Gene discovery and pleiotropic architecture of Chronic Pain in a Genome-wide Association Study of >1.2 million Individuals
Year: 2025
Type: preprint
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Chronic pain is highly prevalent worldwide, and genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified a growing number of chronic pain loci. To further elucidate its genetic architecture, we leveraged data from 1,235,695 European ancestry individuals across three biobanks. In a meta-analytic GWAS, we identified 343 independent loci for chronic pain, 92 of which were new. Sex-specific meta-analyses revealed 115 independent loci (12 of which were new) for males (N = 583,066) and 12 loci (two of which were new) for females (N = 241,266). Multi-omics gene prioritization analyses highlighted 490 genes associated with chronic pain through their effects on brain- and blood-specific regulation. Loci associated with increased risk for chronic pain were also associated with increased risk for multiple other traits, with Mendelian randomization analyses showing that chronic pain was causally associated with psychiatric disorders, substance use disorders, and C-reactive protein levels. Chronic pain variants also exhibited pleiotropic associations with cortical area brain structures. This study expands our knowledge of the genetics of chronic pain and its pathogenesis, highlighting the importance of its pleiotropy with multiple disorders and elucidating its multi-omic pathophysiology.
Source: medRxiv
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Eli Lilly and Company, Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program, University of Pennsylvania, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Indivior, American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology, Georgia Clinical and Translational Science Alliance, University of Pennsylvania Health System, National Institutes of Health, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Clinical Science Research and Development, VISN 4 Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH Clinical Center, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
Awards: G122833759, G1853051483, Characterizing the phenotypic spectrum associated with genetic liability for alcohol use disorder, G3263141909, G6104092673, PsycheMERGE: Leveraging electronic health records and genomics for mental health research, Discovering Biology for Neuropsychiatric Diseases Through Omics Studies on Comorbidities, Penn PET Addiction Center of Excellence (Penn PACE), G853874183, G8554488624, G9000096480, 2/7 PsycheMERGE: Advancing Precision Psychiatry, Institutional Clinical and Translational Science Award, 1/7-PsycheMERGE: Advancing Precision Psychiatry
OpenAlex ID: W4408216736