GWA study data mining and independent replication identify cardiomyopathy-associated 5 (CMYA5) as a risk gene for schizophrenia.

We conducted data-mining analyses using the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE) and molecular genetics of schizophrenia genome-wide association study supported by the genetic association information network (MGS-GAIN) schizophrenia data sets and performed bioinformatic prioritization for all the markers with P-values ≤0.05 in both data sets. In this process, we found that in the CMYA5 gene, there were two non-synonymous markers, rs3828611 and rs10043986, showing nominal significance in both the CATIE and MGS-GAIN samples. In a combined analysis of both the CATIE and MGS-GAIN samples, rs4704591 was identified as the most significant marker in the gene. Linkage disequilibrium analyses indicated that these markers were in low LD (3 828 611-rs10043986, r(2)=0.008; rs10043986-rs4704591, r(2)=0.204). In addition, CMYA5 was reported to be physically interacting with the DTNBP1 gene, a promising candidate for schizophrenia, suggesting that CMYA5 may be involved in the same biological pathway and process. On the basis of this information, we performed replication studies for these three single-nucleotide polymorphisms. The rs3828611 was found to have conflicting results in our Irish samples and was dropped out without further investigation. The other two markers were verified in 23 other independent data sets. In a meta-analysis of all 23 replication samples (family samples, 912 families with 4160 subjects; case-control samples, 11 380 cases and 15 021 controls), we found that both markers are significantly associated with schizophrenia (rs10043986, odds ratio (OR)=1.11, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.04-1.18, P=8.2 × 10(-4) and rs4704591, OR=1.07, 95% CI=1.03-1.11, P=3.0 × 10(-4)). The results were also significant for the 22 Caucasian replication samples (rs10043986, OR=1.11, 95% CI=1.03-1.17, P=0.0026 and rs4704591, OR=1.07, 95% CI=1.02-1.11, P=0.0015). Furthermore, haplotype conditioned analyses indicated that the association signals observed at these two markers are independent. On the basis of these results, we concluded that CMYA5 is associated with schizophrenia and further investigation of the gene is warranted.

Molecular dissection of NRG1-ERBB4 signaling implicates PTPRZ1 as a potential schizophrenia susceptibility gene.

Neuregulin and the neuregulin receptor ERBB4 have been genetically and functionally implicated in schizophrenia. In this study, we used the yeast two-hybrid system to identify proteins that interact with ERBB4, to identify genes and pathways that might contribute to schizophrenia susceptibility. We identified the MAGI scaffolding proteins as ERBB4-binding proteins. After validating the interaction of MAGI proteins with ERBB4 in mammalian cells, we demonstrated that ERBB4 expression, alone or in combination with ERBB2 or ERBB3, led to the tyrosine phosphorylation of MAGI proteins, and that this could be further enhanced with receptor activation by neuregulin. As MAGI proteins were previously shown to interact with receptor phosphotyrosine phosphatase beta/zeta (RPTPbeta), we postulated that simultaneous binding of MAGI proteins to RPTPbeta and ERBB4 forms a phosphotyrosine kinase/phosphotyrosine phosphatase complex. Studies in cultured cells confirmed both a spatial and functional association between ERBB4, MAGI and RPTPbeta. Given the evidence for this functional association, we examined the genes coding for MAGI and RPTPbeta for genetic association with schizophrenia in a Caucasian United Kingdom case-control cohort (n= approximately 1400). PTPRZ1, which codes for RPTPbeta, showed significant, gene-wide and hypothesis-wide association with schizophrenia in our study (best individual single-nucleotide polymorphism allelic P=0.0003; gene-wide P=0.0064; hypothesis-wide P=0.026). The data provide evidence for a role of PTPRZ1, and for RPTPbeta signaling abnormalities, in the etiology of schizophrenia. Furthermore, the data indicate a role for RPTPbeta in the modulation of ERBB4 signaling that may in turn provide further support for an important role of neuregulin/ERBB4 signaling in the molecular basis of schizophrenia.

Mutational analysis of phospholipase A2A: a positional candidate susceptibility gene for bipolar disorder.

Evidence for the involvement of genetic factors in the pathogenesis of bipolar affective disorder is now well established. However, the mode of inheritance is non-mendelian and this makes the identification of susceptibility loci difficult. A short-cut to localisation of a disease gene for an oligogenic/multifactorial disorder such as bipolar disorder may come from observation of cosegregation with a monogenic trait. We have described a family (pedigree 324) in which there was cosegregation of major affective disorder and Darier's disease, a dominantly inherited skin disorder, and hypothesised that this reflects genetic linkage between genes involved in these disorders. Genetic mapping studies have placed the locus for Darier's disease on chromosome 12q23-q24. We conducted subsequent linkage studies (1995) upon 45 bipolar families (without Darier's disease). These results showed some evidence in favour of linkage with chromosome 12q markers with maximum evidence at a trinucleotide repeat marker within intron 1 of the phospholipase A2A (PLA2A) gene. Evidence for linkage was more significant when analysing the 22 families comprising the Cardiff centre sample, which were expected to be most genetically similar to pedigree 324.

Genetic association studies between dementia of the Alzheimer's type and three receptors for apolipoprotein E in a Caucasian population.

The epsilon 4 allele of the apolipoprotein E gene (ApoE) is associated with an increased risk for sporadic and some familial forms of Alzheimer's disease (AD) but the precise mechanism of pathogenesis is unknown. ApoE is a ligand for at least three receptors in the central nervous system, low density lipoprotein receptor (LDL-R), very low density lipoprotein receptor VLDL-R and low density lipoprotein-like receptor (LRP). We have tested for association between these receptors and dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT) in a clinically based sample of Caucasian cases and age-matched controls. In contrast to findings in a Japanese cohort we detected no association between DAT and a polymorphism in the VLDL-R gene. No association was detected with the LDL-R gene. We observed a possible association between the 87 allele of a polymorphism within the LRP gene and DAT which remained significant after correction for multiple testing. When the effects of known risk factors for AD such as ApoE epsilon 4 were applied, the effect of LRP no longer reached conventional levels of statistical significance. Nevertheless, LRP is a plausible candidate gene and we may be observing a minor risk factor that will require further examination in other large independent samples to assess whether it truly modifies susceptibility to DAT.