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Rabe F, Smigielski L, Georgiadis F, Kallen N, Omlor W, Kirschner M, Cathomas F, Grünblatt E, Silverstein S, Blose B, Barthelmes D, Schaal K, Rubio J, Lencz T, Homan P. Genetic susceptibility to schizophrenia through neuroinflammatory pathways is associated with retinal thinning: Findings from the UK-Biobank. MEDRXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR HEALTH SCIENCES 2024:2024.04.05.24305387. [PMID: 38633770 PMCID: PMC11023639 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.05.24305387] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/19/2024]
Abstract
The human retina is part of the central nervous system and can be easily and non-invasively imaged with optical coherence tomography. While imaging the retina may provide insights on central nervous system-related disorders such as schizophrenia, a typical challenge are confounders often present in schizophrenia which may negatively impact retinal health. Here, we therefore aimed to investigate retinal changes in the context of common genetic variations conveying a risk of schizophrenia as measured by polygenic risk scores. We used population data from the UK Biobank, including White British and Irish individuals without diagnosed schizophrenia, and estimated a polygenic risk score for schizophrenia based on the newest genome-wide association study (PGC release 2022). We hypothesized that greater genetic susceptibility to schizophrenia is associated with retinal thinning, especially within the macula. To gain additional mechanistic insights, we conducted pathway-specific polygenic risk score associations analyses, focusing on gene pathways that are related to schizophrenia. Of 65484 individuals recruited, 48208 participants with available matching imaging-genetic data were included in the analysis of whom 22427 (53.48%) were female and 25781 (46.52%) were male. Our robust principal component regression results showed that polygenic risk scores for schizophrenia were associated with retinal thinning while controlling for confounding factors (b = -0.03, p = 0.007, pFWER = 0.01). Similarly, we found that polygenic risk for schizophrenia specific to neuroinflammation gene sets revealed significant associations with retinal thinning (b = -0.03, self-contained p = 0.041 (reflecting the level of association), competitive p = 0.05 (reflecting the level of enrichment)). These results go beyond previous studies suggesting a relationship between manifested schizophrenia and retinal phenotypes. They indicate that the retina is a mirror reflecting the genetic complexities of schizophrenia and that alterations observed in the retina of individuals with schizophrenia may be connected to an inherent genetic predisposition to neurodegenerative aspects of the condition. These associations also suggest the potential involvement of the neuroinflammatory pathway, with indications of genetic overlap with specific retinal phenotypes. The findings further indicate that this gene pathway in individuals with a high polygenic risk for schizophrenia could contribute through acute-phase proteins to structural changes in the retina.
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Affiliation(s)
- Finn Rabe
- Department of Adult Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Lukasz Smigielski
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Psychiatry Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Foivos Georgiadis
- Department of Adult Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Nils Kallen
- Department of Adult Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Wolfgang Omlor
- Department of Adult Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Matthias Kirschner
- Department of Adult Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Flurin Cathomas
- Department of Adult Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Edna Grünblatt
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Psychiatry Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Neuroscience Center Zurich, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Zurich Center for Integrative Human Physiology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Steven Silverstein
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, USA
- Department of Ophthalmology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, USA
- Center for Visual Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA
| | - Brittany Blose
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, USA
- Department of Ophthalmology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, USA
- Center for Visual Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA
| | - Daniel Barthelmes
- Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Karen Schaal
- Department of Ophthalmology, Inselspital University Hospital Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Jose Rubio
- Institute of Behavioral Science, Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, Manhasset, NY, USA
- Division of Psychiatry Research, Zucker Hillside Hospital, Northwell Health, New York, NY, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, Hempstead, NY, USA
| | - Todd Lencz
- Institute of Behavioral Science, Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, Manhasset, NY, USA
- Division of Psychiatry Research, Zucker Hillside Hospital, Northwell Health, New York, NY, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, Hempstead, NY, USA
| | - Philipp Homan
- Department of Adult Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Neuroscience Center Zurich, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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