Involvement of the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-ergic system in schizophrenia pathogenesis through disrupted neurodevelopment has been highlighted in numerous studies. However, the function of common genetic variants of this system in determining schizophrenia risk is unknown. We therefore tested the association of 375 tagged SNPs in genes derived from the GABAergic system, such as GABA receptor subunit genes, and GABA related genes (glutamate decarboxylase genes, GABAergic-marker gene, genes involved in GABA receptor trafficking and scaffolding) in Japanese schizophrenia case-control samples (n=2926; 1415 cases and 1511 controls). We observed nominal association of SNPs in nine GABA receptor subunit genes and the GPHN gene with schizophrenia, although none survived correction for study-wide multiple testing. Two SNPs located in the GABRA1 gene, rs4263535 (P=0.002; uncorrected) and rs1157122 (P=0.006; uncorrected) showed top hits, followed by rs723432 (P=0.007; uncorrected) in the GPHN gene. All three were significantly associated with schizophrenia and survived gene-wide multiple testing. Haplotypes containing associated variants in GABRA1 but not GPHN were significantly associated with schizophrenia. To conclude, we provided substantiating genetic evidence for the involvement of the GABAergic system in schizophrenia susceptibility. These results warrant further investigations to replicate the association of GABRA1 and GPHN with schizophrenia and to discern the precise mechanisms of disease pathophysiology.
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