For example, whole blood QTLs related to genes known to affect asthma pathogenesis or severity (e.g. IL18R [49–51], ZFP57 [52], BTN3A2 [53], NDFIP1 [54], SMAD3 [55], CLEC16A [56], and TSLP [57]) were associated with colocalization sites for asthma and neutrophil, eosinophil, monocyte and/or lymphocyte traits (Additional file 1: Tables S11-S14). The gene discussed is CLEC16A; the disease is asthma.