15q11.2 CNV affects cognitive, structural and functional correlates of dyslexia and dyscalculia
Several copy number variants have been associated with neuropsychiatric disorders and these variants have been shown to also influence cognitive abilities in carriers unaffected by psychiatric disorders. Previously, we associated the 15q11.2(BP1–BP2) deletion with specific learning disabilities and a larger corpus callosum. Here we investigate, in a much larger sample, the effect of the 15q11.2(BP1–BP2) deletion on cognitive, structural and functional correlates of dyslexia and dyscalculia. We report that the deletion confers greatest risk of the combined phenotype of dyslexia and dyscalculia. We also show that the deletion associates with a smaller left fusiform gyrus. Moreover, tailored functional magnetic resonance imaging experiments using phonological lexical decision and multiplication verification tasks demonstrate altered activation in the left fusiform and the left angular gyri in carriers. Thus, by using convergent evidence from neuropsychological testing, and structural and functional neuroimaging, we show that the 15q11.2(BP1–BP2) deletion affects cognitive, structural and functional correlates of both dyslexia and dyscalculia. ; The research leading to these results has received support from the Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint Undertaking under grant agreements' no. 115008 (NEWMEDS) and no. 115300 (EUAIMS) of which resources are composed of EFPIA in-kind contribution and financial contribution from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (EU-FP7/2007-2013), EU-FP7 funded grant no. 602450 (IMAGEMEND) and EU funded FP7-People-2011-IAPP grant agreement no. 286213 (PsychDPC). Approval for this study was obtained from the National Bioethics Committee of Iceland and the Icelandic Data Protection Authority. ; Peer Reviewed
