Kelsoe JR.
Arguments for the genetic basis of the bipolar spectrum.
J Affect Disord. 2003 Jan;73(1-2):183-97.
"Family members of bipolar probands have been repeatedly shown to have an increased risk for mood disorders. However, a range of different syndromes in the bipolar spectrum are commonly observed in these relatives. This suggests the hypothesis that these different syndromes may be genetically related. It further suggests that bipolar disorder may be better conceptualized from a genetic standpoint as a quantitative trait. In such a model, the same genes may predispose to a variety of phenotypes ranging from schizoaffective disorder to cyclothymic temperament. Previous attempts to test such a multifactorial model have provided some limited support. However, other studies argue that some forms of bipolar disorder such as bipolar II may be genetically distinct. In this review, various quantitative and categorical models of illness are considered and the data supporting them reviewed. It is proposed that the existing data may best fit a model in which different sets of genes predispose to overlapping phenotypes that are in part both quantitative and distinct in nature." [Abstract]

Becker KG.
The common variants/multiple disease hypothesis of common complex genetic disorders.
Med Hypotheses. 2004;62(2):309-17.
"Unlike simple rare Mendelian disorders, the genetic basis for common disorders is unclear. A general model of the genetics of common complex disorders is proposed which emphasizes the shared nature of common alleles in related common disorders, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, Type II diabetes and obesity, and among autoimmune diseases. This model, the common variants/multiple disease hypothesis, emphasizes that many disease genes may not be disease specific. Common deleterious alleles, found at a relatively high frequency in the population may play a role in related clinical phenotypes in the context of different genetic backgrounds and under different environmental conditions." [Abstract]

Barrett TB, Hauger RL, Kennedy JL, Sadovnick AD, Remick RA, Keck PE, McElroy SL, Alexander M, Shaw SH, Kelsoe JR.
Evidence that a single nucleotide polymorphism in the promoter of the G protein receptor kinase 3 gene is associated with bipolar disorder.
Mol Psychiatry. 2003 May;8(5):546-57.
"In a genome-wide linkage survey, we have previously shown evidence suggesting that the chromosome 22q12 region contains a susceptibility locus for bipolar disorder (BPD). Two independent family sets yielded lod scores suggestive of linkage at markers in this region near the gene G protein receptor kinase 3 (GRK3). GRK3 is an excellent candidate risk gene for BPD since GRK3 is expressed widely in the brain, and since GRKs play key roles in the homologous desensitization of G protein-coupled receptor signaling. We have also previously shown GRK3 expression to be induced by amphetamine in an animal model of mania using microarray-based expression profiling. To identify possible functional mutations in GRK3, we sequenced the putative promoter region, all 21 exons, and intronic sequence flanking each exon, in 14-22 individuals with BPD. We found six sequence variants in the 5'-UTR/promoter region, but no coding or obvious splice variants. Transmission disequilibrium analyses of one set of 153 families indicated that two of the 5'-UTR/promoter variants are associated with BPD in families of northern European Caucasian ancestry. A supportive trend towards association to one of these two variants (P-5) was then subsequently obtained in an independent sample of 237 families. In the combined sample, the P-5 variant had an estimated allele frequency of 3% in bipolar subjects, and displayed a transmission to non-transmission ratio of 26 : 7.7 (chi(2)=9.6, one-sided P value=0.0019). Altogether, these data support the hypothesis that a dysregulation in GRK3 expression alters signaling desensitization, and thereby predisposes to the development of BPD." [Abstract]

On Site Link: Bipolar Disorder and GRK3

ALEXANDER B. NICULESCU, III, DAVID S. SEGAL, RONALD KUCZENSKI, THOMAS BARRETT, RICHARD L. HAUGER, and JOHN R. KELSOE
Identifying a series of candidate genes for mania and psychosis: a convergent functional genomics approach
Physiol. Genomics 4: 83-91, 2000.
"We have used methamphetamine treatment of rats as an animal model for psychotic mania. Specific brain regions were analyzed comprehensively for changes in gene expression using oligonucleotide GeneChip microarrays. The data was cross-matched against human genomic loci associated with either bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. Using this convergent approach, we have identified several novel candidate genes (e.g., signal transduction molecules, transcription factors, metabolic enzymes) that may be involved in the pathogenesis of mood disorders and psychosis. Furthermore, for one of these genes, G protein-coupled receptor kinase 3 (GRK3), we found by Western blot analysis evidence for decreased protein levels in a subset of patient lymphoblastoid cell lines that correlated with disease severity. Finally, the classification of these candidate genes into two prototypical categories, psychogenes and psychosis-suppressor genes, is described.
...
G protein-coupled receptor kinase 3. G protein-coupled receptor kinase 3 (GRK3) mediates homologous desensitization for a variety of neurotransmitters by phosphorylation of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). GRK3 maps to human chromosome 22q11. This region had been previously implicated in bipolar disorder by our group (32, 38) and others (11, 15). In fact, 22q yielded the highest LOD scores of any chromosomal region in our genome survey (results to be reported separately). Consistent with many findings in this field, this linkage peak was broad and spanned nearly 20 cM. One of the highest LOD scores in this region was 2.2 at D22S419, which maps to within 40 kb of GRK3. This marker is also quite close to the markers identified in the two other independent positive linkage reports for 22q in bipolar disorder. A marker within the GRK3 gene, D22S315, has also been implicated in a study of eye tracking and evoked potential abnormalities in schizophrenia (44).
The known physiological role of GRK3, described in more detail below, suggests the hypothesis that a defect in its function could lead to supersensitivity to dopamine or a defect in the homeostatic adaptation to dopamine, which in turn could predispose to illness." [Full Text]

Potash JB, Zandi PP, Willour VL, Lan TH, Huo Y, Avramopoulos D, Shugart YY, MacKinnon DF, Simpson SG, McMahon FJ, DePaulo JR Jr, McInnis MG.
Suggestive linkage to chromosomal regions 13q31 and 22q12 in families with psychotic bipolar disorder.
Am J Psychiatry 2003 Apr;160(4):680-6
"OBJECTIVE: Linkage studies of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia have found overlapping evidence for susceptibility genes in four chromosomal regions-10p12-14, 13q32, 18p11.2, and 22q12-13. The authors previously demonstrated familial clustering of psychotic symptoms-defined as hallucinations and/or delusions-in some bipolar disorder pedigrees. In this study they used stratified linkage analysis to test the hypothesis that those bipolar disorder pedigrees most enriched for psychotic symptoms would show greater evidence of linkage to the regions of previous bipolar disorder/schizophrenia linkage overlap. METHOD: Nonparametric linkage analyses using GENEHUNTER and ASPEX were performed on 65 bipolar disorder families. Family subsets were defined by the number of family members with psychotic mood disorder. RESULTS: The 10 families in which three or more members had psychotic mood disorder showed suggestive evidence of linkage to 13q31 (nonparametric linkage score=3.56; LOD score=2.52) and 22q12 (nonparametric linkage score=3.32; LOD score=3.06). These results differed significantly from those for the entire study group of 65 families, which showed little or no linkage evidence in the two regions. The 10 families with three or more psychotic members did not show evidence of linkage to 10p12-14 or 18p11.2. The 95% confidence interval on 22q12 spanned 4.3 centimorgans (2.6 megabases) and was congruent with previous findings. CONCLUSIONS: Bipolar disorder families in which psychotic symptoms cluster may carry susceptibility genes on chromosomal regions 13q31 and 22q12. Replication should be attempted in similar families and perhaps in schizophrenia families in which mood symptoms cluster because these overlapping phenotypes may correlate most closely with the putative susceptibility genes. The localization of the 22q12 finding particularly encourages further study of this region." [Abstract]

