Lack of genetic association of the HLA-DQA1*0501 variant with schizophrenia in a Chinese population

A genome-wide association (GWA) study recently revealed that the human leucocyte antigen (HLA) DQA1⁎0501 variant was strongly associated with protective effects on susceptibility to schizophrenia in a Caucasian population as its relative risk (odds ratio, OR) was 0.798 (The International Schizophrenia Consortium, 2009). Another GWA study also showed strong association of the DQA1 gene with a low risk (OR<1) of the illness (Shi et al., 2009). Schizophrenia has a lifetime prevalence of about 1% in the population worldwide. An estimated heritability of over 80% has driven the search for a causative gene involved in the common pathway of developing the illness (Sullivan et al., 2003). The present work was designed to examine the DQA1⁎0501 association with schizophrenia in a Chinese population.