Classification tree for detection of single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-by-SNP interactions related to heart disease: Framingham Heart Study

The aim of this study was to detect the effect of interactions between single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on incidence of heart diseases. For this purpose, 2912 subjects with 350,160 SNPs from the Framingham Heart Study (FHS) were analyzed. PLINK was used to control quality and to select the 10,000 most significant SNPs. A classification tree algorithm, Generalized, Unbiased, Interaction Detection and Estimation (GUIDE), was employed to build a classification tree to detect SNP-by-SNP interactions for the selected 10 k SNPs. The classes generated by GUIDE were reexamined by a generalized estimating equations (GEE) model with the empirical variance after accounting for potential familial correlation. Overall, 17 classes were generated based on the splitting criteria in GUIDE. The prevalence of coronary heart disease (CHD) in class 16 (determined by SNPs rs1894035, rs7955732, rs2212596, and rs1417507) was the lowest (0.23%). Compared to class 16, all other classes except for class 288 (prevalence of 1.2%) had a significantly greater risk when analyzed using GEE model. This suggests the interactions of SNPs on these node paths are significant.