Abstract
The last several years have been breakthrough ones in bipolar disorder (BPD) genetics, as the field has identified robust risk variants for the first time. Leading the way have been genome-wide association studies (GWAS) that have assessed common genetic markers across very large groups of patients and controls. These have resulted in findings in genes including ANK3, CACNA1C, SYNE1, ODZ4, and TRANK1. Additional studies have begun to examine the biology of these genes and how risk variants influence aspects of brain and behavior that underlie BPD. For example, carriers of the CACNA1C risk variant have been found to exhibit hippocampal and anterior cingulate dysfunction during episodic memory recall. This work has shed additional light on the relationship of bipolar susceptibility variants to other disorders, particularly schizophrenia. Even larger BPD GWAS are expected with samples now amassed of 21,035 cases and 28,758 controls. Studies have examined the pharmacogenomics of BPD with studies of lithium response, yielding high profile results that remain to be confirmed. The next frontier in the field is the identification of rare bipolar susceptibility variants through large-scale DNA sequencing. While only a couple of papers have been published to date, many studies are underway. The Bipolar Sequencing Consortium has been formed to bring together all of the groups working in this area, and to perform meta-analyses of the data generated. The consortium, with 13 member groups, now has exome data on ~3,500 cases and ~5,000 controls, and on ~162 families. The focus will likely shift within several years from exome data to whole genome data as costs of obtaining such data continue to drop. Gene-mapping studies are now providing clear results that provide insights into the pathophysiology of the disorder. Sequencing studies should extend this process further. Findings could eventually set the stage for rational therapeutic development.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Papers of particular interest, published recently have been highlighted as: • Of importance
Potash JB, DePaulo Jr JR. Searching high and low: a review of the genetics of bipolar disorder. Bipolar Disord. 2000;2(1):8–26.
Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium. Genome-wide association study of 14,000 cases of seven common diseases and 3,000 shared controls. Nature. 2007;447(7145):661–78.
Baum AE et al. A genome-wide association study implicates diacylglycerol kinase eta (DGKH) and several other genes in the etiology of bipolar disorder. Mol Psychiatry. 2008;13(2):197–207.
Ferreira MA et al. Collaborative genome-wide association analysis supports a role for ANK3 and CACNA1C in bipolar disorder. Nat Genet. 2008;40(9):1056–8.
Sklar P et al. Whole-genome association study of bipolar disorder. Mol Psychiatry. 2008;13(6):558–69.
Lee MT et al. Genome-wide association study of bipolar I disorder in the Han Chinese population. Mol Psychiatry. 2011;16(5):548–56.
Hattori E et al. Preliminary genome-wide association study of bipolar disorder in the Japanese population. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 2009;150B(8):1110–7.
Djurovic S et al. A genome-wide association study of bipolar disorder in Norwegian individuals, followed by replication in Icelandic sample. J Affect Disord. 2010;126(1–2):312–6.
Cichon S et al. Genome-wide association study identifies genetic variation in neurocan as a susceptibility factor for bipolar disorder. Am J Hum Genet. 2011;88(3):372–81.
Yosifova A et al. Genome-wide association study on bipolar disorder in the Bulgarian population. Genes Brain Behav. 2011;10(7):789–97.
Xu W et al. Genome-wide association study of bipolar disorder in Canadian and UK populations corroborates disease loci including SYNE1 and CSMD1. BMC Med Genet. 2014;15:2.
Smith EN et al. Genome-wide association of bipolar disorder suggests an enrichment of replicable associations in regions near genes. PLoS Genet. 2011;7(6):e1002134.
Smith EN et al. Genome-wide association study of bipolar disorder in European American and African American individuals. Mol Psychiatry. 2009;14(8):755–63.
Psychiatric Genomics Consortium-Bipolar Disorder Working Group. Large-scale genome-wide association analysis of bipolar disorder identifies a new susceptibility locus near ODZ4. Nat Genet. 2011;43(10):977–83.
Muhleisen TW et al. Genome-wide association study reveals two new risk loci for bipolar disorder. Nat Commun. 2014;5:3339. The largest BPD GWAS to date with >24,000 patients and controls.
Chen DT et al. Genome-wide association study meta-analysis of European and Asian-ancestry samples identifies three novel loci associated with bipolar disorder. Mol Psychiatry. 2013;18(2):195–205. This study of >17,000 subjects implicated TRANK1 in BPD.
Nurnberger Jr JI et al. Identification of pathways for bipolar disorder: a meta-analysis. JAMA Psychiatry. 2014;71(6):657–64.
Heinrich A et al. The risk variant in ODZ4 for bipolar disorder impacts on amygdala activation during reward processing. Bipolar Disord. 2013;15(4):440–5.
