Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41792457›Full record

ArticleMolecular psychiatry2026

Transcriptome-informed brain cartography of polygenic risk and association with brain structure in major psychiatric disorders.

Alessio Giacomel, Timothy R Powell, Rodrigo R R Duarte, Giovanna Nordio, Steve C R Williams, Federico Turkheimer, Mattia Veronese, Daniel Martins, Danai Dima

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Molecular psychiatry, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Alessio GiacomelDepartment of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK. Alessio.giacomel@kcl.ac.uk.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7784-2041
Timothy R PowellSocial, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9891-4895
Rodrigo R R DuarteSocial, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7666-9005
Giovanna NordioDepartment of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
Steve C R WilliamsDepartment of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4299-1941
Federico TurkheimerDepartment of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
Mattia VeroneseDepartment of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3562-0683
Daniel Martins *Department of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0239-8206
Danai Dima *Department of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Psychiatric disorders are complex, polygenic conditions characterized by patterned structural brain alterations. Whether these changes reflect transcriptional dysregulation driven by genetic risk remains unclear. We introduce a novel imaging-transcriptomics framework that integrates transcriptome-wide association studies (TWAS) with brain transcriptomic atlases to predict macroscale structural brain abnormalities across seven disorders: attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), anorexia nervosa (AN), bipolar disorder (BD), major depressive disorder (MDD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and schizophrenia (SCZ). We generated disorder-related Gene Expression-based Disorder Associated Risk (GEDAR) maps and assessed their spatial correlation with observed brain alterations thereby establishing a structured approach to map polygenic transcriptional risk onto macroscale brain phenotypes. We found significant transcriptomic-anatomical correlations in MDD (cortical and subcortical), SCZ (subcortical), and ADHD (subcortical), indicating that regional transcriptional vulnerability might contribute to varying extents to the anatomical expression of genetic risk in these disorders. Pathway enrichment analysis on genetically predicted differentially expressed genes for those disorders where we found spatial correlations between GEDAR maps and observed structural changes revealed immune-related processes as dominant in MDD and SCZ, and neurodevelopmental pathways in ADHD. Importantly, spatial transcriptomic-anatomical alignment did not scale with between-disorder differences in heritability, pointing instead toward additional influences like developmental timing or environmental interactions. These findings underscore the potential and limitations of imaging transcriptomics as a framework for bridging the gap between genetic architecture and systems-level brain changes in psychiatric disorders.

Indexed as

BrainMental DisordersAnorexia NervosaAttention Deficit Disorder with HyperactivityAutism Spectrum DisorderBipolar DisorderBrain MappingGene Expression ProfilingGenetic Risk ScoreGenome-Wide Association StudyHumansMajor Depressive DisorderMultifactorial InheritanceObsessive-Compulsive DisorderSchizophreniaTranscriptome

Identifiers

PMID41792457
PMCPMC13268975

What Socratic holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.