title: Insertional polymorphism of endogenous retrovirus HERV-K115 in schizophrenia.
abstract: Retroviruses are implicated in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Human endogenous retrovirus type K115 (HERV-K115) is a full-length, potentially transcriptional retrovirus and is also polymorphic. We investigated the frequency of HERV-K115 in Japanese schizophrenia patients and healthy controls. No difference was found in the frequency between patients and controls (8.4% versus 9.4%, respectively). However, a marginal difference was observed in age at onset between the HERV-K positive and negative patients (p=0.057). The HERV-K115 insertion appeared to be more frequent in patients with younger onset than those with later onset. These results preliminarily suggest that HERV-K115 may not be associated with schizophrenia in general, but that it could play a partial role in early precipitation of the disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan.
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Otowa
authors.forename: Mamoru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tochigi
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rogers
authors.forename: Tadashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Umekage
authors.forename: Nobumasa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.forename: Tsukasa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sasaki
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D020077:Endogenous Retroviruses / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000821:virology*
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral