Genome-wide association study of rheumatoid arthritis by a score test based on wavelet transformation.
BACKGROUND
We have conducted a genome-wide association study on the Genetic Analysis Workshop (GAW) 16 rheumatoid arthritis data using a multilocus score test based on wavelet transform proposed recently by the authors. The wavelet-based test automatically adjusts for the amount of noise suppressed from the data. The power of the test is also increased by using the genetic information contained in the spatial ordering of single-nucleotide polymorphisms on a chromosome.


RESULTS
After adjusting for the effect of population stratification, the test identified some previously discovered rheumatoid arthritis susceptibility loci (HLA-DRB1 and rs3761847) as well as some loci (rs2076530 and rs3130340) known to have association with sarcoidosis and bone mineral density. It was previously reported that patients with rheumatoid arthritis have elevated prevalence of sarcoidosis and have reduced bone mass.


CONCLUSIONS
This new test provides a useful tool in genome-wide association studies.
Jiang
Renfang
R
Department of Mathematical Sciences, Michigan Technological University, 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931, USA. rjiang@mtu.edu.
Dong
Jianping
J
Dai
Yilin
Y