THE IDEA THAT GERM LINE CNVs OCCUR IN THE SPERM OF OLDER MEN IS CERTAINLY A POSSIBILITY AND A VERY IMPORTANT RESEARCH LINE TO FOLLOW IN SZ AND AUTISM

"The idea that germ line CNVs occur in the sperm of older men (or women for that matter) is certainly possible and a very important research line to follow in schizophrenia and autism. However, the best experiment would be to identify de novo CNVs in patients with SZ by doing CGH and comparing the results with parental CGH (as recently reported by Sebat et al in autism). The possibility of a finding might increase if sporadic, non-familial cases are used. One cannot examine the sperm directly because the frequency of such a defect would be very low and the spermatozoan with a new CNV would be diluted by a large population of cells that do not have it. The sensitivity of current methods used to assess CNV are too low to detect such changes."