Robust tests for candidate-gene association using case-parents trios with a multi-allelic marker

Abstract

In case-parents trios design, the association between a multi-allelic candidate-gene and a disease can be detected by using maximum of score tests (max-score) when the mode of inheritance is known. We apply the maximum of the max-score statistics and the maximum of likelihood ratio statistics when the genetic model is unknown and examine their robust properties compared to max-score statistics. The simulation results demonstrate that the two maximum robust tests are more efficacious and robust across all genetic models compared with the three max-score tests. Moreover, in most situations, the maximum of the max-score tests seems to be more powerful than the maximum of the likelihood ratio tests.