The Pathway Less Traveled: Moving from Candidate Genes to Candidate Pathways in the Analysis of Genome-Wide Data from Large Scale Pharmacogenetic Association Studies

Title: The Pathway Less Traveled: Moving from Candidate Genes to Candidate Pathways in the Analysis of Genome-Wide Data from Large Scale Pharmacogenetic Association Studies

Volume: 6

Author(s): R. A. Wilke, R. K. Mareedu and J. H. Moore

Affiliation:

Keywords: Candidate Genes, hypothesis, scientific community, pharmacogenetic association, computational strategies, cholesterol synthesis, lipid signaling

Abstract: The candidate gene approach to pharmacogenetics is hypothesis driven, and anchored in biological plausibility. Whole genome scanning is hypothesis generating, and it may lead to new biology. While both approaches are important, the scientific community is rapidly reallocating resources toward the latter. We propose a step-wise approach to largescale pharmacogenetic association studies that begins with candidate genes, then uses a pathway-based intermediate step, to inform subsequent analyses of data generated through whole genome scanning. Novel computational strategies are explored in the context of two clinically relevant examples, cholesterol synthesis and lipid signaling.

Cite this article as:

Wilke A. R., Mareedu K. R. and Moore H. J., The Pathway Less Traveled: Moving from Candidate Genes to Candidate Pathways in the Analysis of Genome-Wide Data from Large Scale Pharmacogenetic Association Studies, Current Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine 2008; 6 (3) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1875692110806030150