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The implications of the shared genetics of psychiatric disorders

Nature Medicine volume 22, pages 1214–1219 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

Recent genomic studies have revealed the highly polygenic nature of psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder. Many of the individual genetic associations are shared across multiple disorders in a way that points to extensive biological pleiotropy and further challenges the biological validity of existing diagnostic approaches. Here we argue that the existence of risk alleles specific to a single diagnostic category is unlikely. We also highlight some of the important clinical repercussions of pleiotropy.

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Figure 1: Types of pleiotropy.
Figure 2: Relative CNV frequencies.
Figure 3: Genetic correlation between schizophrenia and selected psychiatric disorders.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by Medical Research Council (MRC) Centre grant MR/L010305/1 and program grant G0800509.

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  1. Division of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics, Cardiff University School of Medicine, Cardiff, UK

    Michael C O'Donovan & Michael J Owen

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  1. Michael C O'Donovan
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Correspondence to Michael C O'Donovan.

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Competing interests

Michael C.O'Donovan has received a consultancy fee from Roche for participation in a discussion about using genetics to identify drug targets.

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O'Donovan, M., Owen, M. The implications of the shared genetics of psychiatric disorders. Nat Med 22, 1214–1219 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm.4196

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