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Genetic association results are often interpreted with the assumption that study participation does not affect downstream analyses. Understanding the genetic basis of participation bias is challenging since it requires the genotypes of unseen individuals. Here we demonstrate that it is possible to estimate comparative biases by performing a genome-wide association study contrasting one subgroup versus another. For example, we showed that sex exhibits artifactual autosomal heritability in the presence of sex-differential participation bias. By performing a genome-wide association study of sex in approximately 3.3 million males and females, we identified over 158 autosomal loci spuriously associated with sex and highlighted complex traits underpinning differences in study participation between the sexes. For example, the body mass index-increasing allele at FTO was observed at higher frequency in males compared to females (odds ratio = 1.02, P = 4.4 × 10-36). Finally, we demonstrated how these biases can potentially lead to incorrect inferences in downstream analyses and propose a conceptual framework for addressing such biases. Our findings highlight a new challenge that genetic studies may face as sample sizes continue to grow.

pH sensing by GPR65 regulates various inflammatory conditions, but its role in skin remains unknown. In this study, we performed a phenome-wide association study and report that the T allele of GPR65-intronic single-nucleotide polymorphism rs8005161, which reduces GPR65 signaling, showed a significant association with atopic dermatitis, in addition to inflammatory bowel diseases and asthma, as previously reported. Consistent with this genetic association in humans, we show that deficiency of GPR65 in mice resulted in markedly exacerbated disease in the MC903 experimental model of atopic dermatitis. Deficiency of GPR65 also increased neutrophil migration in vitro. Moreover, GPR65 deficiency in mice resulted in higher expression of the inflammatory cytokine TNF-α by T cells. In humans, CD4+ T cells from rs8005161 heterozygous individuals expressed higher levels of TNF-α after PMA/ionomycin stimulation, particularly under pH 6 conditions. pH sensing by GPR65 appears to be important for regulating the pathogenesis of atopic dermatitis.

Rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (RBD), enactment of dreams during REM sleep, is an early clinical symptom of alpha-synucleinopathies and defines a more severe subtype. The genetic background of RBD and its underlying mechanisms are not well understood. Here, we perform a genome-wide association study of RBD, identifying five RBD risk loci near SNCA, GBA, TMEM175, INPP5F, and SCARB2. Expression analyses highlight SNCA-AS1 and potentially SCARB2 differential expression in different brain regions in RBD, with SNCA-AS1 further supported by colocalization analyses. Polygenic risk score, pathway analysis, and genetic correlations provide further insights into RBD genetics, highlighting RBD as a unique alpha-synucleinopathy subpopulation that will allow future early intervention. REM-sleep behavior disorder often precedes Parkinson's disease or dementia. Here, the authors perform a genome-wide association study for REM-sleep behavior disorder, and discover how it potentially affects gene expression in the brain.

Sialyl-Lewis x (sLex, CD15s) is a tetra-saccharide on the surface of leukocytes required for E-selectin-mediated rolling, a prerequisite for leukocytes to migrate out of the blood vessels. Here we show using flow cytometry that sLex expression on basophils and mast cell progenitors depends on fucosyltransferase 6 (FUT6). Using genetic association data analysis and qPCR, the cell type-specific defect was associated with single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the FUT6 gene region (tagged by rs17855739 and rs778798), affecting coding sequence and/or expression level of the mRNA. Heterozygous individuals with one functional FUT6 gene harbor a mixed population of sLex+ and sLex- basophils, a phenomenon caused by random monoallelic expression (RME). Microfluidic assay demonstrated FUT6-deficient basophils rolling on E-selectin is severely impaired. FUT6 null alleles carriers exhibit elevated blood basophil counts and a reduced itch sensitivity against insect bites. FUT6-deficiency thus dampens the basophil-mediated allergic response in the periphery, evident also in lower IgE titers and reduced eosinophil counts., Puan and San Luis et al. find that FUT6, encoding a fucosyltransferase, is required for the “rolling” behavior of certain white blood cells that enables them to move from blood vessels to tissues. They show that FUT6 deficiency leads to a loss of the tetrasaccharide sLex on the surface of basophils, resulting in cells that are less sticky and therefore less able to form the necessary adhesions for exiting the blood vessel to drive the allergic reaction.

Previous Mendelian randomization (MR) studies on 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) and cancer have typically adopted a handful of variants and found no relationship between 25(OH)D and cancer; however, issues of horizontal pleiotropy cannot be reliably addressed. Using a larger set of variants associated with 25(OH)D (74 SNPs, up from 6 previously), we perform a unified MR analysis to re-evaluate the relationship between 25(OH)D and ten cancers. Our findings are broadly consistent with previous MR studies indicating no relationship, apart from ovarian cancers (OR 0.89; 95% C.I: 0.82 to 0.96 per 1 SD change in 25(OH)D concentration) and basal cell carcinoma (OR 1.16; 95% C.I.: 1.04 to 1.28). However, after adjustment for pigmentation related variables in a multivariable MR framework, the BCC findings were attenuated. Here we report that lower 25(OH)D is unlikely to be a causal risk factor for most cancers, with our study providing more precise confidence intervals than previously possible.

