Genome-wide association study of suicide attempt in a Mexican population: a study protocol

Abstract

Introduction: Suicidality is a complex behaviour and a major health problem; the specific features that could predispose to suicidal behaviour have been extensively investigated, most frequently in European and Asian populations. Therefore, our aim is to present a protocol that will explore suicide attempt in Mexican individuals diagnosed with psychiatric disorders, through a genome-wide association study (GWAS).

Method and analysis: We will perform a GWAS by comparing 700 individuals who have suicide attempt history, with control subjects without suicide attempt history (n=500). The genotyping will be conducted using the Infinium PsychArray BeadChip and quality controls will be applied to single nucleotides (SNPs) genotyped. After that, we will perform the imputation using reference panels provided by the Haplotype Reference Consortium. We will perform two different workflows: (A) the classic GWAS analysis applying the same weight to all the variants and (B) an algorithm with prediction of deleteriousness of variants.

Ethics and dissemination: This study was approved by the ethics and investigation committees of the National Institute of Genomic Medicine on 22 July 2015, No CEI 215/13. We plan to disseminate research findings in scientific conferences and as a manuscript in peer-reviewed journals.

Trial registration number: CEI 215/13.

Keywords: genetics; mental health; schizophrenia and psychotic disorders; suicide and self-harm.