Objective Duchenne muscular dystrophy(DMD)is one of the most common X-linked recessive neuromuscular degeneration diseases.It is caused by genetic defects of dystropin gene with deletion,duplication,or point mutation that results in clinical muscle fatigue and dystrophy.Usually,gene deletion of one or a few exons of dystrophin accounts for about 55%～65% patients,duplication for about 5%～10% patients and point mutation for 25%.Most of hot-spot deletion mutation of DMD can be detected by multiplex PCR and the point mutation can be detected by PCR/sequencing analysis,however,it remains a challenge to detect duplication.The recently developed MLPA(multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification)is an efficient procedure that can accurately analyze the copy number and deletion mutation of whole dystropin gene.Methods A validation for simultaneous detection of entire dystropin gene was performed with two reactions.Both of which detect 39 and half exons of dystrophin gene.Results Nine out of 15 patients with DMD were found to have deletion mutation in different exons of dystrophin gene.Among these 9 patients,7 were found having deletion previously with multiplex PCR for mutation of hot-spot by Peking Union Medical University.Two patients who had not been found deletion by multiplex PCR were shown to have rare deletion at exon 18 or 43 in this study.Conclusions MLPA provides a simple,rapid and accurate method of simultaneously detecting homozygous,heterozygous deletions and duplication mutation in two single reactions for all exons of dystrophin gene,which may be applied into clinical molecular analysis for DMD.

Objective:To detect differentiallyexpressed microRNAs (miRNAs)in plasma of schizophrenia and explore biomarker for diagnosis of schizophrenia.Methods:The discovery cohort tincluded 6 patients with schizophrenia meeting diagnostic criteria of schizophrenia of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disor-der,Fourth Edition (DSM-IV),as well as 6 healthy control subjects,whose age and gender were matched to pa-tients.The expression of 754 miRNAs (Sanger human miRBase v14)in the discovery cohort was investigated by Taqman Array (Human MicroRNA A +B Cards Set v3.0).Then the quantitative reverse-transcription polymor-phism chain reaction (qRT-PCR)assay was conducted to validate differentially expressed miRNAs in an independ-ent replication cohort,which included 25 schizophrenia patients and 18 healthy control subjects.The student's t-tests were used to analyze the differential expression of miRNA between schizophrenia patients and controls.All analyses were performed in Significance Analysis of Microarrays (SAM)software.Results:Twenty down-regulated miRNAs were observed in discovery cohort.Four miRNAs,hsa-miR-15b-5p were down-regulated in both discovery and rep-licated cohorts.Conclusion:The present study suggests that aberrant expression of miRNA might be of potential im-portance as biomarkers in the diagnosis of schizophrenia.

Objective To detect chromosomal aberrations of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), we performed karyo?types analyses in 632 ASD trios and then investigated whether copy number variants and neurodevelopment related genes are present in the regions of chromosomal aberrations. Methods Karyotypes analyses were performed in 632 ASD trios (1896 individuals). In addition, we investigated whether there were pathogenic copy number variants located in the rele?vant regions of detected aberrant karyotypes by using the database of the International Standards for Cytogenomic Arrays (ISCA) and the Genomic Variation and Phenotype in Humans using Ensembl Resources (DECIPHER) for ASD patients. Results We detected aberrant results in 22 of 632 patients (3.48%) by karyotypes analyses. Of these 22 aberrant karyo?types, 5 were de novo (0.79%), including the duplication, the translocation, karyotypes of Turner syndrome and the addi?tional material with unknown origin. Seventeen children affected with autism had aberrant karyotypes inherited from one of their parents. By using the ISCA and the DECIPHER database, we found that several copy number variants with high pathogenicity were located in 1q25 and 3p24. Further, these copy number variants consisted of several genes related to neurodevelopment such as TNR, ASTN1, and NMNAT2. Conclusion There are a few de novo chromosomal aberrations in some patients affected with ASD. Copy number variants of several pathogenic neurodevelopmental related genes may exist in the regions of chromosomal aberrations. Karyotypes analyses may be applied to explore the genetic etiology in some patients affected with ASD.

