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Genome-wide analyses of self-reported empathy: correlations with autism, schizophrenia, and anorexia nervosa

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

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Authors

Warrier, V 
Toro, Roberto 
Chakrabarti, Bhismadev 
Autism Group, the iPSYCH Broad 
Borglum, Anders 

Abstract

Empathy is the ability to recognize and respond to the emotional states of other individuals. It is an important psychological process that facilitates navigating social interactions and maintaining relationships, which are important for wellbeing. Several psychological studies have identified difficulties in both self-report and performance-based measures of empathy in a range of psychiatric conditions. To date, no study has systematically investigated the genetic architecture of empathy using genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Here we report the results of the largest GWAS of empathy to date using a well-validated self-report measure of empathy, the Empathy Quotient (EQ), in 46,861 research participants from 23andMe, Inc. We identify 11 suggestive loci (P < 1x10-6), though none were significant at P < 2.5x10-8 after correcting for multiple testing. The most significant SNP was identified in the non-stratified analysis (rs4882760; P = 4.29x10-8), and is an intronic SNP in TMEM132C. The EQ had a modest but significant narrow-sense heritability (0.11±0.014; P = 1.7x10-14). As predicted, based on earlier work, we confirmed a significant female-advantage on the EQ (P < 2x10-16 Cohen’s d = 0.65). We identified similar SNP heritability and high genetic correlation between the sexes. Also, as predicted, we identified a significant negative genetic correlation between autism and the EQ (rg = -0.27±0.07, P = 1.63x10-4). We also identified a significant positive genetic correlation between the EQ and risk for schizophrenia (rg = 0.19±0.04; P= 1.36x10-5), risk for anorexia nervosa (rg = 0.32±0.09; P = 6x10-4), and extraversion (rg = 0.45±0.08; 5.7x10-8). This is the first GWAS of self-reported empathy. The results suggest that the genetic variations associated with empathy also play a role in psychiatric conditions and psychological traits.

Description

Keywords

Adult, Anorexia Nervosa, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Empathy, Extraversion, Psychological, Female, Genome-Wide Association Study, Humans, Male, Personality, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Schizophrenia

Journal Title

Translational Psychiatry

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2158-3188
2158-3188

Volume Title

Publisher

Nature Publishing Group
Sponsorship
Templeton World Charity Foundation (TWCF) (TWCF0138/AB89)
Autism Research Trust (unknown)
We thank Richard Bethlehem, Florina Uzefovsky, and Paula Smith for discussions of the results. We are grateful to Brendan Bulik-Sullivan, Hillary Finucane, and Donna Werling for their help with the analytical methods. This study was funded by grants from the Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust, the Autism Research Trust, the Templeton World Charity Foundation, Inc., the Institut Pasteur, the CNRS, and the University Paris Diderot. VW is funded by St. John’s College, Cambridge, and Cambridge Commonwealth Trust. The research was funded and supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care East of England at Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR, or the Department of Health. We acknowledge with gratitude the generous support of Drs Dennis and Mireille Gillings in strengthening the collaboration between SBC and TB, and between Cambridge University and the Institut Pasteur. We thank the research participants and employees of 23andMe for making this work possible. We specifically thank the following members of the 23andMe Research Team: Michelle Agee, Babak Alipanahi, Adam Auton, Robert K. Bell, Katarzyna Bryc, Sarah L. Elson, Pierre Fontanillas, Nicholas A. Furlotte, Bethann S. Hromatka, Karen E. Huber, Aaron Kleinman, Nadia K. Litterman, Matthew H. McIntyre, Joanna L. Mountain, Carrie A.M. Northover, Steven J. Pitts, J. Fah Sathirapongsasuti, Olga V. Sazonova, Janie F. Shelton, Suyash Shringarpure, Chao Tian, Joyce Y. Tung, Vladimir Vacic, and Catherine H. Wilson. This work was supported by the National Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institutes of Health (grant number R44HG006981). The iPSYCH (The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research) team acknowledges funding from The Lundbeck Foundation (grant no. R102-A9118 and R155-2014-1724), the Stanley Medical Research Institute, the European Research Council (project no: 294838), the Novo Nordisk Foundation for supporting the Danish National Biobank resource, and grants from Aarhus and Copenhagen Universities and University Hospitals, including support to the iSEQ Center, the GenomeDK HPC facility, and the CIRRAU Center. A full list of the authors and affiliations in the iPSYCH-Broad autism group is provided in the Supplementary Information.