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Effects of MiR‐137 genetic risk score on brain volume and cortical measures in patients with schizophrenia and controls
Author(s) -
Cosgrove Donna,
Mothersill David O.,
Whitton Laura,
Harold Denise,
Kelly Sinead,
Holleran Laurena,
Holland Jessica,
Anney Richard,
Richards Alex,
Mantripragada Kiran,
Owen Michael,
O'Donovan Michael C.,
Gill Michael,
Corvin Aiden,
Morris Derek W.,
Donohoe Gary
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
american journal of medical genetics part b: neuropsychiatric genetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.393
H-Index - 126
eISSN - 1552-485X
pISSN - 1552-4841
DOI - 10.1002/ajmg.b.32620
Subject(s) - schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , brain size , psychosis , genetic association , candidate gene , brain structure and function , hippocampus , association (psychology) , medicine , neuroscience , gene , psychology , neuroimaging , biology , psychiatry , genetics , single nucleotide polymorphism , genotype , magnetic resonance imaging , psychotherapist , radiology
Multiple genome‐wide association studies of schizophrenia have implicated genetic variants within the gene encoding microRNA‐137. As risk variants within or regulated by MIR137 have been implicated in memory performance, we investigated the additive effects of schizophrenia‐associated risk variants in genes empirically regulated by MIR137 on brain regions associated with memory function. A polygenic risk score (PRS) was calculated (at a p = 0.05 threshold), using this empirically regulated MIR137 gene set, to investigate associations between this PRS and structural brain measures. These measures included total brain volume, cortical thickness, cortical surface area, and hippocampal volume, in a sample of 216 individuals consisting of healthy participants ( n = 171) and patients with psychosis ( n = 45). We did not observe a significant association between MIR137 PRS and these cortical thickness, surface area or hippocampal volume measures linked to memory function; a significant association between increasing PRS and decreasing total brain volume, independent of diagnosis status ( R 2 = 0.008, Beta = −0.09, p = 0.029), was observed. This did not survive correction for multiple testing. In conclusion, our study yielded only suggestive evidence that risk variants interacting with MIR137 impacts on cortical structure.