No association of polymorphisms in human endogenous retrovirus K18 and CD48 with schizophrenia.

The human endogenous retrovirus HERV-K18 is located within intron 1 of CD48 on chromosome 1q and is still active in the human genome. Genetic variation in HERV-K18 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) has previously been associated with an increased risk of schizophrenia (SZ) and with type 2 diabetes (T2D) among individuals with SZ. Here, we present a replication study of association of two SNPs in HERV-K18 and 19 tagSNPs in CD48 with (a) SZ and (b) T2D in patients with SZ in two Danish samples (total number of cases=750 and controls=1214).

Limitations and advantages of MS-HRM and bisulfite sequencing for single locus methylation studies.

The methylation-sensitive high-resolution melting (MS-HRM) protocol, as described by Wojdacz and Dobrovic, enables detection of a methylated template in an unmethylated background, with sensitivity similar to that of methylation-specific PCR (MSP). Furthermore, MS-HRM-based methylation screening is cost, labor and time efficient in contrast to direct bisulfite sequencing, which, therefore, is unsuitable as a screening method, but is still required to reveal the methylation status of individual CpG sites. In some experiments, detailed information on the methylation status of individual CpGs may be of interest for at least a subset of samples from MS-HRM-based methylation screening.