A schizophrenia gene locus on chromosome 17q21 in a new set of families of mexican and central american ancestry: evidence from the NIMH genetics of schizophrenia in latino populations study

Abstract

The present study investigated a new set of families of Latin American ancestry in order to detect the location of genes predisposing to schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders. Method: A genome-wide scan was performed for 175 newly recruited families with at least two siblings suffering from a psychotic disorder. Best-estimate consensus procedures were used to arrive at diagnoses, and nonparametric allele-sharing statistics were calculated to detect linkage. Results: Genome-wide significant evidence for linkage for the phenotype of DSM-IV schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder was found in a region on chromosome 17q21 (lod score, 3.33). A region on chromosome 15q22-23 showed suggestive evidence of linkage with this same phenotype (lod score, 2.11). Analyses using a broader model (any psychosis) yielded evidence of suggestive linkage for the 17q21 region only, and no region achieved genome- wide significance of linkage.