Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Several lines of evidence have implicated the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-1beta (IL-1β) in the etiology of schizophrenia. Although a number of genetic association studies have been reported, very few have systematically examined gene-wide tagging polymorphisms.
METHODS: A total of 533 patients with schizophrenia (302 males: mean age ± standard deviation 43.4 ± 13.0 years; 233 females; mean age 44.8 ± 15.3 years) and 1136 healthy controls (388 males: mean age 44.6 ± 17.3 years; 748 females; 46.3 ± 15.6 years) were recruited for this study. All subjects were biologically unrelated Japanese individuals. Five tagging polymorphisms of IL-1β gene (rs2853550, rs1143634, rs1143633, rs1143630, rs16944) were examined for association with schizophrenia.
RESULTS: Significant difference in allele distribution was found between patients with schizophrenia and controls for rs1143633 (P = 0.0089). When the analysis was performed separately in each gender, significant difference between patients and controls in allele distribution of rs1143633 was observed in females (P = 0.0073). A trend towards association was also found between rs16944 and female patients with schizophrenia (P = 0.032).
CONCLUSIONS: The present study shows the first evidence that the IL-1β gene polymorphism rs1143633 is associated with schizophrenia susceptibility in a Japanese population. The results suggest the possibility that the influence of IL-1β gene variations on susceptibility to schizophrenia may be greater in females than in males. Findings of the present study provide further support for the role of IL-1β in the etiology of schizophrenia.

日本語要旨:

統合失調症患者533名と健常対象者1136名において、IL-1β遺伝子の5個のタグSNPをタイピングしたところ、IL-1β遺伝子rs1143633において患者群とコントロール群でアレル頻度に有意な差が認められた。このことから、IL-1βが統合失調症の病態へ関与している可能性が示唆された。