A Joint Location-Scale Test Improves Power to Detect Associated SNPs, Gene Sets, and Pathways.

ABSTRACT: Gene-based, pathway, and other multivariate association methods are motivated by the possibility of GxG and GxE interactions; however, accounting for such interactions is limited by the challenges associated with adequate modeling information. Here we propose an easy-to-implement joint location-scale (JLS) association testing framework for single-variant and multivariate analysis that accounts for interactions without explicitly modeling them. We apply the JLS method to a gene-set analysis of cystic fibrosis (CF) lung disease, which is influenced by multiple environmental and genetic factors. We identify and replicate an association between the constituents of the apical plasma membrane and CF lung disease (p = 0.0099 and p = 0.0180, respectively) and highlight a role for the SLC9A3-SLC9A3

SUBMITTER: Soave D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4572492 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature