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Updated: Jun 5, 2026

Generation of a Mouse Spontaneous Autoimmune Thyroiditis Model
Published on: March 17, 2023
Polygenic Risk Scores for Prediction of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Thyroid Toxicity in Diverse Populations
Lars G Fritsche1,2, Luke M Higgins3,4, Matthew Schipper3,5
1Center for Statistical Genetics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Purpose:
Immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI)-induced thyroiditis is a common immune-related adverse event (irAE) linked to improved survival. Polygenic risk scores (PRS) for autoimmune hypothyroidism predict thyroid irAEs in European-ancestry patients; performance in non-European populations is unclear.
Experimental Design:
In the Veterans Affairs Million Veteran Program (MVP; 2011-2023), we identified ICI-treated patients with germline genotyping and a chemotherapy-treated control cohort, excluding those with thyroid disease or prior thyroid-directed treatments. Harmonized ancestry and race/ethnicity (HARE) defined non-Hispanic White (NHW) and non-Hispanic Black (NHB) groups. Thyroid irAEs within 1 year were defined using laboratory criteria capturing both hyperthyroid and hypothyroid phases. We compared two PRSs: a published European-derived PRS and an updated PRS selected across multiple genome-wide association study (GWAS) sources and methods (including the MVP multiancestry GWAS) to maximize discrimination in African-ancestry individuals in a held-out test set. HARE-stratified multivariable Cox models estimated time to thyroiditis; a 6-month landmark analysis assessed overall survival.
Results:
The ICI cohort included 4,289 patients (3,473 NHW; 816 NHB). The baseline PRS was associated with thyroiditis in NHW [adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) per standard deviation, 1.33; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.19-1.50) but not NHB patients or controls. The updated PRS improved risk stratification in NHW (aHR, 1.45; 95% CI, 1.28-1.63) and predicted thyroiditis in NHB patients (aHR, 1.48; 95% CI, 1.11-1.98) but not in controls. Thyroiditis within 6 months was associated with improved survival, but neither PRS was.
Conclusions:
Germline polygenic liability to hypothyroidism predicts ICI-induced thyroiditis in NHW and NHB patients when PRSs are selected via ancestry-stratified validation. Careful exploration of the dataset-method space is critical for equitable PRS development.
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