ELL2 and bacterial meningitis: While we did not find any association with other B-lymphoid proliferative or malignant diseases apart from MGUS (OR=1.19; logistic regression P=0.0018), we observed associations between rs56219066T and lower total serum protein levels (n=20,100; log-linear regression P=0.0014; β= −0.035) as previously reported for rs3777200 in ELL2 (D′/r2=1.00/0.96 with rs56219066; ref. 30), and an increased risk of bacterial meningitis (n=512; OR=1.30; logistic regression P=0.0024).