The role of Pannexin gene variants in schizophrenia: systematic analysis of phenotypes

Pannexins are a group of brain-expressed channel proteins thought to be regulators of schizophrenia-linked pathways including glutamate release, synaptic plasticity and neural stem proliferation. We got evidence for linkage of a catatonic phenotype to the PANX2 locus in a family study. Aim of our study was to evaluate the role of Pannexins in schizophrenia and clinical phenotypes, particularly with regard to periodic catatonia. We genotyped six single-nucleotide polymorphisms at PANX1, five at PANX2 and three at PANX3 in 1173 German cases with schizophrenia according to DSM-5 and 480 controls. Our sample included 338 cases with periodic catatonia corresponding to Leonhard’s classification. Association with schizophrenia according to DSM-5 was limited to genotype rs4838858–TT [p = 0.02, odds ratio (OR) 3.1] and haplotype rs4838858T–rs5771206G (p = 0.02, OR 2.7) at PANX2. We found no significant association with clinical phenotypes. Our limited findings do not support a major contribution of PANX1–3 to disease risk of schizophrenia according to DSM-5. We cannot confirm an association of the PANX2 loci at chromosome 22q13 with periodic catatonia.