Journal article
Biological insights from 108 schizophrenia-associated genetic loci
Massachusetts General Hospital1
Copenhagen University Hospital Herlev and Gentofte2
Statens Serum Institut3
Trinity College Dublin4
Cardiff University5
King's College London6
Department of Systems Biology, Technical University of Denmark7
Center for Biological Sequence Analysis, Department of Systems Biology, Technical University of Denmark8
Behavioral Phenomics, Center for Biological Sequence Analysis, Department of Systems Biology, Technical University of Denmark9
Aarhus University10
The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research11
...and 1 moreSchizophrenia is a highly heritable disorder. Genetic risk is conferred by a large number of alleles, including common alleles of small effect that might be detected by genome-wide association studies. Here we report a multi-stage schizophrenia genome-wide association study of up to 36,989 cases and 113,075 controls.
We identify 128 independent associations spanning 108 conservatively defined loci that meet genome-wide significance, 83 of which have not been previously reported. Associations were enriched among genes expressed in brain, providing biological plausibility for the findings. Many findings have the potential to provide entirely new insights into aetiology, but associations at DRD2 and several genes involved in glutamatergic neurotransmission highlight molecules of known and potential therapeutic relevance to schizophrenia, andare consistent with leadingpathophysiologicalhypotheses.
Independentof genes expressed in brain, associations were enriched among genes expressed in tissues that have important roles in immunity, providing support for the speculated link between the immune system and schizophrenia.
Language: | English |
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Publisher: | Nature Publishing Group UK |
Year: | 2014 |
Pages: | 421-427 |
Journal subtitle: | International Weekly Journal of Science |
ISSN: | 14764687 and 00280836 |
Types: | Journal article |
DOI: | 10.1038/nature13595 |