Application of a rank-based genetic association test to age-at-onset data from the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism study.

Journal Article (Journal Article)

Association studies of quantitative traits have often relied on methods in which a normal distribution of the trait is assumed. However, quantitative phenotypes from complex human diseases are often censored, highly skewed, or contaminated with outlying values. We recently developed a rank-based association method that takes into account censoring and makes no distributional assumptions about the trait. In this study, we applied our new method to age-at-onset data on ALDX1 and ALDX2. Both traits are highly skewed (skewness > 1.9) and often censored. We performed a whole genome association study of age at onset of the ALDX1 trait using Illumina single-nucleotide polymorphisms. Only slightly more than 5% of markers were significant. However, we identified two regions on chromosomes 14 and 15, which each have at least four significant markers clustering together. These two regions may harbor genes that regulate age at onset of ALDX1 and ALDX2. Future fine mapping of these two regions with densely spaced markers is warranted.

Full Text

Duke Authors

Cited Authors

  • Li, Y-J; Martin, ER; Zhang, L; Allen, AS

Published Date

  • December 30, 2005

Published In

Volume / Issue

  • 6 Suppl 1 / Suppl 1

Start / End Page

  • S53 -

PubMed ID

  • 16451665

Pubmed Central ID

  • PMC1866730

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1471-2156

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1186/1471-2156-6-S1-S53

Language

  • eng

Conference Location

  • England