Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0036341 (schizophrenia)
 60,220 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Family-based linkage disequilibrium mapping using SNP markers is expected to be a major route to the identification of susceptibility alleles for complex diseases. However there are a number of methodological issues yet to be resolved, including the handling of extended haplotype data and analysis of haplotype transmission in sib-pair or family trio samples. In the present study, we have analysed two dinucleotide repeat and six SNP markers at the COMT locus at chromosome 22q11, a region implicated in psychosis, for transmission distortion in 198 Chinese schizophrenic family trios. When individual markers were analysed using the TDT, two showed modest evidence of transmission distortion (186C/T, P = 0.04; Val158Met, P = 0.01). Using haplotypes of paired markers analysed by the program TRANSMIT, the most significant P value was 0.001, for the Met158Val and 900ins/delC polymorphisms in the COMT gene. The global P value for the haplotypes of all six SNP markers tested was 0.004, largely a result of the excess transmission of two extended haplotypes which differed at the marker 408C/G. The exclusion of this marker from the analysis gave a global P value of 0.002 and produced a five marker haplotype system which was significant at P = 0.0006. This haplotype consisted of the alleles -287G:186C:Val158:900insC:ARVCF930C, which may represent a background haplotype for the transmission of a schizophrenia susceptibility allele at chromosome 22q11. Our results support the hypotheses that either COMT is itself a susceptibility gene, or more likely that this region of chromosome 22 contains a susceptibility gene that is in linkage disequilibrium with COMT alleles. Molecular Psychiatry (2000) 5, 77-84.
 ...
PMID:Family-based linkage disequilibrium mapping using SNP marker haplotypes: application to a potential locus for schizophrenia at chromosome 22q11. 1208 58

Our experience with atypical antipsychotics in patients with PD is that their motor effects are not predictable. The multiple reports concerning clozapine's beneficial effects on tremor, dystonia, nocturnal akathisia, and dyskinesias all underscore this observation. However, the appearance of even minor degrees of parkinsonism in normal volunteers or schizophrenics should suggest that an antipsychotic will not be well-tolerated in patients with PD. The treatment of PD is probably the most stringent test of a drug's freedom from parkinsonian side effects. The data from trials in schizophrenia concerning parkinsonian effects cannot always be confidently interpreted. Virtually all subjects in these trials have been treated with typical neuroleptics until shortly before study entry. Because the parkinsonian side effects of these drugs may persist for several months, patients may still show declining levels of parkinsonism even when placed on a drug that induces it if this effect is milder than that induced by the pre-study neuroleptic. Depending on the pre-study drug used and the duration of the study, distinguishing placebo from a low-potency neuroleptic may be impossible. Furthermore, the standard measure of parkinsonism in psychiatric studies is the Simpson-Angus scale which is heavily weighted toward rigidity and may underscore bradykinesia, gait, and posture abnormalities. The prolactin response to an antipsychotic drug may turn out to be a good predictor of its freedom from parkinsonian side effects. That would fit with the data presented above of clozapine and quetiapine having less parkinsonian effects, olanzapine having more but variable effects and risperidone being poorly tolerated. With the data presented above, comprising a current review of all reports of the use of atypical antipsychotics in PD that we could locate, we can say little with certainty. The only drug with confirmed benefit without worsening parkinsonism is clozapine. Open-label trials involving over 400 patients and two multicenter, placebo-controlled, double-blind trials have demonstrated that it is effective in treating the psychosis. It improves tremor, does not worsen other motor functions to any significant extent, and is safe at low doses. Limited data provide conflicting information on both risperidone and olanzapine. Quetiapine seems to be well-tolerated with some, but definitely less, worsening of PD motor features than risperidone and olanzapine. Based on the current literature, our personal experience, and anecdotal experience of other PD specialists which we solicited, we will venture our own interpretation and recommendations. We think risperidone is poorly tolerated and should be used only as a last resort; that olanzapine is better than risperidone but will, in a majority of patients with PD, worsen motor function. We are optimistic, but not yet convinced, that quetiapine may prove to be as effective and better tolerated than clozapine. It will not require cumbersome monitoring because it does not induce a blood dyscrasia. We therefore recommend that DP be treated in the following manner. First, the anti-PD medications should be simplified and reduced as much as tolerated. We think, in general, side effects multiply more with increasing numbers of drugs than with drug dose, so that patients are more likely to tolerate a higher dose of levodopa than a lower dose of levodopa combined with other adjunctive anti-PD medications. In reducing anti-PD medications, we recommend tapering and stopping, if necessary, the drugs with the highest risk-to-benefit ratio first. Anticholinergics are stopped first, then selegiline, dopamine agonists, amantadine, and finally COMT inhibitors, which have no psychotomimetic action of their own. Finally, levodopa is reduced. Generally, a point is reached at which the anti-PD medications cannot be reduced without jeopardizing motor function. If psychosis persists at this point, then an antipsychotic is added. (ABS
 ...
PMID:Atypical antipsychotics in the treatment of drug-induced psychosis in Parkinson's disease. 1075 67

