No genetic association between SLC7A10 and Japanese patients with schizophrenia.

Disrupted glutamatergic neurotransmission may be a pathophysiological feature in the brains from patients with schizophrenia, and glutamatergic amino acids including D-serine have been found to be involved in pathophysiology. Endogenous and exogenous D-serine have shown potential as biological markers for the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and especially as a therapeutic strategy in treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS). This is the first study investigating whether SLC7A10, a d-serine transporter gene, is associated with schizophrenia in Japanese patients. We investigated the association between schizophrenia in Japanese patients with SLC7A10 using six tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Results failed to show any association between Japanese schizophrenia and each individual SNP or with two-, three-, or four-window haplotype analyses. We also investigated whether SLC7A10 contributes to TRS in Japanese participants. Results showed no association. In conclusion, SLC7A10 had no apparent degree of association with schizophrenia as a candidate susceptibility gene in the disease per se.