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Neuregulin1 (NRG1), a candidate susceptibility gene for schizophrenia, plays a critical role in neuronal migration and central nervous system development. However, its relation to schizophrenia pathogenesis is unknown. Here we show that B lymphoblasts migrate to NRG1 through the ErbB-signaling system as observed in neuronal cells. We assessed NRG1-induced cell migration in B lymphoblasts from patients with schizophrenia and found that NRG1-induced migration is significantly decreased compared with control individuals in two independent cohorts. This impaired migration is related at least in part to reduced AKT phosphorylation in the patients. Moreover, the magnitude of NRG1-induced migration is associated with polymorphisms of the NRG1 and catechol-o-methyltransferase genes and with an epistatic interaction of these genes. This study demonstrates that the migratory response of schizophrenia-derived cells to NRG1 is impaired and is associated with genetic variations in more than one schizophrenia susceptibility gene, providing a novel insight into potential neurodevelopmental mechanisms of schizophrenia.

Original publication

DOI

10.1038/sj.mp.4001994

Type

Journal article

Journal

Mol Psychiatry

Publication Date

10/2007

Volume

12

Pages

946 - 957

Keywords

Adult, Analysis of Variance, B-Lymphocytes, Catechol O-Methyltransferase, Cell Movement, Cell Proliferation, Cells, Cultured, Chemotaxis, Enzyme Inhibitors, Female, Gene Expression Regulation, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Neuregulin-1, Polymorphism, Genetic, Receptor, ErbB-2, Receptor, ErbB-3, Schizophrenia, Signal Transduction, Statistics, Nonparametric