Over the past few years, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been increasingly applied to identify host genetic factors influencing clinical and laboratory traits related to immunity and infection, and to understand the interplay between the host and the microbial genomes. By screening large cohorts of individuals suffering from various infectious diseases, GWAS explored resistance against infection, natural history of the disease, development of life-threatening clinical signs, and innate and adaptive immune responses. These efforts provided fundamental insight on the role of major genes in the interindividual variability in the response to infection and on the mechanisms of the immune response against human pathogens both at the individual and population levels.

在过去几年中，全基因组关联研究 (GWAS) 越来越多地应用于识别影响与免疫和感染相关的临床和实验室特征的宿主遗传因素，并了解宿主与微生物基因组之间的相互作用。通过筛选大量患有各种传染病的个体，GWAS 探索了对感染的抵抗力、疾病的自然史、危及生命的临床症状的发展，以及先天性和适应性免疫反应。这些努力为主要基因在感染反应的个体间变异中的作用以及在个体和群体水平上对人类病原体的免疫反应机制提供了基本的见解。