Sagida Bibi, United Kingdom

Oxford Vaccine Group Paediatrics

Author Of 1 Presentation

GENOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDY OF PNEUMOCOCCAL CARRIAGE AMONG NEPALESE CHILDREN (ID 16)

Abstract

Background

Determining the host molecular genetic characteristics of pneumococcal colonisation may inform the development of new clinical interventions which could interrupt pneumococcal transmission and establishment of disease. We performed a genome-wide association study to identify the genes associated with pneumococcal carriage.

Methods

DNA collected from healthy Nepalese children were genotyped using Illumina Global Screening Arrays. Array data underwent QC and filtering before undergoing imputation using the HRC R1.1 2016 reference panel. Nasopharyngeal swabs collected from participants were processed for the presence of pneumococci by conventional microbiological techniques. Association analysis was performed using PLINK 1.9.

Results

Following filtering, 1355 carriers (cases) and 766 non-carriers (controls) were analysed. 10 variants within a single region, were associated with pneumococcal carriage (p<10-8). The variant that had the strongest association with pneumococcal carriage (MAF carriers = 0.07 vs MAF non-carriers = 0.13, OR 0.52, 95% CI 0.42-0.64, p=2.3x10-8), is within an intergenic region between PPFIA2 and CCDC59.

Conclusions

We identified host genetic variants associated with pneumococcal carriage. Further studies confirming this association and its biological role in pneumococcal carriage are needed.

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