Secure Scheme for Locating Disease-Causing Genes Based on Multi-Key Homomorphic Encryption

Genes have great significance for the prevention and treatment of some diseases.A vital consideration is the need to find a way to locate pathogenic genes by analyzing the genetic data obtained from different medical institutions while protecting the privacy of patients’genetic data.In this paper,we present a secure scheme for locating disease-causing genes based on Multi-Key Homomorphic Encryption(MKHE),which reduces the risk of leaking genetic data.First,we combine MKHE with a frequency-based pathogenic gene location function.The medical institutions use MKHE to encrypt their genetic data.The cloud then homomorphically evaluates specific gene-locating circuits on the encrypted genetic data.Second,whereas most location circuits are designed only for locating monogenic diseases,we propose two location circuits(TH-intersection and Top-q)that can locate the disease-causing genes of polygenic diseases.Third,we construct a directed decryption protocol in which the users involved in the homomorphic evaluation can appoint a target user who can obtain the final decryption result.Our experimental results show that compared to the JWB+17 scheme published in the journal Science,our scheme can be used to diagnose polygenic diseases,and the participants only need to upload their encrypted genetic data once,which reduces the communication traffic by a few hundred-fold.