我们前期采用全基因组关联分析研究（GWAS）和候选基因策略识别了8个新的Graves病(GD)致病易感基因，并验证了以前报道的5个GD易感位点，其中有8个致病易感位点是和其它不同的自身免疫性疾病共享的。在这些发现的提示下，我们设想在目前报道的其它自身免疫性疾病的致病易感位点中，可能有部分位点也和GD的发生相关。因此，本项目将在目前报道的5,515个与至少一种其它自身免疫性疾病发生相关的SNP位点中，通过在我们已经完成的1,536例GD病人和1,516例对照个体的GWAS研究数据库中分析，挑选可能和GD发生密切相关的位于30个不同染色体区段内的79个SNP位点（P < 0.05），进一步在我们收集的10,000例GD病人和相应的对照人群中，分阶段进行验证，以识别和鉴定新的GD致病易感基因。并通过对不同自身免疫性疾病之间共享致病易感基因程度的分析，探讨他们之间的关系。

In previous studies, we identified eight new susceptibility loci to Graves' disease (GD) and confirmed five previously reported loci by genome-wide association study and candidate gene strategy. Among these 13 susceptibility loci of Graves' disease (GD), 8 loci were shared with at least one of the other autoimmune diseases. These findings inferred that some of the susceptibility loci to other autoimmune diseases which were identified in recently GWAS studies, were possibly associated with GD. Among 5,515 SNPs that were associated with at least one of autoimmune diseases in previous reports, 79 SNPs, which located in 30 distinct chromosome regions, showed P < 0.05 in our GWAS data and were selected for further genotyping in 10,000 patients with GD and 10,000 controls, in order to identify novel susceptibility genes of GD. The relationship between GD and other autoimmune diseases were investigated based on analyzing how many susceptibility loci were shared.