Female specific association between NNMT gene and schizophrenia in a Han Chinese population

Accumulating evidence has shown that alterations in one carbon metabolism might play an important role in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia (SZ). Nicotinamide-N-methyltransferase (NNMT) is one of the key enzymes of one-carbon metabolism. To examine whether NNMT gene was associated with SZ in Han Chinese population, we selected seven single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in NNMT gene, and investigated its association with SZ from a cohort of 42 SZ patients and 86 healthy controls by Mass-ARRAY technology. Statistical analyses revealed that one (rs694539) of the SNPs in the female subgroup showed significant difference between SZ patients and controls both in genotypic (p= 0.0170) and allelic frequencies (p = 0.0059). We also found that the frequency of haplotype 'A G G C T C T' in the female patients was significantly higher than in controls (p=0.0015). Our results suggest that NNMT rs694539 may have a role in the etiology of SZ in a Han Chinese female population.