Loci with genome-wide associations with schizophrenia in the Han Chinese population

Abstract

BackgroundA large schizophrenia genome-wide association study (GWAS) and a subsequent extensive replication study of individuals of European ancestry identified eight new loci with genome-wide significance and suggested that theMIR137-mediated pathway plays a role in the predisposition for schizophrenia.AimsTo validate the above findings in a Han Chinese population.MethodWe analysed the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the newly identified schizophrenia candidate loci and predictedMIR137target genes based on our published Han Chinese populations (BIOX) GWAS data. We then analysed 18 SNPs from the candidate regions in an independent cohort that consisted of 3585 patients with schizophrenia and 5496 controls of Han Chinese ancestry.ResultsWe replicated the associations of five markers (P<0.05), including three that were located in the predictedMIR137target genes. Two loci (ITIH3/4: rs2239547,P=1.17×10–10andCALN1: rs2944829,P=9.97×10–9) exhibited genome-wide significance in the Han Chinese population.ConclusionsTheITIH3/4locus has been reported to be of genome-wide significance in the European population. The successful replication of this finding in a different ethnic group provides stronger evidence for the association between schizophrenia andITIH3/4. We detected the first genome-wide significant association of schizophrenia withCALN1, which is a predicted target ofMIR137, and thus provide new evidence for the associations betweenMIR137targets and schizophrenia.