Polygenic risk scores (PRS) have gained prominence as a genetic tool with the promise to revolutionize medicine and improve biomedical outcomes at the level of individuals. However, the clinical utility of PRS will certainly vary between diseases and populations of different ancestries. To realize the full and equitable potential of PRS, we are calling for papers that evaluate PRS for traits and diseases in diverse populations and also works that address potential ethical and scientific challenges surrounding the clinical implementation of PRS.

Genome Institute of Singapore (A*STAR)

National Cancer Centre Singapore

Frontiers in Digital Health

Personalized Medicine

Frontiers in Genetics

Genomic Medicine

Polygenic Risk Scores

Recently, growing evidence has revealed the significant effect of reprogrammed metabolism on pancreatic cancer in relation to carcinogenesis, progression, and treatment. However, the prognostic value of metabolism-related genes in pancreatic cancer has not been fully revealed. We identified 379 differentially expressed metabolic-related genes (DEMRGs) by comparing 178 pancreatic cancer tissues with 171 normal pancreatic tissues in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the Genotype-Tissue Expression project (GTEx) databases. Then, we used univariate Cox regression analysis together with Lasso regression for constructing a prognostic model consisting of 15 metabolic genes. The unified risk score formula and cutoff value were taken into account to divide patients into two groups: high risk and low risk, with the former exhibiting a worse prognosis compared with the latter. The external validation results of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (IGCC) cohort and the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) cohort further confirm the effectiveness of this prognostic model. As shown in the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, the area under curve (AUC) values of the risk score for overall survival (OS), disease-specific survival (DSS), and progression-free survival (PFS) were 0.871, 0.885, and 0.886, respectively. Based on the Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA), the 15-gene signature can affect some important biological processes and pathways of pancreatic cancer. In addition, the prognostic model was significantly correlated with the tumor immune microenvironment (immune cell infiltration, and immune checkpoint expression, etc.) and clinicopathological features (pathological stage, lymph node, and metastasis, etc.). We also built a nomogram based on three independent prognostic predictors (including individual neoplasm status, lymph node metastasis, and risk score) for the prediction of 1-, 3-, and 5-year OS of pancreatic cancer, which may help to further improve the treatment strategy of pancreatic cancer.

Recently, growing evidence has revealed the significant effect of reprogrammed metabolism on pancreatic cancer in relation to carcinogenesis, progression, and treatment. However, the prognostic value of metabolism-related genes in pancreatic cancer has not been fully revealed. We identified 379 differentially expressed metabolic-related genes (DEMRGs) by comparing 178 pancreatic cancer tissues with 171 normal pancreatic tissues in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the Genotype-Tissue Expression project (GTEx) databases. Then, we used univariate Cox regression analysis together with Lasso regression for constructing a prognostic model consisting of 15 metabolic genes. The unified risk score formula and cutoff value were taken into account to divide patients into two groups: high risk and low risk, with the former exhibiting a worse prognosis compared with the latter. The external validation results of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (IGCC) cohort and the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) cohort further confirm the effectiveness of this prognostic model. As shown in the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, the area under curve (AUC) values of the risk score for overall survival (OS), disease-specific survival (DSS), and progression-free survival (PFS) were 0.871, 0.885, and 0.886, respectively. Based on the Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA), the 15-gene signature can affect some important biological processes and pathways of pancreatic cancer. In addition, the prognostic model was significantly correlated with the tumor immune microenvironment (immune cell infiltration, and immune checkpoint expression, etc.) and clinicopathological features (pathological stage, lymph node, and metastasis, etc.). We also built a nomogram based on three independent prognostic predictors (including individual neoplasm status, lymph node metastasis, and risk score) for the prediction of 1-, 3-, and 5-year OS of pancreatic cancer, which may help to further improve the treatment strategy of pancreatic cancer.

Development and Validation of a Novel Metabolic-Related Signature Predicting Overall Survival for Pancreatic Cancer

BackgroundIncreasing genetic variants associated with sepsis have been identified by candidate-gene and genome-wide association studies, but single variants conferred minimal alterations in risk prediction. Our aim is to evaluate whether a weighted genetic risk score (wGRS) that aggregates information from multiple variants could improve risk discrimination of traumatic sepsis.</sec>MethodsSixty-four genetic variants potential relating to sepsis were genotyped in Chinese trauma cohort. Genetic variants with mean decrease accuracy (MDA) > 1.0 by random forest algorithms were selected to construct the multilocus wGRS. The area under the curve (AUC) and net reclassification improvement (NRI) were adopted to evaluate the discriminatory and reclassification ability of weighted genetic risk score (wGRS).</sec>ResultsSeventeen variants were extracted to construct the wGRS in 883 trauma patients. The wGRS was significantly associated with sepsis after trauma (OR = 2.19, 95% CI = 1.53–3.15, P = 2.01 × 10–5) after being adjusted by age, sex, and ISS. Patients with higher wGRS have an increasing incidence of traumatic sepsis (Ptrend = 6.81 × 10–8), higher SOFA (Ptrend = 5.00 × 10–3), and APACHE II score (Ptrend = 1.00 × 10–3). The AUC of the risk prediction model incorporating wGRS into the clinical variables was 0.768 (95% CI = 0.739–0.796), with an increase of 3.40% (P = 8.00 × 10–4) vs. clinical factor-only model. Furthermore, the NRI increased 25.18% (95% CI = 17.84–32.51%) (P = 6.00 × 10–5).</sec>ConclusionOur finding indicated that genetic variants could enhance the predictive power of the risk model for sepsis and highlighted the application among trauma patients, suggesting that the sepsis risk assessment model will be a promising screening and prediction tool for the high-risk population.</sec>

