Application of Dempster-Schafer method in family-based association studies

In experiments designed for family-based association studies, methods such as transmission disequilibrium test require large number of trios to identify single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with the disease. However, unavailability of a large number of trios is the Achilles' heel of many complex diseases, especially for late-onset diseases. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to this problem by means of the Dempster-Shafer method. The simulation studies show that the Dempster-Shafer method has a promising overall performance, in identifying single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the correct association class, as it has 90 percent accuracy even with 60 trios.