UM’s Jacob McCauley and Oriana Damas were part of a group of researchers that lead the largest genetic analysis of inflammatory bowel disease in U.S. Hispanic individuals to date. The team analyzed whole-genome sequencing data from approximately 7,300 self-identified Hispanic participants, including 1,660 individuals with IBD.
They found that genetic ancestry plays a measurable role in IBD risk, disease severity, and clinical outcomes. Using ancestry-informed, genome-wide analyses, the team identified 14 novel genetic risk loci specific to African ancestry and one genome-wide significant locus specific to Amerindian ancestry. Many of these variants were rare or absent in European populations and would not have been detected in ancestry-agnostic studies.
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