Genome-wide association study biomarkers in bipolar disorder

Genetic biomarkers have the potential to improve prevention and diagnosis of psychiatric disorders, particularly, for more highly heritable conditions such as bipolar disorder (BD). The emergence of large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have allowed for a broad evaluation of genetic variation, which has been necessary to address the complex etiology of psychiatric disorders, where a large number of small-effect variables are likely to be involved. GWAS have now identified many common variants associated with BD, including loci associated with calcium-signaling, neuronal functioning, synaptic activity, and neurogenesis. In order to further discover genetic variants associated with BD, it is important to conduct GWAS with larger and more representative samples. For GWAS translation potential to be realized, there is also a pressing need to link novel loci discovery with functional insights and clinically relevant phenotypes, paving the way to facilitate novel drug discovery and potentially lead to improved clinical outcomes.