Further evidence supporting the association of NKAPL with schizophrenia

Schizophrenia (SZ) is a severe chronic mental disorder with complex genetic mechanisms. Increasing evidence implicate immune system dysfunction in the pathogenesis of SZ. The non-synonymous single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs1635 in NKAPL, was identified by a genome-wide association study (GWAS) for SZ in Han Chinese from north China. A replication study failed to detect the association of rs1635 with SZ in Han Chinese from central south of China, while another one confirmed the positive association in Han Chinese from Taiwan. To further clarify these findings, we conducted a case-control association study of rs1635 in a cohort of Han Chinese from east China, including 1406 SZ cases and 1136 healthy controls. We detected a positive association of rs1635 with SZ, with the major allele (G) of rs1635 conferring a risk for SZ (P = 0.033, OR = 1.14). Our findings add further evidence for the involvement of NKAPL polymorphisms in the development of SZ.