[The human dihydropyrimidinase-related protein 2 (DRP-2) gene on chromosome 8p21 is associated with paranoid-type schizophrenia]

Abstract

The dihydropyrimidinase-related protein (DRP) family, also called the collapsin response mediator protein, is implicated in the developmental process of the nervous system. Dysfunction of DRPs may result in neurodevelopmental abnormalities, which have been assumed to be a possible factor in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. It has been reported that in humans, the expression of one member of the DRP family, DRP-2, is decreased in the brains of individuals with schizophrenia. In addition, the DRP-2 gene is located on chromosome 8p21, a region that has been implicated in schizophrenia in genetic linkage studies. We investigated a genetic association between five polymorphisms of the DRP-2 gene and schizophrenia in the Japanese population. The *2236T > C polymorphism in the 3' untranslated region (3'UTR) exhibited significant differences with respect to the distribution of the genotype and allele in patients compared with controls. The frequency of the *2236C allele was significantly higher in controls than in patients with schizophrenia (P = 0.0097) and patients with paranoid-type schizophrenia (P = 0.0083). These results suggest that the *2236C allele in the 3'UTR of the DRP-2 gene, or an unknown mutation in linkage disequilibrium with this allele, may reduce the susceptibility to schizophrenia, especially the paranoid subtype.