Association of schizophrenia with variations in genes encoding transcription factors

Abstract

Alterations in neuronal plasticity and immune system play a key role in pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Identification of genetic factors contributing to these alterations will significantly encourage elucidation of molecular etiopathomechanisms of this disorder. Transcription factors c-Fos, c-Jun, and Ier5 are the important regulators of neuronal plasticity and immune response. In the present work we investigated a potential association of schizophrenia with a number of single nucleotide polymorphisms of c-Fos-,c-Jun and Ier5 encoding genes (FOS, JUN, and IER5 respectively). Genotyping of DNA samples of patients with schizophrenia and healthy individuals was performed using polymerase chain reaction with allele specific primers. The results obtained demonstrated association between schizophrenia and FOS rs1063169, FOS rs7101, JUN rs11688, and IER5 rs6425663 polymorphisms. Namely, it was found that the inheritance of FOS rs1063169*T, JUN rs11688*A, and IER5 rs6425663*T minor variants decreases risk for development of schizophrenia whereas the inheritance of FOS rs7101*T minor variant, especially its homozygous form, increases risk for development of this disorder.