Soeiro-de-Souza MG et al. The impact of the CACNA1C risk allele on limbic structures and facial emotions recognition in bipolar disorder subjects and healthy controls. J Affect Disord. 2012;141(1):94–101.
Soeiro-de-Souza MG et al. The CACNA1C risk allele selectively impacts on executive function in bipolar type I disorder. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2013;128(5):362–9.
Tesli M et al. CACNA1C risk variant and amygdala activity in bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and healthy controls. PLoS ONE. 2013;8(2):e56970.
Roussos P et al. The CACNA1C and ANK3 risk alleles impact on affective personality traits and startle reactivity but not on cognition or gating in healthy males. Bipolar Disord. 2011;13(3):250–9.
Ruberto G et al. The cognitive impact of the ANK3 risk variant for bipolar disorder: initial evidence of selectivity to signal detection during sustained attention. PLoS ONE. 2011;6(1):e16671.
Wessa M et al. The CACNA1C risk variant for bipolar disorder influences limbic activity. Mol Psychiatry. 2010;15(12):1126–7.
Radua J et al. The impact of CACNA1C allelic variation on effective connectivity during emotional processing in bipolar disorder. Mol Psychiatry. 2013;18(5):526–7.
Dima D et al. Independent modulation of engagement and connectivity of the facial network during affect processing by CACNA1C and ANK3 risk genes for bipolar disorder. JAMA Psychiatry. 2013;70(12):1303–11.
Dietsche B et al. The impact of a CACNA1C gene polymorphism on learning and hippocampal formation in healthy individuals: a diffusion tensor imaging study. Neuroimage. 2014;89:256–61.
Bigos KL et al. Genetic variation in CACNA1C affects brain circuitries related to mental illness. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2010;67(9):939–45.
Erk S et al. Brain function in carriers of a genome-wide supported bipolar disorder variant. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2010;67(8):803–11.
Erk, S., et al., Hippocampal and frontolimbic function as intermediate phenotype for psychosis: evidence from healthy relatives and a common risk variant in CACNA1C. Biol Psychiatry, 2013.
Erk S et al. Replication of brain function effects of a genome-wide supported psychiatric risk variant in the CACNA1C gene and new multi-locus effects. Neuroimage. 2014;94:147–54.
Schulze TG et al. What is familial about familial bipolar disorder? Resemblance among relatives across a broad spectrum of phenotypic characteristics. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2006;63(12):1368–76.
Potash JB et al. The bipolar disorder phenome database: a resource for genetic studies. Am J Psychiatry. 2007;164(8):1229–37.
Willour VL et al. A genome-wide association study of attempted suicide. Mol Psychiatry. 2012;17(4):433–44.
Goes FS et al. Mood-incongruent psychotic features in bipolar disorder: familial aggregation and suggestive linkage to 2p11-q14 and 13q21-33. Am J Psychiatry. 2007;164(2):236–47.
O'Mahony E et al. Sibling pairs with affective disorders: resemblance of demographic and clinical features. Psychol Med. 2002;32(1):55–61.
Potash JB et al. The familial aggregation of psychotic symptoms in bipolar disorder pedigrees. Am J Psychiatry. 2001;158(8):1258–64.
Belmonte Mahon P et al. Genome-wide association analysis of age at onset and psychotic symptoms in bipolar disorder. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 2011;156B(3):370–8.
Hamshere ML et al. Polygenic dissection of the bipolar phenotype. Br J Psychiatry. 2011;198(4):284–8.
Goes FS et al. Genome-wide association of mood-incongruent psychotic bipolar disorder. Transl Psychiatry. 2012;2:e180.
Cross-Disorder Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium. Genetic relationship between five psychiatric disorders estimated from genome-wide SNPs. Nat Genet. 2013;45(9):984–94.
Cross-Disorder Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium and Consortium for Genetic Risk Outcome of Psychosis. Identification of risk loci with shared effects on five major psychiatric disorders: a genome-wide analysis. Lancet. 2013;381(9875):1371–9.
Leussis MP et al. The ANK3 bipolar disorder gene regulates psychiatric-related behaviors that are modulated by lithium and stress. Biol Psychiatry. 2013;73(7):683–90. Interesting example of examination of the function of a GWAS-implicated BPD gene in an animal model.
Durak O et al. Ankyrin-G regulates neurogenesis and Wnt signaling by altering the subcellular localization of beta-catenin. Mol Psychiatry. 2014. doi:10.1038/mp.2014.42.
Zhang D et al. Singleton deletions throughout the genome increase risk of bipolar disorder. Mol Psychiatry. 2009;14(4):376–80.
Grozeva D et al. Rare copy number variants: a point of rarity in genetic risk for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2010;67(4):318–27.
Malhotra D et al. High frequencies of de novo CNVs in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Neuron. 2011;72(6):951–63.