Stopkova P, Saito T, Fann CS, Papolos DF, Vevera J, Paclt I, Zukov I, Stryjer R, Strous RD, Lachman HM.
Polymorphism screening of PIP5K2A: a candidate gene for chromosome 10p-linked psychiatric disorders.
Am J Med Genet. 2003 Nov 15;123B(1):50-8.
"Lithium is a potent noncompetitive inhibitor of inositol monophosphatases, enzymes involved in phosphoinositide (PI) and inositol phosphate metabolism. A critical component of the PI pathway is phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PtdIns(4,5)P(2)), which is hydrolyzed to second messengers and has a direct role in synaptic vesicle function. Interestingly, a number of genes involved in the synthesis and dephosphorylation of PtdIns(4,5)P(2) are found in regions of the genome previously mapped in bipolar disorder (BD) including 10p12, 21q22, and 22q11, among others. Some of these regions overlap with loci mapped in schizophrenia (SZ). One gene involved in PI metabolism that maps to a region of interest is 10p12-linked PIP5K2A, a member of the phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate 5-kinase family. Polymorphism screening revealed the existence of an imperfect CT repeat polymorphism located near the exon 9-intron 9 splice donor site. A modest difference was found in the distribution of alleles from this highly polymorphic variant when bipolar and schizophrenic subjects were compared with controls; relatively rare short repeat variants were found more commonly in patients and homozygosity for a common long repeat variant was found more commonly in controls. These data suggest that the imperfect CT repeat in PIP5K2A intron 9 should be further investigated as a possible candidate allele for 10p12-linked psychiatric disorders." [Abstract]

On Site Link: Bipolar Disorder and PIP2

Maziade M, Roy MA, Rouillard E, Bissonnette L, Fournier JP, Roy A, Garneau Y, Montgrain N, Potvin A, Cliche D, Dion C, Wallot H, Fournier A, Nicole L, Lavallee JC, Merette C.
A search for specific and common susceptibility loci for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder: a linkage study in 13 target chromosomes.
Mol Psychiatry 2001 Nov;6(6):684-93
"We report the first stage of a genome scan of schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BP) covering 18 candidate chromosomal areas. In addition to testing susceptibility loci that are specific to each disorder, we tested the hypothesis that some susceptibility loci might be common to both disorders. A total of 480 individuals from 21 multigenerational pedigrees of Eastern Quebec were evaluated by means of a consensus best-estimate diagnosis made blind to diagnoses in relatives and were genotyped with 220 microsatellite markers. Two-point and multipoint model-based linkage analyses were performed and mod scores (Z, for max Z(max)) are reported. The strongest linkage signals were detected at D18S1145 (in 18q12; Z = 4.03) for BP, and at D6S334 (in 6p 22-24; Z(het) = 3.47; alpha = 0.66) for SZ. Three other chromosomal areas (3q, 10p, and 21q) yielded linkage signals. Chromosomes 3p, 4p, 5p, 5q, 6q, 8p, 9q, 11q, 11p, 12q, 13q, 18p and 22q showed no evidence of linkage. The 18q12 results met the Lander and Kruglyak (1995) criterion for a genome-wide significant linkage and suggested that this susceptibility region may be shared by SZ and BP. The 6p finding provided confirmatory evidence of linkage for SZ. Our results suggest that both specific and common susceptibility loci must be searched for SZ and BP." [Abstract]

Foroud T, Castelluccio PF, Koller DL, Edenberg HJ, Miller M, Bowman E, Rau NL, Smiley C, Rice JP, Goate A, Armstrong C, Bierut LJ, Reich T, Detera-Wadleigh SD, Goldin LR, Badner JA, Guroff JJ, Gershon ES, McMahon FJ, Simpson S, MacKinnon D, McInnis M, Stine OC, DePaulo JR, Blehar MC, Nurnberger JI Jr.
Suggestive evidence of a locus on chromosome 10p using the NIMH genetics initiative bipolar affective disorder pedigrees.
Am J Med Genet 2000 Feb 7;96(1):18-23
"As part of a four-center NIMH Genetics Initiative on Bipolar Disorder, a genome screen using 365 markers was performed on 540 DNAs from 97 families, enriched for affected relative pairs. This is the largest uniformly ascertained and assessed linkage sample for this disease, and includes 232 subjects diagnosed with bipolar I (BPI), 32 with schizo-affective, bipolar type (SABP), 72 with bipolar II (BPII), and 88 with unipolar recurrent depression (UPR). A hierarchical set of definitions of affected status was examined. Under Model I, affected individuals were those with a diagnosis of BPI or SABP, Model II included as affected those fitting Model I plus BPII, and Model III included those fitting Model II plus UPR. This data set was previously analyzed using primarily affected sib pair methods. We report the results of nonparametric linkage analyses of the extended pedigree structure using the program Genehunter Plus. The strongest finding was a lod score of 2.5 obtained on chromosome 10 near the marker D10S1423 with diagnosis as defined under Model II. This region has been previously implicated in genome-wide studies of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Other chromosomal regions with lod scores over 1.50 for at least one Model Included chromosomes 8 (Model III), 16 (Model III), and 20 (Model I)." [Abstract]

Straub RE, Lehner T, Luo Y, Loth JE, Shao W, Sharpe L, Alexander JR, Das K, Simon R, Fieve RR, et al.
A possible vulnerability locus for bipolar affective disorder on chromosome 21q22.3.
Nat Genet 1994 Nov;8(3):291-6
"In a preliminary genome scan of 47 bipolar disorder families, we detected in one family a lod score of 3.41 at the PFKL locus on chromosome 21q22.3. The lod score is robust to marker allele frequencies, phenocopy rates and age-dependent penetrance, and remains strongly positive with changes in affection status. Fourteen other markers in 21q22.3 were tested on this family, with largely positive lod scores. Five of the other 46 families also show positive, but modest lod scores with PFKL. When all 47 families are analysed together, there is little support for linkage to PFKL under homogeneity or heterogeneity using lod score analysis, but the model-free affected-pedigree-member method yields statistically significant results (p < 0.0003). Our results are consistent with the presence of a gene in 21q22.3 predisposing at least one family to bipolar disorder." [Abstract]

Liu J, Juo SH, Terwilliger JD, Grunn A, Tong X, Brito M, Loth JE, Kanyas K, Lerer B, Endicott J, Penchaszadeh G, Gilliam TC, Baron M.
A follow-up linkage study supports evidence for a bipolar affective disorder locus on chromosome 21q22.
Am J Med Genet 2001 Mar 8;105(2):189-94
"Evidence for linkage between bipolar affective disorder (BP) and 21q22 was first reported by our group in a single large pedigree with a lod score of 3.41 with the PFKL locus. In a subsequent study, with denser marker coverage in 40 multiplex BP pedigrees, we reported supporting evidence with a two-point lod score of 2.76 at the D21S1260 locus, about 6 cM proximal to PFKL. For cost-efficiency, the individuals genotyped in that study comprised a subset of our large pedigree sample. To augment our previous analysis, we now report a follow-up study including a larger sample set with an additional 331 typed individuals from the original 40 families, improved marker coverage, and an additional 16 pedigrees. The analysis of all 56 pedigrees (a total of 862 genotyped individuals vs. the 372 genotyped previously), the largest multigenerational BP pedigree sample reportedly analyzed to date, supports our previous results, with a two-point lod score of 3.56 with D21S1260. The 16 new pedigrees analyzed separately gave a maximum two-point lod score of 1.89 at D21S266, less than 1 cM proximal to D21S1260. Our results are consistent with a putative BP locus on 21q22." [Abstract]

Kaneva RP, Chorbov VM, Milanova VK, Kostov CS, Nickolov KI, Chakarova CF, Stoyanova VS, Nikolova-Hill AN, Krastev SK, Onchev GN, Kremensky IM, Kalaydjieva LV, Jablensky AV.
Linkage analysis in bipolar pedigrees adds support for a susceptibility locus on 21q22.
Psychiatr Genet. 2004 Jun;14(2):101-106. [Abstract]

