Study of Association Between Polymorphism Alpha7 Neuronal Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Subunit Gene (CHRNA7) with the Development of Schizophrenia in Iranian Population

SCZ (Schizophrenia) is common psychiatric and mentally disorder which display common genetic vulnerability. The α7 neuronal nicotinic receptor gene (CHRNA7) is located on chromosome 15q13-q14. There are many single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in exons, introns and promoter sites inside the CHRNA7 gene. The aim of this research was study of polymorphism CHRNA7 with the development of schizophrenia in Iranian population.
This case-control study included 100 patients with schizophrenia and 100 normal peoples as a control group were investigated. Genomic DNA was extracted from blood samples. Genotypes were detected by using a PCR-RFLP method. Statistical analysis was done by using the SPSS software version 20.
Frequency of CC, TC, TT genotypes in patients group were 18% ,42% ,40% and in normal groups were 14%,45%,41%, respectively. Statistical analysis were showed that in the total sample (male and female), there was no significant association between CHRNA7 gene polymorphism with schizophrenia disease.
The presence of the T allele in CHRNA7 gene at rs904942 is not considered as a risk factor for schizophrenia. Therefore, further genetic studies with more SNPs and larger samples covering various populations, are needed.