| 1 | Am. J. Med. Genet. B Neuropsychiatr. Genet. 2016 Mar -1: -1 |
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| PMID | 27004590 |
| Title | Genome-wide significant schizophrenia risk variation on chromosome 10q24 is associated with altered cis-regulation of BORCS7, AS3MT, and NT5C2 in the human brain. |
| Abstract | Chromosome 10q24.32-q24.33 is one of the most robustly supported risk loci to emerge from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of schizophrenia. However, extensive linkage disequilibrium makes it difficult to distinguish the actual susceptibility gene(s) at the locus, limiting its value for improving biological understanding of the condition. In the absence of coding changes that can account for the association, risk is likely conferred by altered regulation of one or more genes in the region. We, therefore, used highly sensitive measures of allele-specific expression to assess cis-regulatory effects associated with the two best-supported schizophrenia risk variants (SNP rs11191419 and indel ch10_104957618_I/rs202213518) on the primary positional candidates BORCS7, AS3MT, CNNM2, and NT5C2 in the human brain. Heterozygosity at rs11191419 was associated with increased allelic expression of BORCS7 and AS3MT in the fetal and adult brain, and with reduced allelic expression of NT5C2 in the adult brain. Heterozygosity at ch10_104957618_I was associated with reduced allelic expression of NT5C2 in both the fetal and adult brain. Comparisons between cDNA ratios in heterozygotes and homozygotes for the risk alleles indicated that cis-effects on NT5C2 expression in the adult dorsolateral prefrontal cortex could be largely accounted for by genotype at these two risk variants. While not excluding effects on other genes in the region, this study implicates altered neural expression of BORCS7, AS3MT, and NT5C2 in susceptibility to schizophrenia arising from genetic variation at the chromosome 10q24 locus. © 2016 The Authors. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. |
| SCZ Keywords | schizophrenia |
| 2 | Nat. Med. 2016 May -1: -1 |
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| PMID | 27158905 |
| Title | A human-specific AS3MT isoform and BORCS7 are molecular risk factors in the 10q24.32 schizophrenia-associated locus. |
| Abstract | Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have reported many single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with psychiatric disorders, but knowledge is lacking regarding molecular mechanisms. Here we show that risk alleles spanning multiple genes across the 10q24.32 schizophrenia-related locus are associated in the human brain selectively with an increase in the expression of both BLOC-1 related complex subunit 7 (BORCS7) and a previously uncharacterized, human-specific arsenite methyltransferase (AS3MT) isoform (AS3MT(d2d3)), which lacks arsenite methyltransferase activity and is more abundant in individuals with schizophrenia than in controls. Conditional-expression analysis suggests that BORCS7 and AS3MT(d2d3) signals are largely independent. GWAS risk SNPs across this region are linked with a variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) polymorphism in the first exon of AS3MT that is associated with the expression of AS3MT(d2d3) in samples from both Caucasians and African Americans. The VNTR genotype predicts promoter activity in luciferase assays, as well as DNA methylation within the AS3MT gene. Both AS3MT(d2d3) and BORCS7 are expressed in adult human neurons and astrocytes, and they are upregulated during human stem cell differentiation toward neuronal fates. Our results provide a molecular explanation for the prominent 10q24.32 locus association, including a novel and evolutionarily recent protein that is involved in early brain development and confers risk for psychiatric illness. |
| SCZ Keywords | schizophrenia |