SNP imputation bias reduces effect size determination

Imputation is a commonly used technique that exploits linkage disequilibrium to infer missing genotypes in genetic datasets, using a well characterized reference population. While there is agreement that the reference population has to match the ethnicity of the query dataset, it is common practice to use the same reference to impute genotypes for a wide variety of phenotypes. We hypothesized that using a reference composed of samples with a different phenotype than the query dataset would introduce imputation bias.To test this hypothesis we used GWAS datasets from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson disease, and Crohn disease. First, we masked and then performed imputation of 100 disease-associated markers and 100 non-associated markers from each study. Two references for imputation were used in parallel: one consisting of healthy controls and another consisting of patients with the same disease. We assessed the discordance (imprecision) and bias (inaccuracy) of imputation by comparing predicted genotypes to those assayed by SNP-chip. We also assessed the bias on the observed effect size when the predicted genotypes were used in a GWAS study.When healthy controls were used as reference for imputation, a significant bias was observed, particularly in the disease-associated markers. Using cases as reference significantly attenuated this bias. For nearly all markers, the direction of the bias favored the non-risk allele. In GWAS studies of the three diseases (with healthy reference controls from the 1000 genomes as reference), the mean OR for disease-associated markers obtained by imputation was lower than that obtained using original assayed genotypes.We found that the bias is inherent to imputation as using different methods did not alter the results. In conclusion, imputation is a powerful method to predict genotypes and estimate genetic risk for GWAS. However, a careful choice of reference population is needed to minimize biases inherent to this approac

Genetic overlap between autoimmune diseases and non-Hodgkin lymphoma subtypes

Epidemiologic studies show an increased risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in patients with autoimmune disease (AD), due to a combination of shared environmental factors and/or genetic factors, or a causative cascade: chronic inflammation/antigen-stimulation in one disease leads to another. Here we assess shared genetic risk in genome-wide-association-studies (GWAS). Secondary analysis of GWAS of NHL subtypes (chronic lymphocytic leukemia, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, follicular lymphoma, and marginal zone lymphoma) and ADs (rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and multiple sclerosis). Shared genetic risk was assessed by (a) description of regional genetic of overlap, (b) polygenic risk score (PRS), (c)"diseasome", (d)meta-analysis. Descriptive analysis revealed few shared genetic factors between each AD and each NHL subtype. The PRS of ADs were not increased in NHL patients (nor vice versa). In the diseasome, NHLs shared more genetic etiology with ADs than solid cancers (p = .0041). A meta-analysis (combing AD with NHL) implicated genes of apoptosis and telomere length. This GWAS-based analysis four NHL subtypes and three ADs revealed few weakly-associated shared loci, explaining little total risk. This suggests common genetic variation, as assessed by GWAS in these sample sizes, may not be the primary explanation for the link between these ADs and NHLs

Genetic contribution to multiple sclerosis risk among Ashkenazi Jews.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system, with a strong genetic component. Over 100 genetic loci have been implicated in susceptibility to MS in European populations, the most prominent being the 15:01 allele of the HLA-DRB1 gene. The prevalence of MS is high in European populations including those of Ashkenazi origin, and low in African and Asian populations including those of Jewish origin.Here we identified and extracted a total of 213 Ashkenazi MS cases and 546 ethnically matched healthy control individuals from two previous genome-wide case-control association analyses, and 72 trios (affected proband and two unaffected parents) from a previous genome-wide transmission disequilibrium association study, using genetic data to define Ashkenazi. We compared the pattern of genetic risk between Ashkenazi and non-Ashkenazi Europeans. We also sought to identify novel Ashkenazi-specific risk loci by performing association tests on the subset of Ashkenazi cases, controls, probands, and parents from each study.The HLA-DRB1*15:01 allele and the non-HLA risk alleles were present at relatively low frequencies among Ashkenazi and explained a smaller fraction of the population-level risk when compared to non-Ashkenazi Europeans. Alternative HLA susceptibility alleles were identified in an Ashkenazi-only association study, including HLA-A*68:02 and one or both genes in the HLA-B*38:01-HLA-C*12:03 haplotype. The genome-wide screen in Ashkenazi did not reveal any loci associated with MS risk.These results suggest that genetic susceptibility to MS in Ashkenazi Jews has not been as well established as that of non-Ashkenazi Europeans. This implies value in studying large well-characterized Ashkenazi populations to accelerate gene discovery in complex genetic diseases

Genetic contribution to multiple sclerosis risk among Ashkenazi Jews

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system, with a strong genetic component. Over 100 genetic loci have been implicated in susceptibility to MS in European populations, the most prominent being the 15:01 allele of the HLA-DRB1 gene. The prevalence of MS is high in European populations including those of Ashkenazi origin, and low in African and Asian populations including those of Jewish origin.Here we identified and extracted a total of 213 Ashkenazi MS cases and 546 ethnically matched healthy control individuals from two previous genome-wide case-control association analyses, and 72 trios (affected proband and two unaffected parents) from a previous genome-wide transmission disequilibrium association study, using genetic data to define Ashkenazi. We compared the pattern of genetic risk between Ashkenazi and non-Ashkenazi Europeans. We also sought to identify novel Ashkenazi-specific risk loci by performing association tests on the subset of Ashkenazi cases, controls, probands, and parents from each study.The HLA-DRB1*15:01 allele and the non-HLA risk alleles were present at relatively low frequencies among Ashkenazi and explained a smaller fraction of the population-level risk when compared to non-Ashkenazi Europeans. Alternative HLA susceptibility alleles were identified in an Ashkenazi-only association study, including HLA-A*68:02 and one or both genes in the HLA-B*38:01-HLA-C*12:03 haplotype. The genome-wide screen in Ashkenazi did not reveal any loci associated with MS risk.These results suggest that genetic susceptibility to MS in Ashkenazi Jews has not been as well established as that of non-Ashkenazi Europeans. This implies value in studying large well-characterized Ashkenazi populations to accelerate gene discovery in complex genetic diseases

Funktionsintegrierte Konstruktionsglaeser - Entwicklung, Herstellung, Verarbeitung und Anwendung. Teilthema: Anwendungsforschung-Fluidtechnik Abschlussbericht

Available from TIB Hannover: F04B613 / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEBundesministerium fuer Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), Bonn (Germany)DEGerman