FADS1 modulates metabolic syndrome in schizophrenia patients receiving olanzapine monotherapy.

In this study, we hypothesized that fatty acid desaturase-1 (FADS1) and fatty acid desaturase-2 (FADS2) may mediate metabolic syndrome (MetS) in patients receiving olanzapine monotherapy. 216 schizophrenia patients were recruited. There is a significant difference between the patients with or without MetS in term of the expression of FADS1 mRNA (F = 4.58, P = 0.03), but not FADS2 mRNA (F = 1.29, P = 0.26). We observed a positive association between FADS1 mRNA and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (P = 0.04), and a negative association between FADS1 mRNA and systolic blood pressure (P = 0.04). Our findings implied that FADS1 may be an important genetic modifier that can regulate olanzapine-associated metabolic disturbance.