Recently, evidence has accumulated indicating that the MIR137 gene and the target gene CACNA1C of miR-137 might be two of the most robustly implicated genes in schizophrenia. In this study, we examined 33 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) located in two genes by performing an association analysis in a cohort of 1430 schizophrenia patients and 1570 healthy Han Chinese control subjects. Single SNP association, sex-specific association and haplotype association analyses were performed. For the rs1625579 marker in MIR137 and the rs1006737 and rs4765905 markers in CACNA1C, significant differences in the allele frequencies were found between the patients and controls (p=0.007949, p=0.013658 and p=0.013999, respectively), and the genotype association analysis for them suggested a similar pattern (p=0.023167, p=0.046623 and p=0.047824, respectively). Further analysis of the haplotype rs1006737-rs4765905-rs882194 in CACNA1C showed significant associations with schizophrenia (corrected global p<0.005), and two haplotypes (ACC and ACT) in the block were significantly increased in the patients. When the samples were analyzed separately by gender, we found no significant sex-specific associations in MIR137 and CACNA1C, which was similar to the results from the relevant haplotype association analysis in the female and male subgroups. We have provided new evidence supporting the association between MIR137 and CACNA1C and schizophrenia in the Han Chinese population.
Keywords: Association analysis; Han Chinese; MicroRNA; SNPs; Schizophrenia.
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