Nagamine K, Kudoh J, Minoshima S, Kawasaki K, Asakawa S, Ito F, Shimizu N.
Molecular cloning of a novel putative Ca2+ channel protein (TRPC7) highly expressed in brain.
Genomics 1998 Nov 15;54(1):124-31
"We have isolated cDNA clones for a novel human protein, TRPC7 (transient receptor potential-related channels), which consists of 1503 amino acid residues from the fetal brain and caudate nucleus cDNA libraries. Northern blot analysis indicated that the TRPC7 gene is highly expressed as a 6.5-kb transcript in brain. The TRPC7 protein has significant homology with Caenorhabditis elegans hypothetical proteins T01H8.5, C05C12.3, and F54D1.5 and with Drosophila and human transient receptor potential (trp) proteins. The TRPC7 protein has seven putative transmembrane domains that probably constitute a Ca2+ channel as in the above-mentioned proteins. Genomic sequencing revealed that the TRPC7 gene consists of 32 exons spanning approximately 90 kb. The TRPC7 gene was mapped between D21S400 and D21S171 on human chromosome 21q22.3, 14 kb distal to a NotI site in D21S400. This novel TRPC7 gene could be a candidate gene for genetic disorders such as bipolar affective disorder, nonsyndromic hereditary deafness, Knobloch syndrome, and holoprosencephaly, which were mapped to this region." [Abstract]

Yoon IS, Li PP, Siu KP, Kennedy JL, Macciardi F, Cooke RG, Parikh SV, Warsh JJ.
Altered TRPC7 gene expression in bipolar-I disorder.
Biol Psychiatry 2001 Oct 15;50(8):620-6
"BACKGROUND: As altered storage-operated calcium (Ca(2+)) entry (SOCE) may affect Ca(2+) homeostasis in bipolar disorder (BD), we determined whether changes occur in the expression of TRPC7 and SERCA2s, proteins implicated or known to be involved in SOCE, in B lymphoblast cell lines (BLCLs) from BD-I patients and comparison subjects. METHODS: mRNA levels were determined in BLCL lysates from BD-I, BD-II, and major depressive disorder patients, and healthy subjects by comparative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, and BLCL basal intracellular Ca(2+) concentration ([Ca(2+)]B) was determined by ratiometric spectrophotometry using Fura-2, in aliquots of the same cell lines, at 13-16 passages in culture. RESULTS: TRPC7 mRNA levels were significantly lower in BLCLs from BD-I patients with high BLCL [Ca(2+)]B compared with those showing normal [Ca(2+)]B (-33%, p =.017) and with BD-II patients (-48%, p =.003), major depressive disorder patients (-47%, p =.049) and healthy subjects (-33%, p =.038). [Ca(2+)]B also correlated inversely with TRPC7 mRNA levels in BLCLs from the BD-I group as a whole (r = -.35, p =.027). CONCLUSIONS: Reduced TRPC7 gene expression may be a trait associated with pathophysiological disturbances of Ca(2+) homeostasis in a subgroup of BD-I patients." [Abstract]

Amore M, Strippoli P, Laterza C, Tagariello P, Vitale L, Casadei R, Frabetti F, Canaider S, Lenzi L, D'Addabbo P, Carinci P, Torroni A, Ferrari G, Zannotti M.
Sequence analysis of ADARB1 gene in patients with familial bipolar disorder.
J Affect Disord. 2004 Jul;81(1):79-85.
"Background: The ADARB1 gene is located in 21q22.3 region, previously linked to familial bipolar disorder, and its product has a documented action in the editing of the pre-mRNA of glutamate receptor B subunit. Dysfunction of glutamatergic neurotransmission could play an important role in the patophysiology of bipolar disorder (BD). Glutamate excitatory neurotransmission regulation is a possible mechanism of the initial effect of anticonvulsants in regulating mood. Methods: To investigate the hypothesis of an involvement of ADARB1 gene in the BD, the ADARB1 cDNA has been cloned and sequenced in seven selected bipolar I disorder patients with evidence of familiarity of mood disorders. A detailed investigation of the gene nucleotide sequence in the open reading frame has been performed. Results: No alteration in the sequence of the ADARB1 gene cDNA was found in any patient, except a common neutral polymorphism in three out of seven patients. Conclusions: Mutations in ADARB1 gene are not commonly associated with bipolar I disorder, therefore other genes in the 21q22 region could be associated with bipolar illness in some families, likely in the context of a multifactorial transmission model." [Abstract]

Ewald H, Mors O, Flint T, Kruse TA.
Linkage analysis between manic depressive illness and the region on chromosome 12q involved in Darier's disease.
Psychiatr Genet 1994 Winter;4(4):195-200
"Co-segregation between Darier's disease and manic depressive illness has been reported. A gene causing Darier's disease has recently been mapped to chromosome 12q23-q24.1, and this region may thus be considered a candidate region potentially containing a gene involved in the aetiology of manic depressive illness. At least one possible candidate gene for manic depressive illness, pro-melanin-concentrating hormone, is located on chromosome 12q23-q24. The present study investigated linkage between manic depressive illness and this region on chromosome 12q, using three microsatellite polymorphisms as genetic markers which flank the gene causing Darier's disease. For all dominant models close linkage was excluded. For broader phenotypic models linkage was excluded in the interval between markers, even in one large family alone." [Abstract]

Curtis D, Kalsi G, Brynjolfsson J, McInnis M, O'Neill J, Smyth C, Moloney E, Murphy P, McQuillin A, Petursson H, Gurling H.
Genome scan of pedigrees multiply affected with bipolar disorder provides further support for the presence of a susceptibility locus on chromosome 12q23-q24, and suggests the presence of additional loci on 1p and 1q.
Psychiatr Genet. 2003 Jun;13(2):77-84.
"OBJECTIVE: To localize genes conferring susceptibility to bipolar affective disorder. METHODS: Seven families were selected on the basis of containing multiple cases of bipolar affective disorder present in three or more generations, an absence of schizophrenia and unilineal transmission. DNA samples from these families were genotyped with 365 microsatellite markers spaced at approximately 10 cM intervals across the whole genome. All markers were subjected to initial two-point and three-point analyses using LOD score and model-free analysis. All regions producing a result significant at P<0.01 were then subjected to four-point LOD score analysis under the assumption of heterogeneity. RESULTSA four-point LOD score of 2.8 was obtained using a dominant model and including unipolar cases as affected in the region of D12S342. Four-point LOD scores of 2 were obtained around D1S243, D1S251 and D3S1265. The positive results around D1S243 were accounted for by a LOD score of 3.1 occurring in a single pedigree. CONCLUSIONS: Since there has been previous strong support for linkage to the region of 12q23-q24 around D12S342, it now seems very probable that it does indeed contain a gene influencing susceptibility to bipolar affective disorder. Some evidence for linkage in the region of 1q near to D1S251 has been reported in one previous study. It therefore seems that this region of 1q and the region of 1p close to D1S243 may also harbour susceptibility genes." [Abstract]

Ewald H, Degn B, Mors O, Kruse TA.
Significant linkage between bipolar affective disorder and chromosome 12q24.
Psychiatr Genet 1998 Autumn;8(3):131-40
"Chromosome 12q23-q24.1 has been implied by a few linkage and association studies as a candidate region for affective disorder. The present study investigated for linkage between bipolar affective disorder and 16 microsatellite markers covering chromosome 12q22-q24 in two Danish families. Assuming homogeneity and a dominant mode of inheritance, a significant two-point lod score of 3.37 was found at D12S1639, when only bipolar patients were considered as affected. The lod score was supported by neighbouring markers. The empirical P-value for this lod score was 0.00002. Non-parametric analyses using SimIBD supported this finding, with P-values of 0.00003 and 0.005 at D12S1639. An overlapping segment of chromosome 12q24 was shared among all except one of the bipolar patients, with apparently different haplotypes in each family." [Abstract]

