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Search for multifactorial disease susceptibility genes in founder populations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2000

C. BOURGAIN
Affiliation:
Unité de Recherche d'Epidémiologie Génétique, INSERM U535, Kremlin-Bicêtre
E. GENIN
Affiliation:
Unité de Recherche d'Epidémiologie Génétique, INSERM U535, Kremlin-Bicêtre
H. QUESNEVILLE
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Dynamique du Génome et Evolution, Institut J.Monod, Paris
F. CLERGET-DARPOUX
Affiliation:
Unité de Recherche d'Epidémiologie Génétique, INSERM U535, Kremlin-Bicêtre
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Abstract

The current challenge in biomedical research is to detect genetic risk factors involved in common complex diseases. The power to detect their role is generally poor in populations that have been large for a long time. It has been suggested that the power may be increased by taking advantage of the specificity of founder populations; linkage disequilibrium spanning larger regions and kinship coefficients being stronger than in large populations. A new method is proposed here, the Maximum Identity Length Contrast (MILC) which, in contrast with other existing methods, does not make the assumption of unique ancestry for the genetic risk factors. It is thus appropriate for a search for common genetic risk factors for complex diseases. Statistical properties of the method are discussed in realistic contexts.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© University College London 2000

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