Because of the manifestation of schizophrenic symptoms in individuals with interstitial deletions of chromosome 22q11.2, genes located in 22q11.2 are positional candidates for schizophrenia susceptibility. We genotyped five polymorphisms at D22S941, D22S944, D22S264, and D22S311, and the COMT gene in the common 3Mbp deletion region associated with 22q11 deletion syndrome in 300 Japanese schizophrenics and 300 controls and identified one patient with 22q11 deletion (Arinami et al., 2001). The results showed a trend of different genotypic distributions in D22S264 between patients with schizophrenia and controls (non-corrected p=0.04). Given this finding, we searched for mutations in the ZNF74 gene, which is located 11.2Kbp centromeric to D22S264. The ZNF74 gene is a member of the KRAB-zinc finger gene family and is expressed in the developing brain. Four polymorphisms, 1150T/C, IVS2a-40G/A, E/K46, and [K/N551;L/F552], were detected. The first three polymorphisms were in almost complete linkage disequilibrium. Case-control comparisons for these polymorphisms resulted in similar genotypic and allelic frequencies in patients and controls. The polymorphisms, however, were significantly associated with age-at-onset of schizophrenia (n<0.0001). Subsequent analyses in another Japanese schizophrenic population (n=169) confirmed an age-at-onset association (p<0.0001). These findings suggest that the ZNF74 gene plays a role as one of the modifying factors for schizophrenia.
 ...
PMID:Association of ZNF74 gene genotypes with age-at-onset of schizophrenia. 1170 9

The gene for COMT is located on chromosome 22q11, an area that has been implicated in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia through linkage studies and through the detection of deletions in schizophrenics and velocardiofacial syndrome patients that often present psychotic symptomatology. Additionally catechol-O-methyl transferase activity has been found increased in schizophrenia and a functional polymorphism in the COMT gene itself has been associated with the disease, as well as with aggression in patients. We tested the hypothesis that COMT genotype for the functional Val158Met might contribute to the variance of self reported schizotypy and aggression scores in the normal population. We genotyped 379 healthy 18- to 24-year-old male individuals who had completed the PAS, SPQ and AQ questionnaires. Our results showed that self-reported schizotypy scores in both questionnaires were significantly related to COMT genotype (P = 0.028 for the PAS and P = 0.015 for the SPQ) with individuals homozygous for the high activity allele showing the highest scores. No significant differences were detected for AQ scores. We conclude that the COMT genotype for the functional Val158Met polymorphism is correlated to self-reported schizotypy in healthy males. This finding is in the same direction as reported findings on schizophrenia and it adds to the list of evidence that COMT or a nearby gene in linkage disequilibrium is involved in the pathogenesis of the disease.
 ...
PMID:Higher scores of self reported schizotypy in healthy young males carrying the COMT high activity allele. 1219 14

COMT is a ubiquitous enzyme crucial to catechol metabolism. The molecular basis of COMT thermolability, that leads to three to fourfold differences in enzyme activity, is due to a substitution of valine with methionine in the Val158/108Met polymorphism. Of special interest is the role of this gene in major psychoses especially since a microdeletion (22q11) containing the COMT gene (velo-cardio-facial syndrome) also carries with it several types of behavioral disorders, including an increased prevalence of schizophrenia. Almost 20 genetic studies have examined the role of COMT in schizophrenia with ambiguous results. Towards clarifying the role of this polymorphism in conferring risk for psychosis, we examined a large group of culturally and ethnically akin Palestinian Arab schizophrenic triads (N = 276) using both a case-control and family-based study. In 194 informative triads with at least one heterozygote parent, no preferential transmission of either COMT allele was observed in this sample (TDT statistic chi-square = 0.14 NS; 131 COMT valine alleles were transmitted and 125 alleles not transmitted). However, using a case-control design a significant increase (Likelihood ratio = 3.935, P = 0.047) in the valine allele was observed in the group of schizophrenic patients (N = 276) compared to an ethnically matched control group (N = 77). The association was stronger in female patients (P = 0.012) similar to other studies showing that some COMT behavioral effects are gender sensitive. In summary, by case-control design but not by a family-based study, there is a weak effect in female patients of the high activity COMT allele in conferring risk for schizophrenia.
 ...
PMID:Family-based and case-control study of catechol-O-methyltransferase in schizophrenia among Palestinian Arabs. 1270 35