Genome-wide association studies have discovered hundreds of loci associated with complex brain disorders, but it remains unclear in which cell types these loci are active. Here we integrate genome-wide association study results with single-cell transcriptomic data from the entire mouse nervous system to systematically identify cell types underlying brain complex traits. We show that psychiatric disorders are predominantly associated with projecting excitatory and inhibitory neurons. Neurological diseases were associated with different cell types, which is consistent with other lines of evidence. Notably, Parkinson’s disease was genetically associated not only with cholinergic and monoaminergic neurons (which include dopaminergic neurons) but also with enteric neurons and oligodendrocytes. Using post-mortem brain transcriptomic data, we confirmed alterations in these cells, even at the earliest stages of disease progression. Our study provides an important framework for understanding the cellular basis of complex brain maladies, and reveals an unexpected role of oligodendrocytes in Parkinson’s disease. Eating Disorders Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium Roger Adan17,18,19, Lars Alfredsson20, Tetsuya Ando21, Ole Andreassen22, Jessica Baker9, Andrew Bergen23,24, Wade Berrettini25, Andreas Birgegård26,27, Joseph Boden28, Ilka Boehm29, Claudette Boni30, Vesna Boraska Perica31,32, Harry Brandt33, Gerome Breen13,14, Julien Bryois1, Katharina Buehren34, Cynthia Bulik1,9,15, Roland Burghardt35, Matteo Cassina36, Sven Cichon37, Maurizio Clementi36, Jonathan Coleman13,14, Roger Cone38, Philippe Courtet39, Steven Crawford33, Scott Crow40, James Crowley16,26, unna Danner18, Oliver Davis41,42, Martina de Zwaan43, George Dedoussis44, Daniela Degortes45, Janiece DeSocio46, Danielle Dick47, Dimitris Dikeos48, Christian Dina49,50, Monika Dmitrzak-Weglarz51, Elisa Docampo Martinez52,53,54, Laramie Duncan55, Karin Egberts56, Stefan Ehrlich29, Geòrgia Escaramís52,53,54, Tõnu Esko57,58, Xavier Estivill52,53,54,59, Anne Farmer13, Angela Favaro45, Fernando Fernández-Aranda60,61, Manfred Fichter62,63, Krista Fischer57, Manuel Föcker64, Lenka Foretova65, Andreas Forstner37,66,67,68,69, Monica Forzan36, Christopher Franklin31, Steven Gallinger70, Héléna Gaspar13,14, Ina Giegling71, Johanna Giuranna64, Paola Giusti-Rodríquez16, Fragiskos Gonidakis72, Scott Gordon73, Philip Gorwood30,74, Monica Gratacos Mayora52,53,54, Jakob Grove75,76,77,78, Sébastien Guillaume39, Yiran Guo79, Hakon Hakonarson79,80, Katherine Halmi81, Ken Hanscombe82, Konstantinos Hatzikotoulas31, Joanna Hauser83, Johannes Hebebrand64, Sietske Helder13,84, Anjali Henders85, Stefan Herms37,69, Beate Herpertz-Dahlmann34, Wolfgang Herzog86, Anke Hinney64, L. John Horwood28, Christopher Hübel1,13, Laura Huckins31,87, James Hudson88, Hartmut Imgart89, Hidetoshi Inoko90, Vladimir Janout91, Susana Jiménez-Murcia60,61, Craig Johnson92, Jennifer Jordan93,94, Antonio Julià95, Anders Juréus1, Gursharan Kalsi13, Deborah Kaminská96, Allan Kaplan97, Jaakko Kaprio98,99, Leila Karhunen100, Andreas Karwautz101, Martien Kas17,102, Walter Kaye103, James Kennedy97, Martin Kennedy104, Anna Keski-Rahkonen98, Kirsty Kiezebrink105, Youl-Ri Kim106, Katherine Kirk73, Lars Klareskog107, Kelly Klump108, Gun Peggy Knudsen109, Maria La Via9, Mikael Landén1,19, Janne Larsen76,110,111, Stephanie Le Hellard112,113,114, Virpi Leppä1, Robert Levitan115, Dong Li79, Paul Lichtenstein1, Lisa Lilenfeld116, Bochao Danae Lin17, Jolanta Lissowska117, Jurjen Luykx17, Pierre Magistretti118,119, Mario Maj120, Katrin Mannik57,121, Sara Marsal95, Christian Marshall122, Nicholas Martin73, Manuel Mattheisen26,27,75,123, Morten Mattingsdal22, Sara McDevitt124,125, Peter McGuffin13, Sarah Medland73, Andres Metspalu57,126, Ingrid Meulenbelt127, Nadia Micali128,129, James Mitchell130, Karen Mitchell131, Palmiero Monteleone132, Alessio Maria Monteleone120, Grant Montgomery73,85,133, Preben Bo Mortensen76,110,111, Melissa Munn-Chernoff9, Benedetta Nacmias134, Marie Navratilova65, Claes Norring26,27, Ioanna Ntalla44, Catherine Olsen73, Roel Ophoff17,135, Julie O’Toole136, Leonid Padyukov107, Aarno Palotie58,99,137, Jacques Pantel30, Hana Papezova96, Richard Parker73, John Pearson138, Nancy Pedersen1, Liselotte Petersen76,110,111, Dalila Pinto87, Kirstin Purves13, Raquel Rabionet139,140,141, Anu Raevuori98, Nicolas Ramoz30, Ted Reichborn-Kjennerud109,142, Valdo Ricca134,143, Samuli Ripatti144, Stephan Ripke145,146,147, Franziska Ritschel29,148, Marion Roberts13, Alessandro Rotondo149, Dan Rujescu62,71, Filip Rybakowski150, Paolo Santonastaso151, André Scherag152, Stephen Scherer153, ulrike Schmidt13, Nicholas Schork154, Alexandra Schosser155, Jochen Seitz34, Lenka Slachtova156, P. Eline Slagboom127, Margarita Slof-Op ‘t Landt157,158, Agnieszka Slopien159, Sandro Sorbi134,160, Michael Strober161,162, Garret Stuber9,163, Patrick Sullivan1,16, Beata Świątkowska164, Jin Szatkiewicz16, Ioanna Tachmazidou31, Elena Tenconi45, Laura Thornton9, Alfonso Tortorella165,166, Federica Tozzi167, Janet Treasure13, Artemis Tsitsika168, Marta Tyszkiewicz-Nwafor150, Konstantinos Tziouvas169, Annemarie van Elburg18,170, Eric van Furth157,158, Tracey Wade171, Gudrun Wagner101, Esther Walton29, Hunna Watson9,10,11, Thomas Werge172, David Whiteman73, Elisabeth Widen99, D. Blake Woodside173,174, Shuyang Yao1, Zeynep Yilmaz9,16, Eleftheria Zeggini31,175, Stephanie Zerwas9 and Stephan Zipfel176 17Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, Department of Translational Neuroscience, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands. 18Center for Eating Disorders Rintveld, Altrecht Mental Health Institute, Zeist, the Netherlands. 19Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden. 20Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. 21Department of Behavioral Medicine, National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Tokyo, Japan. 22NORMENT KG Jebsen Centre, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, University of Oslo, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway. 23BioRealm, LLC, Walnut, CA, USA. 24Oregon Research Institute, Eugene, OR, USA. 25Department of Psychiatry, Center for Neurobiology and Behavior, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA. 26Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. 