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. 2020 Apr 1;77(4):420-430.
doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2019.3779.

Association of Copy Number Variation of the 15q11.2 BP1-BP2 Region With Cortical and Subcortical Morphology and Cognition

Writing Committee for the ENIGMA-CNV Working GroupDennis van der Meer  1   2 Ida E Sønderby  1 Tobias Kaufmann  1 G Bragi Walters  3   4 Abdel Abdellaoui  5   6 David Ames  7   8 Katrin Amunts  9   10   11 Micael Andersson  12   13 Nicola J Armstrong  14 Manon Bernard  15 Nicholas B Blackburn  16 John Blangero  16 Dorret I Boomsma  6   17   18 Henry Brodaty  19   20 Rachel M Brouwer  21 Robin Bülow  22 Wiepke Cahn  21   23 Vince D Calhoun  24   25 Svenja Caspers  9   11   26 Gianpiero L Cavalleri  27   28 Christopher R K Ching  29   30 Sven Cichon  9   31   32 Simone Ciufolini  33 Aiden Corvin  34 Benedicto Crespo-Facorro  35   36 Joanne E Curran  16 Shareefa Dalvie  37 Paola Dazzan  33 Eco J C de Geus  6   17   18 Greig I de Zubicaray  38 Sonja M C de Zwarte  21 Norman Delanty  28   39 Anouk den Braber  6   17   40 Sylvane Desrivieres  41 Marta Di Forti  41 Joanne L Doherty  42   43 Gary Donohoe  44 Stefan Ehrlich  45 Else Eising  46 Thomas Espeseth  47 Simon E Fisher  46   48 Tormod Fladby  49   50 Oleksandr Frei  1 Vincent Frouin  51 Masaki Fukunaga  52   53 Thomas Gareau  51 David C Glahn  54   55   56 Hans J Grabe  57   58 Nynke A Groenewold  37 Ómar Gústafsson  3 Jan Haavik  59   60 Asta K Haberg  61   62 Ryota Hashimoto  63   64 Jayne Y Hehir-Kwa  65 Derrek P Hibar  66 Manon H J Hillegers  67 Per Hoffmann  68   32 Laurena Holleran  44 Jouke-Jan Hottenga  6   17   18 Hilleke E Hulshoff Pol  21 Masashi Ikeda  69 Sébastien Jacquemont  70   71 Neda Jahanshad  30 Christiane Jockwitz  9   72 Stefan Johansson  73   74 Erik G Jönsson  1   75 Masataka Kikuchi  76 Emma E M Knowles  54   56 John B Kwok  77   78 Stephanie Le Hellard  79   80 David E J Linden  2   42 Jingyu Liu  24 Arvid Lundervold  59   81 Astri J Lundervold  82 Nicholas G Martin  83 Karen A Mather  19   84 Samuel R Mathias  54   56 Katie L McMahon  85 Allan F McRae  86   87 Sarah E Medland  88 Torgeir Moberget  1 Clara Moreau  70   89 Derek W Morris  44 Thomas W Mühleisen  9   10   31 Robin M Murray  41 Jan E Nordvik  90 Lars Nyberg  12   13   91 Loes M Olde Loohuis  92 Roel A Ophoff  92 Michael J Owen  42 Tomas Paus  93   94 Zdenka Pausova  15   94 Juan M Peralta  16 Bruce Pike  95 Carlos Prieto  96 Erin Burke Quinlan  97 Céline S Reinbold  31   32   47 Tiago Reis Marques  33   98 James J H Rucker  41 Perminder S Sachdev  19   99 Sigrid B Sando  61   100 Peter R Schofield  78   101 Andrew J Schork  102 Gunter Schumann  97 Jean Shin  15   94 Elena Shumskaya  48   103 Ana I Silva  43   104 Sanjay M Sisodiya  105 Vidar M Steen  79   80 Dan J Stein  37   106 Lachlan T Strike  87 Christian K Tamnes  1   107   108 Alexander Teumer  109 Anbupalam Thalamuthu  19 Diana Tordesillas-Gutiérrez  110 Anne Uhlmann  37 Magnús Ö Úlfarsson  3   111 Dennis van 't Ent  6   17 Marianne B M van den Bree  42   112 Evangelos Vassos  41   113 Wei Wen  19 Katharina Wittfeld  57   58 Margaret J Wright  87 Tetyana Zayats  59   114   115 Anders M Dale  116 Srdjan Djurovic  79   117 Ingrid Agartz  1   74   108 Lars T Westlye  1   47 Hreinn Stefánsson  3 Kári Stefánsson  3   4 Paul M Thompson  30 Ole A Andreassen  1
Affiliations

