Statistical examination of shared loci in neuropsychiatric diseases using genome-wide association study summary statistics

Continued methodological advances have enabled numerous statistical approaches for the analysis of summary statistics from genome-wide association studies. Genetic correlation analysis within specific regions enables a new strategy for identifying pleiotropy. Genomic regions with significant ‘local’...

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Main Authors: Thomas P Spargo, Lachlan Gilchrist, Guy P Hunt, Richard JB Dobson, Petroula Proitsi, Ammar Al-Chalabi, Oliver Pain, Alfredo Iacoangeli
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: eLife Sciences Publications Ltd 2024-12-01
Series:eLife
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Online Access:https://elifesciences.org/articles/88768
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author Thomas P Spargo
Lachlan Gilchrist
Guy P Hunt
Richard JB Dobson
Petroula Proitsi
Ammar Al-Chalabi
Oliver Pain
Alfredo Iacoangeli
author_facet Thomas P Spargo
Lachlan Gilchrist
Guy P Hunt
Richard JB Dobson
Petroula Proitsi
Ammar Al-Chalabi
Oliver Pain
Alfredo Iacoangeli
author_sort Thomas P Spargo
collection DOAJ
description Continued methodological advances have enabled numerous statistical approaches for the analysis of summary statistics from genome-wide association studies. Genetic correlation analysis within specific regions enables a new strategy for identifying pleiotropy. Genomic regions with significant ‘local’ genetic correlations can be investigated further using state-of-the-art methodologies for statistical fine-mapping and variant colocalisation. We explored the utility of a genome-wide local genetic correlation analysis approach for identifying genetic overlaps between the candidate neuropsychiatric disorders, Alzheimer’s disease (AD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), frontotemporal dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and schizophrenia. The correlation analysis identified several associations between traits, the majority of which were loci in the human leukocyte antigen region. Colocalisation analysis suggested that disease-implicated variants in these loci often differ between traits and, in one locus, indicated a shared causal variant between ALS and AD. Our study identified candidate loci that might play a role in multiple neuropsychiatric diseases and suggested the role of distinct mechanisms across diseases despite shared loci. The fine-mapping and colocalisation analysis protocol designed for this study has been implemented in a flexible analysis pipeline that produces HTML reports and is available at: https://github.com/ThomasPSpargo/COLOC-reporter.
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spelling doaj-art-2e888596cf7c481ebf2f63f850e019fc2025-08-20T02:49:39ZengeLife Sciences Publications LtdeLife2050-084X2024-12-011210.7554/eLife.88768Statistical examination of shared loci in neuropsychiatric diseases using genome-wide association study summary statisticsThomas P Spargo0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4297-6418Lachlan Gilchrist1Guy P Hunt2Richard JB Dobson3Petroula Proitsi4Ammar Al-Chalabi5Oliver Pain6Alfredo Iacoangeli7https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5280-5017Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom; Department of Biostatistics and Health Informatics, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom; NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London, London, United KingdomDepartment of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom; Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom; Perron Institute for Neurological and Translational Science, Nedlands, AustraliaDepartment of Biostatistics and Health Informatics, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom; Perron Institute for Neurological and Translational Science, Nedlands, Australia; Centre for Molecular Medicine and Innovative Therapeutics, Murdoch University, Murdoch, AustraliaDepartment of Biostatistics and Health Informatics, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom; NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London, London, United Kingdom; Institute of Health Informatics, University College London, London, United Kingdom; NIHR Biomedical Research Centre at University College London Hospitals NHS21 Foundation Trust, London, United KingdomDepartment of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, King’s College London, London, United KingdomDepartment of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom; King’s College Hospital, London, United KingdomDepartment of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, King’s College London, London, United KingdomDepartment of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom; Department of Biostatistics and Health Informatics, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom; NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London, London, United KingdomContinued methodological advances have enabled numerous statistical approaches for the analysis of summary statistics from genome-wide association studies. Genetic correlation analysis within specific regions enables a new strategy for identifying pleiotropy. Genomic regions with significant ‘local’ genetic correlations can be investigated further using state-of-the-art methodologies for statistical fine-mapping and variant colocalisation. We explored the utility of a genome-wide local genetic correlation analysis approach for identifying genetic overlaps between the candidate neuropsychiatric disorders, Alzheimer’s disease (AD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), frontotemporal dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and schizophrenia. The correlation analysis identified several associations between traits, the majority of which were loci in the human leukocyte antigen region. Colocalisation analysis suggested that disease-implicated variants in these loci often differ between traits and, in one locus, indicated a shared causal variant between ALS and AD. Our study identified candidate loci that might play a role in multiple neuropsychiatric diseases and suggested the role of distinct mechanisms across diseases despite shared loci. The fine-mapping and colocalisation analysis protocol designed for this study has been implemented in a flexible analysis pipeline that produces HTML reports and is available at: https://github.com/ThomasPSpargo/COLOC-reporter.https://elifesciences.org/articles/88768fine-mappingneurodegenerative diseasescolocalisationlocal genetic correlation
spellingShingle Thomas P Spargo
Lachlan Gilchrist
Guy P Hunt
Richard JB Dobson
Petroula Proitsi
Ammar Al-Chalabi
Oliver Pain
Alfredo Iacoangeli
Statistical examination of shared loci in neuropsychiatric diseases using genome-wide association study summary statistics
eLife
fine-mapping
neurodegenerative diseases
colocalisation
local genetic correlation
title Statistical examination of shared loci in neuropsychiatric diseases using genome-wide association study summary statistics
title_full Statistical examination of shared loci in neuropsychiatric diseases using genome-wide association study summary statistics
title_fullStr Statistical examination of shared loci in neuropsychiatric diseases using genome-wide association study summary statistics
title_full_unstemmed Statistical examination of shared loci in neuropsychiatric diseases using genome-wide association study summary statistics
title_short Statistical examination of shared loci in neuropsychiatric diseases using genome-wide association study summary statistics
title_sort statistical examination of shared loci in neuropsychiatric diseases using genome wide association study summary statistics
topic fine-mapping
neurodegenerative diseases
colocalisation
local genetic correlation
url https://elifesciences.org/articles/88768
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