27Center for Psychiatry Research, Stockholm Health Care Services, Stockholm City Council, Stockholm, Sweden. 28Christchurch Health and Development Study, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand. 29Division of Psychological and Social Medicine and Developmental Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany. 30INSERM U894, Centre of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Paris, France. 31Wellcome Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge, UK. 32Department of Medical Biology, School of Medicine, University of Split, Split, Croatia. 33The Center for Eating Disorders at Sheppard Pratt, Baltimore, MD, USA. 34Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany. 35Klinikum Frankfurt/Oder, Frankfurt, Germany. 36Clinical Genetics Unit, Department of Woman and Child Health, University of Padova, Padua, Italy. 37Institute of Medical Genetics and Pathology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland. 38Life Sciences Institute and Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. 39Department of Emergency Psychiatry and Post-Acute Care, CHRU Montpellier, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France. 40Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA. 41MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK. 42School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK. 43Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany. 44Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Harokopio University, Athens, Greece. 45Department of Neurosciences, University of Padova, Padua, Italy. 46College of Nursing, Seattle University, Seattle, WA, USA. 47Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA. 48Department of Psychiatry, Athens University Medical School, Athens University, Athens, Greece. 49L’institut du thorax, INSERM, CNRS, UNIV Nantes, Nantes, France. 50L’institut du thorax, CHU Nantes, Nantes, France. 51Department of Psychiatric Genetics, Poznań University of Medical Sciences, Poznań, Poland. 52Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona, Spain. 53Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain. 54Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Barcelona, Spain. 55Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University Stanford, CA, USA. 56Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Würzburg, Centre for Mental Health, Würzburg, Germany. 57Estonian Genome Center, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia. 58Program in Medical and Population Genetics, Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA. 59Genomics and Disease, Bioinformatics and Genomics Programme, Centre for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona, Spain. 60Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Bellvitge –IDIBELL and CIBERobn, Barcelona, Spain. 61Department of Clinical Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. 62Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU), Munich, Germany. 63Schön Klinik Roseneck affiliated with the Medical Faculty of the University of Munich (LMU), Munich, Germany. 64Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany. 65Department of Cancer, Epidemiology and Genetics, Masaryk Memorial Cancer Institute, Brno, Czech Republic. 66Institute of Human Genetics, University of Bonn School of Medicine & University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany. 67Department of Genomics, Life and Brain Center, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany. 68Department of Psychiatry (UPK), University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland. 69Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland. 70Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 71Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany. 721st Psychiatric Department, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Medical School, Eginition Hospital, Athens, Greece. 73QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. 74CMME (Groupe Hospitalier Sainte-Anne), Paris Descartes University, Paris, France. 75Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark. 76The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research (iPSyCH), Aarhus, Denmark. 77Centre for Integrative Sequencing, iSEQ, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark. 78Bioinformatics Research Centre, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark. 79Center for Applied Genomics, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA. 80Department of Pediatrics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA. 81Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical College, New york, Ny, USA. 82Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics, King’s College London, Guy’s Hospital, London, UK. 83Department of Adult Psychiatry, Poznań University of Medical Sciences, Poznań, Poland. 84Zorg op Orde, Leidschendam, the Netherlands. 85Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. 86Department of General Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany. 87Department of Psychiatry, and Genetics and Genomics Sciences, Division of Psychiatric Genomics, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New york, Ny, USA. 88Biological Psychiatry Laboratory, McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. 89Eating Disorders Unit, Parklandklinik, Bad Wildungen, Germany. 90Department of Molecular Life Science, Division of Basic Medical Science and Molecular Medicine, School of Medicine, Tokai University, Isehara, Japan. 91Faculty of Health Sciences, Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic. 92Eating Recovery Center, Denver, CO, USA. 93Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand. 94Canterbury District Health Board, Christchurch, New Zealand. 95Rheumatology Research Group, Vall d’Hebron Research Institute, Barcelona, Spain. 96Department of Psychiatry, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic. 97Center for Addiction and Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 98Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. 99Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, Helsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. 100Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, Department of Clinical Nutrition, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland. 101Eating Disorders Unit, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. 102Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands. 103Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA. 104Department of Pathology and Biomedical Science, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand. 105Health Services Research Unit, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK. 106Department of Psychiatry, Seoul Paik Hospital, Inje University, Seoul, Korea. 107Rheumatology Unit, Department of Medicine, Center for Molecular Medicine, Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden. 108Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA. 109Department of Mental Disorders, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway. 110National Centre for Register-Based Research, Aarhus BSS, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark. 111Centre for Integrated Register-based Research (CIRRAU), Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark. 112Department of Clinical Science, K.G. Jebsen Centre for Psychosis Research, Norwegian Centre for Mental Disorders Research (NORMENT), University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway. 113Dr. Einar Martens Research Group for Biological Psychiatry, Center for Medical Genetics and Molecular Medicine, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway. 114Department of Clinical Medicine, Laboratory Building, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway. 115Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 116American School of Professional Psychology, Argosy University, Northern Virginia, Arlington, VA, USA. 117Department of Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention, M Skłodowska-Curie Cancer Center - Oncology Center, Warsaw, Poland. 118BESE Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. 119Department of Psychiatry, University of Lausanne-University Hospital of Lausanne (UNIL-CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland. 120Department of Psychiatry, University of Campania ‘Luigi Vanvitelli’, Naples, Italy. 121Center for Integrative Genomics, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland. 122Department of Paediatric Laboratory Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 123Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany. 124Department of Psychiatry, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland. 125Eist Linn Adolescent Unit, Bessborough, Health Service Executive South, Cork, Ireland. 126Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia. 127Molecular Epidemiology Section (Department of Medical Statistics), Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, the Netherlands. 128Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland. 129Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Geneva University Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland. 130Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Fargo, ND, USA. 131National Center for PTSD, VA Boston Healthcare System, Department of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA. 132Department of Medicine, Surgery and Dentistry ‘Scuola Medica Salernitana’, University of Salerno, Salerno, Italy. 133Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. 134Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Drug Research and Child Health (NEUROFARBA), University of Florence, Florence, Italy. 135Center for Neurobehavioral Genetics, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA. 136Kartini Clinic, Portland, OR, USA. 137Center for Human Genome Research at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. 138Biostatistics and Computational Biology Unit, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand. 139Saint Joan de Déu Research Institute, Saint Joan de Déu Barcelona Children’s Hospital, Barcelona, Spain. 140Institute of Biomedicine (IBUB), University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. 141Department of Genetics, Microbiology and Statistics, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. 142Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway. 143Department of Health Science, University of Florence, Florence, Italy. 144Department of Biometry, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. 145Analytic and Translational Genetics Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. 146Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research, Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA. 147Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité - Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, Germany. 148Eating Disorders Research and Treatment Center, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany. 149Department of Psychiatry, Neurobiology, Pharmacology, and Biotechnologies, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy. 150Department of Psychiatry, Poznań University of Medical Sciences, Poznań, Poland. 151Department of Neurosciences, Padua Neuroscience Center, University of Padova, Padua, Italy. 152Institute of Medical Statistics, Computer and Data Sciences, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany. 153Department of Genetics and Genomic Biology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 154J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), La Jolla, CA, USA. 155Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. 156Department of Pediatrics and Center of Applied Genomics, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic. 157Center for Eating Disorders Ursula, Rivierduinen, Leiden, the Netherlands. 158Department of Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, the Netherlands. 159Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Poznań University of Medical Sciences, Poznań, Poland. 160IRCCS Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi, Florence, Italy. 161Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Science, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA. 162David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA. 163Department of Cell Biology and Physiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA. 164Department of Environmental Epidemiology, Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Lodz, Poland. 165Department of Psychiatry, University of Naples SUN, Naples, Italy. 