| Literature DB >> 25656077 |
Jack Euesden1, Gerome Breen, Anne Farmer, Peter McGuffin, Cathryn M Lewis.
Abstract
Epidemiological studies are inconsistent on the relationship between schizophrenia (SCZ) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Several studies have shown that SCZ has a protective effect on RA, with RA occurring less frequently in SCZ cases than would be expected by chance, whilst other studies have failed to replicate this. We sought to test the hypothesis that this effect is due to a protective effect of SCZ risk alleles on RA onset. We first reviewed the literature on the comorbidity of RA and SCZ and performed a meta-analysis. We then used polygenic risk scoring in an RA case control study in order to investigate the contribution of SCZ risk alleles to RA risk. Meta-analysis across studies over the past half-century showed that prevalence of RA in SCZ cases was significantly reduced (OR=0.48, 95% CI: 0.34-0.67, p<0.0001). The relationship between SCZ genetic risk and RA status was weak. Polygenic risk of SCZ explained a small (0.1%) and non-significant (p=0.085) proportion of variance in RA case control status. This relationship was nominally positive, with RA cases carrying more SCZ risk alleles than controls. The current findings do not support the assertion that the relationship between RA and SCZ is explained by genetic factors, which appear to have little or no effect. The protective effect of SCZ on RA may be due to environmental factors, such as an anti-inflammatory effect of anti-psychotic medication or merely due to confounding limitations in study designs.Entities:
Mesh:
Year: 2015 PMID: 25656077 PMCID: PMC4833173 DOI: 10.1002/ajmg.b.32282
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet ISSN: 1552-4841 Impact factor: 3.568
Figure 1Meta‐analysis results. We identified 10 studies reported in 9 papers. Oken & Schultzer (a) compares schizophrenia vs other psychiatric patients in Canada meanwhile Oken & Schultzer (b) compares a similar sample in New York State. We present the RA prevalence (events) in SCZ cases vs controls across studies. W: weight for each study under random and fixed effects analysis.
Polygenic risk Scores for SCZ across thresholds and variance in RA status explained
| Threshold, pT | Number of SNPs | Variance in RA status Explained, Pseudo R2 | P‐Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.0001 | 82 | 0.0001 | 0.563 |
| 0.001 | 299 | 0.0004 | 0.276 |
| 0.01 | 1,393 | 0.0010 | 0.085 |
| 0.05 | 4,451 | 0.0007 | 0.154 |
| 0.1 | 7,396 | 0.0000 | 0.799 |
| 0.2 | 12,431 | 0.0000 | 0.816 |
| 0.3 | 16,708 | 0.0000 | 0.863 |
| 0.4 | 20,634 | 0.0000 | 0.770 |
| 0.5 | 24,122 | 0.0000 | 0.751 |
Figure 2(a) Variance in RA status explained by SCZ polygenic risk scores in an independent test cohort. Scores are calculated across cutoff thresholds, pT. (b) Standardised polygenic risk score distribution at pT < 0.01 in RA cases (striped) and RA controls (grey). Dotted line ‐ top quantile (highest 5%) for SCZ risk amongst controls (standardised score > 1.57). 5.1% cases and 5.0% controls above this value. (c) SCZ risk in highest quantile (top 5%) and lowest quantile (bottom 5%) for SCZ risk between RA cases and controls.
Direction of effect sharing for SNPs in approximate linkage equilibrium, between SCZ and RA GWAS's
| Clumped By | Threshold, p < | N SNPs | P, Pearson's χ2 | Proportion SNPs in same direction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RA | 0.01 | 5,063 | 0.670 | 0.492 |
| 0.1 | 35,795 | 0.569 | 0.503 | |
| 0.2 | 61,785 | 0.238 | 0.502 | |
| 0.3 | 83,174 | 0.241 | 0.502 | |
| 0.4 | 101,328 | 0.199 | 0.503 | |
| 0.5 | 117,664 | 0.152 | 0.503 | |
| SCZ | 0.01 | 1,784 | 0.845 | 0.484 |
| 0.1 | 16,503 | 0.966 | 0.496 | |
| 0.2 | 33,388 | 0.200 | 0.499 | |
| 0.3 | 50,159 | 0.217 | 0.498 | |
| 0.4 | 67,313 | 0.285 | 0.498 | |
| 0.5 | 84,613 | 0.179 | 0.498 |