Analysis of schizophrenia risk gene ZNF804A

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25461730
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Psychiatric science
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: YAMAMORI HIDENAGA 大阪大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 助教 (90570250)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): YASUDA Yuka 大阪大学, 医学部附属病院, 特任助教 (20448062) ; UMEDA Tomomi 大阪大学, 医学系研究科, 特任研究員 (00625329)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): HASHIMOTO Ryota 大阪大学, 大学院連合小児発達学研究科, 准教授 (10370983)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 統合失調症 / 全ゲノム関連解析 / ZNF804A遺伝子 / 中間表現型

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and meta-analyses have highlighted ZNF804A as a robust, genome wide supported susceptibility gene for schizophrenia; however, the biological functions of ZNF804A have not yet been fully elucidated. The aim of this study is to see the effect of ZNF804A gene on various phenotypes of brain, like neurocognition, neuroimaging, neurophysiology, personality trait and gene expressions. We also investigated the differential expression of this gene in schizophrenia. We identified a novel transcriptional variant of ZNF804A that contains an additional sequence and found that significantly fewer schizophrenic patients than controls expressed the variant in the lymphoblast. We also found that ZNF804A is involved in the TGF-β signaling. Expression levels of ZNF804A in the postmortem brain and the effect of risk genotype on expression levels were also investigated.

Free Research Field

医歯薬学　内科系臨床医学　精神神経学