166Department of Psychiatry, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy. 167Brain Sciences Department, Stremble Ventures, Limassol, Cyprus. 168Adolescent Health Unit, Second Department of Pediatrics, ‘P. & A. Kyriakou’ Children’s Hospital, University of Athens, Athens, Greece. 169Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, ‘P. & A. Kyriakou’ Children’s Hospital, University of Athens, Athens, Greece. 170Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands. 171School of Psychology, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. 172Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. 173Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 174Toronto General Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 175Institute of Translational Genomics, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg, Germany. 176Department of Internal Medicine VI, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Hospital Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany International Headache Genetics Consortium Verneri Anttila177, Ville Artto178, Andrea Carmine Belin179, Irene de Boer180, Dorret I. Boomsma181, Sigrid Børte182, Daniel I. Chasman183, Lynn Cherkas184, Anne Francke Christensen185, Bru Cormand186, Ester Cuenca-Leon177, George Davey-Smith187, Martin Dichgans188, Cornelia van Duijn189, Tonu Esko57, Ann Louise Esserlind190, Michel Ferrari180, Rune R. Frants180, Tobias Freilinger191, Nick Furlotte192, Padhraig Gormley177, Lyn Griffiths193, Eija Hamalainen194, Thomas Folkmann Hansen6, Marjo Hiekkala195, M. Arfan Ikram189, Andres Ingason196, Marjo-Riitta Järvelin197, Risto Kajanne194, Mikko Kallela178, Jaakko Kaprio98,99, Mari Kaunisto195, Lisette J. A. Kogelman6, Christian Kubisch198, Mitja Kurki177, Tobias Kurth199, Lenore Launer200, Terho Lehtimaki201, Davor Lessel198, Lannie Ligthart181, Nadia Litterman192, Arn van den Maagdenberg180, Alfons Macaya202, Rainer Malik188, Massimo Mangino184, George McMahon187, Bertram Muller-Myhsok203, Benjamin M. Neale177, Carrie Northover192, Dale R. Nyholt193, Jes Olesen190, Aarno Palotie58,99,137, Priit Palta194, Linda Pedersen182, Nancy Pedersen1, Danielle Posthuma181, Patricia Pozo-Rosich204, Alice Pressman205, Olli Raitakari206, Markus Schürks199, Celia Sintas186, Kari Stefansson196, Hreinn Stefansson196, Stacy Steinberg196, David Strachan207, Gisela Terwindt180, Marta Vila-Pueyo202, Maija Wessman195, Bendik S. Winsvold182, Huiying Zhao193 and John Anker Zwart182 177Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA. 178Department of Neurology, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland. 179Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. 180Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, the Netherlands. 181VU University, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. 182Oslo University Hospital and University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway. 183Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA, USA. 184Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King’s College London, London, UK. 185Danish Headache Center, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark. 186University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. 187Medical Research Council (MRC) Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK. 188Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research, Munich, Germany. 189Erasmus University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. 190Danish Headache Center, Department of Neurology, Rigshospitalet, Glostrup, Denmark. 191University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany. 19223&Me Inc., Mountain View, CA, USA. 193Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. 194Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. 195Folkhälsan Institute of Genetics, Helsinki, Finland. 196Decode genetics Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland. 197University of Oulu, Biocenter Oulu, Finland. 198University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany. 199Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. 200National Institute on Aging, Bethesda, MD, USA. 201School of Medicine, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland. 202Vall d’Hebron Research Institute, Barcelona, Spain. 203Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany. 204Headache Research Group, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. 205Sutter Health, Sacramento, CA, USA. 206Department of Medicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland. 207Population Health Research Institute, St George’s University of London, London, UK. 23andMe Research Team Michelle Agee208, Babak Alipanahi208, Adam Auton208, Robert Bell208, Katarzyna Bryc208, Sarah Elson208, Pierre Fontanillas208, Nicholas Furlotte208, Karl Heilbron208, David Hinds208, Karen Huber208, Aaron Kleinman208, Nadia Litterman208, Jennifer McCreight208, Matthew McIntyre208, Joanna Mountain208, Elizabeth Noblin208, Carrie Northover208, Steven Pitts208, J. Sathirapongsasuti208, Olga Sazonova208, Janie Shelton208, Suyash Shringarpure208, Chao Tian208, Joyce Tung208, Vladimir Vacic208 and Catherine Wilson208 20823andMe, Inc., Mountain View, CA, US

Genome-wide association studies have discovered hundreds of loci associated with complex brain disorders, but it remains unclear in which cell types these loci are active. Here we integrate genome-wide association study results with single-cell transcriptomic data from the entire mouse nervous system to systematically identify cell types underlying brain complex traits. We show that psychiatric disorders are predominantly associated with projecting excitatory and inhibitory neurons. Neurological diseases were associated with different cell types, which is consistent with other lines of evidence. Notably, Parkinson’s disease was genetically associated not only with cholinergic and monoaminergic neurons (which include dopaminergic neurons) but also with enteric neurons and oligodendrocytes. Using post-mortem brain transcriptomic data, we confirmed alterations in these cells, even at the earliest stages of disease progression. Our study provides an important framework for understanding the cellular basis of complex brain maladies, and reveals an unexpected role of oligodendrocytes in Parkinson’s disease. © 2020, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature America, Inc.

