New ways to predict diseases with many genes involved are being discovered. These methods use something called “polygenic risk scores” (PRS), which look at tiny genetic differences in lots of genes. But these PRS mostly come from data in people of European ancestry.
A new study in “Nature Genetics” talks about a new PRS calculator called CT-SLEB. They used it on a big database from many countries.
In simpler words, scientists are finding new ways to guess if you might get a disease based on your genes. They look at tiny differences in lots of genes, but these methods mainly work for people from Europe. The study talks about a new tool called CT-SLEB that they used on data from all around the world.
Introduction:
SNPs are like different versions of genes. To be called an SNP, lots of people in the world must have that gene version. Genome-wide studies have found many SNPs linked to diseases. PRS combines these SNPs to guess if you might get a disease.
But most PRS data comes from European people, so it doesn’t work well for others, like African populations. To make PRS better, they need data from more places and more people.
About the Study:
This study talks about a new tool called CT-SLEB. It uses different methods to make PRS better. They tested it with data from many places and different types of people.
What Did the Study Find?
CT-SLEB worked better for non-European groups compared to other methods, no matter if they had a lot or a little data. It did best when they had data from all five types of people. It also worked faster, especially with more data.
CT-SLEB gave similar results for non-European groups if they had at least 45% as much data as European groups. But the amount of data needed depends on the disease.
CT-SLEB can work with lots of gene differences, so it can help make predictions better for different groups of people in the U.S. It was good for heart disease, but no method was best for everything.
Image Source: https://www.slideshare.net/VargheseViva/polygenic-inheritance-250284497