Dihydropyrimidinase-related protein 2 (DRP-2) gene and association to deficit and nondeficit schizophrenia.

A previous study has shown an association between the *2236T > C allele polymorphism of the dihydropyrimidinase-related protein 2 (DRP-2) gene and schizophrenia in a Japanese sample [Nakata et al. (2003); Biological Psychiatry 53:571-576]. DRP-2 is an important molecule in guiding neuronal development and its gene is located in 8p21, a chromosomal region that was previously shown to have significant linkage to schizophrenia and to several deficit symptoms of schizophrenia. We compared the frequency of the DRP-2 *2236T > C polymorphism between subjects with (n = 117) and without (n = 72) schizophrenia, and then further evaluated whether the association was specific for the deficit (n = 24) and nondeficit (n = 93) forms of schizophrenia. In both Caucasians and African-Americans, the C allele occurred more frequently in schizophrenia cases than controls, with this difference achieving statistical significance in Caucasians (C allele frequency: 42.0% in cases vs. 25.0% in controls, P = 0.014) but not African Americans (52.6% in cases vs. 50.0% in controls, P = 0.93). In Caucasians, the frequency of the C allele was significantly higher in both the deficit (allele frequency 53.3%, P = 0.009) and nondeficit (39.2%, P =0.050) forms of schizophrenia compared to controls (allele frequency 25.0%). We conclude that the DRP-2 *2236 C allele may mark another polymorphism in DRP-2, or in a nearby gene, that may influence susceptibility to schizophrenia. Copyright 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.