Lyons-Warren A, Chang JJ, Balkissoon R, Kamiya A, Garant M, Nurnberger J, Scheftner W, Reich T, McMahon F, Kelsoe J, Gershon E, Coryell W, Byerley W, Berrettini W, Depaulo R, McInnis M, Sawa A
Evidence of association between bipolar disorder and Citron on chromosome 12q24.
Mol Psychiatry. 2005 Jun 28; [Abstract]

Glaser B, Kirov G, Bray NJ, Green E, O'donovan MC, Craddock N, Owen MJ
Identification of a potential Bipolar risk haplotype in the gene encoding the winged-helix transcription factor RFX4.
Mol Psychiatry. 2005 May 3;
The gene encoding the transcription factor RFX4 represents an excellent neurobiological and positional candidate gene for Bipolar disorder due to the potential involvement of RFX4 proteins in the regulation of circadian rhythms and the proximity of the locus to numerous linkage signals on chromosome 12q23. In this study we have sought to identify common variants within the gene, which might confer risk to the disease in our large UK Caucasian sample of Bipolar patients (676 DSMIV Bipolar I probands, 690 controls). RFX4 was screened for sequence variants and the LD block structure across the genomic region determined using 22 biallelic polymorphisms (minor allele frequency >/=0.1). Through analysis of 10 haplotype-tagging markers and using a two-stage approach (subset I: 347 cases, 374 controls; subset II: 329 cases, 316 controls), we identified a haplotype at rs10778502 and ss24735177, which showed nominally significant disease association in our full sample (haplotype-specific P=0.002, global P=0.017; subset I: haplotype-specific P=0.0002, global P=0.0008; subset II: haplotype-specific P=0.572, global P=0.109). Evidence for potential disease association with mutations across the RFX4 region came also from the analysis of the nearby microsatellite D12S2072 (empirical P=0.009 in our full sample). Investigation of RFX4 brain cDNA tagged by rs10778502 provided evidence for significant allelic differences in expression (P<0.001), where some of the variance was accounted for by the genotype at ss24735177. Our findings thus indicate the potential functional relevance of the associated haplotype and now require replication in independent samples.Molecular Psychiatry advance online publication, 3 May 2005; doi:10.1038/sj.mp.4001689. [Abstract]

Glaser B, Kirov G, Green E, Craddock N, Owen MJ
Linkage disequilibrium mapping of bipolar affective disorder at 12q23-q24 provides evidence for association at CUX2 and FLJ32356.
Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 2005 Jan 5;132(1):38-45.
Chromosome 12q23-q24 has been implicated by several linkage studies as harboring a gene for bipolar affective disorder. We performed linkage disequilibrium (LD) mapping with 17 microsatellite markers across a 1.6 Mb-wide segment forming the central part of our narrowest linkage region. A significant signal (P = 0.0016) was identified for one microsatellite marker in our UK Caucasian case-control sample (347 cases, 374 controls). Genes, including regulatory elements, around this marker were screened for mutations and the LD structure of the region determined by genotyping 22 SNPs and insertion/deletion polymorphisms in 94 individuals. A set of 11 haplotype tagging (ht) SNPs was genotyped in our sample using a two-stage procedure. Two SNPs (rs3847953 and rs933399) and an insertion/deletion with putative functional relevance (which are in high LD with each other and with the microsatellite marker) showed significant or nearly significant association with bipolar disorder after Bonferroni-correction (reaching nominal P values from P = 0.002 to P = 0.005). In a sample of 110 UK Caucasian parent-offspring trios there was a trend for an over transmission in the same direction that failed to meet conventional levels of statistical significance. Our data provide evidence for association between bipolar mood disorder and markers on chromosome 12q23-q24 but need replication in independent samples. [Abstract]

Shink E, Harvey M, Tremblay M, Gagné B, Belleau P, Raymond C, Labbé M, Dubé MP, Lafrenière RG, Barden N
Analysis of microsatellite markers and single nucleotide polymorphisms in candidate genes for susceptibility to bipolar affective disorder in the chromosome 12Q24.31 region.
Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 2005 Mar 14;
Previous results from our genetic analyses using pedigrees from a French Canadian population suggested that the interval delimited by markers D12S86 and D12S378 on chromosome 12 was the most probable genomic region to contain a susceptibility gene for affective disorders. Here we present a more detailed genetic analysis of a 7.7 Mb genomic region located on 12q24.31. This region was saturated with 20 microsatellite markers to refine the candidate region and linkage analysis performed in 41 families from the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean (SLSJ) region of Quebec. The results of two point parametric analysis using MFLINK supported the presence of a susceptibility locus on chromosome 12q24.31. Association studies with microsatellite markers using a case/control sample from the same population (n = 401) and analyzed with CLUMP revealed significant allelic associations between the bipolar phenotype and markers NBG6 (P = 0.008) and NBG12 (P < 10(-3)). According to these results, we investigated candidate genes in the NBG12 area. We analyzed 32 genes for the presence of polymorphisms in coding sequences and intron/exon junctions and genotyped 22 non-synonymous SNPs in the SLSJ case/control sample. Two uncommon polymorphisms (minor allele frequency </= 0.03) found in KIAA1595 and FLJ22471 genes, gave P-values below 0.05 with the T1 statistic. Moreover, using haplotype analysis, a nearly significant haplotypic association was observed at the HM74 gene. These results do not give strong support for a role in the susceptibility to bipolar disorder of any of these genes analyzed. However, the significance of rare polymorphisms should be explored by further analyses. [Abstract]

Shink E, Morissette J, Sherrington R, Barden N
A genome-wide scan points to a susceptibility locus for bipolar disorder on chromosome 12.
Mol Psychiatry. 2005 Jun;10(6):545-52.
Our previous results pointed to a putative gene for susceptibility to bipolar affective disorder located on the chromosomal region 12q23-q24 that segregated in the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean population of Quebec. We report here results from a second genome-wide scan based on the analysis of 380 polymorphic microsatellite markers. For the purpose of this analysis, an additional 18 families were recruited from the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean region and pooled to our previous sample to improve its statistical power, giving a total of 394 sampled individuals. This work confirms the presence of a susceptibility locus for affective disorder on chromosome 12q24 with parametric LOD score value of 3.35 at D12S378 when pedigrees were broken into nuclear families and analysed under a recessive segregation model. This result was supported by neighbouring markers and by a LOD score value of 5.05 at D12S378 under model-free analysis. Other regions of lower interest were indicated on chromosomes 2, 5, 7, 9, 10, 17 and 20. [Abstract]

Shink E, Morissette J, Sherrington R, Barden N
A genome-wide scan points to a susceptibility locus for bipolar disorder on chromosome 12.
Mol Psychiatry. 2004 10 19;
Our previous results pointed to a putative gene for susceptibility to bipolar affective disorder located on the chromosomal region 12q23-q24 that segregated in the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean population of Quebec. We report here results from a second genome-wide scan based on the analysis of 380 polymorphic microsatellite markers. For the purpose of this analysis, an additional 18 families were recruited from the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean region and pooled to our previous sample to improve its statistical power, giving a total of 394 sampled individuals. This work confirms the presence of a susceptibility locus for affective disorder on chromosome 12q24 with parametric LOD score value of 3.35 at D12S378 when pedigrees were broken into nuclear families and analysed under a recessive segregation model. This result was supported by neighbouring markers and by a LOD score value of 5.05 at D12S378 under model-free analysis. Other regions of lower interest were indicated on chromosomes 2, 5, 7, 9, 10, 17 and 20.Molecular Psychiatry advance online publication, 19 October 2004; doi:10.1038/sj.mp.4001601. [Abstract]

