Data Availability Statement: All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this article [and its supplementary information files].
Code Availability: The data generated or analysed during this study can be found within the article and its supplementary files.
Acknowledgments
All the authors acknowledge Dr. Varun Sharma, Dr. Indu Sharma, Dr. Ankit Mahajan, Akash Sharma, Sonakshi Modeel, Hetender Singh, NSS SMVDU Volunteers and M.Sc. Dissertation students at SMVDU, International Volunteer Foundation, Jammu and Indian Red Cross Society, District Branch Jammu for their assistance in population screening and sample collection. Authors acknowledge Prof. Manoj Kumar Dhar, School of Biotechnology, University of Jammu, and Prof. Sanjana Kaul, School of Biotechnology, University of Jammu for facilitating in quantification of DNA samples. Authors acknowledge Central Massarray Facility, School of Biiotechnology, SMVDU for facilitation of Genotyping of the samples. HS and S would also like to acknowledge Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University for providing Ph.D. assistantship.
Author Contributions
SS, ER conceived the study and VS assisted in study design and execution. HS, S, PB, TC and RM carried out population screening, sample collection, DNA isolation and genotyping of the samples. HS, S performed statistical analyses of the data. HS wrote the manuscript. MG, NG, GG, AKP, MFB, RS, SP, BG are clinical collaborators who provided clinical evaluation of the cases and samples. SS, ER, VS critically reviewed the manuscript.
Funding: No funding was received to conduct the study.
Ethical approval: The study was approved by Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Institutional Ethical Review Board (IERB) (IERB Serial No: SMVDU/IERB/18/69 and SMVDU/IERB/18/68) and Institute Ethics committee, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi (Ref No.: IEC-20/08.01.2021, RP-25/2021).
Competing Interests
The authors declare no competing interests associated with manuscript.