Interactions between polygenic scores and environmental background in regards to suscpetibility and gravity of mental disorders

• Grant number: 22/04135-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2022
• End date: April 30, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Human and Medical Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Diego Luiz Rovaris
• Grantee: Nicolas Pereira Ciochetti
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas (ICB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 20/05652-0 - The physiological genomics of mental health from the perspective of the Brazilian exposome, AP.JP

Abstract

The good performances of polygenic risk scores (PRS) have been demonstrated for some physiological variables, such as arterial pressure. In regards to mental disorders, several studies have also replicated the effects of PRSs for schizophrenia, major depressive disorder (MJD), and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), among others, in many target samples. However, most discovery samples are essential of European descent, collected in developed nations, resulting in a European and population homogeneity bias in genome-wide studies (GWAS). Therefore, it is of extreme importance to evaluate how the environmental background of heterogeneous populations with high social inequality metrics, such as the Brazilian population, mediate or modulate the polygenic effect in susceptibility and gravity of mental disorders. Thus, the general objective of this project, which is associated with the "Physiological Genomics of Mental Health under the Optics of the Brazilian Exposome" umbrella project, is to assess how environmental variables modulate the effect of the most studied psychiatric PRSs. (AU)