Psychology - Collected Works

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Browsing Psychology - Collected Works by Author "Aitchison, Katherine J"

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    Genomewide Association Scan of Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviour in Major Depression
    (2011-07-05) Schosser, Alexandra; Butler, Amy W; Ising, Marcus; Perroud, Nader; Uher, Rudolf; Ng, Mandy Y; Cohen-Woods, Sarah; Craddock, Nick; Owen, Michael J; Korszun, Ania; Jones, Lisa; Jones, Ian; Gill, Michael; Rice, John P; Maier, Wolfgang; Mors, Ole; Rietschel, Marcella; Lucae, Susanne; Binder, Elisabeth B; Preisig, Martin; Perry, Julia; Tozzi, Federica; Muglia, Pierandrea; Aitchison, Katherine J; Breen, Gerome; Craig, Ian W; Farmer, Anne E; Müller-Myhsok, Bertram; McGuffin, Peter W; Lewis, Cathryn M
    Background: Suicidal behaviour can be conceptualised as a continuum from suicidal ideation, to suicidal attempts to completed suicide. In this study we identify genes contributing to suicidal behaviour in the depression study RADIANT. Methodology/Principal Findings: A quantitative suicidality score was composed of two items from the SCAN interview. In addition, the 251 depression cases with a history of serious suicide attempts were classified to form a discrete trait. The quantitative trait was correlated with younger onset of depression and number of episodes of depression, but not with gender. A genome-wide association study of 2,023 depression cases was performed to identify genes that may contribute to suicidal behaviour. Two Munich depression studies were used as replication cohorts to test the most strongly associated SNPs. No SNP was associated at genome-wide significance level. For the quantitative trait, evidence of association was detected at GFRA1, a receptor for the neurotrophin GDRA (p = 2e-06). For the discrete trait of suicide attempt, SNPs in KIAA1244 and RGS18 attained p-values of ,5e-6. None of these SNPs showed evidence for replication in the additional cohorts tested. Candidate gene analysis provided some support for a polymorphism in NTRK2, which was previously associated with suicidality. Conclusions/Significance: This study provides a genome-wide assessment of possible genetic contribution to suicidal behaviour in depression but indicates a genetic architecture of multiple genes with small effects. Large cohorts will be required to dissect this further.
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    Modulatory effects of brain-derived neurotrophic factor Val66Met polymorphism on prefrontal regions in major depressive disorder
    (Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2015-05) Legge, Rebecca MacGregor; Sendi, Shahbaz; Cole, James H; Cohen-Woods, Sarah; Costafreda, Sergi G; Simmons, Andrew; Farmer, Anne E; Aitchison, Katherine J; McGuffin, Peter W; Fu, Cynthia H Y
    Background Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) Val66Met polymorphism contributes to the development of depression (major depressive disorder, MDD), but it is unclear whether neural effects observed in healthy individuals are sustained in MDD. Aims To investigate BDNF Val66Met effects on key regions in MDD neurocircuitry: amygdala, anterior cingulate, middle frontal and orbitofrontal regions. Method Magnetic resonance imaging scans were acquired in 79 persons with MDD (mean age 49 years) and 74 healthy volunteers (mean age 50 years). Effects on surface area and cortical thickness were examined with multiple comparison correction. Results People who were Met allele carriers showed reduced caudal middle frontal thickness in both study groups. Significant interaction effects were found in the anterior cingulate and rostral middle frontal regions, in which participants in the MDD group who were Met carriers showed the greatest reduction in surface area. Conclusions Modulatory effects of the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism on distinct subregions in the prefrontal cortex in MDD support the neurotrophin model of depression.
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    Phenotypic Association Analyses With Copy Number Variation in Recurrent Depressive Disorder
    (Elsevier, 15-02-20) Rucker, James J H; Tansey, Katherine E; Rivera, Margarita; Pinto, Dalila; Cohen-Woods, Sarah; Uher, Rudolf; Aitchison, Katherine J; Craddock, Nick; Owen, Michael J; Jones, Lisa; Jones, Ian; Korszun, Ania; Barnes, Michael R; Preisig, Martin; Mors, Ole; Maier, Wolfgang; Rice, John P; Rietschel, Marcella; Holsboer, Florian; Farmer, Anne E; Craig, Ian W; Scherer, Stephen W; Scherer, Peter; Breen, Gerome
    Background Defining the molecular genomic basis of the likelihood of developing depressive disorder is a considerable challenge. We previously associated rare, exonic deletion copy number variants (CNV) with recurrent depressive disorder (RDD). Sex chromosome abnormalities also have been observed to co-occur with RDD. Methods In this reanalysis of our RDD dataset (N = 3106 cases; 459 screened control samples and 2699 population control samples), we further investigated the role of larger CNVs and chromosomal abnormalities in RDD and performed association analyses with clinical data derived from this dataset. Results We found an enrichment of Turner’s syndrome among cases of depression compared with the frequency observed in a large population sample (N = 34,910) of live-born infants collected in Denmark (two-sided p = .023, odds ratio = 7.76 [95% confidence interval = 1.79–33.6]), a case of diploid/triploid mosaicism, and several cases of uniparental isodisomy. In contrast to our previous analysis, large deletion CNVs were no more frequent in cases than control samples, although deletion CNVs in cases contained more genes than control samples (two-sided p = .0002). Conclusions After statistical correction for multiple comparisons, our data do not support a substantial role for CNVs in RDD, although (as has been observed in similar samples) occasional cases may harbor large variants with etiological significance. Genetic pleiotropy and sample heterogeneity suggest that very large sample sizes are required to study conclusively the role of genetic variation in mood disorders.