OBJECTIVETo introduce the application of Multifactor Dimensionality Reduction (MDR) method for detecting gene-gene interactions in genetic case-control studies.

METHODSA brief overview on basic steps involved in the implementation, theoretical details, available software as well as the use and features of the MDR method were discussed based on a practical research case.

RESULTSAdvantages of MDR were compared to the conventional statistical approaches, showing that MDR method was a novel, nonparametric, genetic model-free approach that was developed specifically for detecting gene-gene interactions. Theoretical and empirical studies suggested that MDR was having reasonable power for detecting gene-gene interactions. Applications of MDR method had found the evidence of gene-gene interactions in several diseases such as sporadic breast cancer, atrial fibrillation and essential hypertension.

CONCLUSIONMDR method could be used for detecting gene-gene interactions in genetic case-control studies as having great advantages versus the conventional statistical approaches.