Altered pain sensitivity is believed to play an important role in the development of chronic pain, a common debilitating condition affecting an estimated 1 in 5 adults. Pain sensitivity varies broadly between individuals, and it is notoriously difficult to measure at scale in large populations. Although pain sensitivity is known to be moderately heritable, only a small number of genetic studies have been published and they have had limited success in identifying the genetic architecture of pain sensitivity. In this study, we deployed an online pain sensitivity questionnaire (PSQ) and an at-home version of the cold pressor test (CPT) in a large genotyped cohort. We performed genome-wide association studies (GWAS) on the PSQ score (n = 25,321) and CPT duration (n = 6,853). Despite a reasonably large sample size, we identified only one genome-wide significant locus associated with the PSQ score, which was located in the TSSC1 gene (rs58194899, OR = 0.950 [0.933-0.967], P-value = 1.9*10−8). This gene is responsible for intracellular cell trafficking and it could modulate pain sensitivity via changes in neuroplasticity. PSQ score is genetically correlated with chronic and acute pain, including chronic neck and shoulder pain (rg = 0.71), fracture (0.71), rheumatoid arthritis (0.68), osteoarthritis (0.38), and pneumothorax (0.82). PSQ score was also genetically correlated with known risk factors, such as the length of working week (0.65), noisy workplace (0.41), smoking (0.36), or extreme BMI (0.23). Gene-based analysis followed by pathway analysis showed that GWAS results were enriched for genes expressed in the brain, predominantly in the frontal cortex and basal ganglia, and enriched for genes involved in neuronal development and glutamatergic synapse signaling pathways. Finally, we confirmed that females with red hair were more sensitive to pain and found that genetic variation in the MC1R gene was associated with an increase in pain sensitivity as assessed by the PSQ. Overall, we detailed the genetic background of pain sensitivity using scalable at-home procedures that may serve as a blueprint for larger genetic studies.Author SummaryDespite decades of research and many advances in our understanding of the physical, emotional, and psychological aspects, the genetic contribution to pain sensitivity is still largely unknown. We administered a pain sensitivity questionnaire in parallel with an experimental cold pressor test in a large, genotyped cohort of 31,000 research participants, and found a novel genome-wide genetic association in TSSC1. This gene is responsible for intracellular cell trafficking and it could modulate pain sensitivity via changes in neuroplasticity. Overall, the pain sensitivity measurements revealed strong positive genetic correlations with chronic and acute pain conditions, as well as with unhealthy traits and behaviors, such as obesity, smoking, or difficult working conditions. The genetic association results also suggested, perhaps unsurprisingly, that only the brain tissues could be relevant for pain sensitivity, and identified enrichments for glutamatergic synapse pathways. Despite the complexity of pain sensitivity, our study demonstrated that it is now possible to deploy sophisticated pain questionnaires online and perform experimental medicine tests in at-home settings to further study the genetic architecture of pain sensitivity.

Funder: The Swedish Esophageal Cancer Study was funded by grants (R01 CA57947-03) from the National Cancer Institute he California Tobacco Related Research Program (3RT-0122; and; 10RT-0251) Marit Peterson Fund for Melanoma Research. CIDR is supported by contract HHSN268200782096C, Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is caused by gastric acid entering the esophagus. GERD has high prevalence and is the major risk factor for Barrett’s esophagus (BE) and esophageal adenocarcinoma (EA). We conduct a large GERD GWAS meta-analysis (80,265 cases, 305,011 controls), identifying 25 independent genome-wide significant loci for GERD. Several of the implicated genes are existing or putative drug targets. Loci discovery is greatest with a broad GERD definition (including cases defined by self-report or medication data). Further, 91% of the GERD risk-increasing alleles also increase BE and/or EA risk, greatly expanding gene discovery for these traits. Our results map genes for GERD and related traits and uncover potential new drug targets for these conditions.

