Association of DISC1 and TSNAX genes and affective disorders in the depression case–control (DeCC) and bipolar affective case–control (BACCS) studies

The gene known as Disrupted-in-Schizophrenia-1, DISC1, was originally discovered in a large family, in which it also co-segregated with bipolar affective disorder (BD) and with major depressive disorder (MDD). The TSNAX (Translin-associated factor X) gene, located immediately upstream of DISC1, has also been suggested as a candidate gene in relation to psychiatric illness, as one transcript resulting from intergenic splicing encodes a novel TSNAX–DISC1 fusion protein. We explored the TSNAX–DISC1 gene region for an association with BD and MDD in a sample of 1984 patients (1469 MDD, 515 BD) and 1376 ethnically matched controls. Eight single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within the TSNAX–DISC1 region (rs766288, rs3738401, rs2492367, rs6675281, rs12133766, rs1000731, rs7546310 and rs821597) were investigated using the SNPlex Genotyping System. We found a significant allelic and genotypic association of the TSNAX–DISC1 gene region with BD, whereas a haplotypic association was found for both BD and MDD. Therefore, our results suggest an association between the TSNAX–DISC1 region and both forms of affective disorders, and support the hypothesis that a portion of the genotypic overlap between schizophrenia and affective disorders is attributable to this gene.