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Discovering Schizophrenia Endophenotypes In Randomly Ascertained Pedigrees, David C. Glahn, Jeff T. Williams, Joanne E. Curran, Harald H. H. Goring, Thomas D. Dyer, Anderson M. Winkler, Rene L. Olvera, Ravi Duggirala, Laura Almasy, John Blangero

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Background

Although case-control approaches are beginning to disentangle schizophrenia’s complex polygenic burden, other methods will likely be necessary to fully identify and characterize risk genes. Endophenotypes, traits genetically correlated with an illness, can help characterize the impact of risk genes by providing genetically relevant traits that are more tractable than the behavioral symptoms that classify mental illness. Here we present an analytic approach for discovering and empirically validating endophenotypes in extended pedigrees with very few affected individuals. Our approach indexes each family member’s risk as a function of shared genetic kinship with an affected individual, often referred to as the …