Target discovery using biobanks and human genetics

Large-scale biobanks can yield unprecedented insights into our health and provide discoveries of new and potentially targetable biomarkers. Several protective loss-of-function alleles have been identified, including variants that protect against cardiovascular disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and asthma and allergic diseases. These alleles serve as indicators of efficacy, mimicking the effects of drugs and suggesting that inhibiting these genes could provide therapeutic benefit, as has been observed for PCSK9. We provide a context for these findings through a multifaceted review covering the use of genetics in drug discovery efforts through genome-wide and phenome-wide association studies, linking deep mutation scanning data to molecular function and highlighting some additional tools that might help in the interpretation of newly discovered variants.