Immunogenetics and genomics.
Immunogenetic analysis of disease susceptibility has been encouraged by the identification of strong HLA associations with several diseases of uncertain cause. Weaker HLA associations exist with a large number of infectious and non-infectious diseases and the mechanisms of these effects are beginning to be uncovered. Extensive analyses of non-HLA immunogenetic variants have also been undertaken and associations with a variety of genes identified. Genetic linkage analysis of multicase families has recently identified new major susceptibility loci for a few immunologically determined common diseases. However, the greatest potential for the future lies in genome-wide searches for susceptibility genes that individually might have quite modest effects but cumulatively have a large impact on individual risk. This new era of immunogenomics promises to provide key insights into disease pathogenesis and identify multiple molecular targets for intervention strategies.
Hill
A V
AV
Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Roosevelt Drive, Oxford OX3 7BN, UK. adrian.hill@well.ox.ac.uk
D016207:Cytokines / Q000235:genetics; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D023281:Genomics; D006680:HLA Antigens; D006801:Humans; D007125:Immunogenetics
D016207:Cytokines; D006680:HLA Antigens