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Susan L. Santangelo

Bio: Susan L. Santangelo is an academic researcher from Maine Medical Center. The author has contributed to research in topics: Autism & Genome-wide association study. The author has an hindex of 43, co-authored 89 publications receiving 15274 citations. Previous affiliations of Susan L. Santangelo include Tufts Medical Center & Massachusetts Mental Health Center.


Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
S. Hong Lee1, Stephan Ripke2, Stephan Ripke3, Benjamin M. Neale3  +402 moreInstitutions (124)
TL;DR: Empirical evidence of shared genetic etiology for psychiatric disorders can inform nosology and encourages the investigation of common pathophysiologies for related disorders.
Abstract: Most psychiatric disorders are moderately to highly heritable. The degree to which genetic variation is unique to individual disorders or shared across disorders is unclear. To examine shared genetic etiology, we use genome-wide genotype data from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC) for cases and controls in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We apply univariate and bivariate methods for the estimation of genetic variation within and covariation between disorders. SNPs explained 17-29% of the variance in liability. The genetic correlation calculated using common SNPs was high between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (0.68 ± 0.04 s.e.), moderate between schizophrenia and major depressive disorder (0.43 ± 0.06 s.e.), bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder (0.47 ± 0.06 s.e.), and ADHD and major depressive disorder (0.32 ± 0.07 s.e.), low between schizophrenia and ASD (0.16 ± 0.06 s.e.) and non-significant for other pairs of disorders as well as between psychiatric disorders and the negative control of Crohn's disease. This empirical evidence of shared genetic etiology for psychiatric disorders can inform nosology and encourages the investigation of common pathophysiologies for related disorders.

2,058 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A novel, recurrent microdeletion and a reciprocal microduplication that carry substantial susceptibility to autism and appear to account for approximately 1% of cases are identified.
Abstract: BACKGROUND Autism spectrum disorder is a heritable developmental disorder in which chromosomal abnormalities are thought to play a role. METHODS As a first component of a genomewide association study of families from the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE), we used two novel algorithms to search for recurrent copy-number variations in genotype data from 751 multiplex families with autism. Specific recurrent de novo events were further evaluated in clinical-testing data from Children's Hospital Boston and in a large population study in Iceland. RESULTS Among the AGRE families, we observed five instances of a de novo deletion of 593 kb on chromosome 16p11.2. Using comparative genomic hybridization, we observed the identical deletion in 5 of 512 children referred to Children's Hospital Boston for developmental delay, mental retardation, or suspected autism spectrum disorder, as well as in 3 of 299 persons with autism in an Icelandic population; the deletion was also carried by 2 of 18,834 unscreened Icelandic control subjects. The reciprocal duplication of this region occurred in 7 affected persons in AGRE families and 4 of the 512 children from Children's Hospital Boston. The duplication also appeared to be a high-penetrance risk factor. CONCLUSIONS We have identified a novel, recurrent microdeletion and a reciprocal microduplication that carry substantial susceptibility to autism and appear to account for approximately 1% of cases. We did not identify other regions with similar aggregations of large de novo mutations.

1,480 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
22 Jun 2018-Science
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that, in the general population, the personality trait neuroticism is significantly correlated with almost every psychiatric disorder and migraine, and it is shown that both psychiatric and neurological disorders have robust correlations with cognitive and personality measures.
Abstract: Disorders of the brain can exhibit considerable epidemiological comorbidity and often share symptoms, provoking debate about their etiologic overlap. We quantified the genetic sharing of 25 brain disorders from genome-wide association studies of 265,218 patients and 784,643 control participants and assessed their relationship to 17 phenotypes from 1,191,588 individuals. Psychiatric disorders share common variant risk, whereas neurological disorders appear more distinct from one another and from the psychiatric disorders. We also identified significant sharing between disorders and a number of brain phenotypes, including cognitive measures. Further, we conducted simulations to explore how statistical power, diagnostic misclassification, and phenotypic heterogeneity affect genetic correlations. These results highlight the importance of common genetic variation as a risk factor for brain disorders and the value of heritability-based methods in understanding their etiology.

1,357 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
06 Feb 2020-Cell
TL;DR: The largest exome sequencing study of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to date, using an enhanced analytical framework to integrate de novo and case-control rare variation, identifies 102 risk genes at a false discovery rate of 0.1 or less, consistent with multiple paths to an excitatory-inhibitory imbalance underlying ASD.

1,169 citations


Cited by
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Journal ArticleDOI
08 Oct 2009-Nature
TL;DR: This paper examined potential sources of missing heritability and proposed research strategies, including and extending beyond current genome-wide association approaches, to illuminate the genetics of complex diseases and enhance its potential to enable effective disease prevention or treatment.
Abstract: Genome-wide association studies have identified hundreds of genetic variants associated with complex human diseases and traits, and have provided valuable insights into their genetic architecture. Most variants identified so far confer relatively small increments in risk, and explain only a small proportion of familial clustering, leading many to question how the remaining, 'missing' heritability can be explained. Here we examine potential sources of missing heritability and propose research strategies, including and extending beyond current genome-wide association approaches, to illuminate the genetics of complex diseases and enhance its potential to enable effective disease prevention or treatment.

