MultAssoc

MultAssoc performs genetic association testing of diseases with groups of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), explicitly modeling SNP–SNP and SNP–environment interactions to evaluate joint effects of variants.

Key Features:

• Integration of Standard Logistic Regression Tests: Implements two standard logistic regression-based tests for analyzing SNP–disease associations while allowing for potential interactions.
• Innovative TukAssoc Methodology: Implements TukAssoc using Tukey’s 1 degree-of-freedom (d.f.) interaction model to assess interactions between two groups of covariates.
• Comprehensive Interaction Modeling: Captures main effects and interactions among variants across genomic regions or with environmental exposures, enabling joint modeling rather than treating each SNP as functionally unique.

Scientific Applications:

• Case-control analysis of colorectal adenoma and NAT2 variants: Applied to a case-control study of colorectal adenoma to analyze associations with DNA variants in the NAT2 genomic region and to evaluate models of gene–gene and gene–environment interaction.

Methodology:

Implemented in MATLAB and based on Tukey’s 1-d.f. model of interaction; performance is compared with standard tests that either ignore or fully saturate gene–gene and gene–environment interactions and is evaluated using real-world data and simulated scenarios under various models of gene–gene interaction.