A shared genetic contribution to breast cancer and schizophrenia

Donghao Lu; Jie Song; Yi Lu; Katja Fall; Xu Chen; Fang Fang; Mikael Landén; Christina M Hultman; Kamila Czene; Patrick Sullivan; Rulla M Tamimi; Unnur A Valdimarsdóttir

doi:10.1038/s41467-020-18492-8

A shared genetic contribution to breast cancer and schizophrenia

Nat Commun. 2020 Sep 15;11(1):4637. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-18492-8.

Authors

Donghao Lu^#^{1

2

3}, Jie Song^#⁴, Yi Lu⁵, Katja Fall⁶, Xu Chen⁵, Fang Fang⁷, Mikael Landén^{5

8}, Christina M Hultman^{5

9}, Kamila Czene⁵, Patrick Sullivan^{5

10}, Rulla M Tamimi^{11

12

13}, Unnur A Valdimarsdóttir^{5

12

14}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Nobels väg 12A, 17177, Stockholm, Sweden. [email protected].
² Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 181 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. [email protected].
³ Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, 02115, MA, USA. [email protected].
⁴ Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Nobels väg 12A, 17177, Stockholm, Sweden. [email protected].
⁵ Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Nobels väg 12A, 17177, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁶ Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Medical Sciences, Örebro University, Campus USÖ, 70182, Örebro, Sweden.
⁷ Unit of Integrative Epidemiology, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Nobels väg 13, 17177, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁸ Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, The Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Blå stråket 15, 41345, Gothenburg, Sweden.
⁹ Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine, Mt. Sinai Hospital, 1 Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, NY, 10029, USA.
¹⁰ Departments of Genetics and Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, 120 Mason Farm Road, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA.
¹¹ Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 181 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
¹² Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, 02115, MA, USA.
¹³ Department of Healthcare Research and Policy, Weill Cornell Medicine, 402 East 67th Street, New York, NY, 10065, USA.
¹⁴ Center of Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Sturlugata 8, 101, Reykjavik, Iceland.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

An association between schizophrenia and subsequent breast cancer has been suggested; however the risk of schizophrenia following a breast cancer is unknown. Moreover, the driving forces of the link are largely unclear. Here, we report the phenotypic and genetic positive associations of schizophrenia with breast cancer and vice versa, based on a Swedish population-based cohort and GWAS data from international consortia. We observe a genetic correlation of 0.14 (95% CI 0.09-0.19) and identify a shared locus at 19p13 (GATAD2A) associated with risks of breast cancer and schizophrenia. The epidemiological bidirectional association between breast cancer and schizophrenia may partly be explained by the genetic overlap between the two phenotypes and, hence, shared biological mechanisms.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aged
Breast Neoplasms / genetics*
Chromosomes, Human, Pair 19 / genetics
Cohort Studies
Female
GATA Transcription Factors / genetics*
Genome-Wide Association Study
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Middle Aged
Phenotype
Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
Repressor Proteins
Schizophrenia / genetics*
Sweden

Substances

GATA Transcription Factors
GATAD2A protein, human
Repressor Proteins