Epidemiologic studies have reported inconsistent results regarding an association between Parkinson disease (PD) and cutaneous melanoma (melanoma). Identifying shared genetic architecture between these diseases can support epidemiologic findings and identify common risk genes and biological pathways. Here, we apply polygenic, linkage disequilibrium-informed methods to the largest available case-control, genome-wide association study summary statistic data for melanoma and PD. We identify positive and significant genetic correlation (correlation: 0.17, 95% CI 0.10-0.24; P = 4.09 x 10(-06)) between melanoma and PD. We further demonstrate melanoma and PD-inferred gene expression to overlap across tissues (correlation: 0.14, 95% CI 0.06 to 0.22; P = 7.87 x 10(-04)) and highlight seven genes including PIEZO1, TRAPPC2L, and SOX6 as potential mediators of the genetic correlation between melanoma and PD. These findings demonstrate specific, shared genetic architecture between PD and melanoma that manifests at the level of gene expression.

Published in final edited form as: Nat Genet. 2019 March ; 51(3): 431–444. doi:10.1038/s41588-019-0344-8., Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a highly heritable and heterogeneous group of neurodevelopmental phenotypes diagnosed in more than 1% of children. Common genetic variants contribute substantially to ASD susceptibility, but to date no individual variants have been robustly associated with ASD. With a marked sample size increase from a unique Danish population resource, we report a genome-wide association meta-analysis of 18,381 ASD cases and 27,969 controls that identifies five genome-wide significant loci. Leveraging GWAS results from three phenotypes with significantly overlapping genetic architectures (schizophrenia, major depression, and educational attainment), seven additional loci shared with other traits are identified at equally strict significance levels. Dissecting the polygenic architecture, we find both quantitative and qualitative polygenic heterogeneity across ASD subtypes. These results highlight biological insights, particularly relating to neuronal function and corticogenesis and establish that GWAS performed at scale will be much more productive in the near term in ASD., The iPSYCH project is funded by the Lundbeck Foundation (grant numbers R102-A9118 and R155-2014-1724) and the universities and university hospitals of Aarhus and Copenhagen. Genotyping of iPSYCH and PGC samples was supported by grants from the Lundbeck Foundation, the Stanley Foundation, the Simons Foundation (SFARI 311789 to MJD), and NIMH (5U01MH094432–02 to MJD). The Danish National Biobank resource was supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. Data handling and analysis on the GenomeDK HPC facility was supported by NIMH (1U01MH109514–01 to M O’Donovan and ADB). High-performance computer capacity for handling and statistical analysis of iPSYCH data on the GenomeDK HPC facility was provided by the Centre for Integrative Sequencing, iSEQ, Aarhus University, Denmark (grant to ADB). Drs. S De Rubeis and JD Buxbaum were supported by NIH grants MH097849 (to JDB) and MH111661 (to JDB), and by the Seaver Foundation (to SDR and JDB). Dr J Martin was supported by the Wellcome Trust (grant no: 106047). O. Andreassen received funding from Research Council of Norway (#213694, #223273, #248980, #248778), Stiftelsen KG Jebsen and South-East Norway Health Authority. We thank the research participants and employees of 23andMe for making this work possible.

ImportanceEpidemiological evidence indicates that major depressive disorder (MDD) and loneliness both reduce life expectancies, but mechanisms underlying the excess morbidity are unclear. Electronic health records (EHRs) linked to genetic data offer new opportunities to address this knowledge gap.ObjectiveTo determine the medical morbidity pattern associated with genetic risk factors for MDD and loneliness, two common psychological traits with adverse health outcomes.DesignPhenome-wide association study using EHRs spanning 1990 to 2017 from the Vanderbilt University Medical Center biobank, BioVU. Top associations with coronary artery disease (CAD) were replicated in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) cohort.SettingHospital-based EHR study, with replication in a population-based cohort study.Participants18,385 genotyped adult patients in BioVU. Replication in ARIC included 7,197 genotyped participants. All participants were of European ancestry.ExposuresPolygenic scores for MDD and loneliness were developed for each individual using previously published meta-GWAS summary statistics.Main Outcomes and MeasuresThe phenome-wide association study included 882 clinical diagnoses ascertained via billing codes in the EHR. ARIC included 1598 incident CAD cases.ResultsBioVU patients had a median EHR length of 9.91 years. In the phenome-wide association study, polygenic scores for MDD and loneliness were significantly associated with psychiatric and cardiac phenotypes. Targeted analyses of CAD in 3,893 cases and 4,197 controls in BioVU found odds ratios of 1.11 (95% CI, 1.04-1.18; P=8.43×10−4) and 1.13 (95% CI, 1.07-1.20; P=4.51×10−6) per 1-SD increase in the polygenic scores for MDD and loneliness, respectively. Comparable hazard ratios in ARIC were 1.07 (95% CI, 0.99-1.14; P=0.07) and 1.07 (1.01-1.15; P=0.03). Across both studies, the increased risk persisted in women after adjusting for multiple conventional risk factors, a polygenic score for CAD, and psychiatric symptoms (available in BioVU). Controlling for genetic risk factors shared between MDD and loneliness, the polygenic score for loneliness conditioned on MDD remained associated with CAD risk, but the polygenic score for MDD conditioned on loneliness did not.Conclusions and RelevanceGenetic risk factors for MDD and loneliness act pleiotropically to increase CAD risk in women. Continued research into the biological and clinical connections between the heart and mind is warranted.

