The CADM2 Gene and Behavior: A Phenome-Wide Scan in UK-Biobank

• Published in: Behavior genetics Vol. 52; no. 4-5; pp. 306 - 314
• Main Authors: Pasman, Joëlle A., Chen, Zeli, Smit, Dirk J. A., Vink, Jacqueline M., Van Den Oever, Michel C., Pattij, Tommy, De Vries, Taco J., Abdellaoui, Abdel, Verweij, Karin J. H.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-09-2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adipose tissue; Behavior; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Biobanks; Biological Specimen Banks; Brief Communication; Cell adhesion molecules; Clinical Psychology; Cognitive ability; Genes; Genome-wide association studies; Genome-Wide Association Study; Genomes; Genomics; Health Psychology; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Phenotype; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide - genetics; Psychology; Public Health; Risk taking; Single-nucleotide polymorphism; Stratification; United Kingdom; United Kingdom; United Kingdom > UK; Candidate gene; Risk behavior; Phenome-wide association study; Gene-expression; CADM2
• ISSN: 0001-8244; 1573-3297; 1573-3297
• DOI: 10.1007/s10519-022-10109-8

The cell adhesion molecule 2 (
CADM2
) gene has appeared among the top associations in a wide range of genome-wide association studies (GWASs). This study aims to: (1) examine how widespread the role of
CADM2
is in behavioural traits, and (2) investigate trait-specific effects on
CADM2
expression levels across tissues. We conducted a phenome-wide association study in UK Biobank (N = 12,211–453,349) on 242 psycho-behavioral traits, both at the SNP and the gene-level. For comparison, we repeated the analyses for other large (and high LD) genes. We found significant associations between
CADM2
and 50 traits (including cognitive, risk taking, and dietary traits), many more than for the comparison genes. We show that many trait associations are reduced when taking geographical stratification into account. S-Predixcan revealed that
CADM2
expression in brain tissues was significantly associated with many traits; highly significant effects were also observed for lung, mammary, and adipose tissues. In conclusion, this study shows that the role of
CADM2
extends to a wide range of psycho-behavioral traits, suggesting these traits may share a common biological denominator.