Association of ADH7 Gene Polymorphism with Schizophrenia in the Han Population of Northern China: a Case-Control Study.

Schizophrenia is a serious neurodevelopmental disorder. Genetics is an important factor leading to schizophrenia, but its exact role is still unclear. Many studies have focused on neurotransmitters and regulators that participate in the processes mediated by these neurotransmitters. Alcohol dehydrogenase may not only catalyze the oxidation of retinol and ethanol but also be involved in a variety of neurotransmitter metabolic pathways. Therefore, our study investigated whether ADH7 gene variations in the Chinese Han population were associated with schizophrenia. Genomic DNA was extracted from a cohort of 275 schizophrenic patients (136 men and 139 women) and 313 healthy controls (160 men and 153 women) from the Northern Han Chinese population. The Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium test and linkage disequilibrium analysis were performed. Differences in genotypes, alleles, and haplotypes between the schizophrenic and control groups were determined using the chi-square test and correlation analysis. The distribution of the CC + TT genotype of rs284787 was statistically different between the case and control groups (p = 0.026, OR = 1.448); however, the difference disappeared after Bonferroni correction. Linkage analysis indicated that rs739147, rs284787, rs3805329, rs894369, rs3805331, and rs284786 were closely linked in one block. The haplotype analysis found no association between the composed haplotypes and the occurrence of schizophrenia. Our study showed that the ADH7 gene was not associated with the risk of schizophrenia. Additional studies with larger cohorts of different ethnicities are needed to validate our findings.