A LINKAGE STUDY OF SCHIZOPHRENIA WITH DNA MARKERS FROM CHROMOSOME 8P21-P22 IN 25 MULTIPLEX FAMILIES

Two recent genome-wide searches for linkage (Lasseter et al., 1994; Mo ises et al., 1995) suggested that a susceptibility gene for schizophre nia might be located at chromosome 8p21-p22. We attempted to replicate these findings by performing a linkage study of schizophrenia with fo ur DNA markers from this region using 25 multiply affected families. N either the lod score method nor non-parametric extended sib-pair analy sis yielded any evidence for linkage, even under the assumption of loc us heterogeneity. We conclude that there is unlikely to be a major gen e in the 8p21-p22 region which confers susceptibility to schizophrenia in our set of families. However we cannot exclude the possibility of a major gene present in other families, or of a susceptibility gene wi th a moderate but widespread effect which we cannot detect.