7,797 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Stephan Ripke1, Stephan Ripke2, Benjamin M. Neale2, Benjamin M. Neale1  +351 moreInstitutions (102)
24 Jul 2014-Nature
TL;DR: Associations at DRD2 and several genes involved in glutamatergic neurotransmission highlight molecules of known and potential therapeutic relevance to schizophrenia, and are consistent with leading pathophysiological hypotheses.
Abstract: Schizophrenia is a highly heritable disorder. Genetic risk is conferred by a large number of alleles, including common alleles of small effect that might be detected by genome-wide association studies. Here we report a multi-stage schizophrenia genome-wide association study of up to 36,989 cases and 113,075 controls. We identify 128 independent associations spanning 108 conservatively defined loci that meet genome-wide significance, 83 of which have not been previously reported. Associations were enriched among genes expressed in brain, providing biological plausibility for the findings. Many findings have the potential to provide entirely new insights into aetiology, but associations at DRD2 and several genes involved in glutamatergic neurotransmission highlight molecules of known and potential therapeutic relevance to schizophrenia, and are consistent with leading pathophysiological hypotheses. Independent of genes expressed in brain, associations were enriched among genes expressed in tissues that have important roles in immunity, providing support for the speculated link between the immune system and schizophrenia.

6,809 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Shaun Purcell1, Shaun Purcell2, Naomi R. Wray3, Jennifer Stone2, Jennifer Stone1, Peter M. Visscher, Michael Conlon O'Donovan4, Patrick F. Sullivan5, Pamela Sklar2, Pamela Sklar1, Douglas M. Ruderfer, Andrew McQuillin, Derek W. Morris6, Colm O'Dushlaine6, Aiden Corvin6, Peter Holmans4, Stuart MacGregor3, Hugh Gurling, Douglas Blackwood7, Nicholas John Craddock5, Michael Gill6, Christina M. Hultman8, Christina M. Hultman9, George Kirov4, Paul Lichtenstein8, Walter J. Muir7, Michael John Owen4, Carlos N. Pato10, Edward M. Scolnick1, Edward M. Scolnick2, David St Clair, Nigel Williams4, Lyudmila Georgieva4, Ivan Nikolov4, Nadine Norton4, Hywel Williams4, Draga Toncheva, Vihra Milanova, Emma Flordal Thelander8, Patrick Sullivan11, Elaine Kenny6, Emma M. Quinn6, Khalid Choudhury12, Susmita Datta12, Jonathan Pimm12, Srinivasa Thirumalai13, Vinay Puri12, Robert Krasucki12, Jacob Lawrence12, Digby Quested14, Nicholas Bass12, Caroline Crombie15, Gillian Fraser15, Soh Leh Kuan, Nicholas Walker, Kevin A. McGhee7, Ben S. Pickard16, P. Malloy7, Alan W Maclean7, Margaret Van Beck7, Michele T. Pato10, Helena Medeiros10, Frank A. Middleton17, Célia Barreto Carvalho10, Christopher P. Morley17, Ayman H. Fanous, David V. Conti10, James A. Knowles10, Carlos Ferreira, António Macedo18, M. Helena Azevedo18, Andrew Kirby2, Andrew Kirby1, Manuel A. R. Ferreira1, Manuel A. R. Ferreira2, Mark J. Daly2, Mark J. Daly1, Kimberly Chambert1, Finny G Kuruvilla1, Stacey Gabriel1, Kristin G. Ardlie1, Jennifer L. Moran1 
06 Aug 2009-Nature
TL;DR: The extent to which common genetic variation underlies the risk of schizophrenia is shown, using two analytic approaches, and the major histocompatibility complex is implicate, which is shown to involve thousands of common alleles of very small effect.
Abstract: Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder with a lifetime risk of about 1%, characterized by hallucinations, delusions and cognitive deficits, with heritability estimated at up to 80%(1,2). We performed a genome-wide association study of 3,322 European individuals with schizophrenia and 3,587 controls. Here we show, using two analytic approaches, the extent to which common genetic variation underlies the risk of schizophrenia. First, we implicate the major histocompatibility complex. Second, we provide molecular genetic evidence for a substantial polygenic component to the risk of schizophrenia involving thousands of common alleles of very small effect. We show that this component also contributes to the risk of bipolar disorder, but not to several non-psychiatric diseases.

4,573 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
15 Apr 2005-Science
TL;DR: A genome-wide screen for polymorphisms associated with age-related macular degeneration revealed a polymorphism in linkage disequilibrium with the risk allele representing a tyrosine-histidine change at amino acid 402 in the complement factor H gene.
Abstract: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a major cause of blindness in the elderly. We report a genome-wide screen of 96 cases and 50 controls for polymorphisms associated with AMD. Among 116,204 single-nucleotide polymorphisms genotyped, an intronic and common variant in the complement factor H gene ( CFH ) is strongly associated with AMD (nominal P value -7 ). In individuals homozygous for the risk allele, the likelihood of AMD is increased by a factor of 7.4 (95% confidence interval 2.9 to 19). Resequencing revealed a polymorphism in linkage disequilibrium with the risk allele representing a tyrosine-histidine change at amino acid 402. This polymorphism is in a region of CFH that binds heparin and C-reactive protein. The CFH gene is located on chromosome 1 in a region repeatedly linked to AMD in family-based studies.

4,459 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is found that polygenicity accounts for the majority of the inflation in test statistics in many GWAS of large sample size, and the LD Score regression intercept can be used to estimate a more powerful and accurate correction factor than genomic control.
Abstract: Both polygenicity (many small genetic effects) and confounding biases, such as cryptic relatedness and population stratification, can yield an inflated distribution of test statistics in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). However, current methods cannot distinguish between inflation from a true polygenic signal and bias. We have developed an approach, LD Score regression, that quantifies the contribution of each by examining the relationship between test statistics and linkage disequilibrium (LD). The LD Score regression intercept can be used to estimate a more powerful and accurate correction factor than genomic control. We find strong evidence that polygenicity accounts for the majority of the inflation in test statistics in many GWAS of large sample size.

3,708 citations