Gene Linked to Higher Schizophrenia Risk

Infants with a certain immune gene very closely matching their mothers’ have a higher risk of schizophrenia, U.S. researchers say.

A research team at the University of California at Los Angeles found that the fetal susceptibility to schizophrenia was particularly high in females.

The gene at the center of the study is HLA-B, of which an infant inherits one copy from each parent.

Our findings clearly suggest that schizophrenia risk rises, especially in daughters, when the child’s HLA-B gene too closely matches its mother’s, said Christina Palmer, UCLA associate professor of psychiatry and human genetics and a researcher at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. We don’t know whether sons who match are not affected — or are more affected and less likely to come to term.

HLA-B is one of a family of genes known as human leukocyte antigen (HLA) complex, which helps the immune system distinguish between the body’s own proteins from those made by foreign invaders like viruses and bacteria.

The UCLA team focused on the HLA-B gene because it has been previously linked to prenatal complications such as pre-eclampsia and low birth weight; complications that have in turn been associated with a higher schizophrenia risk.

The research appears in the October issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics.