Genetics

This blog post examines a recent medRxiv preprint evaluating whether a polygenic risk score for multiple sclerosis can accurately stratify disease risk across European, African, and Latino/admixed American ancestry groups using data from the All of Us Research Program. The study found that the score effectively distinguished higher- and lower-risk individuals among European and Latino/admixed American participants but did not significantly stratify risk among African ancestry participants, highlighting a major limitation of genetic prediction models derived largely from European genome-wide association studies. These findings underscore the need for more diverse genomic datasets, ancestry-aware risk models, and cautious clinical interpretation of polygenic risk scores in precision medicine.