Genetic influences on schizophrenia and subcortical brain volumes: large-scale proof of concept

Barbara Franke, Jason L Stein, Stephan Ripke, Verneri Anttila, Derrek P Hibar, Kimm J E van Hulzen, Alejandro Arias-Vasquez, Jordan W Smoller, Thomas E Nichols, Michael C Neale, Andrew M McIntosh, Phil Lee (+22 others)
2016 Nature Neuroscience  
Schizophrenia is a devastating psychiatric illness with high heritability. Brain structure and function differ, on average, between schizophrenia cases and healthy individuals. As common genetic associations are emerging for both schizophrenia and brain imaging phenotypes, we can now use genome-wide data to investigate genetic overlap. Here we integrated results from common variant studies of schizophrenia (33,636 cases, 43,008 controls) and volumes of several (mainly subcortical) brain
more » ... es (11,840 subjects). We did not find evidence of genetic overlap between schizophrenia risk and subcortical volume measures either at the level of common variant Franke et al. genetic architecture or for single genetic markers. The current study provides proof-of-concept (albeit based on a limited set of structural brain measures), and defines a roadmap for future studies investigating the genetic covariance between structural/functional brain phenotypes and risk for psychiatric disorders. ENIGMA consortium (Enhancing NeuroImaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis) for eight MRI volumetric measures (amygdala, caudate nucleus, hippocampus, nucleus accumbens, pallidum, putamen, thalamus, and intracranial volume (ICV)). 9 Our results suggest that common genetic variation predisposing to schizophrenia does not show evidence of overlap Franke et al.
doi:10.1038/nn.4228 pmid:26854805 pmcid:PMC4852730 fatcat:d2celhhusravto6fr7g3fxvfqi