About Genoscores

The scores of the phenotypes in Genoscores can have several uses:

  1. Genotypic predictors of complex traits can be constructed from (possibly oligogenic) genotypic scores for related and intermediate traits. The rationale for this is that because genotypic effects on complex traits are highly polygenic, genotypic predictors of these traits cannot be learned directly from modelling SNP-trait associations. It is more feasible to construct genetic predictors of intermediate traits or biomarkers that are relatively oligogenic and under strong genetic control, and to use these to construct predictors of complex outcomes.
  2. Testing for association of a complex trait with oligogenic scores that predict intermediate phenotypes can help to discover and test causal pathways, by a “mendelian randomization” approach.
  3. Associations between genotypic scores for different phenotypes can identify unexpected connections between pathways, and can help to identify unknown biomarkers on metabolomic or proteomic platforms.

Currently the database holds 1157937 phenotypes including:

  • Gene expression in whole blood
  • Micro-RNA expression in whole blood
  • Metabolites in serum, plasma or urine
  • Serum proteins
  • Serum glycan profiles
  • Serum IgG glycan profiles
  • Clinical traits
  • Disease states, especially autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis
  • DNA methylation markers in whole blood