Neurodevelopmental risk and adaptation as a model for comorbidity among internalizing and externalizing disorders: genomics and cell-specific expression enriched morphometric study

Cognitive predictors of mental health trajectories are mediated by inferior frontal and occipital development during adolescence

Laboratory studies show brain maturation involves synaptic pruning and cognitive development. Human studies suggest links between early cognitive performance and later mental health, but inconsistencies remain. It is unclear if specific brain regions mediate this relationship, and the molecular underpinnings are not well understood. Here, our longitudinal analyses in both the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development and IMAGEN cohorts establish inverted U-shaped relationships between baseline executive function and subsequent symptom trajectories in the high-symptom individuals, whose externalizing (n = 963) or internalizing (n = 1762) symptoms exceed a clinical threshold at any point during the follow-up period, but not in the control group (n = 4291). Volumetric changes in the left lateral occipital cortex (LOC) mediated the relationship with externalizing symptoms (outwardly directed behaviors such as aggression), while changes in the right LOC and pars triangularis mediated the relationship with internalizing symptoms (inwardly directed emotional problems such as anxiety). Transcriptomic and genomic findings highlighted synaptic biology and particularly the gene ADCY1, which is implicated in synaptic pruning, as underlying both moderate executive function and its associated brain mediators. Notably, preadolescent cognitive performance predicts late-onset externalizing symptoms and remitting internalizing symptoms with high accuracies (area under the curve: 0.87 and 0.79). Our findings highlight the predictive value of cognitive performance for adolescent mental health trajectories, and indicate how this is mediated by specific brain regions, and underpinned by particular molecular pathways.

COPD, PRISm and lung function reduction affect the brain cortical structure: a Mendelian randomization study

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has been associated with alterations in the brain cortical structure. Nonetheless, the causality between COPD and brain cortical structure has not been determined. In the present study, we used Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to explore the causal effects of genetic predicated COPD on brain cortical structure, namely cortical surface area (SA) and cortical thickness (TH). Genetic association summary data for COPD were obtained from the FinnGen consortium (N = 358,369; Ncase = 20,066). PRISm summary genetic data were retrieved from a case-control GWAS conducted in the UK Biobank (N = 296,282). Lung function indices, including forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC), and FEV1/FVC, were extracted from a meta-analysis of the UK Biobank and SpiroMeta consortium (N = 400,102). Brain cortical structure data were obtained from the ENIGMA consortium (N = 51,665). Inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method was used as the primary analysis, and a series of sensitivity tests were exploited to evaluate the heterogeneity and pleiotropy of our results. The results identified potential causal effects of COPD on several brain cortical specifications, including pars orbitalis, cuneus and inferior parietal gyrus. Furthermore, genetic predicated lung function index (FEV1, FVC and FEV1/FVC), as well as PRISm, also has causal effects on brain cortical structure. According to our results, a total of 15 functional specifications were influenced by lung function index and PRISm. These findings contribute to understanding the causal effects of COPD and lung function to brain cortical structure.

Causal role of immune cells in generalized anxiety disorder: Mendelian randomization study

Background

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a prevalent emotional disorder that has received relatively little attention regarding its immunological basis. Recent years have seen the widespread use of high-density genetic markers such as SNPs or CNVs for genotyping, as well as the advancement of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) technologies, which have facilitated the understanding of immunological mechanisms underlying several major psychiatric disorders. Despite these advancements, the immunological basis of GAD remains poorly understood. In light of this, we aimed to explore the causal relationship between immune cells and the disease through a Mendelian randomization study.

Methods

The summary information for GAD (Ncase=4,666, Ncontrol=337,577) was obtained from the FinnGen dataset. Summary statistics for the characterization of 731 immune cells, including morphological parameters (MP=32), median fluorescence intensity (MFI=389), absolute cells (AC=118), and relative cells (RC=192), were derived from the GWAS catalog. The study involved both forward MR analysis, with immune cell traits as the exposure and GAD as the outcome, and reverse MR analysis, with GAD as the exposure and immune cell traits as the outcome. We performed extensive sensitivity analyses to confirm the robustness, heterogeneity, and potential multi-biological effects of the study results. Also, to control for false positive results during multiple hypothesis testing, we adopted a false discovery rate (FDR) to control for statistical bias due to multiple comparisons.

Results

After FDR correction, GAD had no statistically significant effect on immunophenotypes. Several phenotypes with unadjusted low P-values are worth mentioning, including decreased PB/PC levels on B cells(β=-0.289, 95%CI=0.044~0.194, P=0.002), reduced PB/PC AC in GAD patients (β=-0.270, 95% CI=0.77~0.92, P=0.000), and diminished PB/PC on lymphocytes (β=-0.315, 95% CI=0.77~0.93, P=0.001). GAD also exerted a causal effect on CD27 on IgD-CD38br (β=-0.155,95%CI=0.78~0.94,P=0.002), CD20-%B cell (β= -0.105,95% CI=0.77~0.94, P=0.002), IgD-CD38br%lymphocyte(β=-0.305, 95%CI=0.79~0.95, P=0.002), FSC-A level on granulocytes (β=0.200, 95%CI=0.75~0.91, P=8.35×10-5), and CD4RA on TD CD4+(β=-0.150, 95% CI=0.82~1.02, P=0.099). Furthermore, Two lymphocyte subsets were identified to be significantly associated with GAD risk: CD24+ CD27+ B cell (OR=1.066,95%CI=1.04~1.10,P=1.237×10-5),CD28+CD4+T cell (OR=0.927, 95%CI=0.89~0.96, P=8.085×10-5).

Conclusion

The study has shown the close association between immune cells and GAD through genetic methods, thereby offering direction for future clinical research.