Possible association between the gamma-aminobutyric acid type B receptor 1 (GABBR1) gene and schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a severe neuropsychiatric disorder with a genetic component. The major inhibitory GABA-(gamma-aminobutyric acid) ergic system may be involved. The GABA type B receptor 1 (GABBR1) gene has been localized to 6p21.3, a region linked to SCZ. We therefore investigated five polymorphisms (A-7265G, C10497G, Ser-491-Ser-T1473C, Phe-659-Phe-T1977C, and 3'-UTR A33795G substitutions) in the GABBR1 gene in a sample of 101 DSM-IV SCZ probands and their families, 150 unrelated affected individuals matched with 150 healthy controls, using the transmission disequilibrium test (TDT) and case-control analysis. We did not observe biased transmission of alleles in any of the polymorphisms individually and haplotypes within the gene to SCZ probands. However, a weak significant difference was observed in the A-7265G polymorphism between the allelic frequency (chi2 = 4.310, P = 0.038) and a trend was observed between the genotype frequency (chi2 = 4.970, 2 df, P = 0.083) of SCZ individuals and controls. Further investigations of the role of GABBR1 in SCZ are warranted.