Bridging the Gap between Statistical and Biological Epistasis in Alzheimer's Disease. (17th May 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ebbert, Mark T. W.; Ridge, Perry G.; Kauwe, John S. K.
• Other Names: Chiu Helen F. K. Academic Editor.
• Is Part Of: BioMed research international. Volume 2015(2015)
• Publication Date: 2015-05-17
• Subjects: Medicine -- Periodicals; Biology -- Periodicals; Biotechnology -- Periodicals; Life sciences -- Periodicals; 610.5
• DOI: 10.1155/2015/870123
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2314-6133

Abstract

Abstract : Alzheimer's disease affects millions of people worldwide and incidence is expected to rise as the population ages, but no effective therapies exist despite decades of research and more than 20 known disease markers. Research has shown that Alzheimer's disease's missing heritability remains extensive with an estimated 25% of phenotypic variance unexplained by known variants. The missing heritability may be explained by missing variants or by epistasis. Researchers often focus on individual loci rather than epistatic interactions, which is likely an oversimplification of the underlying biology since most phenotypes are affected by multiple genes. Focusing research efforts on epistasis will be critical to resolving Alzheimer's disease etiology, and a major key to identifying and properly interpreting key epistatic interactions will be bridging the gap between statistical and biological epistasis. This review covers the current state of epistasis research in Alzheimer's disease and how researchers can bridge the gap between statistical and biological epistasis to help resolve Alzheimer's disease etiology.