Full Text Full Text (PDF) Data Supplement Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Email this article to a Colleague Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to My Articles & Searches Download to citation manager Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Articles by Almasy, L. Articles by Gur, R. E. Search for Related Content PubMed Citation Articles by Almasy, L. Articles by Gur, R. E. Genetics Related Article

A Genome Screen for Quantitative Trait Loci Influencing Schizophrenia and Neurocognitive Phenotypes

OBJECTIVE: Deficits in neurocognitive function have been demonstrated in individuals with schizophrenia and in the unaffected family members of these individuals. Genetic studies of such complementary traits, along with traditional analyses of diagnosis, may help to elucidate the biological pathways underlying familial liability to schizophrenia and related disorders. The authors conducted a multiplex, multigenerational family study using a genome-wide screen for schizophrenia and related neurocognitive phenotypes. METHOD: Participants were 1) 676 European American individuals from 43 families, ascertained through an individual with schizophrenia, and 2) 236 healthy comparison subjects. Participants were evaluated clinically and examined through the use of a computerized neurocognitive test battery that provided measures of accuracy and speed on the cognitive domains of abstraction and mental flexibility; attention; verbal, face, and spatial memory; language and reasoning; spatial and emotion processing; and sensorimotor dexterity. A genome-wide linkage screen was also performed. Healthy comparison subjects were included in order to obtain normative phenotypic data but were not genotyped. RESULTS: Significant evidence for linkage of schizophrenia to chromosome 19q was observed. Analysis of cognitive traits revealed significant linkage to chromosome 5q for the domains of abstraction and mental flexibility. A variety of other neurocognitive traits also showed nominal evidence of linkage to the 5q region. Joint analyses with diagnosis suggested that this quantitative trait locus may also influence schizophrenia. CONCLUSIONS: Although chromosome 5 has been implicated in previous linkage studies of schizophrenia, the identification of the chromosome 19 quantitative trait locus is a novel finding. The identification of the chromosome 5 quantitative trait locus through linkage to neurocognitive phenotypes in the present study may inform functional hypotheses pertaining to how genotypes are connected to disease.

Related Article:

In This Issue
Am J Psychiatry 2008 165: A36. [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S. G. Potkin, J. A. Turner, G. Guffanti, A. Lakatos, J. H. Fallon, D. D. Nguyen, D. Mathalon, J. Ford, J. Lauriello, F. Macciardi, et al. A Genome-Wide Association Study of Schizophrenia Using Brain Activation as a Quantitative Phenotype Schizophr Bull, January 1, 2009; 35(1): 96 - 108. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. G. Potkin and J. M. Ford Widespread Cortical Dysfunction in Schizophrenia: The FBIRN Imaging Consortium Schizophr Bull, January 1, 2009; 35(1): 15 - 18. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L. M. Brzustowicz and A. S. Bassett Phenotype Matters: The Case for Careful Characterization of Relevant Traits Am J Psychiatry, September 1, 2008; 165(9): 1096 - 1098. [Full Text] [PDF]

Get information about faster international access.

Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2008 American Psychiatric Association. All rights reserved.

Home | Search | Current Issue | Past Issues | Subscribe | All APPI Journals | Help | Contact Us