No evidence for association of dopamine D2 receptor variant (Ser311/Cys311) with major psychosis.

We investigated a variant of the dopamine D2 receptor gene (Ser311/Cys311 substitution) in Caucasian patients with schizophrenia (n = 273), delusional disorder (n = 62), bipolar I affective disorder (n = 63), and controls (n = 255). No evidence for association between the receptor variant and any of the diseases was found, even when patients with younger age-of-onset (< 25 years) were compared with controls. Furthermore, in a subgroup of schizophrenia patients whom we assessed for negative symptoms, those with the Cys allele did not differ from the remainder of the group. Also, the bipolar affective disorder patients with psychotic features did not show evidence for association with the receptor variant. Thus, our results do not provide evidence for an association between this D2 receptor variant and schizophrenia, or delusional disorder, or bipolar affective disorder.