Rare copy number variations are associated with poorer cognition in schizophrenia

Hubbard, Leon, Rees, Elliott ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6168-9222, Morris, Derek W., Lynham, Amy J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3189-6888, Richards, Alex L., Pardinas, Antonio F. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6845-7590, Legge, Sophie E., Harold, Denise, Zammit, Stanley ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2647-9211, Corvin, Aiden C., Gill, Michael G., Hall, Jeremy ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2737-9009, Holmans, Peter ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0870-9412, O'Donovan, Michael C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7073-2379, Owen, Michael J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4798-0862, Donohoe, Gary, Kirov, George ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3427-3950, Pocklington, Andrew ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2137-0452 and Walters, James T.R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6980-4053 2021. Rare copy number variations are associated with poorer cognition in schizophrenia. Biological Psychiatry 90 (1) , pp. 28-34. 10.1016/j.biopsych.2020.11.025

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Abstract

Background Cognitive impairment in schizophrenia is a major contributor to poor outcomes yet its causes are poorly understood. Some rare copy number variants (CNVs) are associated with schizophrenia risk and impact cognition in healthy populations but their contribution to cognitive impairment in schizophrenia has not been investigated. We examined the effect of 12 schizophrenia CNVs on cognition in those with schizophrenia. Methods General cognitive ability was measured using the MATRICS composite z-score in 875 schizophrenia cases, and in a replication sample of 519 schizophrenia cases using WAIS Full-Scale IQ. Using linear regression we tested for association between cognition and schizophrenia CNV status, covarying for age and sex. In addition, we tested whether CNVs hitting genes in schizophrenia enriched gene sets (loss of function intolerant or synaptic gene sets) were associated with cognitive impairment. Results 23 schizophrenia CNV carriers were identified. Schizophrenia CNV carriers had lower general cognitive ability than non-schizophrenia CNV carriers in discovery (β=-0.66, 95%CI = -1.31 to -0.01) and replication samples (β=-0.91, 95%CI =-1.71 to -0.11), and after meta-analysis (β=-0.76, 95%CI=-1.26 to -0.25, p=0.003). CNVs hitting loss of function intolerant genes were associated with lower cognition (β= -0.15, 95%CI=-0.29 to -0.001, p=0.048). Conclusions In those with schizophrenia, cognitive ability in schizophrenia CNV carriers is 0.5-1.0 standard deviations below non-CNV carriers, which may have implications for clinical assessment and management. We also demonstrate that rare CNVs hitting genes intolerant to loss of function variation lead to more severe cognitive impairment, above and beyond the effect of known schizophrenia CNVs.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Medicine MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics (CNGG)
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	0006-3223
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	5 January 2021
Date of Acceptance:	15 November 2020
Last Modified:	19 Apr 2024 19:04
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/137305

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