ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the association between neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor alpha 7 subunit (CHRNA7) gene and schizophrenia.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The three polymorphisms rs2337980, rs1909884, rs883473 in CHRNA7 gene were detected based on PCR and polyacrylamide gel microarray in 129 schizophrenic trios. The results of genotyping were analyzed by haplotype relative risk analysis based on haplotype(HHRR), transmission disequilibrium test(TDT) and hyplotype analysis.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>(1)The HHRR analysis suggested that there was significant differences in rs2337980 allele frequencies between schizophrenia group and dummy control group(P= 0.017); (2)In TDT test, there may be transmission disequilibrium between rs2337980 and schizophrenia, the heterozygous parents excessively transferred the C allele to patients (P= 0.021); (3)The haplotype between rs2337980 and rs1909884 as well as the hyplotype among rs2337980, rs1909884 and rs883473 may have significant association with schizophrenia (global P= 0.034; global P= 0.027), the T-C and T-C-T hyplotype may have transmission disequilibrium with schizophrenia.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>There may be association between CHRNA7 gene polymorphisms and schizophrenia, the variant allele T in rs2337980 may have a protective effect to schizophrenia.</p>