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Updated: Jul 19, 2026

A Strategy to Identify de Novo Mutations in Common Disorders such as Autism and Schizophrenia
Published on: June 15, 2011
IGF1, growth pathway polymorphisms and schizophrenia: a pooling study
D Gunnell1, S Lewis, J Wilkinson
1Department of Social Medicine, University of Bristol, Canynge Hall, Whiteladies Road, Bristol, UK. D.J.Gunnell@Bristol.ac.uk
Abstract:
It has been hypothesized that insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) and components of the growth-hormone (GH)-IGF axis may underlie reported associations of poor fetal and childhood growth with schizophrenia. We have investigated the association of schizophrenia with 16 SNPs spanning the IGF1 gene with an inter-marker distance of approximately 2-3 kb. We also examined associations with four common functional polymorphisms of genes involved in aspects of the GH-IGF system--the IGF1 receptor (IGF1R), insulin receptor substrate (IRS1), growth hormone (GH1), and IGF binding protein-3 (IGFBP3). The study was based on an analysis of pooled DNA samples from 648 UK and Irish cases of schizophrenia and 712 blood donor controls and of 297 Bulgarian parent offspring trios. In replicated pool analyses, none of the 16 SNPs in IGF1 nor the 4 key SNPs in the other growth pathway genes were associated with schizophrenia. SNP coverage of IGF1 was extensive, so our findings do not support a major role for IGF-I in the aetiology of schizophrenia.
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