Association study between polymorphisms of the PARD3 gene and schizophrenia.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether par-3 partitioning defective 3 homolog (C. elegans) (PARD3) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are associated with schizophrenia. A total of 204 Korean schizophrenic patients [117 male, 41.1±9.6 years (mean age ± SD); 87 female, 42.6±11.5] and 351 control subjects (170 male, 43.8±6.6 years; 181 female, 44.2±5.8) were enrolled. We genotyped nine SNPs of the PARD3 gene [rs7075263 (intron), rs10827392 (intron), rs773970 (intron), rs2252655 (intron), rs10763984 (intron), rs3781128 (Ser889Ser), rs1936429 (intron), rs671228 (intron) and rs16935163 (intron)]. Genotypes of PARD3 polymorphisms were evaluated by direct sequencing. We used SNPStats, SPSS 18.0 and Haploview 4.2 software for analysis of genetic data. Multiple logistic regression models were used to calculate the odds ratio (OR), 95% confidence interval (CI), and corresponding p-values (p), controlling for age and gender as covariables. Allele frequencies of the PARD3 SNPs were significantly associated with schizophrenia (rs3781128, p=0.041; rs1936429, p=0.030; rs671228, p=0.028). Certain genotype frequencies of the PARD3 SNPs also showed significant associations with schizophrenia (p<0.05, rs7075263, rs773970, rs2252655, rs10763984, rs3781128, rs1936429, rs16935163). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report showing that PARD3 is associated with susceptibility to schizophrenia in a Korean population. In conclusion, our findings suggest that PARD3 may contribute to genetic susceptibility to schizophrenia.