The Psychosis Susceptibility gene ZNF804A: associations, functions and phenotypes

Abstract

As the first gene to have achieved genome-wide significance for psychosis, ZNF804A has predictably been a subject of intense research activity. We review the evidence to date for the association between schizophrenia and the original risk variant rs1344706 identified as well as additional common and rare variants at this locus. We describe the still scant literature on the biological function of ZNF804A and discuss the efforts being made to characterize and refine the associated phenotype using imaging and neuropsychological approaches. We conclude that ZNF804A is robustly, if modestly, associated with schizophrenia risk, with much work still remaining to elucidate its role in schizophrenia biology.