The performance of a genomewide linkage analysis in a large pedigree with intracranial aneurysms using illumina's SNP-based linkage panel IV

Ynte M. Ruigrok^1,2, Gabriël J.E. Rinkel¹, Ruben van ’t Slot², Marianna Bevova², Cisca Wijmenga²

¹Department of Neurology, Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience, and ²Complex Genetics Section, Department of Biomedical Genetics, University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands

Familial occurrence of intracranial aneurysms suggests genetic factors to be involved in the development of intracranial aneurysms. We performed a genomewide linkage analysis in a large consanguineous pedigree with intracranial aneurysms with seven out of 20 siblings affected. We will present our experience in performing this linkage analysis using illumina's SNP-based linkage panel IV which includes +/- 6000 SNPs. We performed a non-parametric linkage (NPL) affecteds-only approach using Genehunter. We identified two potentially interesting loci with suggestive linkage (NPL=3.18) on chromosome 1p36 and Xp22. Interestingly, these loci overlap with loci that have already been identified in previous linkage studies. Currently, we are genotyping additional microsatellite markers in the two candidate loci.