pleioh2g-tutorial

In pleioh2g: Estimation of Pleiotropic Heritability from Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) Summary Statistics

knitr::opts_chunk$set(
  collapse = TRUE,
  comment = "#>"
)

library(pleioh2g)

Installation:

```> install.packages("devtools") devtools::install_github("yjzhao1004/pleioh2g") library(pleioh2g)

### **Steps**
### Step 1: Prepare LDSC input-format data for multiple traits.
PHBC needs LDSC .sumstats format data as input, so you first need to reformat the GWAS summary statistics as LDSC requested. We strongly recommend that you use the script munge_sumstats.py included in LDSC python package (https://github.com/bulik/ldsc) to convert your own GWAS summary statistics into LDSC format. (ref. Bulik-Sullivan et al. 2015b *Nat Genet*)
We also provide all LDSC-format .sumstat.gz data used in our analyses. (See Data preparation)
* Examples of three phenotypes ("401.1", "250.2", "296.22") have been implemented in our package. You can use codes below to reload them.

library(pleioh2g) munged_sumstats = list("401.1" = sumstats_munged_example_input(example = "401.1"), "250.2" = sumstats_munged_example_input(example = "250.2"),"296.22" = sumstats_munged_example_input(example = "296.22"))

### Step 2: Compute pleiotropic heritability with bias correction
The function **pruning_pleioh2g_wrapper()** (See example as below) is to compute h<SUP>2</SUP><SUB>pleio</SUB> / h<SUP>2</SUP> while performing pruning and bias correction with ldsc-format GWAS summary statistics (.sumstat.gz) as input.

* We note that h<SUP>2</SUP><SUB>pleio</SUB> is a function of both the target disease and the selected set of auxiliary diseases/traits. We use the ratio of pleiotropic heritability vs. total heritability (h<SUP>2</SUP><SUB>pleio</SUB> / h<SUP>2</SUP>) to quantify the proportion of genetic variance that is pleiotropic.
* We just use 5 jackknife blocks and 3 traits as example for quick computation test. If you set 200 jackknife blocks and include more than 50 traits, the procedure will cost more than 10 hours.

Specify phenotype names

phenotype<-c("401.1","250.2","296.22")

First to determine which disease in your list is the target disease

G = 1 # Index of target disease in trait list - this example is to compute pleiotropic heritability for "401.1".

Input ldsc format .sumstat.gz data

munged_sumstats = list("401.1" = sumstats_munged_example_input(example = "401.1"), "250.2" = sumstats_munged_example_input(example = "250.2"),"296.22" = sumstats_munged_example_input(example = "296.22"))

Specify reference LD data: ld and wld path; and hapmap 3 SNPs list

ld_path<-fs::path(fs::path_package("extdata/eur_w_ld_chr", package = "pleioh2g")) wld_path<-fs::path(fs::path_package("extdata/eur_w_ld_chr", package = "pleioh2g")) hmp3<-fs::path(fs::path_package("extdata/w_hm3.snplist", package = "pleioh2g"))

If you trait is disease phenotype or the other binary trait, specify prevalence to compute the liability-scale heritability; If you don't specify this, it will compute observed-scale heritability.

sample_prev <- c(0.37,0.1,0.17) population_prev <- c(0.37,0.1,0.17)

Specify number of genomic-jackknife block; We use n_block = 5 as example for quick computation, but we recommand to use 200 jackknife blocks; If you don't specify this, the default number is 200.

n_block<-5

Specify number of Monte Carlo sampling iterations in bias correction; If you don't specify this, the default number is 1000.

sample_rep <- 1000

post_correction_results<-pruning_pleioh2g_wrapper(G,phenotype,munged_sumstats,ld_path, wld_path, sample_prev, population_prev,n_block, hmp3,sample_rep) `` An output line will provide your post-correction h<SUP>2</SUP><SUB>pleio</SUB> / h<SUP>2</SUP> estimate, along with a result listpost_correction_results, containing the following elements： -target_disease(character): The value "401.1". -target_disease_h2_est(numeric): target disease h<SUP>2</SUP>. -target_disease_h2_se(numeric): target disease h<SUP>2</SUP> s.e.. -selected_auxD(character): auxiliary diseases. -h2pleio_uncorr(numeric): pre-correction h<SUP>2</SUP><SUB>pleio</SUB> estimate. -h2pleio_uncorr_se(numeric): pre-correction h<SUP>2</SUP><SUB>pleio</SUB> jackknife s.e. estimate. -percentage_h2pleio_uncorr(numeric): pre-correction h<SUP>2</SUP><SUB>pleio</SUB> / h<SUP>2</SUP> estimate. -percentage_h2pleio_uncorr_se(numeric): pre-correction h<SUP>2</SUP><SUB>pleio</SUB> / h<SUP>2</SUP> jackknife s.e. estimate. -percentage_h2pleio_jackknife_uncorr(numeric): vector of all pre-correction h<SUP>2</SUP><SUB>pleio</SUB> / h<SUP>2</SUP> jackknife estimates in default 200 blocks. -h2pleio_corr(numeric): post-correction h<SUP>2</SUP><SUB>pleio</SUB> estimate. -h2pleio_corr_se(numeric): post-correction h<SUP>2</SUP><SUB>pleio</SUB> jackknife s.e. estimate. -percentage_h2pleio_corr(numeric): post-correction h<SUP>2</SUP><SUB>pleio</SUB> / h<SUP>2</SUP> estimate. -percentage_h2pleio_corr_se(numeric): post-correction h<SUP>2</SUP><SUB>pleio</SUB> / h<SUP>2</SUP> jackknife s.e. estimate. -corrected_weight` (numeric): corrected weight ξc in bias correction.

Leave-category-out analysis instruction

• If you want to compute pleiotropic heritability with respect to a subset of auxiliary disease, you can just specify the subset as the auxiliary disease and repeat step 1 and 2
• Estimating the contribution of a subset of auxiliary categories or diseases requires careful consideration due to an inherent pruning procedure. Our recommended approach is as follows.
  • For analyses excluding the target disease category or a single specified category:
    • First, conduct the analyses using all auxiliary diseases.
    • Then, remove the auxiliary diseases within the specified category from post_correction_results$selected_auxD.
    • Update the phenotype and munged_sumstats input parameters with the remaining auxiliary diseases.
    • Rerun Step 2.
  • For analyses excluding the target disease category and an additional specified category:
    • First, conduct the analyses using all auxiliary diseases excluding the target disease category.
    • Then, remove the auxiliary diseases within the specified category from post_correction_results$selected_auxD.
    • Update the phenotype and munged_sumstats input parameters with the remaining auxiliary diseases.
    • Rerun Step 2.
  • This procedure will ensure the consistency of pruning with the subsequent analyses.

pleioh2g documentation built on March 9, 2026, 5:07 p.m.