Liver enzyme CYP2D6 gene and tardive dyskinesia.

Background

Tardive dyskinesia (TD) is an iatrogenic involuntary movement disorder occurring after extended antipsychotic use with unclear pathogenesis. CYP2D6 is a liver enzyme involved in antipsychotic metabolism and a well-studied gene candidate for TD. Materials & methods: We tested predicted CYP2D6 metabolizer phenotype with TD occurrence and severity in our two samples of European chronic schizophrenia patients (total n = 198, of which 82 had TD).

Results

TD occurrence were associated with extreme metabolizer phenotype, controlling for age and sex (p = 0.012). In other words, individuals with either increased and no CYP2D6 activity were at higher risk of having TD.

Conclusion

Unlike most previous findings, TD occurrence may be associated with both extremes of CYP2D6 metabolic activity rather than solely for poor metabolizers.