Structural brain imaging studies offer clues about the effects of the shared genetic etiology among neuropsychiatric disorders

Genomewide association studies have found significant genetic correlations among many neuropsychiatric disorders. This study, using data from the Enhancing Neuroimaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis (ENIGMA) consortium, investigated similarities in structural brain alterations (regional brain volume and cortical thickness) across seven neuropsychiatric disorders (ADHD, ASD, BD, epilepsy, MDD, OCD, and SCZ) in a large sample (24,360 patients and 37,425 controls). Significant correlations in structural MRI (sMRI) phenotypes were found between several disorders (e.g., SCZ and BD, OCD, MDD, and ASD). These sMRI phenotype correlations were correlated with genetic correlations derived from genomewide association studies (r = 0.494), suggesting a shared genetic etiology underlying the observed brain structural similarities across disorders.

Nevena V. Radonjić, Jonathan L. Hess, Paula Rovira, Ole Andreassen, Jan K. Buitelaar, Christopher R. K. Ching, Barbara Franke, Martine Hoogman, Neda Jahanshad, Carrie McDonald, Lianne Schmaal, Sanjay M. Sisodiya, Dan J. Stein, Odile A. van den Heuvel, Theo G. M. van Erp, Daan van Rooij, Dick J. Veltman, Paul Thompson, Stephen V. Faraone