In summary, we identified an autosome-wide linkage peak for MSD in EAs and several suggestive linkage peaks for the two major US populations based on a dense SNP map. Replication of the linkage findings in other samples, including those from other populations, is warranted, as is a focused analysis of the genes located in the linkage regions implicated here. These novel linkage regions can provide useful information in the search for genes involved in susceptibility to MSD, perhaps for targeted sequencing studies to find both disease associated common and rare variants.
