1Psychiatr. Genet. 2006 Dec 16: 233-4
PMID17106422
TitleNo association between genetic variants at the ASCT1 gene and schizophrenia or bipolar disorder in a German sample.
AbstractAltered glutamatergic neurotransmission is considered a potential etiological factor of schizophrenia (SCZ) and affective disorders. The gene ASCT1 (SLC1A4) coding for a Na+-dependent neutral aminoacid transporter is a member of the glutamate transporter superfamily and is located on 2p13-14, a region showing linkage to both SCZ and bipolar disorder (BD). ASCT1 can thus be considered a candidate gene for both disorders. In a German sample, we tested for association between ASCT1 and both SCZ and BD. Allele and haplotype frequencies, however, did not differ between cases and controls. Recent findings on the associations between brainderived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and SCZ and between G72/G30 and BD suggest that SCZ patients with a history of major depressive episodes (MDE) outside psychotic episodes and BD cases with a history of persecutory delusions constitute genetically distinct subgroups of these disorders. Thus, we hypothesized that restricting case definition to those 95 SCZ individuals with MDE and to those 107 BD patients with a history of persecutory delusions might clarify the relationship between BD, SCZ and ASCT1. However, these stratification approaches did not yield any significant association either. Allele and haplotype frequencies did not differ between cases and controls. Our results do not support an association of the ASCT1 gene with BD or SCZ in the German population.
SCZ Keywordsschizophrenia
2BMC Psychiatry 2008 -1 8: 58
PMID18638388
TitleAssociation study of polymorphisms in the neutral amino acid transporter genes SLC1A4, SLC1A5 and the glycine transporter genes SLC6A5, SLC6A9 with schizophrenia.
AbstractBased on the glutamatergic dysfunction hypothesis for schizophrenia pathogenesis, we have been performing systematic association studies of schizophrenia with the genes involved in glutametergic transmission. We report here association studies of schizophrenia with SLC1A4, SLC1A5 encoding neutral amino acid transporters ASCT1, ASCT2, and SLC6A5, SLC6A9 encoding glycine transporters GLYT2, GLYT1, respectively.
We initially tested the association of 21 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) distributed in the four gene regions with schizophrenia using 100 Japanese cases-control pairs and examined allele, genotype and haplotype association with schizophrenia. The observed nominal significance were examined in the full-size samples (400 cases and 420 controls).
We observed nominally significant single-marker associations with schizophrenia in SNP2 (P = 0.021) and SNP3 (P = 0.029) of SLC1A4, SNP1 (P = 0.009) and SNP2 (P = 0.022) of SLC6A5. We also observed nominally significant haplotype associations with schizophrenia in the combinations of SNP2-SNP7 (P = 0.037) of SLC1A4 and SNP1-SNP4 (P = 0.043) of SLC6A5. We examined all of the nominal significance in the Full-size Sample Set, except one haplotype with insufficient LD. The significant association of SNP1 of SLC6A5 with schizophrenia was confirmed in the Full-size Sample Set (P = 0.018).
We concluded that at least one susceptibility locus for schizophrenia may be located within or nearby SLC6A5, whereas SLC1A4, SLC1A5 and SLC6A9 are unlikely to be major susceptibility genes for schizophrenia in the Japanese population.
SCZ Keywordsschizophrenia
3Am. J. Med. Genet. B Neuropsychiatr. Genet. 2014 Dec 165B: 635-46
PMID25209194
TitleSynergistic association of PI4KA and GRM3 genetic polymorphisms with poor antipsychotic response in south Indian schizophrenia patients with low severity of illness.
AbstractLiterature indicates key role of glutamatergic pathway genes in antipsychotic response among schizophrenia patients. However, molecular basis of their underlying role in antipsychotic response remained unexplained. Thus, to unravel their molecular underpinnings, we sought to investigate interactions amongst GRM3, SLC1A1, SLC1A2, SLC1A3, SLC1A4 gene polymorphisms with drug response in south Indian schizophrenia patients. We genotyped 48 SNPs from these genes in 423 schizophrenia patients stratified into low and high severity of illness groups. The SNPs and haplotypic combinations of associated SNPs were examined for their association with antipsychotic response. Multifactor-dimensionality-reduction was further used to explore gene-gene interaction among these SNPs and 53 SNPs from previously studied genes (BDNF, RGS4, SLC6A3, PI4KA, and PIP4K2A). Single SNP and haplotype analyses revealed no significant association with drug response irrespective of severity of illness. Gene-gene interaction analyses yielded promising leads, including an observed synergistic effect between PI4KA_rs165854 and GRM3_rs1468412 polymorphisms and incomplete antipsychotic response in schizophrenia patients with low severity of illness (OR = 12.4; 95%CI = 3.69-41.69). Further, this interaction was also observed in atypical monotherapy (n = 355) and risperidone (n = 260) treatment subgroups (OR = 11.21; 95%CI = 3.30-38.12 and OR = 13.5; 95%CI = 3.03-121.61 respectively). PI4KA is known to be involved in the biosynthesis of phosphatidylinositol-4, 5-bisphosphate which regulates exocytotic fusion of synaptic vesicles (glutamate, dopamine) with the plasma membrane and regulates duration of signal transduction of GPCRs. Whereas GRM3 regulates glutamate and dopamine transmission. Present findings indicate that PI4KA and GRM3 polymorphisms have potential to jointly modulate antipsychotic response. These results warrant additional replication studies to shed further light on these interactions.
SCZ Keywordsschizophrenia