Cited by 1,475Genomic variations and chromosomal abnormalitiesSchizophrenia research and treatmentGenetic Associations and Epidemiology

Rare chromosomal deletions and duplications increase risk of schizophrenia

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The International Schizophrenia Consortium·2008·Nature

Abstract

Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder marked by hallucinations, delusions, cognitive deficits and apathy, with a heritability estimated at 73-90% (ref. 1). Inheritance patterns are complex, and the number and type of genetic variants involved are not understood. Copy number variants (CNVs) have been identified in individual patients with schizophrenia and also in neurodevelopmental disorders, but large-scale genome-wide surveys have not been performed. Here we report a genome-wide survey of rare CNVs in 3,391 patients with schizophrenia and 3,181 ancestrally matched controls, using high-density microarrays. For CNVs that were observed in less than 1% of the sample and were more than 100 kilobases in length, the total burden is increased 1.15-fold in patients with schizophrenia in comparison with controls. This effect was more pronounced for rarer, single-occurrence CNVs and for those that involved genes as opposed to those that did not. As expected, deletions were found within the region critical for velo-cardio-facial syndrome, which includes psychotic symptoms in 30% of patients. Associations with schizophrenia were also found for large deletions on chromosome 15q13.3 and 1q21.1. These associations have not previously been reported, and they remained significant after genome-wide correction. Our results provide strong support for a model of schizophrenia pathogenesis that includes the effects of multiple rare structural variants, both genome-wide and at specific loci.

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Authors
The International Schizophrenia Consortium
Venue
Nature
Published
2008-07-30
Volume
455
Issue
7210
Pages
237-241
ISSN
  • 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
  • 1476-4687
OpenAlex
W2050161506
Cited by
1,475
References
32
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 28 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 54 · 2020: 43 · 2019: 43 · 2018: 49 · 2017: 66 · 2016: 71 · 2015: 97 · 2014: 106 · 2013: 130 · 2012: 169
FWCI
105.32
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • Arrow@dit (Dublin Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
  • Massachusetts General Hospital
  • University of Southern California
  • Wellcome Trust (066717)
  • Health Research Board
  • Broad Institute
  • University of Aberdeen
  • Science Foundation Ireland
  • Trinity College Dublin
  • Forskningsrådet för Arbetsliv och Socialvetenskap (2001-2368)
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • Medical Research Council
  • National Health and Medical Research Council
  • National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH077139, MH080403, MH071681, P50MH066392, MH074027, R01MH071681, R01MH074027, MH077139, R01MH080403)
  • National Human Genome Research Institute (R01HG005827)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genomic variations and chromosomal abnormalities
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Schizophrenia research and treatment
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
Keywords
schizophrenia, copy number variation, chromosomal deletion, chromosomal duplication, de novo copy number variants, chromosome 1, chromosome 15, 22q11.2 deletion syndrome, genetic risk, genome-wide association study, neurodevelopmental disorders, heritability
MeSH terms
Chromosome Deletion, Chromosomes, Human, Humans, Models, Genetic, Schizophrenia, Genome, Human, Case-Control Studies, Sequence Deletion, Gene Dosage, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis, Gene Duplication, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide

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