Article In-Depth Analysis of Genetic Variation Associated with Severe West Nile Viral Disease Megan E. Cahill 1, Mark Loeb 2, Andrew T. Dewan 1 and Ruth R. Montgomery 3,* 1 Center for Perinatal, Pediatric and Environmental Epidemiology, Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology, Yale School of Public Health, 1 Church Street, New Haven, CT 06510, USA;
[email protected] (M.E.C.);
[email protected] (A.T.D.) 2 3208 Michael DeGroote Centre for Learning & Discovery, Division of Clinical Pathology, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L8, Canada;
[email protected] 3 Department of Internal Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, 300 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT 06520, USA * Correspondence:
[email protected] Received: 30 October 2020; Accepted: 3 December 2020; Published: 8 December 2020 Abstract: West Nile virus (WNV) is a mosquito-borne virus which causes symptomatic disease in a minority of infected humans. To identify novel genetic variants associated with severe disease, we utilized data from an existing case-control study of WNV and included population controls for an expanded analysis. We conducted imputation and gene-gene interaction analysis in the largest and most comprehensive genetic study conducted to date for West Nile neuroinvasive disease (WNND). Within the imputed West Nile virus dataset (severe cases n = 381 and asymptomatic/mild controls = 441), we found novel loci within the MCF.2 Cell Line Derived Transforming Sequence Like (MCF2L) gene (rs9549655 and rs2297192) through the individual loci analyses, although none reached statistical significance. Incorporating population controls from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study on Aging (n = 9012) did not identify additional novel variants, a possible reflection of the cohort’s inclusion of individuals who could develop mild or severe WNV disease upon infection.