T,P=0.008; Genotype:P=0.031)of DISC1 gene were significantly associated with schizophrenia.The haplotypes constructed by these two markers were significantly associated with schizophrenia,such as AT(?2=7.065,P=0.008,OR=1.42,95%CI=1.10~1.83)and GA(?2=6.009,P=0.014,OR=0.80,95%CI=0.68~0.96).When the subjects examined with the positive and negative syndrome scale(PANSS),the risk haplotype AT was not significantly correlated with positive,negative,excitement,depression and cognitive impairment factors of PANSS. Conclusion:These findings provide further evidence for DISC1 as a predisposing gene involved in schizophrenia in the Chinese Han Population.However,no positive association is found between DISC1 polymorphisms with schizophrenia clinical symptoms.

Objective:To investigate the association of AKT1 gene polymorphism with risperidone in the treatment of first-episode and untreated schizophrenia for 8 weeks.Methods:A total of 150 patients with Chinese schizophrenia who met DSM-Ⅳ,including 128 cases of risperidone (treatment dose 4-6 mg/d) for 8 weeks were treated with risperidone (treatment dose 4-6 mg/d).The Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS) reduction rate was used to evaluate the curative effect of drugs after 8 weeks.Using DNA sequencing,four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) loci (rs1130214,rs10149779,rs1130233,rs2494732) genotype were detected in 128 Han patients with schizophrenia,and quantitative trait locus analysis (QTL) was used to explore the association between AKT1 gene polymorphisms and the efficacy of risperidone in the treatment of schizophrenia.Results:AKT1 gene rs1130233 (G ＞ A) and rs2494732(C ＞ T) were significantly associated with the increase in PANSS after 8-week risperidone treatment of schizophrenia (P ＜ 0.05).After repeated testing Bonferroni correction was still statistically significant.The correlation between rs1130214and rs10149779 in this sample was not statistically significant (P ＞0.05).Conclusion:This study suggests that polymorphisms of the AKT1 gene may be associated with the efficacy of risperidone in the treatment of schizophrenia in the Chinese Han population and is expected to provide a basis for the prediction of individual drug efficacy.

Objective:To investigate the genetic association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in gamma-aminobutyric acid type A (GABAA) receptor genes cluster on chromosome 15q12 with autism in Chinese Han population.Methods:Totally 502 autism trios of Chinese Han ethnicity (including 502 autism individuals and 1004 healthy biological parents) were selected.All children met the autism diagnosis of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,Fourth edition (DSM-Ⅳ).Genotyping for 15 selected tag SNPs in three GABAA receptor genes (GABRB3,GABRA5,and GABRG3) was performed using Agena Bioscience MassARRAY platform.The family-based association test for 15 tag SNPs was performed to compare the transmitted frequency of al leles of heterozygous genotypes from parents to offspring in autism trios.Results:The C allele of rs7180500 in GABRG3 and the A allele of rs4906902 in GABRB3 exhibited the preferential transmission from parents to affected offspring (Z =3.573,P ＜0.001;Z =3.141,P =0.002),and the association was significant after Bonferroni correction.Conclusion:It suggests that GABRG3 and GABRB3 which located in chromosome 15q12 might be susceptibility genes in Chinese Han population.

Objective To explore the association of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR)gene C677T polymorphism with weight gain induced by risperidone.Methods 356 patients with schizophrenia according to the DSM-IV criteria in this study.The height and body weight of the patients were measured before starting risperidone treatment and 8-week later.The MTHFRC677T polymorphism was genotyped using direct DNA sequencing method.Results A significant association was found between MTHFR gene C677T and body weight mass index (BMI) change after 8-week risperidone treatment.CC-carriers experienced higher BMI gain than CT/TT-carriers (CC (4.47 ± 1.09),CT (4.54 ± 1.27),TT (2.31 ± 0.75),F =5.634,P＜0.01).The frequency of allele C in bodyweight gain (＞7％) was higher than that in non-bodyweight gain groups (48.4％ vs 32.4％,x2=11.342,P＜0.01).Conclusion MTHFRC677T polymorphism is associated with risperidone induced weight gain in Chinese Han population.