ENIGMA-Tourette Syndrome Working Group

Cordinator: Peristera Paschou, Dept of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, USA.

The ENIGMA-TS working group aims to bring together Tourette Syndrome (TS) research groups in order to share neuroimaging and genetic databases towards large scale studies on brain structure, neurophysiology and the molecular underpinnings of TS. We aim to identify brain regions and brain circuits that are involved in the neurobiology of TS and investigate how these relate to genomic background. Through large-scale analysis of neuroimaging data we will seek to define heritable sub-phenotypes in TS and probe genomic variation in order to dissect the complex genetic architecture of the disorder. In collaboration with other ENIGMA working groups we are working on cross-disorder comparisons with a special focus on neurodevelopmental disorders including OCD, ADHD, and autism.

The working group is motivated by and based on existing large-scale collaborative efforts aiming to understand the etiology of TS, including ESSTS (the European Society for the Study of Tourette Syndrome), TS-EUROTRAIN (a Marie Curie Initial Training Network), and EMTICS (European Multicentre Tics in Children Study).

Currently, investigators from 22 different sites and 11 different countries are working together as part of ENIGMA-TS. As a first goal we are analysing T1-weighted brain MRI data from multiple sites in order to shed light into the pathophysiology of TS. We aim to reach a sample of 1,000 patients with TS.

By joining forces with investigators around the world, sharing expertise and resources in large-scale collaborative efforts like the one represented by ENIGMA-TS we hope to be able to elucidate the etiology of TS and identify targets for the development of new therapies for TS.

Our call for participation is open and we look forward to welcoming new partners! Please join us if you have existing imaging data on TS patients and controls or if you are planning to start such a study. For more information, please contact Dr Peristera Paschou at ppaschou@purdue.edu.
 

Click here to download our flyer!

ENIGMA-TS Pipelines

Our ENIGMA pipelines to analyze structural brain MRI data (cortical and subcortical segmentation and quality control using FreeSurfer versions 6 and 7) are freely available at the Paschou lab github.
 

News

• May 2022: The ENIGMA-TS working group to meet in-person on June 10 in Lausanne, in conjunction with the 2022 Annual Meeting of the European Society for the Study of Tourette Syndrome.
• February 2022: Dr Paschou (PI), Dr Kevin Black, Dr Paul Thompson, and Dr Neda Jahanshad, receive new NIMH grant to pursue large-scale genetics and neuroimaging studies for Tourette Syndrome.
• February 2021: Our large-scale study investigating shared genetic basis across disorders in the impulsivity-compulsivity spectrum is published in Biological Psychiatry.
• March 2019: The first paper integrating genetic and neuroimaging data for Tourette Syndrome is published in Translational Psychiatry.
• March 2019: The latest large-scale GWAS for Tourette Syndrome is published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
• June 2017: 1^st ENIGMA-TS Working Group Meeting – June 14^th 2017, Seville (in conjunction with the 2017 Annual Meeting of the European Society for the Study of Tourette Syndrome).

Publications

• Yang Z, Wu H, Lee PH, Tsetsos F, Davis LK, Yu D, Lee SH, Dalsgaard S, Haavik J, Barta C, Zayats T, Eapen V, Wray NR, Devlin B, Daly M, Neale B, Børglum AD, Crowley JJ, Scharf J, Mathews CA, Faraone SV, Franke B, Mattheisen M, Smoller JW, Paschou P (2021). Investigating Shared Genetic Basis Across Tourette Syndrome and Comorbid Neurodevelopmental Disorders Along the Impulsivity-Compulsivity Spectrum. Biol Psychiatry 2021 Sep 1;90(5):317-327.
• Tsetsos F et al. Synaptic processes and immune-related pathways implicated in Tourette syndrome. Transl Psychiatry. 2021 Jan 18;11(1):56.
• Thompson PM on behalf of the ENIGMA Consortium. ENIGMA and global neuroscience: A decade of large-scale studies of the brain in health and disease across more than 40 countries. Transl Psychiatry. 2020 Mar 20;10(1):100.
• Mufford M, Cheung J, Jahanshad N, van der Merwe C, Ding L, Groenewold N, Koen N, Chimusa ER, Dalvie S, Ramesar R, Knowles JA, Lochner C, Hibar DP, Paschou P, van den Heuvel OA, Medland SE, Scharf JM, Mathews CA, Thompson PM, Stein DJ; Psychiatric Genomics Consortium - Tourette Syndrome working group. Concordance of genetic variation that increases risk for tourette syndrome and that influences its underlying neurocircuitry. Transl Psychiatry. 2019 Mar 22;9(1):120.