Background: Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a severe psychiatric disorder that affects approximately 0.75% of the global population. Both genetic and environmental factors contribute to development of SCZ. SCZ tends to run in family while both genetic and environmental factor contribute to its etiology. Much evidence suggested that alterations in DNA methylations occurred in SCZ patients. Methods: To investigate potential inheritable pattern of DNA methylation in SCZ family, we performed a genome-wide analysis of DNA methylation of peripheral blood samples from 106 Chinese SCZ family trios. Genome-wide DNA methylations were quantified by Agilent 1 £ 244 k Human Methylation Microarray. Findings: In this study, we proposed a loci inheritance frequency model that allows characterization of differential methylated regions as SCZ biomarkers. Based on this model, 112 hypermethylated and 125 hypomethylated regions were identified. Additionally, 121 hypermethylated and 139 hypomethylated genes were annotated. The results of functional enrichment analysis indicated that multiple differentially methylated genes (DMGs) involved in Notch/HH/Wnt signaling, MAPK signaling, GPCR signaling, immune response signaling. Notably, a number of hypomethylated genes were significantly enriched in cerebral cortex and functionally enriched in nervous system development. Interpretation: Our findings not only validated previously discovered risk genes of SCZ but also identified novel candidate DMGs in SCZ. These results may further the understanding of altered DNA methylations in SCZ.
Second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs) play a critical role in current treatment of schizophrenia (SCZ). It has been observed that sinus bradycardia, rare but in certain situations life threatening adverse drug reaction, can be induced by SGAs across different schizophrenia populations. However, the roles of genetic factors in this phenomenon have not been studied yet. In the present study, a genome-wide association study of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) was performed on Chinese Han SCZ patients to identify susceptibility loci that were associated with sinus bradycardia induced by SGAs. This study applied microarray to obtain genotype profiles of 88 Han Chinese SCZ patients. Our results found that there were no SNPs had genome-wide significant association with sinus bradycardia induced by SGAs. The top GWAS hit located in gene KIAA0247, which mainly regulated by the tumor suppressor P53 and thus plays a role in carcinogenesis based on resent research and it should not be a susceptibility locus to sinus bradycardia induced by SGAs. Using gene-set functional analysis, we tested that if top 500 SNPs mapped genes were relevant to sinus bradycardia. The result of gene prioritization analysis showed CTNNA3 was strongly correlated with sinus bradycardia, hinting it was a susceptibility gene of this ADR. Our study provides a preliminary study of genetic variants associated with sinus bradycardia induced by SGAs in Han Chinese SCZ patients. The discovery of a possible susceptibility gene shed light on further study of this adverse drug reaction in Han Chinese SCZ patients.
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