Meta-analysis of GABRB2 polymorphisms and the risk of schizophrenia combined with GWAS data of the Han Chinese population and psychiatric genomics consortium

Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a severe psychiatric disorder with evidence of a strong genetic component in the complex etiologies. Some studies indicated that gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)A receptor β2 subunit gene (GABRB2) was associated with SCZ. Other studies reported a negative association. Moreover, the results of two previous meta-analyses of GABRB2 with SCZ were inconsistent and the sample sizes were limited. Therefore, an updated meta-analysis combined with genome-wide association study (GWAS) data of the Han Chinese population and Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC) was performed. Available case–control and family-based genetic data were extracted from association studies, and the GWAS data were included. The findings showed no association between six single-nucleotide polymorphisms of GABRB2 (rs6556547, rs1816071, rs1816072, rs194072, rs252944, and rs187269) and SCZ in a total of 51,491 patients and 74,667 controls. The ethnic subgroup analysis revealed no significant association in Asian populations. Since the PGC data of SCZ (SCZ-PGC, 2014) contained 3 studies of Asian populations (1866 patients and 3418 controls), only the data of European samples in SCZ-PGC were used for the meta-analysis of the Caucasian population in the present study. The result still showed no association in the Caucasian population. In conclusion, the present meta-analysis on combined data from GWASs of the Han Chinese population and PGC suggested that GABRB2 polymorphisms might not be associated with SCZ.