Genetic analysis of common variants in the ZNF804A gene with schizophrenia and major depressive disorder.

AIM/OBJECTIVES/BACKGROUND: ZNF804A has been investigated widely as a candidate susceptibility gene for mental disorders in individuals of different ethnicities. However, in the Han Chinese population, most studies of this gene have focused on associations of the common single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs1344706. METHODS: To investigate additional common variants within ZNF804A, we carried out a case-control study of 13 SNPs distributed across the whole gene, in 1330 schizophrenic patients, 1045 major depressive disorder patients, and 1235 normal controls. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: We found that rs12476147 (P=0.0078) was associated significantly with schizophrenia, but no SNPs showed statistically significant associations with major depressive disorder after Bonferroni correction. Moreover, we also found that haplotype block 2, which included rs12476147 and rs1344706, was associated significantly with schizophrenia and major depressive disorder. Nevertheless, we could not replicate the association of rs1344706 with schizophrenia. In conclusion, the common variant rs12476147 and the related haplotype block in ZNF804A were associated significantly with schizophrenia in the Han Chinese population.