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Review
. 2017 Nov 1;3(1):40.
doi: 10.1038/s41537-017-0036-2.

The association between gene variants and longitudinal structural brain changes in psychosis: a systematic review of longitudinal neuroimaging genetics studies

Julia H Harari  1   2 , Covadonga M Díaz-Caneja  1 , Joost Janssen  1   3 , Kenia Martínez  1 , Bárbara Arias  4   5 , Celso Arango  6
Affiliations
Review

The association between gene variants and longitudinal structural brain changes in psychosis: a systematic review of longitudinal neuroimaging genetics studies

Julia H Harari et al. NPJ Schizophr. .

Abstract

Evidence suggests that genetic variation might influence structural brain alterations in psychotic disorders. Longitudinal genetic neuroimaging (G-NI) studies are designed to assess the association between genetic variants, disease progression and brain changes. There is a paucity of reviews of longitudinal G-NI studies in psychotic disorders. A systematic search of PubMed from inception until November 2016 was conducted to identify longitudinal G-NI studies examining the link between Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI)-based brain measurements and specific gene variants (SNPs, microsatellites, haplotypes) in patients with psychosis. Eleven studies examined seven genes: BDNF, COMT, NRG1, DISC1, CNR1, GAD1, and G72. Eight of these studies reported at least one association between a specific gene variant and longitudinal structural brain changes. Genetic variants associated with longitudinal brain volume or cortical thickness loss included a 4-marker haplotype in G72, a microsatellite and a SNP in NRG1, and individual SNPs in DISC1, CNR1, BDNF, COMT and GAD1. Associations between genotype and progressive brain changes were most frequently observed in frontal regions, with five studies reporting significant interactions. Effect sizes for significant associations were generally of small or intermediate magnitude (Cohen's d < 0.8). Only two genes (BDNF and NRG1) were assessed in more than one study, with great heterogeneity of the results. Replication studies and studies exploring additional genetic variants identified by large-scale genetic analysis are warranted to further ascertain the role of genetic variants in longitudinal brain changes in psychosis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have Competing financial interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flowchart of study selection. *Articles excluded for reasons not encompassed by other categories (N < 5; results had not yet been reported; psychosis was induced by medication or another biological syndrome; the topic of the article was not relevant. SCZ schizophrenia; MRI magnetic resonance imaging; DTI diffusion tensor imaging
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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