DNA analysis of distinct populations suggests multiple origins for the mutation causing Huntington disease

Results of association studies can be significantly biased if the ancestry of the control population is not similar to that of the affected population. One approach to overcome such a bias is to use distinct populations where controls and affected individuals are likely to be of similar descent. We have examined homogeneous populations of French, Danish and Swedish ancestry for nonrandom allelic association between Huntington disease (HD) and several markers previously shown to be in association with HD. No evidence for nonrandom allelic association between HD and these markers was shown in these populations. The demonstration of association in a United Kingdom (UK) sample of similar size, and lack of significant differences in allele frequencies between the French, Danish, Swedish and UK populations suggested that the absence of association was not predominantly a consequence of allele frequencies or sample size. To investigate further the number of potential HD chromosomes, DNA haplotypes were constructed for the Danish, French, Swedish and UK populations. The minimum of two HD haplotypes observed in each of the French, Danish and Swedish populations, compared to the one haplotype in the UK population of a similar size, is an important factor accounting for the absence of association between HD and the DNA markers in these populations. Furthermore, these data are in favour of multiple independent origins for the mutation causing HD.