Jacobsen NJ, Franks EK, Elvidge G, Jones I, McCandless F, O'Donovan MC, Owen MJ, Craddock N.
Exclusion of the Darier's disease gene, ATP2A2, as a common susceptibility gene for bipolar disorder.
Mol Psychiatry 2001 Jan;6(1):92-7
"Bipolar affective disorder is a genetically complex psychiatric disorder with a population prevalence of approximately 1%. We have previously reported cosegregation of bipolar affective disorder and Darier's disease, a dominant skin disorder with a neuropsychiatric component. The gene for Darier's disease was mapped to chromosome 12q23-q24.1 and linkage studies by us and others have subsequently implicated this region as harbouring a susceptibility gene for bipolar affective disorder. In this study we have investigated the Darier's disease gene ATP2A2, the calcium pumping ATPase SERCA2, as a potential susceptibility gene for bipolar disorder under the hypothesis that variations in SERCA2 have pleiotropic effects in brain. Support for this hypothesis comes from clinical evidence of neuropsychiatric abnormalities in Darier's disease, genetic data produced in our study showing non-random clustering of missense mutations in ATP2A2 in neuropsychiatric Darier patients, and functional data demonstrating the role of SERCA2 in intracellular calcium regulation. In a panel of 15 unrelated bipolar patients from multiply affected families showing increased allele sharing at markers in the 12q23-q24.1 region, we performed mutational screening of the ATP2A2 coding sequence, promoter regions, and 3' untranslated region and identified six sequence variations. These were analysed in a large sample of bipolar patients (n = 324) and control subjects (n = 327). Analysis of allele and genotype distributions for all six variations, and of haplotype frequencies showed no evidence for the involvement of ATP2A2 in producing susceptibility to bipolar disorder." [Abstract]

Verma R, Mukerji M, Grover D, B-Rao C, Das SK, Kubendran S, Jain S, Brahmachari SK
MLC1 gene is associated with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in Southern India.
Biol Psychiatry. 2005 Jul 1;58(1):16-22.
BACKGROUND: Chromosome 22q13 has shown linkage with schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar affective disorder (BPAD). A missense mutation in MLC1 (putative cation-channel gene on 22q13) co-segregating with periodic catatonic schizophrenia has been reported. We have investigated the relationship of MLC1 with SCZ and BPAD in Southern India. METHODS: All exons and flanking intronic sequences of MLC1 were screened for novel variations. Case-control (216 BPAD, 193 SCZ, 116 control subjects) and family-based analyses (113 BPAD, 107 SCZ families) were performed to evaluate association of MLC1 with these disorders. RESULTS: We found 33 MLC1 sequence variations, including three novel mutations: Val210Ile, Leu308Gln, and Arg328His in six BPAD cases and Val210Ile in one control individual. Minor allele of a common variation, ss16339182 (in approximately 6 Kb Linkage-Disequilibrium [LD]-block) was associated with BPAD in case-control (p = .03) and family-based analyses (transmitted/nontransmitted [T/NT]-44/20; p = .003). Association was observed for rs2235349 and rs2076137 with SCZ and ss16339163 with BPAD in case-control study. Using Block 2 haplotype tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (htSNPs), GC haplotype revealed association (p = .02) and excess transmission (p = .002) with BPAD. CONCLUSIONS: Association of MLC1 with SCZ and BPAD suggests involvement of a common pathway. Rare missense mutations and common variants associated with BPAD favors hypothesis about likely involvement of both rare and common polymorphisms in etiology of this complex disorder. [Abstract]

Liang SG, Sadovnick AD, Remick RA, Keck PE, McElroy SL, Kelsoe JR.
A linkage disequilibrium study of bipolar disorder and microsatellite markers on 22q13.
Psychiatr Genet 2002 Dec;12(4):231-5
"Bipolar disorder is a major psychiatric disorder characterized by extreme mood states that alternate between mania and depression. Family, twin, and adoption studies indicate a genetic component to the disease, but the etiology is suspected to be complex, with multiple genes contributing to an increased susceptibility to the disorder. We have previously reported a genome scan in which a genome-wide maximum LOD score indicated evidence of linkage at the marker D22S278 at 22q13. This area is of particular interest since it is also implicated in schizophrenia, and thus may harbor a susceptibility gene common to both disorders. In our further efforts to fine map this region, we examined 10 microsatellite markers spanning an interval of 2.3 MB in a set of 142 parent-proband triads. Linkage disequilibrium to illness was tested using the Transmission Disequilibrium Test. Haplotypes were determined and marker-to-marker linkage disequilibrium across the region was examined. D22S281 and D22S685 yielded suggestive evidence of linkage disequilibrium to bipolar disorder (empirical values of 0.023 and 0.036, respectively), but a marker-to-marker analysis indicates that a higher density screen is needed to adequately analyze this region." [Abstract]

John R. Kelsoe, M. Anne Spence, Erika Loetscher, Montserrat Foguet, A. Dessa Sadovnick, Ronald A. Remick, Pamela Flodman, Jason Khristich, Zofi Mroczkowski-Parker, John L. Brown, Diane Masser, Sharon Ungerleider, Mark H. Rapaport, William L. Wishart, and Hermann Luebbert
A genome survey indicates a possible susceptibility locus for bipolar disorder on chromosome 22
PNAS 98: 585-590; published online before print as 10.1073/pnas.011358498
"We examined 443 microsatellite markers in a set of 20 North American families with bipolar disorder. The genome-wide maximum was a lod score of 3.8 at D22S278 on 22q13 under the narrow diagnostic definition and an autosomal dominant model. Other regions with suggestive evidence for linkage include 3p21, 3q27, 5p15, 10q, 13q31-q34, and 21q22." [Full Text]

Greenwood TA, Alexander M, Keck PE, McElroy S, Sadovnick AD, Remick RA, Kelsoe JR.
Evidence for linkage disequilibrium between the dopamine transporter and bipolar disorder.
Am J Med Genet 2001 Mar 8;105(2):145-51
"A role for the dopamine transporter (DAT) in bipolar disorder is implicated by several lines of pharmacological evidence, as well as suggestive evidence of linkage at this locus, which we have reported previously. In an attempt to identify functional mutations within DAT contributing a susceptibility to bipolar disorder, we have screened the entire coding region, as well as significant portions of the adjacent non-coding sequence. Though we have not found a definitive functional mutation, we have identified a number of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that span the gene from the distal promoter through exon 15. Of the 39 SNPs that are suitable for linkage disequilibrium (LD) studies, 14 have been analyzed by allele-specific PCR in a sample of 50 parent-proband triads with bipolar disorder. A haplotyped marker comprised of five SNPs, spanning the region between exon 9 and exon 15, was constructed for each individual, and transmission/disequilibrium test (TDT) analysis revealed this haplotype to be in linkage disequilibrium with bipolar disorder (allele-wise TDT p = 0.001, genotype-wise TDT p = 0.0004). These data replicate our previous finding of linkage to markers within and near DAT in a largely different family set, and provide further evidence for a role of DAT in bipolar disorder." [Abstract]

