These findings suggest that RGS4 variances influence clinical manifestations of schizophrenia as well as the treatment response to risperidone, suggesting that RGS4 plays a role in the fundamental process of disease pathophysiology.
To further clarify the role of RGS4 in this disease, we performed a case-control study (504 cases and 531 controls of Han Chinese descent) to examine the association of RGS4 with schizophrenia and with clinical and neurocognitive profiles.
The results of both our case-control study in the Chinese Han population and the meta-analysis yield no significant evidence for association, which suggests that the genetic polymorphisms within RGS4 are unlikely to confer an increased susceptibility to the etiology of schizophrenia.
RGS4 is an example of a molecule that may underlie increased vulnerability through either genetic or non-genetic mechanisms, which we suggest may be typical of other genes in a complex, polygenic disorder such as schizophrenia.
While P values were not corrected for multiple testing because of the clear prior hypothesis, these results could be interpreted as supporting evidence for the association between RGS4 and schizophrenia.