0000000000293506
AUTHOR
Elisabetta Mascia
A multi-step genomic approach prioritized TBKBP1 gene as relevant for multiple sclerosis susceptibility
Abstract Background Over 200 genetic loci have been associated with multiple sclerosis (MS) explaining ~ 50% of its heritability, suggesting that additional mechanisms may account for the “missing heritability” phenomenon. Objective To analyze a large cohort of Italian individuals to identify markers associated with MS with potential functional impact in the disease. Methods We studied 2571 MS and 3234 healthy controls (HC) of continental Italian origin. Discovery phase included a genome wide association study (1727 MS, 2258 HC), with SNPs selected according to their association in the Italian cohort only or in a meta-analysis of signals with a cohort of European ancestry (4088 MS, 7144 HC)…
Low frequency and rare coding variation contributes to multiple sclerosis risk
AbstractMultiple sclerosis is a common, complex neurological disease, where almost 20% of risk heritability can be attributed to common genetic variants, including >230 identified by genome-wide association studies (Patsopoulos et al., 2017). Multiple strands of evidence suggest that the majority of the remaining heritability is also due to the additive effects of individual variants, rather than epistatic interactions between these variants, or mutations exclusive to individual families. Here, we show in 68,379 cases and controls that as much as 5% of this heritability is explained by low-frequency variation in gene coding sequence. We identify four novel genes driving MS risk independe…