We report that the Alu insertion of rs71052682 at 3p21.1, which is linked with the psychiatric risk allele at rs2251219, leads to an increased expression of NISCH. In addition to schizophrenia and BD, rs2251219 also showed significant associations with an increased risk of major depression (P = 5.22 × 10−6, odds ratio = 1.015 for T-allele, 294,322 cases and 741,438 controls) [85] and higher anxiety levels (P = 3.34 × 10−7, beta = 0.011 for T-allele; GAD-7; n = 135,747) [86], despite the results were less significant. Here, NISCH is linked to major depressive disorder.