SNP-based analysis of genetic substructure in the German population.

Objective: To evaluate the relevance and necessity to account for the effects of population substructure on association studies under a case-control design in central Europe, we analysed three samples drawn from different geographic areas of Germany. Two of the three samples, POPGEN (n = 720) and SHIP (n = 709), are from north and north-east Germany, respectively, and one sample, KORA (n = 730), is from southern Germany.

Methods: Population genetic differentiation was measured by classical F-statistics for different marker sets, either consisting of genome-wide selected coding SNPs located in functional genes, or consisting of selectively neutral SNPs from 'genomic deserts'.

Investigation of the HLA-DRB1 locus in alopecia areata.

To further evaluate the nature of the HLA association with alopecia areata (AA), we investigated the HLA-DRB1 locus in 161 AA patients and 165 matched controls from Belgium and Germany. HLA-DRB1 typing was performed using a recently established method that employs a combination of PCR-SSP (sequence specific priming) and Pyrosequencing(TM) technology. No significant differences were observed for HLA allele groups DRB1 *01, *07, *08, *09, *10, *11, *13, *14, *15, and *16.

Association of the HLA region with multiple sclerosis as confirmed by a genome screen using >10,000 SNPs on DNA chips.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system, with a complex genetic background. Here, we present a genome screen for association in small scale, employing 11,555 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on DNA chips for genotyping 100 MS patients stratified for HLA-DR2+ and 100 controls. More than 500 SNPs revealed significant differences between cases and controls before Bonferroni correction.