Copy Number Variant in the Region of Adenosine Kinase (ADK) and Its Possible Contribution to Schizophrenia Susceptibility.

Background: Adenosine kinase (ADK) is supposed to be a schizophrenia susceptibility gene based on the findings that ADK is an enzyme that catalyzes transfer of the gamma-phosphate from ATP to adenosine, which interacts with dopamine and glutamate neurotransmitters. However, no reports of schizophrenia cases with loss of function variants in the ADK region have been published. In our previous study investigating copy number variants in schizophrenia, we detected a copy number variant in the ADK region in 1 of 1699 schizophrenia patients.

Methods: We validated the ADK deletion by determining the breakpoint. Then, we compared the relative expression of ADK in 32 schizophrenia patients, including a schizophrenia patient with deletion of ADK, with 29 healthy controls using lymphoblastoid cell lines. Furthermore, we evaluated the clinical phenotypes of the schizophrenia with ADK deletion.

Result: We validated the copy number variants with Sanger sequencing and predicted that this copy number variant results in loss of function of ADK. Furthermore, expression analysis of mRNA from peripheral blood in this schizophrenia patient with the ADK deletion showed an extremely low level of ADK. Here we describe a case report of a patient with ADK deletion with phenotypes (schizophrenia, parkinsonism, epilepsy) that are predicted when ADK function is disrupted.

Conclusion: Considering that the patient had a low ADK mRNA level and showed a phenotype that may be related to ADK deficiency, the copy number variants in the region of ADK may be strongly related to the phenotypes described here, such as schizophrenia, Parkinsonism, and epilepsy.