Association of congenital cardiovascular malformation and neuropsychiatric phenotypes with 15q11.2 (BP1-BP2) deletion in the UK Biobank

Eur J Hum Genet. 2020 Sep;28(9):1265-1273. doi: 10.1038/s41431-020-0626-8. Epub 2020 Apr 23.

Abstract

Deletion of a non-imprinted 500kb genomic region at chromosome 15q11.2, between breakpoints 1 and 2 of the Prader-Willi/Angelman locus (BP1-BP2 deletion), has been associated in previous studies with phenotypes including congenital cardiovascular malformations (CVM). Previous studies investigating association between BP1-BP2 deletion and CVM have tended to recruit cases with rarer and more severe CVM phenotypes; the impact of CVM on relatively unselected population cohorts, anticipated to contain chiefly less severe but commoner CHD phenotypes, is relatively unexplored. More precisely defining the impact of BP1-BP2 deletion on CVM risk could be useful to guide genetic counselling, since the deletion is frequently identified in the neurodevelopmental clinic. Using the UK Biobank (UKB) cohort of ~500,000 individuals, we identified individuals with CVM and investigated the association with deletions at the BP1-BP2 locus. In addition, we assessed the association of BP1-BP2 deletions with neuropsychiatric diagnoses, cognitive function and academic achievement. Cases of CVM had an increased prevalence of the deletion compared with controls (0.64%; OR = 1.73 [95% CI 1.08-2.75]; p = 0.03), as did those with neuropsychiatric diagnoses (0.68%; OR = 1.84 [95% CI 1.23-2.75]; p = 0.004). We conclude that BP1-BP2 deletion moderately increases the risk of the generally milder, but commoner, CVM phenotypes seen in this unselected population, in addition to its previously demonstrated association in case/control studies ascertained for CVM.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Academic Success
  • Aged
  • Chromosome Aberrations
  • Chromosomes, Human, Pair 15 / genetics
  • Cognition*
  • Female
  • Fertility
  • Heart Defects, Congenital / genetics*
  • Heart Defects, Congenital / pathology
  • Humans
  • Intellectual Disability / genetics*
  • Intellectual Disability / pathology
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Phenotype*
  • Vascular Malformations / genetics*
  • Vascular Malformations / pathology

Supplementary concepts

  • Duplication 15q11-q13 Syndrome