ISG Vice Chair Christina Palmer is a geneticist and UCLA Associate Professor, holding joint appointments in the Department of Human Genetics, ISG, and Intercampus Medical Genetics Training Program.

Abstract:  Prenatal/obstetric complications are implicated in schizophrenia susceptibility. Some complications may arise from maternal-fetal genotype incompatibility, a term used to describe maternal-fetal genotype combinations that produce an adverse prenatal environment. As will be described, maternal-fetal genotype incompatibility can occur when maternal and fetal genotypes differ from one another, or when maternal and fetal genotypes are too similar to each other. Incompatibility genes for each of these scenarios have been implicated as risk factors for schizophrenia and a review of maternal-fetal genotype incompatibility studies suggests that schizophrenia susceptibility is increased by maternal-fetal genotype combinations at the RHD, ABO, and HLA-B loci. Maternal-fetal genotype combinations at these loci are hypothesized to have an effect on the maternal immune system during pregnancy, which can affect fetal neurodevelopment and increase schizophrenia susceptibility. During this presentation, data will be synthesized and the hypothesized biological role of these incompatibility genes in the etiology of schizophrenia will be described.