Genome-Wide Insights into Internalizing Symptoms in Admixed Latin American Children.

Abstract

Background/objectives: Internalizing disorders, including depression and anxiety, are major contributors to the global burden of disease. While the genetic architecture of these disorders in adults has been extensively studied, their early-life genetic mechanisms remain underexplored, especially in non-European populations. This study investigated the genetic mechanisms underlying internalizing symptoms in a cohort of Latin American children.

Methods: This study included 1244 Brazilian children whose legal guardians completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) questionnaire. Genotyping was performed using the Illumina HumanOmni 2.5-8v1 BeadChip.

Results: The genome-wide association analysis revealed a significant association of rs7196970 (p = 4.5 × 10^-8, OR = 0.61), in the ABCC1 gene, with internalizing symptoms. Functional annotation highlighted variants in epigenetically active regulatory regions, with multiple variants linked to differential expression of ABCC1 across several human tissues. Pathway enrichment analysis identified 42 significant pathways, with notable involvement in neurobiological processes such as glutamatergic, GABAergic, and dopaminergic synapses.

Conclusions: This study identifies ABCC1 variants as novel genetic factors potentially associated with early-life internalizing symptoms. These results may contribute to future research on targeted interventions for childhood internalizing conditions.