Association between PLA2G12A Polymorphisms and Schizophrenia in a Han Chinese Population from Northeast China

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to explore the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the phospholipase A2 (PLA2), group XIIA gene (PLA2G12A) and schizophrenia. METHODS: This study included 1,063 schizophrenia patients and 1,103 healthy controls from a Han Chinese Population in Northeast China. Four tagSNPs (rs11728699 in intron 1, synonymous rs2285714 in exon 3, rs3087494 in the 3’ UTR, and rs7694620 in the downstream region) in PLA2G12A were selected, and they were genotyped by the MALDI-TOF-MS technology. The Chi-square (χ(2)) test and haplotype analysis were performed to analyze the association of PLA2G12A SNPs and schizophrenia using the software packages SPSS 16.0 and Haploview 4.2. RESULTS: Among the four tagSNPs, only SNP rs3087494 in the 3’ UTR of PLA2G12A showed significant differences in both allele frequencies (χ(2) = 20.136, P<0.001) compared to healthy controls. The minor allele G of SNP rs3087494 is potentially a predictive factor for schizophrenia (OR = 0.753, 95% CI: 0.665–0.882). The frequency distribution of haplotypes consisting of specific alleles of two SNPs (rs7694620-rs3087494 or rs3087494-rs2285714), three SNPs (rs7694620-rs3087494-rs2285714 or rs3087494-rs2285714-rs11728699), or all four SNPs (rs7694620-rs3087494-rs2285714-rs11728699) was significantly different between schizophrenia patients and control subjects (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrated that PLA2G12A SNPs or haplotypes might influence the susceptibility to schizophrenia in the Han Chinese population from Northeast China.