title: Neuregulin 1 and age of onset in the major psychoses.
abstract: Genetic vulnerability to psychiatric illness extends across major psychiatric illness. Neuregulin 1 (NRG1) is a large gene on chromosome 8p, that has been identified as a susceptibility factor in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. In particular, a core at risk haplotype has received considerable attention for a putative role in the pathophysiology of the major psychoses (schizophrenia and bipolar disorder). This core haplotype can be represented by three markers 478B14-848, 420M9-1395, and SNP8NRG221533. We genotyped 312 families with bipolar probands, and 120 families with schizophrenia probands. Association of the core haplotype was tested for with age-at-onset and with three phenotypes: major psychosis, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. Neither age of onset (P = 0.893) nor the major psychosis phenotype (P = 0.374) was associated with the core haplotype in the overall sample. Ours was the first study to investigate the NRG1 core haplotype with age of onset of major psychoses, and despite our preliminary negative findings, this area deserves further investigation.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 250 College Street, R-30, Toronto, ON, M5T 1R8, Canada.
authors.forename: Daphne
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Voineskos
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: De Luca
authors.forename: Stuart
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Macgregor
authors.forename: Olga
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Likhodi
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Aristotle N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Voineskos
authors.forename: James L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Kennedy
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000235:genetics*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005190:Family; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008875:Middle Aged; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D020890:Neuregulin-1; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000235:genetics*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000235:genetics*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D016019:Survival Analysis; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: C094131:NRG1 protein, human; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D020890:Neuregulin-1