UNDERSTANDING THE GENETIC ARCHITECTURE OF CHRONIC LIVER DISEASE

The aim of this proposal is to identify new genes that increase the risk for life-threatening conditions namely liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. Specifically, we want to understand why some individuals are more prone to develop these serious health conditions while other are protected from them. This proposal fulfill several purposes of the UK biobank: a) it will allow improvement of diagnosis and prevention of liver disease by identifying those that are more susceptible to it; b) It will allow to identify gene targets for generating drugs against liver disease. In this proposal we will use statistical analyses on genetic variants to identify those at risk for liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. We will also generate a genetic risk score to better define the risk of each individual. The full genetic and epidemiology data will be used.