The epsin 4 gene is associated with psychotic disorders in families of Latin American origin

Abstract This study attempted to replicate evidence for association of the Epsin 4 gene (which encodes enthoprotin, a protein involved in vesicular transport) to schizophrenia in a new sample of families segregating schizophrenia drawn from the Latin American population. 1423 subjects (767 with a history of psychosis) from 337 Latino families were genotyped using three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) spanning the Epsin 4 gene. A family based association test was utilized to test for association of these SNPs to the phenotypes of psychosis and schizophrenia. Haplotypes defined by these three SNPs showed significant association to the phenotype of psychosis in this sample (global p value = 0.014, bi-allelic p value = 0.047). Variation in the Epsin 4 gene is significantly associated with psychotic disorder in this Latino population. This provides additional support for the involvement of enthoprotin in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders.