Positive Association of Human SHC3 Gene with Schizophrenia in a Northeast Chinese Han Population

Abstract

Objective Schizophrenia is one of the most devastating neuropsychiatric disorders. Genetic epidemiological studies have confirmed that schizophrenia is a genetic disease. Genes promoting neurodevelopment may be potential candidates for schizophrenia. As an adaptor linking a number of tyrosine kinase receptors in multiple intracellular signaling cascades, Src homology 2 domain containing transforming protein 3 (<i>SHC3</i>) is a member of the Shc-like adaptor protein family, and expressed predominantly in the mature neurons of the central nervous system (CNS). In the present study, we aimed to investigate the association of <i>SHC3</i> and schizophrenia.Methods An independent case-control association study was performed in a sample including 710 schizophrenia patients and 1314 healthy controls from a Northeast Chinese Han population.Results The allelic and genotypic association analyses showed that four SNPs in <i>SHC3</i> significantly associated with schizophrenia (rs2316280, rs4877041, rs944485 and rs7021743). The haplotype composing of these four SNPs also showed significantly individual and global association with schizophrenia.Conclusion Our present results suggest <i>SHC3</i> as a susceptibility gene for schizophrenia.