Schizophrenia: monocentric study of CLEC16A gene variants in Moroccan patients

Abstract Numerous studies have identified a correlation between autoimmune disorders and schizophrenia, indicating that various single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with immune-related genes significantly implicated in common autoimmune conditions (rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and lupus erythematosus) may influence the risk of developing schizophrenia. The CLEC16A gene was identified as significant to those autoimmune pathologies associated with schizophrenia and a candidate gene for schizophrenia itself. For this study, 142 individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia were selected; the mean age was 32.5 ± 7 years, accompanied by 127 healthy controls of a mean age of 34.3 ± 10.3 years, all of Moroccan descent. For the first time, four SNPs within the CLEC16A gene were analyzed for their association with schizophrenia, the minor allele T (rs12928822) was found to be slightly elevated in SCZ patients compared to healthy controls, yielding an odds ratio of 1.554 (95% CI, 0.698–3.458); similarly with the minor allele A (rs2903692), with an odds ratio of 1.237 (95% CI, 0.848–1.805). However, no statistically significant association was observed for both variants and the disease ( p = 0.28; p = 0.27), similar to the haplotypes. The present investigation did not reveal a significant association between the analyzed single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and schizophrenia within our Moroccan cohort; positive odds were identified, with no significance, advocating for additional research with an expanded sample size.