Association of Copy Number Variation of the 15q11.2 BP1-BP2 Region With Cortical and Subcortical Morphology and Cognition

Writing Committee for the ENIGMA-CNV Working Group et al. JAMA Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Importance: Recurrent microdeletions and duplications in the genomic region 15q11.2 between breakpoints 1 (BP1) and 2 (BP2) are associated with neurodevelopmental disorders. These structural variants are present in 0.5% to 1.0% of the population, making 15q11.2 BP1-BP2 the site of the most prevalent known pathogenic copy number variation (CNV). It is unknown to what extent this CNV influences brain structure and affects cognitive abilities.

Objective: To determine the association of the 15q11.2 BP1-BP2 deletion and duplication CNVs with cortical and subcortical brain morphology and cognitive task performance.

Design, setting, and participants: In this genetic association study, T1-weighted brain magnetic resonance imaging were combined with genetic data from the ENIGMA-CNV consortium and the UK Biobank, with a replication cohort from Iceland. In total, 203 deletion carriers, 45 247 noncarriers, and 306 duplication carriers were included. Data were collected from August 2015 to April 2019, and data were analyzed from September 2018 to September 2019.

Main outcomes and measures: The associations of the CNV with global and regional measures of surface area and cortical thickness as well as subcortical volumes were investigated, correcting for age, age2, sex, scanner, and intracranial volume. Additionally, measures of cognitive ability were analyzed in the full UK Biobank cohort.

Results: Of 45 756 included individuals, the mean (SD) age was 55.8 (18.3) years, and 23 754 (51.9%) were female. Compared with noncarriers, deletion carriers had a lower surface area (Cohen d = -0.41; SE, 0.08; P = 4.9 × 10-8), thicker cortex (Cohen d = 0.36; SE, 0.07; P = 1.3 × 10-7), and a smaller nucleus accumbens (Cohen d = -0.27; SE, 0.07; P = 7.3 × 10-5). There was also a significant negative dose response on cortical thickness (β = -0.24; SE, 0.05; P = 6.8 × 10-7). Regional cortical analyses showed a localization of the effects to the frontal, cingulate, and parietal lobes. Further, cognitive ability was lower for deletion carriers compared with noncarriers on 5 of 7 tasks.

