Linkage Disequilibrium (LD) - (Apr/06/2007 )

hi,
This question is concern with population genetics. I am doing a case control study on lung cancer and I got Linkage disequilibrium (LD) in between two polymorphisms in cancer population but this LD is totally absent in control subjects. I want to know that what is the significance of this result. Is this result may play any role in risk assisment of lung cancer.

Hello anoop,

I´m not sure how significant it is. Are any of the polymorphisms significantly over represented in the cancer patients in addition to LD? In that case, one of the markers might be a cancer marker, and the other is a polymorphism randomly associated with that marker (e.g. the guy/girl who first got the bad mutation happend to have the other polymorphism as well). Another possibility is that "the cancer causing mutation" is somewhere between the markers, the markers being associated with that mutation.
I guess a lot depends on the strength of the study. If the numbers are large enough and the statistics strong, you might be on to something!