Cross-population applications of genomics to understand the risk of multifactorial traits involving inflammation and immunity

Abstract

Abstract The interplay between genetic and environmental factors plays a significant role in interindividual variation in immune and inflammatory responses. The availability of high-throughput low-cost genotyping and next-generation sequencing has revolutionized our ability to identify human genetic variation and understand how this varies within and between populations, and the relationship with disease. In this review, we explore the potential of genomics for patient benefit, specifically in the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of inflammatory and immune-related diseases. We summarize the knowledge arising from genetic and functional genomic approaches, and the opportunity for personalized medicine. The review covers applications in infectious diseases, rare immunodeficiencies and autoimmune diseases, illustrating advances in diagnosis and understanding risk including use of polygenic risk scores. We further explore the application for patient stratification and drug target prioritization. The review highlights a key challenge to the field arising from the lack of sufficient representation of genetically diverse populations in genomic studies. This currently limits the clinical utility of genetic-based diagnostic and risk-based applications in non-Caucasian populations. We highlight current genome projects, initiatives and biobanks from diverse populations and how this is being used to improve healthcare globally by improving our understanding of genetic susceptibility to diseases and regional pathogens such as malaria and tuberculosis. Future directions and opportunities for personalized medicine and wider application of genomics in health care are described, for the benefit of individual patients and populations worldwide.