No association between the KCNH1, KCNJ10 and KCNN3 genes and schizophrenia in the Han Chinese population

Schizophrenia is a common severe mental illness affecting 0.3–2.0% of the world's population. The potassium channels are thought to have a role in modulating electrical excitability in neurons, regulating calcium signaling in oligodendrocytes and regulating action potential duration in presynaptic terminals and GABA release. Previous studies have reported that some potassium channel genes might be candidate genes for susceptibility to schizophrenia. In the present study, we chose three potassium channel genes, KCNH1, KCNJ10, KCNN3 to investigate the role of potassium channels in schizophrenia by genotyping 23 SNPs (9 in KCNH1, 5 in KCNJ10 and 9 in KCNN3) in a Han Chinese sample consisting of 893 schizophrenia patients and 611 healthy controls. No significant difference in allelic or genotypic frequency was revealed between schizophrenia patients and healthy individuals. Nor was a significant difference in haplotypic distribution detected. MDR analysis revealed no gene–gene interaction within the three potassium channel genes. Our study suggests that the 23 SNPs within the three potassium genes we examined do not play a major role in schizophrenia in the Han Chinese population.

Research highlights▶ Potassium channels may play roles in schizophrenia. ▶ KCNH1, KCNJ10 and KCNN3 are all important members of potassium channels. ▶ No association was found between the three genes and schizophrenia in Han Chinese.