SNX29, a new susceptibility gene shared with major mental disorders in Han Chinese population.

Objectives: Environmental and genetic factors play important roles in the development of schizophrenia (SCZ), bipolar disorder (BPD) or major depressive disorder (MDD). Some risk loci are identified with shared genetic effects on major psychiatric disorders. To investigate whether gene played a significant role in these psychiatric disorders in the Han Chinese population.

Methods: We focussed on 11 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) harbouring gene and carried out case-control studies in patients with SCZ ( = 1248), BPD ( = 1344), or MDD ( = 1056), and 1248 healthy controls (HC) recruited from the Han Chinese population. We constructed weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) and extracted significant modules by R package.

Results: We found that rs3743592 was significantly associated with MDD and rs6498263 with BPD in both allele and genotype distributions. Before correction, rs3743592 showed allelic and genotypic significance with SCZ, rs6498263 showed allelic significance with SCZ. WGCNA identified top 10 modules of co-expressed genes. Gene Ontology (GO) and pathway analysis were used to examine the functions of SNX29, which revealed that SNX29 was involved in the regulation of a number of biological processes, such as TGF-beta, ErbB, and Wnt signalling pathway, etc.

Conclusions: Our results supported common risk factors in might share among these three mental disorders in the Han Chinese population.