Association of Neuregulin-1 gene polymorphisms with neuro-cognitive features of schizophrenia patients from South India: A pilot study

Numerous genes have been associated with schizophrenia. In particular, Neuregulin-1 (NRG1) has been widely implicated. Specifically, a 7-marker haplotype called HAPICE in NRG1 is correlated with schizophrenia in many ethnic groups. However, the association of these markers with endophenotypes has shown many contrasting results. India, which harbours one sixth of the global population, is poorly represented in these studies. The present pilot study is aimed to identify association of NRG1 genetic variants with schizophrenia and neuro-cognitive features of the disorder. For this, 148 patients and 156 controls were enrolled and four NRG1 SNPs (rs7812451, rs35753505, rs62510682 and rs6994992) were genotyped. Significant associations of SNPs rs7812451 (Allele-A; OR:2.7, P<0.0001) and rs35753505 (Allele-C; OR:1.7, P=0.0015) with schizophrenia was observed. The CC genotype of rs35753505 was associated with poor response to visual and working memory tests while GG genotype of rs62510682 with good response to verbal fluency, working memory and many executive-function tests.