Immune, Developmental, and Synaptic Pathways Define Bipolar Disorder Clinical Heterogeneity

Abstract

Importance: The clinical heterogeneity of bipolar disorder (BD) is a major obstacle to improving diagnosis, predicting patient outcomes, and developing personalized treatments. A genetic approach is needed to deconstruct the disorder and uncover its fundamental biology. Previous genetic studies focusing on broad diagnostic categories have been limited in their ability to parse this complexity.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that clinically distinct subphenotypes of BD are associated with different underlying common variant genetic architectures.

Design setting and participants: This multicenter study included a primary genome-wide association study (GWAS) of up to 23,819 bipolar disorder (BD) cases and 163,839 controls. These results were integrated via multi-trait analysis of GWAS (MTAG) with external summary statistics for BD (59,287 cases; 781,022 controls) and schizophrenia (SCZ; 53,386 cases; 77,258 controls). Sample overlap was statistically accounted for.

Main outcomes and measures: The primary outcomes were the genetic dimensions underlying BD heterogeneity, differentiated by single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-heritability (h ² _SNP ), genetic correlations, genomic loci ( P ≤5×10 ^-8 ), and functional, cell-type, and gene-expression pathway analyses.

Results: We identified four genetically-informed dimensions of BD: Severe Illness, Core Mania, Externalizing/Impulsive Comorbidity, and Internalizing/Affective Comorbidity. The analyses yielded up to 181 subphenotype-associated loci, 53 of which are novel. The Severe Illness Dimension was characterized by a unique neuro-immune signature (a protective association with HLA-DMB , P =2.50×10 ^-273 ) evident only when leveraging SCZ genetic data. The Internalizing/Affective dimension was associated with neurodevelopmental genes (e.g., DCC ). Notably, the rapid-cycling subphenotype showed a unique signature of strong negative selection, a finding not observed in other subphenotypes.

Conclusions and relevance: The clinical heterogeneity of bipolar disorder appears to be defined by a complex and multi-layered genetic architecture. The presented findings provide an empirical framework that may advance psychiatric nosology beyond its current diagnostic boundaries. These results may also inform future research to identify targets for personalized interventions. The delineation of these genetically-informed dimensions offers specific, biologically-grounded hypotheses for subsequent therapeutic discovery. Establishing such a framework is an essential step toward refining diagnostic criteria and developing more effective, personalized treatments. This work lays the foundation for a transition from a uniform treatment model to the paradigm of precision psychiatry.

Key points: Question: What are the distinct genetic architectures underlying the clinical heterogeneity of bipolar disorder?Findings: In this genetic study of 23,819 bipolar disorder (BD) cases and 163,839 controls, clinical heterogeneity mapped onto four genetically-informed dimensions. A severe illness dimension was defined by a neuro-immune signature ( HLA-DMB ) shared with schizophrenia. An affective comorbidity dimension was distinguished by neurodevelopmental pathways involving axonal guidance ( DCC ). Notably, the rapid-cycling phenotype showed evidence of purifying selection, suggesting influence by rare, highly penetrant alleles. Meaning: These findings provide a data-driven biological framework for bipolar disorder, guiding future research toward patient stratification and targeted therapeutics.