Daniel O'Connor, United Kingdom
NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research CentreAuthor Of 1 Presentation
GENOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDY OF PNEUMOCOCCAL CARRIAGE AMONG NEPALESE CHILDREN (ID 16)
- Rama Kandasamy, Australia
- Sagida Bibi, United Kingdom
- Sonu Shrestha, United Kingdom
- Daniel O'Connor, United Kingdom
- Clive Hoggart, United Arab Emirates
- Meeru Gurung, Nepal
- Stephen Thorson, Nepal
- Michael J. Carter, United Kingdom
- Dominic Kelly, United Kingdom
- David Murdoch, New Zealand
- Andrew J. Pollard, United Kingdom
- Michael Levin, United Arab Emirates
- Shrijana Shrestha, Nepal
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.