Anna Sillén

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene (BDNF) variants and schizophrenia: An association study

Polymorphisms in the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene have been suggested to be associated with schizophrenia. In a replication attempt, Swedish patients with schizophrenia (n=187) and control subjects (n=275) were assessed for four BDNF gene polymorphisms. There were no significantly different allele, genotype or haplotype frequencies between cases or controls. Neither were there any differences when schizophrenic patients were sub-divided with regard to a number of different clinical variables, although a small group of psychotic patients with prominent affective features displayed higher frequencies of the less common alleles of the Val66Met and 11757 G/C polymorphisms compared to controls. The present Swedish results do not verify previous associations between putative functional BDNF gene polymorphisms and schizophrenia. However, when combined with previous studies meta-analyses indicated that the BDNF 270 T-allele and the Val66Met homozygous state were associated with the disorder. Thus, the BDNF gene may confer susceptibility to schizophrenia. Additional studies are warranted to shed further light on this possibility.

Dopamine D2 receptor gene Ser311Cys variant and schizophrenia: association study and meta-analysis

An association has been reported between a dopamine D2 receptor gene (DRD2) Ser311Cys variant and schizophrenia. In a replication attempt, Swedish patients with schizophrenia (n = 173) and control subjects (n = 236) were assessed for the DRD2 Ser311Cys variant. Schizophrenic patients displayed higher Cys311 allele frequencies than control subjects (4.0 vs. 0.8%, χ2 = 9.49, df = 1, P = 0.002; odds ratio (OR) 4.93, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.61–15.12). The association was detected only in men. The results were supported by a meta‐analysis of all published case–control studies comprising a total of 9,152 subjects (χ2 = 11.37, df = 1, P < 0.001; OR 1.43, 95% CI 1.16–1.78). The present results support the involvement of the DRD2 gene in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia.

Genome scan on Swedish Alzheimer's disease families

Alzheimers disease (AD) is an age-related disease, which affects approximately 40% of the population at an age above 90 years. The heritability is estimated to be greater than 60% and there are rare autosomal dominant forms indicating a significant genetic influence on the disease process. Despite the successes in the early 1990s when four genes were identified, which directly cause the disease (APP, PSEN1 and PSEN2) or greatly increase the risk of disease development (APOE), it has proved exceedingly difficult to identify additional genes involved in the pathogenesis. However, several linkage and association studies have repeatedly supported the presence of susceptibility genes on chromosomes (chrms) 9, 10 and 12. The study populations have, however, mostly been of great genetic heterogeneity, and this may have contributed to the meagre successes in identifying the disease associated genetic variants. In this study, we have performed a genome wide linkage study on 71 AD families from the relatively genetically homogeneous Swedish population where it is also possible to study the genetic ancestry in public databases. We have performed nonparametric linkage analyses in the total family material as well as stratified the families with respect to the presence or absence of APOE ɛ4. Our results suggest that the families included in this study are tightly linked to the APOE region, but do not show evidence of linkage to the previously reported linkages on chrms 9, 10 and 12. Instead, we observed the next highest LOD score on chromosome 5q35 in the total material. Further, the data suggest that the major fraction of families linked to this region is APOE ɛ4 positive.

Expanded high-resolution genetic study of 109 Swedish families with Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimers disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that affects approximately 20 million persons all over the world. There are both sporadic and familial forms of AD. We have previously reported a genome-wide linkage analysis on 71 Swedish AD families using 365 genotyped microsatellite markers. In this study, we increased the number of individuals included in the original 71 analysed families besides adding 38 new families. These 109 families were genotyped for 1100 novel microsatellite markers. The present study reports on the linkage data generated from the non-overlapping genotypes from the first genome scan and the genotypes of the present scan, which results in a total of 1289 successfully genotyped markers at an average density of 2.85 cM on 468 individuals from 109 AD families. Non-parametric linkage analysis yielded a significant multipoint LOD score in chromosome 19q13, the region harbouring the major susceptibility gene APOE, both for the whole set of families (LOD=5.0) and the APOE ɛ4-positive subgroup made up of 63 families (LOD=5.3). Other suggestive linkage peaks that were observed in the original genome scan of 71 Swedish AD families were not detected in this extended analysis, and the previously reported linkage signals in chromosomes 9, 10 and 12 were not replicated.

Potential genetic variants in schizophrenia: a Bayesian analysis.

A number of different gene polymorphisms have been found to dispose for the development of schizophrenia. However, no single gene polymorphism is sufficient for the precipitation of schizophrenia. Swedish psychosis patients (n=103) and control subjects (n=89) were analyzed for 36 single nucleotide polymorphisms in 30 candidate genes for schizophrenia. Evidence of association was analyzed with Bayesian statistical methods. Variants in the genes coding for dopamine-D2 receptor, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), neuropeptide Y (NPY), neuregulin 1, reelin and synapsin 3 showed association with schizophrenia, although few subjects were found in the minority allele for the two latter variants. The six gene variants, all with suspected connection to schizophrenia, were found to be risk factors when considered in combination, but not separately. The results indicate that the Bayesian statistical method gives additional possibilities in the search for risk factors for schizophrenia or other complex disorders.

