No association between EGR gene family polymorphisms and schizophrenia in the Chinese population.
Early growth response (EGR) genes are thought to have a role in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia because of their conserved DNA binding domain and biologically activity in neuronal plasticity. This zinc-finger motif could influence gene post-translational modification and expression. The multigenetic association model, using markers in genes of similar or antagonistic biological effects within a signal pathway or gene family, might be more appropriate to this aspect of the schizophrenia hypothesis than the single gene strategy. In this study we investigated the role of EGR1, EGR2, EGR3 and EGR4 within the EGR family. Taqman technology was used to examine 12 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) covering these four genes in 2044 Chinese Han subjects. Case-control analyses were performed to detect association of these 4 genes with schizophrenia and multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR) analysis was employed to examine their potential gene-gene interaction in schizophrenia. Neither allelic nor genotypic single-locus tests revealed any significant association between EGR1-4 and the risk of schizophrenia nor was any such association found with regard to interaction within EGR1-4 (p(min)=0.623, CV Consistency=10/10). We concluded that although multiple candidate genes are involved in schizophrenogenic development, the EGR family may not play a major role in schizophrenia susceptibility in the Chinese Han population.
Bio-X Center, Key Laboratory for the Genetics of Developmental and Neuropsychiatric Disorders (Ministry of Education), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, PR China.
Bao-Cheng
BC
Liu
Jing
J
Zhang
Lei
L
Wang
Xing-Wang
XW
Li
Yang
Y
Wang
Jue
J
Ji
Feng-Ping
FP
Yang
Chun-Ling
CL
Wan
Ling-Han
LH
Gao
Yi-Feng
YF
Xu
Guo-Yin
GY
Feng
Lin
L
He
Xin-Zhi
XZ
Zhao
Guang
G
He
D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study / Q000379:methods; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000235:genetics*; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000235:genetics*; D000071230:Transcriptional Regulator ERG; D055815:Young Adult
C072312:ERG protein, human; D015534:Trans-Activators; D000071230:Transcriptional Regulator ERG