related genes revealed by this study warrants further investigation.
Project description:Next generation sequencing technologies have made it possible to investigate the role of rare variants (RVs) in disease etiology. Because RVs associated with disease susceptibility tend to be enriched in families with affected individuals, study designs based on affected sib pairs (ASP) can be more powerful than case-control studies. We construct tests of RV-set association in ASPs for single genomic regions as well as for multiple regions. Single-region tests can efficiently detect a gene region harboring susceptibility variants, while multiple-region extensions are meant to capture signals dispersed across a biological pathway, potentially as a result of locus heterogeneity. Within ascertained ASPs, the test statistics contrast the frequencies of duplicate rare alleles (usually appearing on a shared haplotype) against frequencies of a single rare allele copy (appearing on a nonshared haplotype); we call these allelic parity tests. Incorporation of minor allele frequency estimates from reference populations can markedly improve test efficiency. Under various genetic penetrance models, application of the tests in simulated ASP data sets demonstrates good type I error properties as well as power gains over approaches that regress ASP rare allele counts on sharing state, especially in small samples. We discuss robustness of the allelic parity methods to the presence of genetic linkage, misspecification of reference population allele frequencies, sequencing error and de novo mutations, and population stratification. As proof of principle, we apply single- and multiple-region tests in a motivating study data set consisting of whole exome sequencing of sisters ascertained with early onset breast cancer.
Project description:siblings of patients with idiopathic recurrent miscarriage have a higher risk of miscarriage. <br>We hypothesized that this in part was conferred by shared genetic factors.<br>We took blood samples from patients with three or more miscarriages and from siblings with two or more miscarriages in order to perform affected sib-pair analysis.
Project description:We are conducting a genome scan at an average resolution of 10 centimorgans (cM) for type 2 diabetes susceptibility genes in 716 affected sib pairs from 477 Finnish families. To date, our best evidence for linkage is on chromosome 20 with potentially separable peaks located on both the long and short arms. The unweighted multipoint maximum logarithm of odds score (MLS) was 3.08 on 20p (location, chi = 19.5 cM) under an additive model, whereas the weighted MLS was 2.06 on 20q (chi = 57 cM, recurrence risk,lambda(s) = 1. 25, P = 0.009). Weighted logarithm of odds scores of 2.00 (chi = 69.5 cM, P = 0.010) and 1.92 (chi = 18.5 cM, P = 0.013) were also observed. Ordered subset analyses based on sibships with extreme mean values of diabetes-related quantitative traits yielded sets of families who contributed disproportionately to the peaks. Two-hour glucose levels in offspring of diabetic individuals gave a MLS of 2. 12 (P = 0.0018) at 9.5 cM. Evidence from this and other studies suggests at least two diabetes-susceptibility genes on chromosome 20. We have also screened the gene for maturity-onset diabetes of the young 1, hepatic nuclear factor 4-a (HNF-4alpha) in 64 affected sibships with evidence for high chromosomal sharing at its location on chromosome 20q. We found no evidence that sequence changes in this gene accounted for the linkage results we observed.
Project description:Nonsyndromic clefts of the lip and/or palate are common birth defects with a strong genetic component. Based on unequal gender ratios for clefting phenotypes, evidence for linkage to the X chromosome and the occurrence of several X-linked clefting syndromes, we investigated the role of skewed X chromosome inactivation (XCI) in orofacial clefts. Our samples consisted of female monozygotic (MZ) twins (n = 8) and sister pairs (n = 152) discordant for nonsyndromic clefting. We measured the XCI pattern in peripheral blood lymphocyte DNA using a methylation based androgen receptor gene assay. Skewing of XCI was defined as the deviation in inactivation pattern from a 50:50 ratio. Our analysis revealed no significant difference in the degree of skewing between twin pairs (P = 0.3). However, borderline significant differences were observed in the sister pairs (P = 0.02), with the cleft lip with cleft palate group showing the most significant result (P = 0.01). We did not find evidence for involvement of skewed XCI in the discordance for clefting in our sample of female MZ twins. However, results from the paired sister study suggest the potential contribution of skewed XCI to orofacial clefting, particularly cleft lip and palate.
Project description:OBJECTIVE:Interactions between genetic and environmental factors lead to immune dysregulation causing type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune disorders. Recently, many common genetic variants have been associated with type 1 diabetes risk, but each has modest individual effects. Familial clustering of type 1 diabetes has not been explained fully and could arise from many factors, including undetected genetic variation and gene interactions. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS:To address this issue, the Type 1 Diabetes Genetics Consortium recruited 3,892 families, including 4,422 affected sib-pairs. After genotyping 6,090 markers, linkage analyses of these families were performed, using a novel method and taking into account factors such as genotype at known susceptibility loci. RESULTS:Evidence for linkage was robust at the HLA and INS loci, with logarithm of odds (LOD) scores of 398.6 and 5.5, respectively. There was suggestive support for five other loci. Stratification by other risk factors (including HLA and age at diagnosis) identified one convincing region on chromosome 6q14 showing linkage in male subjects (corrected LOD = 4.49; replication P = 0.0002), a locus on chromosome 19q in HLA identical siblings (replication P = 0.006), and four other suggestive loci. CONCLUSIONS:This is the largest linkage study reported for any disease. Our data indicate there are no major type 1 diabetes subtypes definable by linkage analyses; susceptibility is caused by actions of HLA and an apparently random selection from a large number of modest-effect loci; and apart from HLA and INS, there is no important susceptibility factor discoverable by linkage methods.
Project description:It is widely accepted that genes play a role in the etiology of autism. Evidence for this derives, in part, from twin data. However, despite converging evidence from gene-mapping studies, aspects of the genetic contribution remain obscure. In a sample of families selected because each had exactly two affected sibs, we observed a remarkably high proportion of affected twin pairs, both MZ and DZ. Of 166 affected sib pairs, 30 (12 MZ, 17 DZ, and 1 of unknown zygosity) were twin pairs. Deviation from expected values was statistically significant (P<10(-6) for all twins); in a similarly ascertained sample of individuals with type I diabetes, there was no deviation from expected values. We demonstrate that to ascribe the excess of twins with autism solely to ascertainment bias would require very large ascertainment factors; for example, affected twin pairs would need to be, on average, approximately 10 times more likely to be ascertained than affected non-twin sib pairs (or 7 times more likely if "stoppage" plays a role). Either risk factors (related to twinning or to fetal development) or other factors (genetic or nongenetic) in the parents may contribute to autism.