[Association of functional genes polymorphisms of key enzymes in the metabolism of biogenic amines with paranoid schizophrenia susceptibility and the influence of these polymorphisms on PANSS results in antipsychotic treatment].

AIM: The genetic components of the schizophrenia susceptibility are calculated as being 50%. We evaluated the frequency of alleles and genotypes of COMT and MAO-A genes polymorphisms in patients with schizophrenia and in the healthy population. We searched for the associations between genotypes and PANSS results among patients in a three month antipsychotic therapy.

METHOD: The study comprised 72 unrelated patients who met ICD-10 criteria for schizophrenia, and 187 unrelated healthy controls. The analysis of COMT and MAO-A genes polymorphisms were performed using the polymerase chain reaction technique (RFLP-restriction fragments length polymorphism and VNTR-variable number tandem repeats). The severity of psychopathological symptoms was measured by the PANSS (Positive and Negative Schizophrenia Scale).

RESULTS

We did not find an association between the genotype of COMT and MAO-A genes polymorphisms and schizophrenia. We found statistically significant different allele distribution in MAO gene polymorphism: alleles with three tandem repeats in the promoter region were more frequent among females with schizophrenia. We did not find any association between the genotype of COMT and MAO-A genes polymorphisms and PANSS results in any time periods. Due to a small number of patients in this study the obtained results should be regarded as preliminary.