The use of grid computing to drive data-intensive genetic research.

In genetics, with increasing data sizes and more advanced algorithms for mining complex data, a point is reached where increased computational capacity or alternative solutions becomes unavoidable. Most contemporary methods for linkage analysis are based on the Lander-Green hidden Markov model (HMM), which scales exponentially with the number of pedigree members. In whole genome linkage analysis, genotype simulations become prohibitively time consuming to perform on single computers. We have developed ‘Grid-Allegro’, a Grid aware implementation of the Allegro software, by which several thousands of genotype simulations can be performed in parallel in short time. With temporary installations of the Allegro executable and datasets on remote nodes at submission, the need of predefined Grid run-time environments is circumvented. We evaluated the performance, efficiency and scalability of this implementation in a genome scan on Swedish multiplex Alzheimers disease families. We demonstrate that ‘Grid-Allegro’ allows for the full exploitation of the features available in Allegro for genome-wide linkage. The implementation of existing bioinformatics applications on Grids (Distributed Computing) represent a cost-effective alternative for addressing highly resource-demanding and data-intensive bioinformatics task, compared to acquiring and setting up clusters of computational hardware in house (Parallel Computing), a resource not available to most geneticists today.

Linkage to the 8p21.1 region Including the CLU gene in age at onset stratified alzheimer's disease families.

Two powerful genome-wide association studies have recently reported significant association between sporadic late-onset Alzheimers disease (AD) and markers at the CLU locus in chromosome 8p. In this study, we have stratified our previously analyzed 109 Swedish AD families according to range in age at onset and performed whole-genome linkage analysis and subsequent fine-mapping in 8p21. The subgroup analyzed in the fine-mapping consisted of 28 families with AD, having a within-family onset-range not exceeding 8 years and an age at onset between 49 ≤ 70 years. A maximum non-parametric linkage peak (LOD = 3.5) was found between markers D8S1809 and 236c6-1. Intriguingly this linked 9.5cM region contains clusterin (CLU), which is one of the two top susceptibility genes for AD. Our finding may be a reflection of linkage to the CLU susceptibility gene, in the same way as familial AD has previously been linked to the APOE locus.

Data Mining in Schizophrenia Research - Preliminary Analysis

We describe methods used and some results in a study of schizophrenia in a population of affected and unaffected participants, called patients and controls. The subjects are characterized by diagnosis, genotype, brain anatomy (MRI), laboratory tests on blood samples, and basic demographic data. The long term goal is to identify the causal chains of processes leading to disease. We describe a number of preliminary findings, which confirm earlier results on deviations of brain tissue volumes in schizophrenia patients, and also indicate new effects that are presently under further investigation. More importantly, we discuss a number of issues in selection of methods from the very large set of tools in data mining and statistics.

Linkage to 20p13 including the ANGPT4 gene in families with mixed Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia

This study aimed at identifying novel susceptibility genes for a mixed phenotype of Alzheimers disease and vascular dementia. Results from a genome scan showed strongest linkage to 20p13 in 18 families, and subsequent fine mapping was performed with both microsatellites and single-nucleotide polymorphisms in 18 selected candidate transcripts in an extended sample set of 30 families. The multipoint linkage peak was located at marker rs2144151 in the ANGPT4 gene, which is a strong candidate gene for vascular disease because of its involvement in angiogenesis. Although the significance of the linkage decreased, we find this result intriguing, considering that we included additional families, and thus the reduced linkage signal may be caused by genetic heterogeneity.

Linkage Analysis of Autopsy-Confirmed Familial Alzheimer Disease Supports an Alzheimer Disease Locus in 8q24

Background/Aims: We have previously reported the results of an extended genome-wide scan of Swedish Alzheimer disease (AD)-affected families; in this paper, we analyzed a subset of these families with autopsy-confirmed AD. Methods: We report the fine-mapping, using both microsatellite markers and single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), in the observed maximum logarithm of the odds (LOD)-2 unit (LODmax-2) region under the identified linkage peak, linkage analysis of the fine-mapping data with additionally analyzed pedigrees, and association analysis of SNPs selected from candidate genes in the linked interval. The subset was made on the criterion of at least one autopsy-confirmed AD case per family, resulting in 24 families. Results: Linkage analysis of a family subset having at least one autopsy-confirmed AD case showed a significant nonparametric single-point LOD score of 4.4 in 8q24. Fine-mapping under the linkage peak with 10 microsatellite markers yielded an increase in the multipoint (mpt) LOD score from 2.1 to 3.0. SNP genotyping was performed on 21 selected candidate transcripts of the LODmax-2 region. Both family-based association and linkage analysis were performed on extended material from 30 families, resulting in a suggestive linkage at peak marker rs6577853 (mpt LOD score = 2.4). Conclusion: The 8q24 region has been implicated to be involved in AD etiology.