Cardiff University | Prifysgol Caerdydd ORCA
Online Research @ Cardiff 
WelshClear Cookie - decide language by browser settings

Genetically predicted complement component 4A expression: effects on memory function and middle temporal lobe activation

Donohoe, G., Holland, J., Mothersill, D., McCarthy-Jones, S., Cosgrove, D., Harold, D., Richards, A., Mantripragada, K. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2070-8105, Owen, M. J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4798-0862, O'Donovan, M. C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7073-2379, Gill, M., Corvin, A. and Morris, D. W. 2018. Genetically predicted complement component 4A expression: effects on memory function and middle temporal lobe activation. Psychological Medicine 48 (10) , pp. 1608-1615. 10.1017/S0033291717002987

[thumbnail of Genetically predicted complement component 4A expression.pdf]
Preview
PDF - Accepted Post-Print Version
Download (396kB) | Preview

Abstract

Background The longstanding association between the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) locus and schizophrenia (SZ) risk has recently been accounted for, partially, by structural variation at the complement component 4 (C4) gene. This structural variation generates varying levels of C4 RNA expression, and genetic information from the MHC region can now be used to predict C4 RNA expression in the brain. Increased predicted C4A RNA expression is associated with the risk of SZ, and C4 is reported to influence synaptic pruning in animal models. Methods Based on our previous studies associating MHC SZ risk variants with poorer memory performance, we tested whether increased predicted C4A RNA expression was associated with reduced memory function in a large (n = 1238) dataset of psychosis cases and healthy participants, and with altered task-dependent cortical activation in a subset of these samples. Results We observed that increased predicted C4A RNA expression predicted poorer performance on measures of memory recall (p = 0.016, corrected). Furthermore, in healthy participants, we found that increased predicted C4A RNA expression was associated with a pattern of reduced cortical activity in middle temporal cortex during a measure of visual processing (p < 0.05, corrected). Conclusions These data suggest that the effects of C4 on cognition were observable at both a cortical and behavioural level, and may represent one mechanism by which illness risk is mediated. As such, deficits in learning and memory may represent a therapeutic target for new molecular developments aimed at altering C4’s developmental role.

Item Type: Article
Date Type: Publication
Status: Published
Schools: Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute (NMHRI)
Medicine
MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics (CNGG)
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
ISSN: 0033-2917
Date of First Compliant Deposit: 26 February 2018
Date of Acceptance: 12 September 2017
Last Modified: 06 Nov 2023 18:39
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/109461

Citation Data

Cited 18 times in Scopus. View in Scopus. Powered By Scopus® Data

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item Edit Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics