BACKGROUND
Bipolar disorder (BIP) frequently co-occurs with heightened substance use (SU) and substance use disorders (SUDs). Although the strong co-occurrence of these heritable traits points to shared genetic susceptibility, the extent to which there are differences in how SU and SUD overlap with BIP genetic architecture remains unclear.
METHODS
We quantified the polygenic overlap between BIP and SUDs (alcohol, cannabis, opioid, and tobacco), and BIP and SU traits (drinks per week, lifetime cannabis use, prescription opioid use, and smoking initiation) using GWAS summary statistics and trivariate MiXeR. We then isolated the general and unique genetic contributions of SUD and SU using GWAS-by-subtraction via Genomic SEM. Next, we tested associations between polygenic risk scores derived from these latent factors and diagnostic and behavioral outcomes in the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study. Finally, we applied GSA-MiXeR to explore pleiotropic pathway enrichment shared between the latent factors and BIP.
RESULTS
We found extensive polygenic overlap between traits, with SUDs being more genetically correlated with BIP than SU traits. The unique SUD factor correlated positively with psychiatric disorders, whereas unique SU correlated negatively. PRS for BIP, shared SUD/SU, and unique SUD were significantly associated with BIP, SUD, and comorbid SUD-BIP; PRS for unique SU was only associated with self-reported lifetime SU. GSA-MiXeR revealed richer gene-set enrichment for SUD/BIP than SU/BIP implicating dopamine signaling and interneuron function.
CONCLUSION
By dissecting the genetic liability to SUD and SU and investigating their relationship with BIP we find a genetic signature correlated with substance dependence but not substance use more broadly.
Lars A. R. Ystaas, P. Parekh, Nadine Parker et al.· Biological Psychiatry· 0 citations
Clozapine (CLZ) is the only available pharmacological option for treatment resistant schizophrenia (TRS), but its use is limited due to adverse drug reactions and potential cytotoxicity. Despite decades of research, the precise mechanisms of action of CLZ in the human brain remain poorly understood. To address this, we derived cortical brain organoids from a large cohort of schizophrenia (SCZ) patients and healthy controls and employed a comprehensive multiomics strategy to dissect the cellular mechanisms of long-term CLZ exposure of up to 24 weeks. We uncovered a SCZ-specific and metabolism-independent alternative splicing program that was amenable to non-toxic CLZ treatment. In-depth analysis revealed a key role of exon skipping and intron retention in glutamatergic neurons. This program was further found to recapitulate disease mechanisms in primary human brain tissue and capture splicing-mediated genetic signals of SCZ risk. These findings highlight alternative splicing as a promising avenue for therapeutic developments in TRS.
I. Akkouh, Jordi Requena Osete, A. Szabo et al.· bioRxiv· 0 citations
Antisocial behaviour in youth has serious consequences at individual and societal level. Adolescence is also a critical period for the emergence of prodromal psychosis symptoms. Their co-occurrence may aggravate aggression and lead to severe adverse outcomes. Common genetic risk for psychosis, antisocial behaviour, and substance use has been suggested, but the putatively shared genetic architecture is unknown, and evidence in youth is limited. Here we examined whether common genetic liability indexed by polygenic risk scores (PRSs) relates to these complex traits in the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa; n = 18960). Antisocial psychopathology was operationalised as three complementary dimensions: conduct-disorder (CD) traits, oppositional-defiant disorder (ODD) traits, and psychopathy traits. We first quantified phenotypic correlations between psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) and the antisocial dimensions. We then evaluated PRS-phenotype associations (single-PRS and joint multivariable models) using PRSs for antisocial behaviour (PRSASB) and schizophrenia (PRSSCZ), in addition to PRS for alcohol use disorder (PRSAUD). We found phenotypic correlations between antisocial traits and PLEs (rs=0.13-0.34, p < 0.0001). This overlap was reflected at the genetic level, as we found associations between PRSASB and PLEs (p = 0.0004). The associations between PRSSCZ and antisocial traits were present for CD (p = 0.005) and ODD (p = 0.003) traits. Both PLEs and antisocial traits were associated with PRSAUD. Patterns persisted in mutually adjusted models. These findings indicate cross-trait associations between polygenic liability for SCZ, ASB, AUD and adolescent PLEs and antisocial dimensions in the general youth population, consistent with partially shared common genetic influences. Future studies should further delineate underlying biological mechanisms.
N. Tesli, P. Jahołkowski, J. Rokicki et al.· European Child and Adolescen...· 0 citations
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