Variants of GRM7 as risk factor and response to antipsychotic therapy in schizophrenia

Genome-wide association study (GWAS) has determined the metabotropic glutamate receptor 7 (GRM7) gene as potential locus for schizophrenia risk variants; However, the relationship between the GRM7 variants and the risk of schizophrenia is still uncertain, and there are significant individual variations in response to the antipsychotic drugs. In order to identify susceptible gene and drug-response-related markers, 2413 subjects in our research were chosen for determining drug-response-related markers in schizophrenia. The rs1516569 variant (OR = 0.95, P < 3.47 × 10^-4) was a significant risk factor, and a single-nucleotide polymorphism of GRM7 gene- rs9883258 (OR = 0.84, P = 2.18 × 10^-3) has been determined as potential biomarkers for therapeutic responses of seven commonly used antipsychotic drugs (aripiprazole, haloperidol, olanzapine, perphenazine, quetiapine, risperidone and ziprasidone) in Chinese Han population; Significant associations with treatment response for several single-nucleotide polymorphisms in every antipsychotic drugs, such as rs779746 (OR = 1.39, P = 0.03), rs480409 (OR = 0.73, P = 0.04), rs78137319 (OR = 3.09, P = 0.04), rs1154370 (OR = 1.51, P = 0.006) have been identified in our study. Hence our research elucidates that GRM7 variants play the critical role of predicting the risk of schizophrenia and antipsychotic effect of seven common drugs.