Genetic and epigenetic analysis of schizophrenia in blood-a no-brainer?

Andrew E Jaffe; Joel E Kleinman

doi:10.1186/s13073-016-0354-4

Genetic and epigenetic analysis of schizophrenia in blood-a no-brainer?

Genome Med. 2016 Sep 21;8(1):96. doi: 10.1186/s13073-016-0354-4.

Authors

Andrew E Jaffe^{1

2

3

4}, Joel E Kleinman^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Lieber Institute for Brain Development, Johns Hopkins Medical Campus, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA. andrew.jaffe@libd.org.
² Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA. andrew.jaffe@libd.org.
³ Department of Biostatistics, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA. andrew.jaffe@libd.org.
⁴ Center for Computational Biology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA. andrew.jaffe@libd.org.
⁵ Lieber Institute for Brain Development, Johns Hopkins Medical Campus, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA.
⁶ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA.

Abstract

Several recent studies have investigated either genetic or epigenetic variation in schizophrenia. A recent study presents comprehensive analyses of blood samples to better characterize the combined role of genetic and epigenetic variation in schizophrenia. While the paper identifies significant associations with schizophrenia risk and diagnosis, the potential relevance to the brain in schizophrenia is questionable.