Biology subjects

Anney, R.

Publications and source records attributed to Anney, R..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2018

ASD Diagnosis in Adults: Phenotype and Genotype Findings from a Clinically-derived Cohort

BackgroundThe last decade has seen the development of services for adults presenting with symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the UK. Compared to children, little is known about the phenotypic and genetic characteristics of these patients.\n\nAimsThis e-cohort study aimed to examine the phenotypic and genetic characteristics of a clinically-presenting sample of adults diagnosed with ASD by specialist services.\n\nMethodsIndividuals diagnosed with ASD as adults were recruited by the National Centre for Mental Health and completed self-report questionnaires, interviews and provided DNA. 105 eligible individuals were matched to 76 healthy controls. We investigated the demographics, social history, comorbid psychiatric and physical disorders. Samples were genotyped, copy number variants (CNVs) were called and polygenic risk scores calculated.\n\nResults89.5% of individuals with ASD had at least one comorbid psychiatric diagnosis with comorbid depression (62.9%) and anxiety (55.2%) the most common. The ASD group experienced more neurological comorbidities than healthy controls, particularly migraine headache. They were less likely to have married or be in work and had more alcohol-related problems. There was a significantly higher load of autism common genetic variants in the adult ASD group compared to controls, but there was no difference in the rate of rare CNVs.\n\nConclusionsThis study provides important information about psychiatric comorbidity in adult ASD which may be used to inform clinical practice and patient counselling. It also suggests that the polygenic load of common ASD-associated variants may be important in conferring risk within non-intellectually disabled population of adults with ASD.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2018

The contribution of psychiatric risk alleles to a general liability to psychopathology in early life

BackgroundPsychiatric disorders show phenotypic as well as genetic overlaps. Factor analyses of child and adult psychopathology have found that phenotypic overlaps largely can be explained by a latent general \"p\" factor that reflects general liability to psychopathology. We investigated whether shared genetic liability across disorders would be reflected in associations between multiple different psychiatric polygenic risk scores (PRS) and a general psychopathology factor in childhood.\n\nMethodsThe sample was a UK, prospective, population-based cohort (ALSPAC), including data on psychopathology at age 7 (N=8161) years. PRS were generated from large published genome-wide association studies.\n\nOutcomesThe general psychopathology factor was associated with both schizophrenia PRS and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) PRS, whereas there was no strong evidence of association with major depressive disorder and autism spectrum disorder PRS. Schizophrenia PRS was also associated with a specific \"emotional\" problems factor.\n\nInterpretationOur findings suggest that genetic liability to schizophrenia and ADHD may contribute to shared genetic risks across childhood psychiatric diagnoses at least partly via the general psychopathology factor. However, the pattern of observations could not be explained by a general \"p\" factor on its own.\n\nFundingThis work was supported by the Wellcome Trust (204895/Z/16/Z).Introduction

genetics↗

bioRxiv2017

Common risk variants identified in autism spectrum disorder

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, in contrast to what is typically seen in other complex disorders. 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, just as it has been in a broad range of important psychiatric and diverse medical phenotypes.

genetics↗

bioRxiv2016

Polygenic transmission disequilibrium confirms that common and rare variation act additively to create risk for autism spectrum disorders

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) risk is influenced by both common polygenic and de novo variation. The purpose of this analysis was to clarify the influence of common polygenic risk for ASDs and to identify subgroups of cases, including those with strong acting de novo variants, in which different types of polygenic risk are relevant. To do so, we extend the transmission disequilibrium approach to encompass polygenic risk scores, and introduce the polygenic transmission disequilibrium test. Using data from more than 6,400 children with ASDs and 15,000 of their family members, we show that polygenic risk for ASDs, schizophrenia, and greater educational attainment is over transmitted to children with ASDs in two independent samples, but not to their unaffected siblings. These findings hold independent of proband IQ. We find that common polygenic variation contributes additively to risk in ASD cases that carry a very strong acting de novo variant. Lastly, we find evide ...

genetics↗