Keikhaee MR, Fadai F, Sargolzaee MR, Javanbakht A, Najmabadi H, Ohadi M
Association analysis of the dopamine transporter (DAT1)-67A/T polymorphism in bipolar disorder.
Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 2005 Mar 14;
An imbalance in the dopaminergic system in humans has been hypothesized to contribute to the pathogenesis of a number of psychiatric illnesses, including bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. We performed a case/control study on the DAT1 (HUGO approved symbol SL6A3) gene core promoter polymorphism -67A/T to analyze the possible association of either allele of this polymorphism with bipolar disorder. The allele and genotype frequencies of the polymorphism were studied in 136 patients and 163 controls, which were matched on the basis of sex, age, and ethnicity. The genotype frequencies in the patients group were as follows: AA 30.9%; AT 55.1%; TT 14% versus the genotype frequencies in the control group: AA 49%; AT 41.8%; TT 9.2% [chi(2) = 10.3, df = 2, OR = 2.15 (95% CI 1.34-3.47, P </= 0.006]. The T-allele of the -67A/T polymorphism revealed a approximately 1.4-fold excess in the patients group comparing with the controls (P </= 0.003). For the first time, these findings provide tentative evidence of the contribution of the DAT1 gene core promoter polymorphism to the etiopathophysiology of bipolar disorder at least in the Iranian population that we have studied. Interestingly, no allelic or genotype association was observed in the female patients (P </= 0.6 and P </= 0.7, respectively). Replication studies of independent samples and family-based association studies are necessary to further evaluate the significance of our findings. (c) 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [Abstract]

Kelsoe JR, Sadovnick AD, Kristbjarnarson H, Bergesch P, Mroczkowski-Parker Z, Drennan M, Rapaport MH, Flodman P, Spence MA, Remick RA.
Possible locus for bipolar disorder near the dopamine transporter on chromosome 5.
Am J Med Genet 1996 Nov 22;67(6):533-40
"The dopamine transporter (DAT) plays a key role in the regulation of dopaminergic neurotransmission by mediating the active reuptake of synaptic dopamine. It is an important candidate gene for bipolar disorder because of data implicating dopamine abnormalities in mania, and because it is the site of action of amphetamine, which has activating and psychotogenic properties. DAT has recently been cloned by its homology to a family of transporters, and mapped to chromosome 5p15.3. We tested DAT for linkage to bipolar disorder in a collection of 21 families from the general North American population (University of California, San Diego/University of British Columbia [UCSD/UBC] families), three Icelandic pedigrees, and Old Order Amish pedigree 110. We examined three markers at DAT, including a 5' TaqI RFLP (HDAT-TaqI), a highly polymorphic variable number of tandem repeats marker (VNTR) (HDAT-VNTR1), and a 3' 40-bp repeat marker (HDAT-PCR1), as well as two nearby microsatellite markers, D5S392 and D5S406. A maximum lod score of 2.38 was obtained at D5S392 in one of the UCSD/UBC families under an autosomal-dominant model. A lod score of 1.09 was also obtained under the same dominant model in the Amish at HDAT-PCR1. In the combined set of families, a maximum lod score of 1.76 was obtained under an autosomal-recessive model at HDAT-TaqI. Positive results were also obtained at several markers, using three nonparametric methods in the UCSD/UBC family set: the affected pedigree member method (P = 0.001), an affected sib pair method (ESPA, P = 0.0008), and the transmission disequilibrium test (P = 0.024). These results suggest the presence of a susceptibility locus for bipolar disorder near the DAT locus on chromosome 5." [Abstract]

Middleton FA, Pato MT, Gentile KL, Morley CP, Zhao X, Eisener AF, Brown A, Petryshen TL, Kirby AN, Medeiros H, Carvalho C, Macedo A, Dourado A, Coelho I, Valente J, Soares MJ, Ferreira CP, Lei M, Azevedo MH, Kennedy JL, Daly MJ, Sklar P, Pato CN.
Genomewide Linkage Analysis of Bipolar Disorder by Use of a High-Density Single-Nucleotide-Polymorphism (SNP) Genotyping Assay: A Comparison with Microsatellite Marker Assays and Finding of Significant Linkage to Chromosome 6q22.
Am J Hum Genet. 2004 Apr 1;74(5). [Epub ahead of print]
"We performed a linkage analysis on 25 extended multiplex Portuguese families segregating for bipolar disorder, by use of a high-density single-nucleotide-polymorphism (SNP) genotyping assay, the GeneChip Human Mapping 10K Array (HMA10K). Of these families, 12 were used for a direct comparison of the HMA10K with the traditional 10-cM microsatellite marker set and the more dense 4-cM marker set. This comparative analysis indicated the presence of significant linkage peaks in the SNP assay in chromosomal regions characterized by poor coverage and low information content on the microsatellite assays. The HMA10K provided consistently high information and enhanced coverage throughout these regions. Across the entire genome, the HMA10K had an average information content of 0.842 with 0.21-Mb intermarker spacing. In the 12-family set, the HMA10K-based analysis detected two chromosomal regions with genomewide significant linkage on chromosomes 6q22 and 11p11; both regions had failed to meet this strict threshold with the microsatellite assays. The full 25-family collection further strengthened the findings on chromosome 6q22, achieving genomewide significance with a maximum nonparametric linkage (NPL) score of 4.20 and a maximum LOD score of 3.56 at position 125.8 Mb. In addition to this highly significant finding, several other regions of suggestive linkage have also been identified in the 25-family data set, including two regions on chromosome 2 (57 Mb, NPL = 2.98; 145 Mb, NPL = 3.09), as well as regions on chromosomes 4 (91 Mb, NPL = 2.97), 16 (20 Mb, NPL = 2.89), and 20 (60 Mb, NPL = 2.99). We conclude that at least some of the linkage peaks we have identified may have been largely undetected in previous whole-genome scans for bipolar disorder because of insufficient coverage or information content, particularly on chromosomes 6q22 and 11p11." [Abstract]

Cichon, Sven, Schumacher, Johannes, Muller, Daniel J., Hurter, Martina, Windemuth, Christine, Strauch, Konstantin, Hemmer, Susanne, Schulze, Thomas G., Schmidt-Wolf, Gabriele, Albus, Margot, Borrmann-Hassenbach, Margitta, Franzek, Ernst, Lanczik, Mario, Fritze, Jurgen, Kreiner, Roland, Reuner, Ulrike, Weigelt, Bettina, Minges, Jurgen, Lichtermann, Dirk, Lerer, Bernhard, Kanyas, Kyra, Baur, Max P., Wienker, Thomas F., Maier, Wolfgang, Rietschel, Marcella, Propping, Peter, Nothen, Markus M.
A genome screen for genes predisposing to bipolar affective disorder detects a new susceptibility locus on 8q
Hum. Mol. Genet. 2001 10: 2933-2944
"Bipolar affective disorder (BPAD), also known as manic depressive illness, is a severe psychiatric disorder characterized by episodes of mania and depression. It has a lifetime prevalence of approximately 1% in all human populations. In order to identify chromosomal regions containing genes that play a role in determining susceptibility to this psychiatric condition, we have conducted a complete genome screen with 382 markers (average marker spacing of 9.3 cM) in a sample of 75 BPAD families which were recruited through an explicit ascertainment scheme. Pedigrees were of German, Israeli and Italian origin, respectively. Parametric and non-parametric linkage analysis was performed. The highest two-point LOD score was obtained on 8q24 (D8S514; LOD score = 3.62), in a region that has not attracted much attention in previous linkage studies of BPAD. The second best finding was seen on 10q25-q26 (D10S217; LOD score = 2.86) and has been reported in independent studies of BPAD. Other regions showing 'suggestive' evidence for linkage localized to 1p33-p36, 2q21-q33, 3p14, 3q26-q27, 6q21-q22, 8p21, 13q11 and 14q12-q13. In addition, we aimed at detecting possible susceptibility loci underlying genomic imprinting by analyzing the autosomal genotype data with the recently developed extension of the GENEHUNTER program, GENEHUNTER-IMPRINTING. Putative paternally imprinted loci were identified in chromosomal regions 2p24-p21 and 2q31-q32. Maternally imprinted susceptibility genes may be located on 14q32 and 16q21-q23." [Abstract]

