Association analyses of the neuregulin 1 gene with schizophrenia and manic psychosis in a Hispanic population

• Published in: Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica
• Main Authors: Walss‐Bass, C., Raventos, H., Montero, A. P., Armas, R., Dassori, A., Contreras, S., Liu, W., Medina, R., Levinson, D. F., Pereira, M., Leach, R. J., Almasy, L., Escamilla, M. A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2005
• Subjects: Psychiatry and Mental health; Iceland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0447.2005.00631.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1600-0447.2005.00631.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1600-0447.2005.00631.x

Objective: This study used the population of the Central Valley of Costa Rica (CVCR) and phenotyping strategies alternative to DSMIV classifications to investigate the association of neuregulin 1 with schizophrenia. Method: Using 134 family trios with a history of psychosis, we genotyped six of the seven markers originally identified to be associated with schizophrenia in Iceland. Results: The neuregulin Icelandic haplotype was not associated with schizophrenia in the CVCR population. However, a novel haplotype was found to be overrepresented in subjects with functional psychosis (global P ‐value > 0.05). Stratification of the sample by history of mania suggests that this haplotype may be preferentially over‐transmitted to persons with a history of manic psychosis. Conclusion: These results suggest that the neuregulin 1 gene is unlikely to play a major role in predisposing to schizophrenia in the CVCR. Further studies in the CVCR and other Latin American populations should be performed in order to corroborate these findings.