# Psychiatric Genomics Consortium for PTSD

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · 2024 · $833,335

## Abstract

Project Summary
Psychiatric Genomics Consortium for PTSD
 Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) occurs only in vulnerable individuals after exposure to severe
traumatic events. This risk is due, in part, to 40-50% heritability of differential vulnerability. Due to increasing
collaborations across the field of PTSD genomics and the advent of new analytical tools, it is a very exciting
time for PTSD genetic risk discovery. The purpose of this application is to facilitate meta-analyses of genome-
wide association study (GWAS) data for symptoms and diagnosis of PTSD.
 We propose to conduct large-scale meta-analyses through the PTSD group of the Psychiatric Genomics
Consortium (PGC). The PGC was created in 2007 to conduct field-wide mega-analyses of individual data for 5
major psychiatric disorders. With its current 11 working groups, it is the largest consortium (>800 scientists
from 40 countries) in the history of psychiatry. The PGC has produced major findings with regard to the genetic
architecture of psychiatric disorders. The PGC-PTSD group was launched in 2013 and has been enormously
successful. Currently our multi-ethnic data collection includes genotypes from 90 studies with a total N of over
1.25 million combined cases and trauma-exposed controls. We recently identified 95 genome-wide significant
loci and generated a polygenic risk score to identify individuals at highest risk for PTSD after trauma exposure.
 We hypothesize that with an increased sample size and deeper phenotype characterization, the PGC-
PTSD will accelerate our current understanding of the genetic architecture of PTSD. Our progress thus far
demonstrates feasibility and successes of the proposed work. Aim 1 proposes to increase sample size to
450,000 PTSD cases, including 100,000 cases of non-European ancestry, conduct GWAS meta-analyses to
detect novel common variants, and identify rare copy-number variants (CNVs) and single nucleotide variants
(SNV) hypothesized to contribute to PTSD heritability. This aim will be supplemented by the contribution of
diverse ancestry groups to ensure that advances in our genetic understanding of PTSD extend across
ancestral backgrounds in Aim 2. Aim 3 is centered around the characterization of functional consequences of
identified variants. Lastly, we will address the heterogeneity of PTSD and its overlap with internalizing
disorders in Aim 4. Identifying the genetic pathways underlying PTSD will lead to improved neurobiological
understanding, enhanced prevention, and improved treatment of this debilitating and prevalent syndrome.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10995602
- **Project number:** 2R01MH106595-09
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO
- **Principal Investigator:** KARESTAN C KOENEN
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $833,335
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2016-08-19 → 2029-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10995602

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10995602, Psychiatric Genomics Consortium for PTSD (2R01MH106595-09). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10995602. Licensed CC0.

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