1J Neural Transm (Vienna) 2001 -1 108: 849-54
PMID11515750
TitleAssociation analysis of the pituitary adenyl cyclase activating peptide gene (PACAP) on chromosome 18p11 with schizophrenia and bipolar disorders.
AbstractIn neurons, pituitary adenyl cyclase activating peptide (PACAP) stimulates signaling cascades, involving cAMP and calcium. PACAP appears to play a role in up-regulation of tyrosine hydroxylase and dopamine beta-hydroxylase via protein kinase C and/or protein kinase A. Furthermore, the PACAP gene (ADCYAP1) is located in chromosome 18p11, where linkage of bipolar disorders and schizophrenia has been reported. In this study, we scanned the coding region of the PACAP gene for mutations in 24 Japanese patients with schizophrenia and 24 Japanese patients with bipolar disorders. No variant in the coding region was found. One polymorphism, INV3-37A/T, in the third intron was detected. Case-control comparisons revealed no significant association between this polymorphism and schizophrenia or bipolar disorders. This study did not provide evidence for the contribution of the PACAP gene to the etiology of schizophrenia or bipolar disorders in the Japanese population.
SCZ Keywordsschizophrenia
2Mol. Psychiatry 2007 Nov 12: 1026-32
PMID17387318
TitlePituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide is associated with schizophrenia.
AbstractPituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP, ADCYAP1: adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide 1), a neuropeptide with neurotransmission modulating activity, is a promising schizophrenia candidate gene. Here, we provide evidence that genetic variants of the genes encoding PACAP and its receptor, PAC1, are associated with schizophrenia. We studied the effects of the associated polymorphism in the PACAP gene on neurobiological traits related to risk for schizophrenia. This allele of the PACAP gene, which is overrepresented in schizophrenia patients, was associated with reduced hippocampal volume and poorer memory performance. Abnormal behaviors in PACAP knockout mice, including elevated locomotor activity and deficits in prepulse inhibition of the startle response, were reversed by treatment with an atypical antipsychotic, risperidone. These convergent data suggest that alterations in PACAP signaling might contribute to the pathogenesis of schizophrenia.
SCZ Keywordsschizophrenia
3Expert Opin. Ther. Targets 2008 Sep 12: 1097-108
PMID18694377
TitleRegulation of pituitary adenylyl cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP, ADCYAP1: adenylyl cyclase-activating polypeptide 1) in the treatment of schizophrenia.
AbstractDeficiency of pituitary adenylyl cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) and its specific receptor, PAC1, causes a schizophrenia-like phenotype in mice. In addition, the relation of the PACAP and PAC1 genes to schizophrenia has been shown by single-nucleotide polymorphism association studies. Furthermore, PACAP is reported to be involved in the function of disrupted-in-schizophrenia 1.
To summarize briefly the recent evidence relating the PACAP system and schizophrenia and discuss the application of PACAP to the treatment of schizophrenia.
The regulation of PACAPergic signals is an interesting potential treatment for schizophrenia. Further studies of PACAP signals and the association of PACAP signals with schizophrenia should shed the light on the utility of this approach in the treatment of schizophrenia.
SCZ Keywordsschizophrenia
4Psychiatr. Genet. 2010 Jun 20: 123-5
PMID20414143
TitleReplication study of association between ADCYAP1 gene polymorphisms and schizophrenia.
AbstractThe adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide 1 (ADCYAP1) gene encodes a neuropeptide with neurotransmission activity, which is known as the pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide. Associations of two polymorphisms, rs1893154 and rs2856966 (Asp54Gly), in the ADCYAP1 gene with schizophrenia were reported earlier by a Japanese case-control study. In this study, we tried to confirm the association in 2027 Japanese patients with schizophrenia and 2058 controls. The power to detect an association was more than 0.9. However, we did not detect allelic associations of rs1893154 with schizophrenia (P=0.36). Although rs2856966 was nominally significant (P=0.045), the association was in the opposite direction from that reported earlier. Combined data and meta-analysis of the two studies comprising nearly 6000 Japanese case-control patients did not show significant associations (P=0.53-0.86). It is concluded that single-nucleotide polymorphisms, including Asp54Gly, of the ADCYAP1 gene are unlikely to play a sizeable role in the genetic susceptibility to schizophrenia.
SCZ Keywordsschizophrenia
5Neurosci. Lett. 2010 Jan 468: 300-2
PMID19914336
TitlePossible association between the pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) gene and major depressive disorder.
AbstractPituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP, ADCYAP1: adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide 1) is a neuropeptide with neurotransmission modulating activity. The associations of the PACAP gene with schizophrenia and hippocampal volume have been reported. We recently reported depression-like behavior in the forced swimming test in PACAP deficient mice. Here we examined a possible association between the PACAP gene and major depressive disorder (MDD) in 637 patients and 967 controls and found that a genetic variant in the gene was associated with MDD. The present results suggest that PACAP signaling might contribute to the pathogenesis of MDD.
SCZ Keywordsschizophrenia
6Mol. Psychiatry 2012 Sep 17: 887-905
PMID22584867
TitleConvergent functional genomics of schizophrenia: from comprehensive understanding to genetic risk prediction.
AbstractWe have used a translational convergent functional genomics (CFG) approach to identify and prioritize genes involved in schizophrenia, by gene-level integration of genome-wide association study data with other genetic and gene expression studies in humans and animal models. Using this polyevidence scoring and pathway analyses, we identify top genes (DISC1, TCF4, MBP, MOBP, NCAM1, NRCAM, NDUFV2, RAB18, as well as ADCYAP1, BDNF, CNR1, COMT, DRD2, DTNBP1, GAD1, GRIA1, GRIN2B, HTR2A, NRG1, RELN, SNAP-25, TNIK), brain development, myelination, cell adhesion, glutamate receptor signaling, G-protein-coupled receptor signaling and cAMP-mediated signaling as key to pathophysiology and as targets for therapeutic intervention. Overall, the data are consistent with a model of disrupted connectivity in schizophrenia, resulting from the effects of neurodevelopmental environmental stress on a background of genetic vulnerability. In addition, we show how the top candidate genes identified by CFG can be used to generate a genetic risk prediction score (GRPS) to aid schizophrenia diagnostics, with predictive ability in independent cohorts. The GRPS also differentiates classic age of onset schizophrenia from early onset and late-onset disease. We also show, in three independent cohorts, two European American and one African American, increasing overlap, reproducibility and consistency of findings from single-nucleotide polymorphisms to genes, then genes prioritized by CFG, and ultimately at the level of biological pathways and mechanisms. Finally, we compared our top candidate genes for schizophrenia from this analysis with top candidate genes for bipolar disorder and anxiety disorders from previous CFG analyses conducted by us, as well as findings from the fields of autism and Alzheimer. Overall, our work maps the genomic and biological landscape for schizophrenia, providing leads towards a better understanding of illness, diagnostics and therapeutics. It also reveals the significant genetic overlap with other major psychiatric disorder domains, suggesting the need for improved nosology.
SCZ Keywordsschizophrenia