Citation

Turley P, Meyer MN, Wang N, Cesarini D, Hammonds E, Martin AR, Neale BM, Rehm HL, Wilkins-Haug L, Benjamin DJ, Hyman S, Laibson D, Visscher PM. 2021. Problems with Using Polygenic Scores to Select Embryos. The New England journal of medicine. 385(1):78-86. Pubmed: 34192436 DOI:10.1056/NEJMsr2105065

Abstract

Companies have recently begun to sell a new service to patients considering in vitro fertilization: embryo selection based on polygenic scores (ESPS). These scores represent individualized predictions of health and other outcomes derived from genomewide association studies in adults to partially predict these outcomes. This article includes a discussion of many factors that lower the predictive power of polygenic scores in the context of embryo selection and quantifies these effects for a variety of clinical and nonclinical traits. Also discussed are potential unintended consequences of ESPS (including selecting for adverse traits, altering population demographics, exacerbating inequalities in society, and devaluing certain traits). Recommendations for the responsible communication about ESPS by practitioners are provided, and a call for a society-wide conversation about this technology is made. (Funded by the National Institute on Aging and others.).
Copyright © 2021 Massachusetts Medical Society.

Related Faculty

Photo of Steven Hyman

Steven Hyman is Director of the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute and Chair of the Schizophrenia Spectrum Biomarkers Consortium (SSBC), a consortium identifying objective biomarkers to enable better diagnosis of and treatment for schizophrenia and related illnesses.

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