Genome-Wide Association Study Detected Novel Susceptibility Genes for Schizophrenia and Shared Trans-Populations/Diseases Genetic Effect.

Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified >100 susceptibility loci for schizophrenia (SCZ) and demonstrated that SCZ is a polygenic disorder determined by numerous genetic variants but with small effect size. We conducted a GWAS in the Japanese (JPN) population (a) to detect novel SCZ-susceptibility genes and (b) to examine the shared genetic risk of SCZ across (East Asian [EAS] and European [EUR]) populations and/or that of trans-diseases (SCZ, bipolar disorder [BD], and major depressive disorder [MDD]) within EAS and between EAS and EUR (trans-diseases/populations). Among the discovery GWAS subjects (JPN-SCZ GWAS: 1940 SCZ cases and 7408 controls) and replication dataset (4071 SCZ cases and 54479 controls), both comprising JPN populations, 3 novel susceptibility loci for SCZ were identified: SPHKAP (Pbest = 4.

Risk factors and clinical characteristics of the depressive state induced by pegylated interferon therapy in patients with hepatitis C virus infection: A prospective study.

Aim: Pegylated interferon (PegIFN) therapies for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection often induce a depressive state. This study aimed to identify the risk factors for and clinical characteristics of PegIFN-induced depressive state.

Methods: Sixty-nine subjects with HCV who received PegIFN therapy were enrolled.

Pharmacogenomic Study of Clozapine-Induced Agranulocytosis/Granulocytopenia in a Japanese Population.

Background: Clozapine-induced agranulocytosis (CIA)/clozapine-induced granulocytopenia (CIG) (CIAG) is a life-threatening event for schizophrenic subjects treated with clozapine.

Methods: To examine the genetic factor for CIAG, a genome-wide pharmacogenomic analysis was conducted using 50 subjects with CIAG and 2905 control subjects.

Results: We identified a significant association in the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) region (rs1800625, p = 3.