Case control haplotype study to search for disease genes involved in Multiple Sclerosis in Tasmania
by
Melanie Bahlo
The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
Coauthors: Justin Rubio, Terry Speed, Simon Foote

The CRC for the discovery of genes for common human diseases is conducting one of the largest genotyping studies ever attempted in Australia in an effort to find genes involved in the complex disease Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Individual DNA variations present in genetic markers called microsatellite markers are determined by genotyping for cases, controls and a constellation of their relatives for approximately 800 markers throughout the human genome. Disease genes can be detected through excess sharing of haplotypes in the cases compared to the controls. Several methods to assess this sharing of haplotypes, including our own method which uses simple nonparametric methods and permutation tests, will be discussed and results for the HLA region on the human chromosome 6 will be shown.

Date received: April 2, 2002