Bergen SE et al. Genome-wide association study in a Swedish population yields support for greater CNV and MHC involvement in schizophrenia compared with bipolar disorder. Mol Psychiatry. 2012;17(9):880–6.
Georgieva, L., et al., De novo CNVs in bipolar affective disorder and schizophrenia. Hum Mol Genet. 2014.
Chen YC et al. A hybrid likelihood model for sequence-based disease association studies. PLoS Genet. 2013;9(1):e1003224.
Cruceanu C et al. Family-based exome-sequencing approach identifies rare susceptibility variants for lithium-responsive bipolar disorder. Genome. 2013;56(10):634–40.
Georgi B et al. Genomic view of bipolar disorder revealed by whole genome sequencing in a genetic isolate. PLoS Genet. 2014;10(3):e1004229.
Fiorentino A et al. Analysis of ANK3 and CACNA1C variants identified in bipolar disorder whole genome sequence data. Bipolar Disord. 2014. doi:10.1111/bdi.12203.
Akula N et al. RNA-sequencing of the brain transcriptome implicates dysregulation of neuroplasticity, circadian rhythms and GTPase binding in bipolar disorder. Mol Psychiatry. 2014. doi:10.1038/mp.2013.170.
Xiao Y et al. The DNA methylome and transcriptome of different brain regions in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. PLoS ONE. 2014;9(4):e95875.
Lin PI et al. Clinical correlates and familial aggregation of age at onset in bipolar disorder. Am J Psychiatry. 2006;163(2):240–6.
Sugawara H et al. Comprehensive DNA methylation analysis of human peripheral blood leukocytes and lymphoblastoid cell lines. Epigenetics. 2011;6(4):508–15.
Kaminsky Z et al. A multi-tissue analysis identifies HLA complex group 9 gene methylation differences in bipolar disorder. Mol Psychiatry. 2012;17(7):728–40.
Carrard A et al. Increased DNA methylation status of the serotonin receptor 5HTR1A gene promoter in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. J Affect Disord. 2011;132(3):450–3.
Nohesara S et al. DNA hypomethylation of MB-COMT promoter in the DNA derived from saliva in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. J Psychiatr Res. 2011;45(11):1432–8.
Ghadirivasfi M et al. Hypomethylation of the serotonin receptor type-2A Gene (HTR2A) at T102C polymorphic site in DNA derived from the saliva of patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 2011;156B(5):536–45.
Abdolmaleky HM et al. Epigenetic dysregulation of HTR2A in the brain of patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Schizophr Res. 2011;129(2–3):183–90.
Abdolmaleky HM et al. Hypomethylation of MB-COMT promoter is a major risk factor for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Hum Mol Genet. 2006;15(21):3132–45.
Dempster EL et al. Disease-associated epigenetic changes in monozygotic twins discordant for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Hum Mol Genet. 2011;20(24):4786–96.
Mill J et al. Epigenomic profiling reveals DNA-methylation changes associated with major psychosis. Am J Hum Genet. 2008;82(3):696–711.
Nishioka M et al. Neuronal cell-type specific DNA methylation patterns of the Cacna1c gene. Int J Dev Neurosci. 2013;31(2):89–95.
Grof P et al. Is response to prophylactic lithium a familial trait? J Clin Psychiatry. 2002;63(10):942–7.
Perlis RH et al. A genomewide association study of response to lithium for prevention of recurrence in bipolar disorder. Am J Psychiatry. 2009;166(6):718–25.
Chen CH et al. Variant GADL1 and response to lithium therapy in bipolar I disorder. N Engl J Med. 2014;370(2):119–28. High profile paper suggests that a single SNP determines lithium response in East Asians.
Ikeda M, Kondo K, Iwata N. Variant GADL1 and response to lithium in bipolar I disorder. N Engl J Med. 2014;370(19):1856–7. A failure to replicate the high profile Chen et al. result.
Consortium on Lithium Genetics., et al., Variant GADL1 and response to lithium in bipolar I disorder. N Engl J Med, 2014. 370(19):1857–9. A failure to replicate the high profile Chen et al. result.
Schizophrenia Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium. Biological insights from 108 schizophrenia-associated genetic loci. Nature. 2014;511(7510):421–7.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by a grant from the NIMH to Dr. Potash (R01MH087979). The authors report no competing interests.
Compliance with Ethics Guidelines
ᅟ
Conflict of Interest
Gen Shinozaki and James B. Potash declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent
This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This article is part of the Topical Collection on Bipolar Disorders
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Shinozaki, G., Potash, J.B. New Developments in the Genetics of Bipolar Disorder. Curr Psychiatry Rep 16, 493 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-014-0493-5
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-014-0493-5