MIXPRS enables multi-population and multi-method polygenic risk scores using summary statistics
Many multi-population polygenic risk score (PRS) methods have been proposed to improve prediction in underrepresented populations; however, no single method performs best across all scenarios. Although integrating PRSs across multiple methods and populations may improve prediction, this approach is often limited by the need for individual-level tuning data. Here we introduce MIXPRS, a robust framework based on the data fission paradigm for combining multiple multi-population PRS methods using only genome-wide association study summary statistics. MIXPRS uses single nucleotide polymorphism pruning to mitigate linkage disequilibrium mismatch and non-negative least squares regression to estimate combination weights. Across simulations and real-data analyses spanning up to 26 traits, MIXPRS consistently improves prediction accuracy over existing methods. We further extend this framework to MIXPRS+, incorporating functional annotations and clinical PRSs, yielding additional gains in non-European populations. MIXPRS relies only on summary statistics, thus offering broad accessibility and robustness for underrepresented populations.
Authors
- Leying Guan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0609-1073)
- Zeyu Bian (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9849-9601)
- Geyu Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4049-0193)
- Leqi Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6789-4959)
- Yikai Dong
- Xiaowei Zeng
- Hongyu Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1195-9607)
Institutions
- Emory University (US)
- Purdue University West Lafayette (US)
- Yale University (US)
- University of California San Diego (US)
- Yale New Haven Health System (US)
- Stanford University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Genetics
- Published
- 2026-06-09
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-026-02637-4
- Primary Topic
- Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- National Human Genome Research Institute