Ewald H, Kruse TA, Mors O.
Genome wide scan using homozygosity mapping and linkage analyses of a single pedigree with affective disorder suggests oligogenic inheritance.
Am J Med Genet. 2003 Jul 1;120B(1):63-71.
"The present study reports results from a genome scan on a family with bipolar affective disorder in which the parents are first cousins and four of the offsprings and one grandchild have affective disorder. The study searched for risk loci for affective disorder by searching for homozygous segments or more complex inherited loci using parametric and non-parametric multipoint linkage analysis. In addition dominant, multipoint, affecteds-only linkage analyses were performed as a supplement to previous analyses. On chromosomes 2q31.3, 10, 12q24, and 21q22.3 evidence for a risk locus was obtained by parametric and/or non-parametric linkage analyses and by haplotype sharing. As other studies have found significant or suggestive linkage to bipolar disorder in these chromosome regions this suggests that an oligogenic mode of inheritance is possible in this family involving at least some of the loci. Finally, the work discusses whether homozygosity mapping using parametric and non-parametric linkage analyses may be of value for complex diseases including rare subphenotypes of such disorders." [Abstract]

Lundorf MD, Buttenschøn HN, Foldager L, Blackwood DH, Muir WJ, Murray V, Pelosi AJ, Kruse TA, Ewald H, Mors O
Mutational screening and association study of glutamate decarboxylase 1 as a candidate susceptibility gene for bipolar affective disorder and schizophrenia.
Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 2005 May 5;135(1):94-101.
Recent evidence from postmortem studies suggests that GAD1 encoding the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) synthetic enzyme GAD67 is a functional candidate susceptibility gene for both bipolar affective disorder (BPAD) and schizophrenia. Previous studies suggest linkage between D2S326 near GAD1 and BPAD. We systematically screened GAD1 exons, flanking intronic sequences, and the promoter sequence for polymorphisms in 16 BPAD patients and five controls from Denmark. We identified eight single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) including two in the promoter sequence. An association study of SNPs covering GAD1 was performed in a Danish sample of 82 BPAD subjects and 120 controls and in a Scottish sample of 197 individuals with schizophrenia, 200 BPAD subjects and 199 controls. Linkage disequilibrium (LD) and haplotype frequencies were estimated from genotype data from eight SNPs. Strong pairwise LD was observed among all pairs of neighboring markers. In the Danish sample, we found weak association between BPAD and two promoter SNPs spaced 1 kb apart. Furthermore, one, two, and three loci haplotype analysis showed weak association with BPAD in the Danish sample. The results from the association studies indicate that promoter variants are of importance for the Danish BPAD cases and we cannot reject the hypothesis of GAD1 as a functional candidate gene for BPAD. No association was observed between BPAD or schizophrenia and any of the investigated SNPs in the Scottish sample set. Thus the results obtained from the Scottish sample suggest that the GAD1 gene variants do not play a major role in the predisposition to schizophrenia. [Abstract]

McInnis MG, Lan TH, Willour VL, McMahon FJ, Simpson SG, Addington AM, MacKinnon DF, Potash JB, Mahoney AT, Chellis J, Huo Y, Swift-Scanlan T, Chen H, Koskela R, Colin Stine O, Jamison KR, Holmans P, Folstein SE, Ranade K, Friddle C, Botstein D, Marr T, Beaty TH, Zandi P, Raymond DePaulo J.
Genome-wide scan of bipolar disorder in 65 pedigrees: supportive evidence for linkage at 8q24, 18q22, 4q32, 2p12, and 13q12.
Mol Psychiatry 2003 Mar;8(3):288-98
"The purpose of this study was to assess 65 pedigrees ascertained through a Bipolar I (BPI) proband for evidence of linkage, using nonparametric methods in a genome-wide scan and for possible parent of origin effect using several analytical methods. We identified 15 loci with nominally significant evidence for increased allele sharing among affected relative pairs. Eight of these regions, at 8q24, 18q22, 4q32, 13q12, 4q35, 10q26, 2p12, and 12q24, directly overlap with previously reported evidence of linkage to bipolar disorder. Five regions at 20p13, 2p22, 14q23, 9p13, and 1q41 are within several Mb of previously reported regions. We report our findings in rank order and the top five markers had an NPL>2.5. The peak finding in these regions were D8S256 at 8q24, NPL 3.13; D18S878 at 18q22, NPL 2.90; D4S1629 at 4q32, NPL 2.80; D2S99 at 2p12, NPL 2.54; and D13S1493 at 13q12, NPL 2.53. No locus produced statistically significant evidence for linkage at the genome-wide level. The parent of origin effect was studied and consistent with our previous findings, evidence for a locus on 18q22 was predominantly from families wherein the father or paternal lineage was affected. There was evidence consistent with paternal imprinting at the loci on 13q12 and 1q41." [Abstract]

Macgregor S, Visscher PM, Knott SA, Thomson P, Porteous DJ, Millar JK, Devon RS, Blackwood D, Muir WJ
A genome scan and follow-up study identify a bipolar disorder susceptibility locus on chromosome 1q42.
Mol Psychiatry. 2004 Dec;9(12):1083-90.
In this study, we report a genome scan for psychiatric disease susceptibility loci in 13 Scottish families. We follow up one of the linkage peaks on chromosome 1q in a substantially larger sample of 22 families affected by schizophrenia (SCZ) or bipolar affective disorder (BPAD). To minimise the effect of genetic heterogeneity, we collected mainly large extended families (average family size >18). The families collected were Scottish, carried no chromosomal abnormalities and were unrelated to the large family previously reported as segregating a balanced (1:11) translocation with major psychiatric disease. In the genome scan, we found linkage peaks with logarithm of odds (LOD) scores >1.5 on chromosomes 1q (BPAD), 3p (SCZ), 8p (SCZ), 8q (BPAD), 9q (BPAD) and 19q (SCZ). In the follow-up sample, we obtained most evidence for linkage to 1q42 in bipolar families, with a maximum (parametric) LOD of 2.63 at D1S103. Multipoint variance components linkage gave a maximum LOD of 2.77 (overall maximum LOD 2.47 after correction for multiple tests), 12 cM from the previously identified SCZ susceptibility locus DISC1. Interestingly, there was negligible evidence for linkage to 1q42 in the SCZ families. These results, together with results from a number of other recent studies, stress the importance of the 1q42 region in susceptibility to both BPAD and SCZ. [Abstract]

Hodgkinson CA, Goldman D, Jaeger J, Persaud S, Kane JM, Lipsky RH, Malhotra AK
Disrupted in schizophrenia 1 (DISC1): association with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and bipolar disorder.
Am J Hum Genet. 2004 Nov;75(5):862-72.
Schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and bipolar disorder are common psychiatric disorders with high heritabilities and variable phenotypes. The Disrupted in Schizophrenia 1 (DISC1) gene, on chromosome 1q42, was originally discovered and linked to schizophrenia in a Scottish kindred carrying a balanced translocation that disrupts DISC1 and DISC2. More recently, DISC1 was linked to schizophrenia, broadly defined, in the general Finnish population, through the undertransmission to affected women of a common haplotype from the region of intron 1/exon 2. We present data from a case-control study of a North American white population, confirming the underrepresentation of a common haplotype of the intron 1/exon 2 region in individuals with schizoaffective disorder. Multiple haplotypes contained within four haplotype blocks extending between exon 1 and exon 9 are associated with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and bipolar disorder. We also find overrepresentation of the exon 9 missense allele Phe607 in schizoaffective disorder. These data support the idea that these apparently distinct disorders have at least a partially convergent etiology and that variation at the DISC1 locus predisposes individuals to a variety of psychiatric disorders. [Abstract]

