The human frizzled-3 (FZD3) gene on chromosome 8p21, a receptor gene for Wnt ligands, is associated with the susceptibility to schizophrenia.
Neurodevelopmental abnormalities have been reported in studies on the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. The Wnt-signaling pathway has been implicated in a variety of processes in neurodevelopment, and the frizzled proteins have been identified as receptors for Wnt ligands. Of the frizzled proteins, frizzled-3 (FZD3) is required for formation of the neural crest and for development of major fiber tracts in the CNS. The human FZD3 gene is located on chromosome 8p21, a positive linkage locus for schizophrenia. We analyzed polymorphisms of the FZD3 gene in patients with schizophrenia and control subjects in the Japanese population. We found a significant association between schizophrenia and the FZD3 gene in single nucleotide polymorphisms and haplotype analyses. Our data suggest that dysregulation of the Wnt-signaling pathway may be involved in the susceptibility to schizophrenia.
Katsu
Takeshi
T
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine and Dentistry, 2-5-1 Shikata-cho, Okayama 700-8558, Japan.
Ujike
Hiroshi
H
Nakano
Takamitsu
T
Tanaka
Yuji
Y
Nomura
Akira
A
Nakata
Kenji
K
Takaki
Manabu
M
Sakai
Ayumu
A
Uchida
Naohiko
N
Imamura
Takaki
T
Kuroda
Shigetoshi
S
D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D002898:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 8; D005260:Female; D051157:Frizzled Receptors; D005787:Gene Frequency; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled / Q000235:genetics*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics
C105574:FZD3 protein, human; D051157:Frizzled Receptors; D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled