Genome-Wide Linkage Analysis of Large Multiple Multigenerational Families Identifies Novel Genetic Loci for Coronary Artery Disease.

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of death, and genetic factors contribute significantly to risk of CAD. This study aims to identify new CAD genetic loci through a large-scale linkage analysis of 24 large and multigenerational families with 433 family members (GeneQuest II). All family members were genotyped with markers spaced by every 10 cM and a model-free nonparametric linkage (NPL-all) analysis was carried out.