Conclusions and relevance: These findings, from the largest CNV neuroimaging study to date, provide evidence that 15q11.2 BP1-BP2 structural variation is associated with brain morphology and cognition, with deletion carriers being particularly affected. The pattern of results fits with known molecular functions of genes in the 15q11.2 BP1-BP2 region and suggests involvement of these genes in neuronal plasticity. These neurobiological effects likely contribute to the association of this CNV with neurodevelopmental disorders.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Dr Brodaty is an advisory board member for Nutricia Australia and has received research funding from the European Union Joint Programme Neurodegenerative Disorders and the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia. Dr Brouwer has received grants from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (MagW and Brain and Cognition) and Utrecht University. Dr Caspers has received grants from the Initiative and Networking Fund of the Helmholtz Association and the European Union Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program under Grant Agreement 785907. Dr Ching has received research support from Biogen. Dr Crespo-Facorro has received personal fees from Janssen-Cilag, Otsuka Pharmaceutical, and Lundbeck. Dr Desrivieres has received grants from the Medical Research Council, Medical Research Foundation, NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, and National Institutes of Health. Dr Di Forti has received personal fees from Janssen Pharmaceutica. Dr Doherty has received grants from the Wellcome Trust. Dr Fladby has received grants from the Norwegian Research Council and the European Union Joint Programme Neurodegenerative Disorders. Dr Fukunaga has received grants from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development. Dr Grabe has received grants from the German Research Foundation (DFG), German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the DAMP Foundation, the European Union Joint Programme Neurodegenerative Disorders, and the European Social Fund as well as grants and personal fees from Fresenius Medical Care; personal fees from Neuraxpharm and Janssen-Cilag. Dr Haavik has received grants from Stiftelsen Kristian Gerhard Jebsen and personal fees from Eli Lilly and Co, Shire, and Biocodex. Dr Hehir-Kwa has received grants from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research. Dr Hillegers has received grants from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression Brain and Behavior Foundation and Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development. Dr Jacquemont has received grants from Brain Canada, Canada Research Chair, and Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Dr Jahanshad has received grants from the National Institutes of Health and Biogen. Dr Linden has received grants from the Wellcome Trust and book royalties from the Oxford University Press and Palgrave Macmillan. Dr Liu has received grants from the National Institutes of Health. Dr Astri Lundervold has received personal fees from Shire. Dr Mather has received grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia and Australian Research Council. Dr Moberget has received grants from the Southern and Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority. Dr Owen has received grants from the Medical Research Council, Wellcome Trust, and Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Dr Reis Marques has received personal fees from Lundbeck, Janssen Pharmaceutica, Astellas Pharma, and Angelini. Dr Rucker has received grants from the Wellcome Trust and NIHR Biomedical Research Centre. Dr Sachdev has received grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, Australian Research Council, National Institute of Aging, Holden Foundation, Wicking Trust, Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation, and Yulgilbar Foundation as well as personal fees from Biogen. Dr Schofield has received grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia paid to Neuroscience Research Australia. Dr Steen has received grants from the Research Council of Norway. Dr Stein has received personal fees from Lundbeck and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries. Dr Thalamuthu has received grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia. Dr van den Bree has received grants from Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Dr Dale is a founder of, holds equity in, and serves on the scientific advisory board of CorTechs Lab; is a member of the scientific advisory board of Human Longevity; has received grants from GE Healthcare; and is a member of the Alzheimer’s Disease Genetics Consortium (ADGC), Enhancing Imaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis (ENIGMA), Prostate Cancer Association Group to Investigate Cancer Associated Alterations in the Genome (PRACTICAL), and Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC) groups. Dr Westlye has received grants from the Research Council of Norway, Southern and Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority, and European Research Council. Dr Thompson has received grants from Biogen. Dr Andreassen has received grants from the Research Council of Norway, Stiftelsen Kristian Gerhard Jebsen, Southern and Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority, and National Institutes of Health; personal fees from Lundbeck; and serves as a consultant for HealthLytix. No other disclosures were reported.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Association of the 15q11.2 BP1-BP2 Copy Number Variation With Global and Subcortical Brain Morphology
Bar plot visualizing Cohen d values for the difference in brain morphology measures between carriers and noncarriers of the 15q11.2 BP1-BP2 copy number variation, from the meta-analysis t tests. Error bars indicate standard errors. aP < 4.7 × 10−4. bP < 4.7 × 10−6.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.. Association of the 15q11.2 BP1-BP2 Copy Number Variation With Regional Cortical Brain Morphology
Results from t tests and linear regression of 15q11.2 BP1-BP2 copy number variation on regional surface area (A) and cortical thickness (B). The effect sizes in the deletion carriers vs noncarriers and duplication carriers vs noncarriers columns are Cohen d values, and the effect sizes in the dosage columns are β coefficients. Black demarcations around a brain region indicates it passes the multiple comparisons–corrected significance threshold of P < 4.7 × 10−4, with thicker lines indicating more significant findings.

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