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a highly heritable childhood behavioral disorder affecting 5% of children and 2.5% of adults. Common genetic variants contribute substantially to ADHD susceptibility, but no variants have been robustly associated with ADHD. We report a genome-wide association meta-analysis of 20,183 individuals diagnosed with ADHD and 35,191 controls that identifies variants surpassing genome-wide significance in 12 independent loci, finding important new information about the underlying biology of ADHD. Associations are enriched in evolutionarily constrained genomic regions and loss-of-function intolerant genes and around brain-expressed regulatory marks. Analyses of three replication studies: a cohort of individuals diagnosed with ADHD, a self-reported ADHD sample and a meta-analysis of quantitative measures of ADHD symptoms in the population, support these findings while highlighting study-specific differences on genetic overlap with educational attainment. Strong concordance with GWAS of quantitative population measures of ADHD symptoms supports that clinical diagnosis of ADHD is an extreme expression of continuous heritable traits. Postprint

Osteoporosis is a common debilitating chronic disease diagnosed primarily using bone mineral density (BMD). We undertook a comprehensive assessment of human genetic determinants of bone density in 426,824 individuals, identifying a total of 518 genome-wide significant loci, (301 novel), explaining 20% of the total variance in BMD—as estimated by heel quantitative ultrasound (eBMD). Next, meta-analysis identified 13 bone fracture loci in ~1.2M individuals, which were also associated with BMD. We then identified target genes from cell-specific genomic landscape features, including chromatin conformation and accessible chromatin sites, that were strongly enriched for genes known to influence bone density and strength (maximum odds ratio = 58, P = 10-75). We next performed rapid throughput skeletal phenotyping of 126 knockout mice lacking eBMD Target Genes and showed that these mice had an increased frequency of abnormal skeletal phenotypes compared to 526 unselected lines (P < 0.0001). In-depth analysis of one such Target Gene, DAAM2, showed a disproportionate decrease in bone strength relative to mineralization. This comprehensive human and murine genetic atlas provides empirical evidence testing how to link associated SNPs to causal genes, offers new insights into osteoporosis pathophysiology and highlights opportunities for drug development.

OBJECTIVE::Alcohol use disorders are common conditions that have enormous social and economic consequences. Genome-wide association analyses were performed to identify genetic variants associated with a proxy measure of alcohol consumption and alcohol misuse and to explore the shared genetic basis between these measures and other substance use, psychiatric, and behavioral traits. METHOD::This study used quantitative measures from the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) from two population-based cohorts of European ancestry (UK Biobank [N=121,604] and 23andMe [N=20,328]) and performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) meta-analysis. Two additional GWAS analyses were performed, a GWAS for AUDIT scores on items 1-3, which focus on consumption (AUDIT-C), and for scores on items 4-10, which focus on the problematic consequences of drinking (AUDIT-P). RESULTS::The GWAS meta-analysis of AUDIT total score identified 10 associated risk loci. Novel associations localized to genes including JCAD and SLC39A13; this study also replicated previously identified signals in the genes ADH1B, ADH1C, KLB, and GCKR. The dimensions of AUDIT showed positive genetic correlations with alcohol consumption (rg=0.76-0.92) and DSM-IV alcohol dependence (rg=0.33-0.63). AUDIT-P and AUDIT-C scores showed significantly different patterns of association across a number of traits, including psychiatric disorders. AUDIT-P score was significantly positively genetically correlated with schizophrenia (rg=0.22), major depressive disorder (rg=0.26), and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (rg=0.23), whereas AUDIT-C score was significantly negatively genetically correlated with major depressive disorder (rg=-0.24) and ADHD (rg=-0.10). This study also used the AUDIT data in the UK Biobank to identify thresholds for dichotomizing AUDIT total score that optimize genetic correlations with DSM-IV alcohol dependence. Coding individuals with AUDIT total scores ≤4 as control subjects and those with scores ≥12 as case subjects produced a significant high genetic correlation with DSM-IV alcohol dependence (rg=0.82) while retaining most subjects. CONCLUSIONS::AUDIT scores ascertained in population-based cohorts can be used to explore the genetic basis of both alcohol consumption and alcohol use disorders.