Family Clustering of Autoimmune Vitiligo Results Principally from Polygenic Inheritance of Common Risk Alleles

Vitiligo is an autoimmune disease that results in patches of depigmented skin and hair. Previous genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of vitiligo have identified 50 susceptibility loci. Variants at the associated loci are generally common and have individually small effects on risk. Most vitiligo cases are “simplex,” where there is no family history of vitiligo, though occasional family clustering of vitiligo occurs, and some “multiplex” families report numerous close affected relatives. Here, we investigate whether simplex and multiplex vitiligo comprise different disease subtypes with differ ent underlying genetic etiologies.

Source: The American Journal of Human Genetics - July 17, 2019 Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Authors: Genevieve H.L. Roberts, Subrata Paul, Daniel Yorgov, Stephanie A. Santorico, Richard A. Spritz Tags: Article Source Type: research