Stress dynamically regulates co-expression networks of glucocorticoid receptor-dependent MDD and SCZ risk genes.

ABSTRACT: Early-life adversity is an important risk factor for major depressive disorder (MDD) and schizophrenia (SCZ) that interacts with genetic factors to confer disease risk through mechanisms that are still insufficiently understood. One downstream effect of early-life adversity is the activation of glucocorticoid receptor (GR)-dependent gene networks that drive acute and long-term adaptive behavioral and cellular responses to stress. We have previously shown that genetic variants that moderate GR-induced gene transcription (GR-response eSNPs) are significantly enriched among risk variants from genome-wide association studies (GWASs) for MDD and SCZ. Here, we show that the 63 transcripts regulated by these disease-associated functional genetic variants form a tight glucocorticoid-responsive co-

SUBMITTER: Zimmermann CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6351530 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature