Genome-wide association study identifies 30 loci associated with bipolar disorder
- PMID: 31043756
- PMCID: PMC6956732
- DOI: 10.1038/s41588-019-0397-8
Genome-wide association study identifies 30 loci associated with bipolar disorder
Abstract
Bipolar disorder is a highly heritable psychiatric disorder. We performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) including 20,352 cases and 31,358 controls of European descent, with follow-up analysis of 822 variants with P < 1 × 10-4 in an additional 9,412 cases and 137,760 controls. Eight of the 19 variants that were genome-wide significant (P < 5 × 10-8) in the discovery GWAS were not genome-wide significant in the combined analysis, consistent with small effect sizes and limited power but also with genetic heterogeneity. In the combined analysis, 30 loci were genome-wide significant, including 20 newly identified loci. The significant loci contain genes encoding ion channels, neurotransmitter transporters and synaptic components. Pathway analysis revealed nine significantly enriched gene sets, including regulation of insulin secretion and endocannabinoid signaling. Bipolar I disorder is strongly genetically correlated with schizophrenia, driven by psychosis, whereas bipolar II disorder is more strongly correlated with major depressive disorder. These findings address key clinical questions and provide potential biological mechanisms for bipolar disorder.
Conflict of interest statement
Competing Interest:
T.E. Thorgeirsson, S. Steinberg, H. Stefansson and K. Stefansson are employed by deCODE Genetics/Amgen. Multiple additional authors work for pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies in a manner directly analogous to academic co-authors and collaborators. A.H. Young has given paid lectures and is on advisory boards for the following companies with drugs used in affective and related disorders: Astra Zeneca, Eli Lilly, Janssen, Lundbeck, Sunovion, Servier, Livanova. A.H. Young is Lead Investigator for Embolden Study (Astra Zeneca), BCI Neuroplasticity study and Aripiprazole Mania Study, which are investigator-initiated studies from Astra Zeneca, Eli Lilly, Lundbeck, and Wyeth. J. Nurnberger is an investigator for Janssen. P.F. Sullivan reports the following potentially competing financial interests: Lundbeck (advisory committee), Pfizer (Scientific Advisory Board member), and Roche (grant recipient, speaker reimbursement). G. Breen reports consultancy and speaker fees from Eli Lilly and Illumina and grant funding from Eli Lilly. O.A. Andreassen has received speaker fees from Lundbeck. J.Antoni Ramos-Quiroga was on the speakers’ bureau and/or acted as consultant for Eli-Lilly, Janssen-Cilag, Novartis, Shire, Lundbeck, Almirall, Braingaze, Sincrolab, and Rubió in the last 5 years. He also received travel awards (air tickets + hotel) for taking part in psychiatric meetings from Janssen-Cilag, Rubió, Shire, and Eli- Lilly. The Department of Psychiatry chaired by him received unrestricted educational and research support from the following companies in the last 5 years: Eli-Lilly, Lundbeck, Janssen- Cilag, Actelion, Shire, Ferrer, Oryzon, Roche, Psious, and Rubió. Dr. E. Vieta has received grants and served as consultant, advisor or CME speaker for the following entities: AB-Biotics, Abbott, Allergan, Angelini, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma, Farmindustria, Ferrer, Forest Research Institute, Gedeon Richter, Glaxo-Smith-Kline, Janssen, Lundbeck, Otsuka, Pfizer, Roche, SAGE, Sanofi-Aventis, Servier, Shire, Sunovion, Takeda, the Brain and Behaviour Foundation, the Catalan Government (AGAUR and PERIS), the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities (AES and CIBERSAM), the Seventh European Framework Programme and Horizon 2020, and the Stanley Medical Research Institute. T. Elvsåshagen has received speaker fees from Lundbeck. All other authors declare no financial interests or potential conflicts of interest.
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References
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Methods-only References:
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- Ripke S Ricopili: a tool for visualizing regions of interest in select GWAS data sets. (2014).
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