Scalable generalized linear mixed model for region-based association tests in large biobanks and cohorts.

Nat Genet
Authors
Abstract

With very large sample sizes, biobanks provide an exciting opportunity to identify genetic components of complex traits. To analyze rare variants, region-based multiple-variant aggregate tests are commonly used to increase power for association tests. However, because of the substantial computational cost, existing region-based tests cannot analyze hundreds of thousands of samples while accounting for confounders such as population stratification and sample relatedness. Here we propose a scalable generalized mixed-model region-based association test, SAIGE-GENE, that is applicable to exome-wide and genome-wide region-based analysis for hundreds of thousands of samples and can account for unbalanced case-control ratios for binary traits. Through extensive simulation studies and analysis of the HUNT study with 69,716 Norwegian samples and the UK Biobank data with 408,910 White British samples, we show that SAIGE-GENE can efficiently analyze large-sample data (N > 400,000) with type I error rates well controlled.

Year of Publication
2020
Journal
Nat Genet
Date Published
2020 May 18
ISSN
1546-1718
DOI
10.1038/s41588-020-0621-6
PubMed ID
32424355
Links
Grant list
R01 HG008773 / HG / NHGRI NIH HHS / United States
T32HG010464 / U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | NIH | National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)
R01 HG008773 / HG / NHGRI NIH HHS / United States