Genetics

Three 2026 studies put a polygenic risk score and a blood metabolite panel against the same MS outcomes. Cai and colleagues follow 377,487 UK Biobank participants and find an inflammation score raises MS risk by 38 percent, with hypertension, diabetes and deprivation modifying the effect while polygenic risk category modifies nothing. Peng and colleagues measure 545 metabolites in 451 BENEFIT patients at first episode, where almost no single metabolite survives correction but metabolite sets lift brain volume loss prediction from 0.68 to 0.86. Kacerova and colleagues reach 0.91 by adding five metabolites to serum GFAP in 37 people.