Candidate-gene approaches for studying complex genetic traits: practical considerations.
Association studies with candidate genes have been widely used for the study of complex diseases. However, this approach has been criticized because of non-replication of results and limits on its ability to include all possible causative genes and polymorphisms. These challenges have led to pessimism about the candidate-gene approach and about the genetic analysis of complex diseases in general. We believe that these criticisms can be usefully countered with an appeal to the principles of epidemiological investigation.
Tabor
Holly K
HK
Department of Health Research and Policy, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305-5120, USA.
Risch
Neil J
NJ
Myers
Richard M
RM
D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D015810:Linkage Disequilibrium / Q000235:genetics; D017720:Molecular Epidemiology; D020412:Multifactorial Inheritance / Q000235:genetics*; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D015203:Reproducibility of Results