Polygenic risk scores for dyslipidemia and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease: Progress toward clinical implementation

Abstract

Recent discoveries from the past 15 years of human genetic association studies have provided new insights into the common genetic basis of coronary artery disease and its risk factors including molecular traits like circulating lipid/lipoprotein levels. Polygenic risk scores, which aggregate findings from these large genetic studies, have been developed to predict clinical disease and stratify treatment response in clinical trials. In this review, we describe common methods for calculating polygenic risk scores, highlight examples related to coronary artery disease and lipid traits, and discuss opportunities and challenges for clinical implementation.