Background: Increasing genetic variants associated with sepsis have been identified by candidate-gene and genome-wide association studies, but single variants conferred minimal alterations in risk prediction. Our aim is to evaluate whether a weighted genetic risk score (wGRS) that aggregates information from multiple variants could improve risk discrimination of traumatic sepsis.Methods: Sixty-four genetic variants potential relating to sepsis were genotyped in Chinese trauma cohort. Genetic variants with mean decrease accuracy (MDA) &gt; 1.0 by random forest algorithms were selected to construct the multilocus wGRS. The area under the curve (AUC) and net reclassification improvement (NRI) were adopted to evaluate the discriminatory and reclassification ability of weighted genetic risk score (wGRS).Results: Seventeen variants were extracted to construct the wGRS in 883 trauma patients. The wGRS was significantly associated with sepsis after trauma (OR = 2.19, 95% CI = 1.53–3.15, P = 2.01 × 10–5) after being adjusted by age, sex, and ISS. Patients with higher wGRS have an increasing incidence of traumatic sepsis (Ptrend = 6.81 × 10–8), higher SOFA (Ptrend = 5.00 × 10–3), and APACHE II score (Ptrend = 1.00 × 10–3). The AUC of the risk prediction model incorporating wGRS into the clinical variables was 0.768 (95% CI = 0.739–0.796), with an increase of 3.40% (P = 8.00 × 10–4) vs. clinical factor-only model. Furthermore, the NRI increased 25.18% (95% CI = 17.84–32.51%) (P = 6.00 × 10–5).Conclusion: Our finding indicated that genetic variants could enhance the predictive power of the risk model for sepsis and highlighted the application among trauma patients, suggesting that the sepsis risk assessment model will be a promising screening and prediction tool for the high-risk population.

Polygenic Risk Score for Early Prediction of Sepsis Risk in the Polytrauma Screening Cohort

Genome-wide association studies have identified nearly 40 genome-wide significant single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) which are associated with Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Due to the polygenicity of AD, polygenic risk scores (PRS) have shown high potential for AD risk prediction. PRSs have been shown to successfully discriminate between AD cases and controls achieving a prediction accuracy of up to 84% based on area under the receiver operating curve. The prediction accuracy in AD is higher compared with other complex genetic disorders. PRS can be restricted to SNPs which reside in biologically relevant gene-sets; the predictive value of these gene-sets in the general population is not as high as genome-wide PRS, but they may play an important role to identify mechanisms of disease development and inform biological experiments. Multiple methods are available to derive PRSs, such as selecting SNPs based on statistical evidence of association with the disease or using prior evidence for SNP selection. All methods have advantages, but PRS produced using different methodologies are often not comparable, and results should be interpreted with care. Similarly, this is true when PRS is based on different background populations. With the exponential growth in development of digital electronic devices it is easy to calculate an individual's disease risk using public databases. A major limitation for the utility of PRSs is that the risk score is sample and method dependent. Therefore, replicability and interpretability of PRS is an important issue. PRS can be used to determine the probability of developing disease which incorporates information about disease risk in the general population or in a specific AD risk group. It is essential to consult with genetic counselors to ensure genetic risk is communicated appropriately.

Genome-wide association studies have identified nearly 40 genome-wide significant single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) which are associated with Alzheimer&apos;s Disease (AD). Due to the polygenicity of AD, polygenic risk scores (PRS) have shown high potential for AD risk prediction. PRSs have been shown to successfully discriminate between AD cases and controls achieving a prediction accuracy of up to 84% based on area under the receiver operating curve. The prediction accuracy in AD is higher compared with other complex genetic disorders. PRS can be restricted to SNPs which reside in biologically relevant gene-sets; the predictive value of these gene-sets in the general population is not as high as genome-wide PRS, but they may play an important role to identify mechanisms of disease development and inform biological experiments. Multiple methods are available to derive PRSs, such as selecting SNPs based on statistical evidence of association with the disease or using prior evidence for SNP selection. All methods have advantages, but PRS produced using different methodologies are often not comparable, and results should be interpreted with care. Similarly, this is true when PRS is based on different background populations. With the exponential growth in development of digital electronic devices it is easy to calculate an individual&apos;s disease risk using public databases. A major limitation for the utility of PRSs is that the risk score is sample and method dependent. Therefore, replicability and interpretability of PRS is an important issue. PRS can be used to determine the probability of developing disease which incorporates information about disease risk in the general population or in a specific AD risk group. It is essential to consult with genetic counselors to ensure genetic risk is communicated appropriately.