Genome-wide association study of more than 40,000 bipolar disorder cases provides new insights into the underlying biology.
Mullins N., Forstner AJ., O'Connell KS., Coombes B., Coleman JRI., Qiao Z., Als TD., Bigdeli TB., Børte S., Bryois J., Charney AW., Drange OK., Gandal MJ., Hagenaars SP., Ikeda M., Kamitaki N., Kim M., Krebs K., Panagiotaropoulou G., Schilder BM., Sloofman LG., Steinberg S., Trubetskoy V., Winsvold BS., Won H-H., Abramova L., Adorjan K., Agerbo E., Al Eissa M., Albani D., Alliey-Rodriguez N., Anjorin A., Antilla V., Antoniou A., Awasthi S., Baek JH., Bækvad-Hansen M., Bass N., Bauer M., Beins EC., Bergen SE., Birner A., Bøcker Pedersen C., Bøen E., Boks MP., Bosch R., Brum M., Brumpton BM., Brunkhorst-Kanaan N., Budde M., Bybjerg-Grauholm J., Byerley W., Cairns M., Casas M., Cervantes P., Clarke T-K., Cruceanu C., Cuellar-Barboza A., Cunningham J., Curtis D., Czerski PM., Dale AM., Dalkner N., David FS., Degenhardt F., Djurovic S., Dobbyn AL., Douzenis A., Elvsåshagen T., Escott-Price V., Ferrier IN., Fiorentino A., Foroud TM., Forty L., Frank J., Frei O., Freimer NB., Frisén L., Gade K., Garnham J., Gelernter J., Giørtz Pedersen M., Gizer IR., Gordon SD., Gordon-Smith K., Greenwood TA., Grove J., Guzman-Parra J., Ha K., Haraldsson M., Hautzinger M., Heilbronner U., Hellgren D., Herms S., Hoffmann P., Holmans PA., Huckins L., Jamain S., Johnson JS., Kalman JL., Kamatani Y., Kennedy JL., Kittel-Schneider S., Knowles JA., Kogevinas M., Koromina M., Kranz TM., Kranzler HR., Kubo M., Kupka R., Kushner SA., Lavebratt C., Lawrence J., Leber M., Lee H-J., Lee PH., Levy SE., Lewis C., Liao C., Lucae S., Lundberg M., MacIntyre DJ., Magnusson SH., Maier W., Maihofer A., Malaspina D., Maratou E., Martinsson L., Mattheisen M., McCarroll SA., McGregor NW., McGuffin P., McKay JD., Medeiros H., Medland SE., Millischer V., Montgomery GW., Moran JL., Morris DW., Mühleisen TW., O'Brien N., O'Donovan C., Olde Loohuis LM., Oruc L., Papiol S., Pardiñas AF., Perry A., Pfennig A., Porichi E., Potash JB., Quested D., Raj T., Rapaport MH., DePaulo JR., Regeer EJ., Rice JP., Rivas F., Rivera M., Roth J., Roussos P., Ruderfer DM., Sánchez-Mora C., Schulte EC., Senner F., Sharp S., Shilling PD., Sigurdsson E., Sirignano L., Slaney C., Smeland OB., Smith DJ., Sobell JL., Søholm Hansen C., Soler Artigas M., Spijker AT., Stein DJ., Strauss JS., Świątkowska B., Terao C., Thorgeirsson TE., Toma C., Tooney P., Tsermpini E-E., Vawter MP., Vedder H., Walters JTR., Witt SH., Xi S., Xu W., Yang JMK., Young AH., Young H., Zandi PP., Zhou H., Zillich L., HUNT All-In Psychiatry None., Adolfsson R., Agartz I., Alda M., Alfredsson L., Babadjanova G., Backlund L., Baune BT., Bellivier F., Bengesser S., Berrettini WH., Blackwood DHR., Boehnke M., Børglum AD., Breen G., Carr VJ., Catts S., Corvin A., Craddock N., Dannlowski U., Dikeos D., Esko T., Etain B., Ferentinos P., Frye M., Fullerton JM., Gawlik M., Gershon ES., Goes FS., Green MJ., Grigoroiu-Serbanescu M., Hauser J., Henskens F., Hillert J., Hong KS., Hougaard DM., Hultman CM., Hveem K., Iwata N., Jablensky AV., Jones I., Jones LA., Kahn RS., Kelsoe JR., Kirov G., Landén M., Leboyer M., Lewis CM., Li QS., Lissowska J., Lochner C., Loughland C., Martin NG., Mathews CA., Mayoral F., McElroy SL., McIntosh AM., McMahon FJ., Melle I., Michie P., Milani L., Mitchell PB., Morken G., Mors O., Mortensen PB., Mowry B., Müller-Myhsok B., Myers RM., Neale BM., Nievergelt CM., Nordentoft M., Nöthen MM., O'Donovan MC., Oedegaard KJ., Olsson T., Owen MJ., Paciga SA., Pantelis C., Pato C., Pato MT., Patrinos GP., Perlis RH., Posthuma D., Ramos-Quiroga JA., Reif A., Reininghaus EZ., Ribasés M., Rietschel M., Ripke S., Rouleau GA., Saito T., Schall U., Schalling M., Schofield PR., Schulze TG., Scott LJ., Scott RJ., Serretti A., Shannon Weickert C., Smoller JW., Stefansson H., Stefansson K., Stordal E., Streit F., Sullivan PF., Turecki G., Vaaler AE., Vieta E., Vincent JB., Waldman ID., Weickert TW., Werge T., Wray NR., Zwart J-A., Biernacka JM., Nurnberger JI., Cichon S., Edenberg HJ., Stahl EA., McQuillin A., Di Florio A., Ophoff RA., Andreassen OA.
Bipolar disorder is a heritable mental illness with complex etiology. We performed a genome-wide association study of 41,917 bipolar disorder cases and 371,549 controls of European ancestry, which identified 64 associated genomic loci. Bipolar disorder risk alleles were enriched in genes in synaptic signaling pathways and brain-expressed genes, particularly those with high specificity of expression in neurons of the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus. Significant signal enrichment was found in genes encoding targets of antipsychotics, calcium channel blockers, antiepileptics and anesthetics. Integrating expression quantitative trait locus data implicated 15 genes robustly linked to bipolar disorder via gene expression, encoding druggable targets such as HTR6, MCHR1, DCLK3 and FURIN. Analyses of bipolar disorder subtypes indicated high but imperfect genetic correlation between bipolar disorder type I and II and identified additional associated loci. Together, these results advance our understanding of the biological etiology of bipolar disorder, identify novel therapeutic leads and prioritize genes for functional follow-up studies.