Polygenic Risk, Psychopathology, and Personalized Functional Brain Network Topography in Adolescence

Functional brain networks are associated with both behavior and genetic factors. To uncover biological mechanisms of psychopathology, it is critical to define how the spatial organization of these networks relates to genetic risk during development.

To determine the relationships among transdiagnostic polygenic risk scores (PRSs), personalized functional brain networks (PFNs), and overall psychopathology (p-factor) during early adolescence.

The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study is an ongoing longitudinal cohort study of 21 collection sites across the United States. Here, we conduct a cross-sectional analysis of ABCD baseline data, collected 2017-2018.

The ABCD Study^® is a multi-site community-based study.

The sample is largely recruited through school systems. Exclusion criteria included severe sensory, intellectual, medical, or neurological issues that interfere with protocol and scanner contraindications. Split-half subsets were used for cross-validation, matched on age, ethnicity, family structure, handedness, parental education, site, sex, and anesthesia exposure.

Polygenic risk scores of transdiagnostic genetic factors F1 (PRS-F1) and F2 (PRS-F2) derived from adults in Psychiatric Genomic Consortium and UK Biobanks datasets. PRS-F1 indexes liability for common psychiatric symptoms and disorders related to mood disturbance; PRS-F2 indexes liability for rarer forms of mental illness characterized by mania and psychosis.

(1) P-factor derived from bifactor models of youth- and parent-reported mental health assessments. (2) Person-specific functional brain network topography derived from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans.

Total participants included 11,873 youths ages 9-10 years old; 5,678 (47.8%) were female, and the mean (SD) age was 9.92 (0.62) years. PFN topography was found to be heritable (N=7,459, 57.1% of vertices h ² p _FDR <0.05, mean h ² =0.35). PRS-F1 was associated with p-factor (N=5,815, r=0.12, 95% CI [0.09-0.15], p<0.001). Interindividual differences in functional network topography were associated with p-factor (N=7,459, mean r=0.12), PRS-F1 (N=3,982, mean r=0.05), and PRS-F2 (N=3,982, mean r=0.08). Cortical maps of p-factor and PRS-F1 regression coefficients were highly correlated (r=0.7, p=0.003).

Polygenic risk for transdiagnostic adulthood psychopathology is associated with both p-factor and heritable PFN topography during early adolescence. These results advance our understanding of the developmental drivers of psychopathology.