Thomson PA, Wray NR, Millar JK, Evans KL, Hellard SL, Condie A, Muir WJ, Blackwood DH, Porteous DJ
Association between the TRAX/DISC locus and both bipolar disorder and schizophrenia in the Scottish population.
Mol Psychiatry. 2005 Jul;10(7):657-68.
The Translin-associated factor X/Disrupted in Schizophrenia 1 (TRAX/DISC) region was first implicated as a susceptibility locus for schizophrenia by analysis of a large Scottish family in which a t(1;11) translocation cosegregates with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and recurrent major depression. We now report evidence for association between bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and this locus in the general Scottish population. A systematic study of linkage disequilibrium in a representative sample of the Scottish population was undertaken across the 510 kb of TRAX and DISC1. SNPs representing each haplotype block were selected for case-control association studies of both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Significant association with bipolar disorder in women P=0.00026 (P=0.0016 in men and women combined) was detected in a region of DISC1. This same region also showed nominally significant association with schizophrenia in both men and women combined, P=0.0056. Two further regions, one in TRAX and the second in DISC1, showed weaker evidence for sex-specific associations of individual haplotypes with bipolar disorder in men and women respectively, P<0.01. Only the association between bipolar women and DISC1 remained significant after correction for multiple testing. This result provides further supporting evidence for DISC1 as a susceptibility factor for both bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, consistent with the diagnoses in the original Scottish translocation family.Molecular Psychiatry (2005) 10, 657-668. doi:10.1038/sj.mp.4001669 Published online 19 April 2005. [Abstract]

Ekholm JM, Kieseppa T, Hiekkalinna T, Partonen T, Paunio T, Perola M, Ekelund J, Lonnqvist J, Pekkarinen-Ijas P, Peltonen L.
Evidence of susceptibility loci on 4q32 and 16p12 for bipolar disorder.
Hum Mol Genet. 2003 Aug 1;12(15):1907-15.
"We performed a genome-wide scan for susceptibility loci in bipolar disorder in a study sample colleted from the isolated Finnish population, consisting of 41 families with at least two affected siblings. We identified one distinct locus on 16p12 providing significant evidence for linkage in two-point analysis (Z(max)=3.4). Furthermore, three loci with a two-point LOD score >2.0 were observed with markers on 4q32, 12q23 and Xq25, the latter locus having been earlier identified in one extended Finnish pedigree. In the second stage we fine mapped these chromosomal regions and also genotyped additional family members. In the fine mapping stage, 4q32 provided significant evidence of linkage for the three-point analyses (Z(max)=3.6) and 16p12 produced a three-point LOD score of 2.7. Since the identified chromosomal regions replicate earlier linkage findings in either bipolar disorder or other mental disorders, they should be considered good targets for further genetic analyses." [Abstract]

Berrettini WH.
Molecular linkage studies of bipolar disorders.
Bipolar Disord 2001 Dec;3(6):276-83
"OBJECTIVES: To review the reports of linkage findings for bipolar disorder. METHODS: Literature review of published linkage findings in bipolar disorder. RESULTS: There are several regions of the human genome that have been implicated repeatedly by independent investigators. These include 4p16, 12q24, 18q22, 18p11, 21q21 and 22q11. Two of these regions (18p11 and 22q11) are also implicated in genome scans of schizophrenia, suggesting that these two distinct nosological categories may share some genetic susceptibility. This hypothesis can only be tested when the underlying genes are identified." [Abstract]

Stopkova P, Saito T, Papolos DF, Vevera J, Paclt I, Zukov I, Bersson YB, Margolis BA, Strous RD, Lachman HM.
Identification of PIK3C3 promoter variant associated with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
Biol Psychiatry. 2004 May 15;55(10):981-8.
"BACKGROUND: Genes involved in phosphoinositide (PI) lipid metabolism are excellent candidates to consider in the pathogenesis of bipolar disorder (BD) and schizophrenia (SZ). One is PIK3C3, a member of the phosphatidylinositide 3-kinase family that maps closely to markers on 18q linked to both BD and SZ in a few studies. METHODS: The promoter region of PIK3C3 was analyzed for mutations by single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis and sequencing. A case-control association study was conducted to determine the distribution of variant alleles in unrelated patients from three cohorts. Electromobility gel shift assays (EMSA) were performed to assess the functional significance of variants. RESULTS: Two polymorphisms in complete linked disequilibrium with each other were identified, -432C- > T and a "C" insert at position -86. The -432T allele occurs within an octamer containing an ATTT motif resembling members of the POU family of transcription factors. In each population analyzed, an increase in -432T was found in patients. EMSAs showed that a -432T containing oligonucleotide binds to brain proteins that do not recognize -432C. CONCLUSIONS: A promoter mutation in a PI regulator affecting the binding of a POU-type transcription factor may be involved in BD and SZ in a subset of patients." [Abstract]

Goossens D, Van Gestel S, Claes S, De Rijk P, Souery D, Massat I, Van Den Bossche D, Backhovens H, Mendlewicz J, Van Broeckhoven C, Del-Favero J.
A novel CpG-associated brain-expressed candidate gene for chromosome 18q-linked bipolar disorder.
Mol Psychiatry 2003;8(1):83-9
"We previously identified 18q21-q22 as a candidate region for bipolar (BP) disorder and constructed a yeast artificial chromosome (YAC) contig map. Here we identified three potential CpG islands using CCG/CGG YAC fragmentation. Analysis of available genomic sequences using bioinformatic tools identified an exon of 3639 bp downstream of a CpG island of 1.2 kb containing a putative transcription initiation site. The exon contained an open reading frame coding for 1212 amino acids with significant homology to the SART-2 protein; weaker homology was found with a series of sulphotransferases. Alignment of cDNA sequences of corresponding ESTs and RT-PCR sequencing predicted a transcript of 9.5 kb which was confirmed by Northern blot analysis. The transcript was expressed in different brain areas as well as in multiple other peripheral tissues. We performed an extensive mutation analysis in 113 BP patients. A total of nine single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified. Five SNPs predicted an amino acid change, of which two were present in BP patients but not in 163 control individuals." [Abstract]

Schulze TG, Chen YS, Badner JA, McInnis MG, DePaulo JR, McMahon FJ.
Additional, physically ordered markers increase linkage signal for bipolar disorder on chromosome 18q22.
Biol Psychiatry 2003 Feb 1;53(3):239-43
"We recently reported evidence of linkage of bipolar disorder to chromosome 18q, with a paternal logarithm of odds (LOD) score of 4.67 (p =.004) in a clinically defined subset of families. Like other linkage studies, we had to rely on imprecise genetic maps to establish the marker order. Here, we test for linkage in the same sample with a denser set of markers, now physically ordered according to the draft sequence of the human genome.Families were ascertained through probands with bipolar I disorder and diagnosed with reliable methods. Genotypes were generated for 12 microsatellite markers within an 11-centimorgan (cM) region of chromosome 18q22. Multipoint affected sib-pair linkage analysis was performed in a set of 16 nuclear families.The additional markers significantly increased the total genetic information extracted from our sample. We also observed an increase in the LOD score (to 5.42, p =.0066) and linkage resolution. The approximate 1-LOD support interval is now 9 male cM.The results strengthen our previous findings and further define a region suitable for genetic fine-mapping analysis on chromosome 18q. Our data suggest that a dense set of markers, when physically ordered, can increase the informational value of genetic linkage signals." [Abstract]

Borglum AD, Kirov G, Craddock N, Mors O, Muir W, Murray V, McKee I, Collier DA, Ewald H, Owen MJ, Blackwood D, Kruse TA.
Possible parent-of-origin effect of Dopa decarboxylase in susceptibility to bipolar affective disorder.
Am J Med Genet 2003 Feb 15;117B(1):18-22
"Dopa decarboxylase (DDC) catalyses the synthesis of both dopamine and serotonin as well as trace a