The Psychiatric Genomics Consortium Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Workgroup: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Enters the Age of Large-Scale Genomic Collaboration.

Neuropsychopharmacology
Authors
Keywords
Abstract

The development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is influenced by genetic factors. Although there have been some replicated candidates, the identification of risk variants for PTSD has lagged behind genetic research of other psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, autism, and bipolar disorder. Psychiatric genetics has moved beyond examination of specific candidate genes in favor of the genome-wide association study (GWAS) strategy of very large numbers of samples, which allows for the discovery of previously unsuspected genes and molecular pathways. The successes of genetic studies of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder have been aided by the formation of a large-scale GWAS consortium: the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC). In contrast, only a handful of GWAS of PTSD have appeared in the literature to date. Here we describe the formation of a group dedicated to large-scale study of PTSD genetics: the PGC-PTSD. The PGC-PTSD faces challenges related to the contingency on trauma exposure and the large degree of ancestral genetic diversity within and across participating studies. Using the PGC analysis pipeline supplemented by analyses tailored to address these challenges, we anticipate that our first large-scale GWAS of PTSD will comprise over 10 000 cases and 30 000 trauma-exposed controls. Following in the footsteps of our PGC forerunners, this collaboration-of a scope that is unprecedented in the field of traumatic stress-will lead the search for replicable genetic associations and new insights into the biological underpinnings of PTSD.

Year of Publication
2015
Journal
Neuropsychopharmacology
Volume
40
Issue
10
Pages
2287-97
Date Published
2015 Sep
ISSN
1740-634X
URL
DOI
10.1038/npp.2015.118
PubMed ID
25904361
PubMed Central ID
PMC4538342
Links
Grant list
MH088609 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States
R01 MH093500 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States
I01 BX002150 / BX / BLRD VA / United States
MD009064 / MD / NIMHD NIH HHS / United States
MH085806 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States
DK100392 / DK / NIDDK NIH HHS / United States