Knowledge-based analysis of genetic associations of rheumatoid arthritis to inform studies searching for pleiotropic genes: a literature review and network analysis

Pleiotropy describes the genetic effect of a single gene on multiple phenotypic traits. Gene variants directly affect the normal processes of a series of physiological and biochemical reactions, and therefore cause a variety of diseases traits to be changed accordingly. Moreover, a shared genetic susceptibility mechanism may exist between different diseases. Therefore, shared genes, with pleiotropic effects, are important to understand the sharing pathogenesis and hence the mechanisms underlying comorbidity. In this study, we proposed combining genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and public... Mehr ...