Schizophrenia-associated rs4702 G allele-specific downregulation of FURIN expression by miR-338-3p reduces BDNF production

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) reveal numerous schizophrenia (SCZ)-associated single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs); however, functional characterizations of the risk variants remain to be established. Using data from 108 SCZ GWAS loci, we performed systematic miRNA binding site screening of 128 SCZ-associated SNPs and found that 2 out of 3 SNPs located in the 3 ′UTR were predicted to alter 3 miRNAs' binding sites in 2 target genes. Of the identified SNPs, the most genome-wide significant SNP rs4702 (A/G) in the FURIN 3′UTR, previously identified as an SCZ-associated cis-expression quantitative trait loci (downregulated by the risk G allele), is located in the binding site of miR-338-3p in the presence of the risk G allele.

Source: Schizophrenia Research - February 27, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Yu Hou, Wenquan Liang, Jian Zhang, Qiyang Li, Haiyan Ou, Zhongju Wang, Shufen Li, Xingbing Huang, Cunyou Zhao Source Type: research