1Mol. Psychiatry 2005 May 10: 470-8
PMID15452587
TitleSex-specific association between bipolar affective disorder in women and GPR50, an X-linked orphan G protein-coupled receptor.
AbstractGPR50 is an orphan G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) located on Xq28, a region previously implicated in multiple genetic studies of bipolar affective disorder (BPAD). Allele frequencies of three polymorphisms in GPR50 were compared in case-control studies between subjects with BPAD (264), major depressive disorder (MDD) (226), or schizophrenia (SCZ) (263) and ethnically matched controls (562). Significant associations were found between an insertion/deletion polymorphism in exon 2 and both BPAD (P=0.0070), and MDD (P=0.011) with increased risk associated with the deletion variant (GPR50(Delta502-505)). When the analysis was restricted to female subjects, the associations with BPAD and MDD increased in significance (P=0.00023 and P=0.0064, respectively). Two other single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) tested within this gene showed associations between: the female MDD group and an SNP in exon 2 (P=0.0096); and female SCZ and an intronic SNP (P=0.0014). No association was detected in males with either MDD, BPAD or SCZ. These results suggest that GPR50(Delta502-505), or a variant in tight linkage disequilibrium with this polymorphism, is a sex-specific risk factor for susceptibility to bipolar disorder, and that other variants in the gene may be sex-specific risk factors in the development of schizophrenia.
SCZ Keywordsschizophrenia
2Psychiatry Clin. Neurosci. 2007 Feb 61: 3-19
PMID17239033
TitleMolecular genetics of bipolar disorder and depression.
AbstractIn this review, all papers relevant to the molecular genetics of bipolar disorder published from 2004 to the present (mid 2006) are reviewed, and major results on depression are summarized. Several candidate genes for schizophrenia may also be associated with bipolar disorder: G72, DISC1, NRG1, RGS4, NCAM1, DAO, GRM3, GRM4, GRIN2B, MLC1, SYNGR1, and SLC12A6. Of these, association with G72 may be most robust. However, G72 haplotypes and polymorphisms associated with bipolar disorder are not consistent with each other. The positional candidate approach showed an association between bipolar disorder and TRPM2 (21q22.3), GPR50 (Xq28), Citron (12q24), CHMP1.5 (18p11.2), GCHI (14q22-24), MLC1 (22q13), GABRA5 (15q11-q13), BCR (22q11), CUX2, FLJ32356 (12q23-q24), and NAPG (18p11). Studies that focused on mood disorder comorbid with somatic symptoms, suggested roles for the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) 3644 mutation and the POLG mutation. From gene expression analysis, PDLIM5, somatostatin, and the mtDNA 3243 mutation were found to be related to bipolar disorder. Whereas most previous positive findings were not supported by subsequent studies, DRD1 and IMPA2 have been implicated in follow-up studies. Several candidate genes in the circadian rhythm pathway, BmaL1, TIMELESS, and PERIOD3, are reported to be associated with bipolar disorder. Linkage studies show many new linkage loci. In depression, the previously reported positive finding of a gene-environmental interaction between HTTLPR (insertion/deletion polymorphism in the promoter of a serotonin transporter) and stress was not replicated. Although the role of the TPH2 mutation in depression had drawn attention previously, this has not been replicated either. Pharmacogenetic studies show a relationship between antidepressant response and HTR2A or FKBP5. New technologies for comprehensive genomic analysis have already been applied. HTTLPR and BDNF promoter polymorphisms are now found to be more complex than previously thought, and previous papers on these polymorphisms should be treated with caution. Finally, this report addresses some possible causes for the lack of replication in this field.
SCZ Keywordsschizophrenia
3Neuro Endocrinol. Lett. 2011 -1 32: 246-52
PMID21712773
TitleThe effects of siRNA-mediated RGS4 gene silencing on the whole genome transcription profile: implications for schizophrenia.
AbstractThe regulator of G-protein signaling (RGS) molecules represent a class of proteins that modulate the signaling activity of G-protein coupled receptors. Regulator of G-protein signaling 4 (RGS4) is of particular interest in schizophrenia due to reported downregulation of RGS4 transcripts in schizophrenia as well as a connection between RGS4 and a number of receptors implicated in schizophrenia. The mechanism of RGS4 involvement in the pathophysiology of this illness is not clear.
To elucidate thise role of RGS4 in pathophysiology of schizophrenia, we silenced RGS4 using siRNAs in human neuroblastoma cell lines and we studied the effects of differential RGS4 expression by microarray.
The cell lines with downregulated expression of RGS4 showed 67 genes with changed expression (30 underexpressed and 37 overexpressed). We have detected three subgroups of genes which might be implicated in schizophrenia pathophysiology: histone genes, which suggest epigenetic mechanisms of the disease; genes for transcription factors associated with other genes relevant to schizophrenia pathology (BDNF and DISCI1) and a heterogeneous group containing genes for G-proteins (GPR50 and GPR64) and calcium binding proteins.
SCZ Keywordsschizophrenia