Association between Unc-51-like autophagy activating kinase 2 gene polymorphisms and schizophrenia in the Korean population.

Accumulating evidence indicates that the autophagy process is involved in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Autophagy plays a fundamental role in neuronal survival and function, and autophagy-related genes have been suggested to be associated with the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. The Unc-51-like autophagy activating kinase 2 (ULK2) gene has been implicated in autophagy regulation; therefore, we hypothesized that ULK2 polymorphisms may be associated with schizophrenia susceptibility.