BACKGROUND: Recently, a role of the transcription factor 4 (TCF4) gene in schizophrenia has been reported in a large genome-wide association study. It has been hypothesized that TCF4 affects normal brain development and TCF4 has been related to different forms of neurodevelopmental disorders. Schizophrenia patients exhibit strong impairments of verbal declarative memory (VDM) functions. Thus, we hypothesized that the disease-associated C allele of the rs9960767 polymorphism of the TCF4 gene led to impaired VDM functioning in schizophrenia patients. METHOD: The TCF4 variant was genotyped in 401 schizophrenia patients. VDM functioning was measured using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). RESULTS: Carriers of the C allele were less impaired in recognition compared to those carrying the AA genotype (13.76 vs. 13.06; p = 0.049). Moreover, a trend toward higher scores in patients with the risk allele was found for delayed recall (10.24 vs. 9.41; p = 0.088). The TCF4 genotype did not influence intelligence or RAVLT immediate recall or total verbal learning. CONCLUSION: VDM function is influenced by the TCF4 gene in schizophrenia patients. However, the elevated risk for schizophrenia is not conferred by TCF4-mediated VDM impairment.
BACKGROUND: Recently, a role of the transcription factor 4 (TCF4) gene in schizophrenia has been reported in a large genome-wide association study. It has been hypothesized that TCF4 affects normal brain development and TCF4 has been related to different forms of neurodevelopmental disorders. Schizophreniapatients exhibit strong impairments of verbal declarative memory (VDM) functions. Thus, we hypothesized that the disease-associated C allele of the rs9960767 polymorphism of the TCF4 gene led to impaired VDM functioning in schizophreniapatients. METHOD: The TCF4 variant was genotyped in 401 schizophreniapatients. VDM functioning was measured using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). RESULTS: Carriers of the C allele were less impaired in recognition compared to those carrying the AA genotype (13.76 vs. 13.06; p = 0.049). Moreover, a trend toward higher scores in patients with the risk allele was found for delayed recall (10.24 vs. 9.41; p = 0.088). The TCF4 genotype did not influence intelligence or RAVLT immediate recall or total verbal learning. CONCLUSION: VDM function is influenced by the TCF4 gene in schizophreniapatients. However, the elevated risk for schizophrenia is not conferred by TCF4-mediated VDM impairment.
Authors: Hanzhang Xia; Fay M Jahr; Nak-Kyeong Kim; Linying Xie; Andrey A Shabalin; Julien Bryois; Douglas H Sweet; Mohamad M Kronfol; Preetha Palasuberniam; MaryPeace McRae; Brien P Riley; Patrick F Sullivan; Edwin J van den Oord; Joseph L McClay Journal: Hum Mol Genet Date: 2018-09-15 Impact factor: 6.150
Authors: Andrew J Kennedy; Elizabeth J Rahn; Brynna S Paulukaitis; Katherine E Savell; Holly B Kordasiewicz; Jing Wang; John W Lewis; Jessica Posey; Sarah K Strange; Mikael C Guzman-Karlsson; Scott E Phillips; Kyle Decker; S Timothy Motley; Eric E Swayze; David J Ecker; Todd P Michael; Jeremy J Day; J David Sweatt Journal: Cell Rep Date: 2016-08-25 Impact factor: 9.423