October 10, 2023
Emma Johnson, PhD, assistant professor of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, was thrilled to win VR真人彩票鈥檚 Polygenic Risk Scores Research Grant Contest. The grant will provide 1008 samples of the Infinium鈩� Global Diversity Array with Polygenic Risk Score Content plus VR真人彩票 Polygenic Risk Score software鈥揚redict module to generate polygenic risk scores (PRS) for pain and opioid use disorder.
鈥淧olygenic risk scores represent a person鈥檚 relative genetic liability for a behavior, disease, or psychiatric disorder, and are created using summary results from genome-wide association studies (GWAS),鈥� says Johnson. 鈥淚n this case, we鈥檙e interested in using the results from GWAS for chronic pain and opioid use disorder鈥攚hich have identified genetic variations between people who experience either chronic pain or opioid use disorder and those who don鈥檛鈥攁nd using that data to create polygenic risk scores in a unique and diverse cohort.鈥�
The contest received submissions from noteworthy research groups in nine different countries spanning North and South America, Europe, and Asia. Each entry was judged on novelty, feasibility, scientific merit, potential impact on human health, and the authors鈥� previous accomplishments.
While , previous GWAS never investigated these disorders simultaneously in carefully characterized groups. Instead, the studies focused on the causal relationship between them.
Johnson and collaborator Simon Haroutounian, PhD, chief of the Division of Clinical and Translational Research and chief of Clinical Pain Research at Washington University Pain Center, wondered if genetic factors might influence that relationship. For example, different genetics might affect the reward processes that govern how people perceive pain or respond to opioids.
鈥淒r. Haroutounian has been studying a unique cohort with deep clinical phenotyping for chronic pain, opioid use, and opioid craving, as well as symptoms of depression and anxiety,鈥� says Johnson. 鈥淎lso, the DNA has already been extracted from this diverse group of 1500 samples. Winning this contest will allow us to genotype just over a thousand of those samples. Then we鈥檒l use VR真人彩票鈥檚 PRS software with the Predict module to create scores for chronic pain and opioid use disorder.鈥�
In addition, the team, which also includes collaborator Arpana Agrawal, PhD, will perform a cross-trait multivariate genome-wide study to look at potential genetic factors that are shared across chronic pain and opioid use disorder. From there, they can link these PRS to baseline preoperative pain and acute and chronic postoperative pain, as well as anxiety, depression, pain ratings, and analgesic craving.
鈥淭his was the perfect opportunity to genotype this unique cohort to better understand the relationship between chronic pain, substance use, and other psychosocial factors,鈥� says Johnson. 鈥淲e hope this work will improve the management and treatment of chronic postsurgical pain, eventually giving clinicians a better tool to identify patients who might be at greater risk of developing an opioid use disorder alongside their chronic pain.鈥�
The VR真人彩票 Polygenic Risk Scores Research Grant was launched to recognize researchers who can drive advances in genetic risk prediction. Although PRS can impact complex disease research and healthcare in various ways, unraveling the complexities of the genome using the full potential of PRS-based research remains a developing field that is rich with opportunities for scientific advancements. To learn more about the contest, click here.
To learn more about the first genotyping-to-analysis solution from VR真人彩票, click here.
To dive deeper into Emma Johnson's research with the Inside Precision Medicine Podcast, click .
