Copy number variation in schizophrenia in the Japanese population

Biol Psychiatry. 2010 Feb 1;67(3):283-6. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2009.08.034. Epub 2009 Oct 31.

Abstract

Background: Copy number variants (CNVs) have been shown to increase the risk to develop schizophrenia. The best supported findings are at 1q21.1, 15q11.2, 15q13.3, and 22q11.2 and deletions at the gene neurexin 1 (NRXN1).

Methods: In this study, we used Affymetrix 5.0 arrays to investigate the role of rare CNVs in 575 patients with schizophrenia and 564 control subjects from Japan.

Results: There was a nonsignificant trend for excess of rare CNVs in schizophrenia (p = .087); however, we did not confirm the previously implicated association for very large CNVs (>500 kilobase [kb]) in this population. We provide support for three previous findings in schizophrenia, as we identified one deletion in a case at 1q21.1, one deletion within NRXN1, and four duplications in cases and one in a control subject at 16p13.1, a locus first implicated in autism and later in schizophrenia.

Conclusions: In this population, we support some of the previous findings in schizophrenia but could not find an increased burden of very large (>500 kb) CNVs, which was proposed recently. However, we provide support for the role of CNVs at 16p13.1, 1q21.1, and NRXN1.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Asian People / genetics
  • Case-Control Studies
  • DNA Copy Number Variations / genetics*
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Genetic Predisposition to Disease
  • Genetic Variation*
  • Genome-Wide Association Study
  • Genotype
  • Humans
  • Japan
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis / methods
  • Schizophrenia / genetics*