ArticleNature2018
Genome-wide association studies of brain imaging phenotypes in UK Biobank.
Article in Nature, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 498 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
498 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 895 citations in OpenAlex.
- Genome-wide association study of major anxiety disorders in 122,341 European-ancestry cases identifies 58 loci and highlights GABAergic signaling.Nature genetics · 2026Pooled it
- Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I and II genetic relationships with brain imaging measures: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2025Pooled it
- The Intersection of Genetics and Neuroimaging: A Systematic Review of Imaging Genetics in Neurological Disease for Personalized Treatment.Journal of molecular neuroscience : MN · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Genome-wide meta-analyses of restless legs syndrome yield insights into genetic architecture, disease biology and risk prediction.Nature genetics · 2024Pooled it
- A review of self-supervised imaging phenotypes for genome-wide association studies.Communications biology · 2026Review
- Multi-organ imaging genetics: towards an integrated view of brain, body and brain diseases.Nature reviews. Neurology · 2026Review
- Polygenic scores for longevity in relation to brain MRI measures in a cohort of 70-year-olds.npj aging · 2026Article
- Cross-phenotype and cross-species integrative genomic prioritization of FOXF2 and FOXC1 at a cerebral small vessel disease locus.Functional & integrative genomics · 2026Article
- Allele-specific expression in the brain links genetic risk and cortical thinning in psychiatric disorders.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Genetic architecture of MRI-derived cervical spinal cord morphology reveals sensory-motor axis and systemic disease associations.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Dietary one-carbon metabolism nutrients and risk of MASLD progression: a prospective cohort study.European journal of clinical nutrition · 2026Article
- Common alleles associated with connectivity within and across the brain's main functional networks.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Inferring multi-organ genetic connections using imaging and clinical data through Mendelian randomization.Nature biomedical engineering · 2026Article
- Brain imaging-derived phenotypes influence risk of bipolar disorder: comprehensive exposome-wide association and wide-angled genetic analyses.BMC medicine · 2026Article
- Identification of comprehensive genetic factors, pathways, and shared genetic architecture of putamen volume in adolescent cohort.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Learning neuroimaging models from health system-scale data.Nature biomedical engineering · 2026Article
- Effects of BACE2 polymorphisms on verbal memory in the general population.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2026Article
- Genetic pleiotropy differentially linking brain variation to cannabis use and cannabis use disorder.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Polygenicity shapes distinct brain patterns and clinical profiles of bipolar disorder.BMC medicine · 2026Article
438 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The genetic architecture of brain structure and function is largely unknown. To investigate this, we carried out genome-wide association studies of 3,144 functional and structural brain imaging phenotypes from UK Biobank (discovery dataset 8,428 subjects). Here we show that many of these phenotypes are heritable. We identify 148 clusters of associations between single nucleotide polymorphisms and imaging phenotypes that replicate at P < 0.05, when we would expect 21 to replicate by chance. Notable significant, interpretable associations include: iron transport and storage genes, related to magnetic susceptibility of subcortical brain tissue; extracellular matrix and epidermal growth factor genes, associated with white matter micro-structure and lesions; genes that regulate mid-line axon development, associated with organization of the pontine crossing tract; and overall 17 genes involved in development, pathway signalling and plasticity. Our results provide insights into the genetic architecture of the brain that are relevant to neurological and psychiatric disorders, brain development and ageing.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.