title: A genome-wide copy number variant study of suicidal behavior.
abstract: Suicide and suicide attempts are complex behaviors that result from the interaction of different factors, including genetic variants that increase the predisposition to suicidal behaviors. Copy number variations (CNVs) are deletions or duplications of a segment of DNA usually larger than one kilobase. These structural genetic changes, although quite rare, have been associated with genetic liability to mental disorders, such as autism, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. No genome-wide level studies have been published investigating the potential role of CNVs in suicidal behaviors. Based on single-nucleotide polymorphism array data, we followed the Penn-CNV standards to detect CNVs in 1,608 subjects, comprising 475 suicide and suicide attempt cases and 1,133 controls. Although the initial algorithms determined the presence of CNVs on chromosomes 6 and 12 in seven and eight cases, respectively, compared with none of the controls, visual inspection of the raw data did not support this finding. Furthermore we were unable to validate these findings by CNV-specific real-time polymerase chain reaction. Additionally, rare CNV burden analysis did not find an association between the frequency or length of rare CNVs and suicidal behavior in our sample population. Although our findings suggest CNVs do not play an important role in the etiology of suicidal behaviors, they are not inconsistent with the strong evidence from the literature suggesting that other genetic variants account for a portion of the total phenotypic variability in suicidal behavior.
authors.affiliation: McGill Group for Suicide Studies, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Jeffrey A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Gross
authors.affiliation: Centre de recherche de l'Institut Universitaire en Santé Mentale de Québec, Université Laval, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Alexandre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bureau
authors.affiliation: Centre de recherche de l'Institut Universitaire en Santé Mentale de Québec, Université Laval, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Jordie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Croteau
authors.affiliation: Division of Biostatistics, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Hanga
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Galfalvy
authors.affiliation: Molecular Imaging and Neuropathology Division, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Maria A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Oquendo
authors.affiliation: Division of Biostatistics, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Haghighi
authors.affiliation: Centre de recherche de l'Institut Universitaire en Santé Mentale de Québec, Université Laval, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Chantal
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mérette
authors.affiliation: Psychiatric Clinic, Martin-Luther-Universität, Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.
authors.forename: Ina
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Giegling
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neurogenetics, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, Maryland, United States of America.
authors.forename: Colin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hodgkinson
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neurogenetics, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Rockville, Maryland, United States of America.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Goldman
authors.affiliation: Psychiatric Clinic, Martin-Luther-Universität, Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rujescu
authors.affiliation: Molecular Imaging and Neuropathology Division, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: J John
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Mann
authors.affiliation: McGill Group for Suicide Studies, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Gustavo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Turecki
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D056915:DNA Copy Number Variations; D005260:Female; D015894:Genome, Human; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D013405:Suicide