Further evidence that the chromogranin B gene confers predisposition to schizophrenia: a family-based association study in Chinese.

The Chromogranin B (CHGB) gene has been proposed as a candidate gene for predisposition to schizophrenia due to its location on the genome, the evidence of genetic studies, and its functional role in schizophrenia. To investigate its association with schizophrenia using case-control analysis, we genotyped eight single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and performed transmission disequilibrium tests (TDT) using 192 Han Chinese trios. The G allele of IVS4 + 808A > G showed a trend of over-transmission from heterozygous parents to affected offspring (P = 0.06), although no significant over-transmission was found for individual markers. Furthermore, a significant transmission was observed for the common haplotype G-G-A-G-C (P = 0.0018). Overall, our results suggest that at least one locus in or close to the CHGB gene confers risk of the disorder and strengthen the evidence that CHGB is a promising susceptibility gene for schizophrenia in Chinese population.