Sl. Slager et Dj. Schaid, Evaluation of candidate genes in case-control studies: A statistical method to account for related subjects, AM J HU GEN, 68(6), 2001, pp. 1457-1462
Citations number
15
Categorie Soggetti
Research/Laboratory Medicine & Medical Tecnology","Molecular Biology & Genetics
Traditional case-control studies provide a powerful and efficient method fo
r evaluation of association between candidate genes and disease. The sampli
ng of cases from multiplex pedigrees, rather than from a catchment area, ca
n increase the likelihood that genetic cases are selected. However, use of
all the related cases without accounting for their biological relationship
can increase the type I error rate of the statistical test. To overcome thi
s problem, we present an analysis method that is used to compare genotype f
requencies between cases and controls, according to a trend in proportions
as the dosage of the risk allele increases. This method uses the appropriat
e variance to account for the correlated family data, thus maintaining the
correct type I error rate. The magnitude of the association is estimated by
the odds ratio, with the variance of the odds ratio also accounting for th
e correlated data. Our method makes efficient use of data collected from mu
ltiplex families and should prove useful for the analysis of candidate gene
s among families sampled for linkage studies. An application of our method,
to family data from a prostate cancer study, is presented to illustrate th
e method's utility.