Replication study and meta-analysis of the genetic association of GRM3 gene polymorphisms with schizophrenia in a large Japanese case-control population

The GRM3 gene, which encodes a metabotropic glutamate receptor, is an important candidate gene for susceptibility to schizophrenia. Two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), rs1468412 and rs2299225 in intron 3, were reported to be associated with schizophrenia in Japanese and Chinese populations, respectively. Haplotypes with these SNPs were also reported to be associated with schizophrenia. In the present study, we attempted to replicate these single marker and haplotype associations in a case-control study of 1,916 Japanese patients with schizophrenia and 1,915 Japanese control subjects. In addition to these two SNPs, we genotyped rs274622 in the promoter region of GRM3. In the present study, none of these polymorphisms were associated with schizophrenia (rs274622, allelic P = 0.68; rs1468412, allelic P = 0.74; rs2299225, allelic P = 0.20). Haplotypes constructed with these SNPs also were not associated with schizophrenia (P = 0.18-0.84). Meta-analysis of five case-control studies of more than 3,000 patients with schizophrenia and more than 3,000 control subjects did not support the associations of rs 1468412 and rs2299225 with schizophrenia. Our data indicate that SNPs previously reported to be associated with schizophrenia do not contribute to genetic susceptibility to schizophrenia.