The high heritability of schizophrenia has stimulated much work aimed at identifying susceptibility genes using positional genetics. As a result, several strong and well-established linkages have emerged. Three of the best-supported regions are 6p24-22, 1q21-22 and 13q32-34 where single studies have achieved genome-wide significance at P<0.05 and suggestive positive findings have also been reported in other samples. Other promising regions include 8p21-22, 6q21-25, 22q11-12, 5q21-q33, 10p15-p11 and 1q42. Recently, evidence implicating individual genes within some of the linked regions has been reported and more importantly replicated. Currently, the weight of evidence supports NRG1 and DTNBP1 as schizophrenia susceptibility loci, though work remains before we understand precisely how genetic variation at each locus confers susceptibility and protection. The evidence for COMT, RGS4 and G72 is promising but not yet persuasive. While it is essential that further replications are established, the respective contributions of each gene, relationships with aspects of the phenotype, the possibility of epistatic interactions between genes and functional interactions between the gene products will all need investigation. The ability of positional genetics to implicate novel genes and pathways will open up new vistas for neurobiological research, and all the signs are that genetic research is poised to deliver crucial insights into the nature of schizophrenia.
 ...
PMID:Recent advances in the genetics of schizophrenia. 1295 66

Risperidone is a widely used atypical antipsychotic with certain advantages over typical antipsychotics. Although variations in the efficacy of treatment with risperidone have been observed, no specific predictable marker has been identified as of yet. In all, 73 Japanese patients with schizophrenia were given risperidone for 8 weeks, and clinical symptoms were evaluated using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Six candidate polymorphisms (HTR2A -1438G>A, 102T>C, H452Y; DRD2 -141delC, Taq I A; COMT V158M) were genotyped. The diplotype configuration for each individual was estimated by the maximum-likelihood method. Multiple linear regressions were used to analyze the effects of these haplotypes/genotype and other prognostic factors on PANSS scale performance. After adjustment for the effects of patient-related variables, HTR2A diplotype and COMT genotype, as well as other potential prognostic factors, did not significantly influence the clinical performance. A DRD2 haplotype tended to correlate with better clinical performance. Compared with patients who had Ins-A2/Ins-A2 diplotype (n=25), PANSS total scores of patients with Ins-A2/Del-A1 diplotype (n=10) showed 40% greater improvement (P=0.03). The PANSS total scores of patients with HTR2A A-T/A-T diplotype (n=22) tended to show 15% worse improvement compared with A-T/G-C diplotype (n=33) (P=0.06). These results should be treated with caution because of limitations due to small sample size, heterogeneity of patients with respect to past antipsychotic use history, and no correction for multiple corrections. However, the present findings generate important hypotheses in a sample of Japanese schizophrenia patients that may lay the foundation for future pharmacogenomics investigations in other populations.
 ...
PMID:Effect of DRD2, 5-HT2A, and COMT genes on antipsychotic response to risperidone. 1461 May 21

Schizophrenia is a common mental disorder with a complex pattern of inheritance. Despite a large number of studies in the past decades, its molecular etiology remains unknown. In this study, we proposed a 'system-thinking' strategy in seeking the combined effect of susceptibility genes for a complex disorder by using paranoid schizophrenia as an example. We genotyped 85 reported single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) present in 23 genes for the dopamine (DA) metabolism pathway among 83 paranoid schizophrenics and 108 normal controls with detailed clinical and genetic information. We developed two novel multilocus approaches-the potential effective SNP combination pattern and potential effective dynamic effects analysis, by which three susceptibility genotype combinations were found to be associated with schizophrenia. These results were also validated in a family-based cohort consisting of 95 family trios of paranoid schizophrenia. The present findings suggest that the COMT and ALDH3 combination may be the most common type involved in predisposing to schizophrenia. Since the combination blocks the whole pathways for the breakdown of DA and noradrenaline, it is very likely to play a central role in developing paranoid schizophrenia.
 ...
PMID:Association study of an SNP combination pattern in the dopaminergic pathway in paranoid schizophrenia: a novel strategy for complex disorders. 1511 36

A recent study found, in a large sample of Ashkenazi Jews, a highly significant association between schizophrenia and a particular haplotype of three polymorphic sites in the catechol-O-methyl transferase, COMT, gene: an IVS 1 SNP (dbSNP rs737865), the exon 4 functional SNP (Val158Met, dbSNP rs165688), and a downstream SNP (dbSNP rs165599). Subsequently, this haplotype was shown to be associated with lower levels of COMT cDNA derived from normal cortical brain tissue, most likely due to cis-acting element(s). As a first step toward evaluating whether this haplotype may be relevant to schizophrenia in populations other than Ashkenazi Jews, we have studied this haplotype in 38 populations representing all major regions of the world. Adding to our previous data on four polymorphic sites in the COMT gene, including the Val158Met polymorphism, we have typed the IVS 1 rs737865 and 3' rs615599 sites and also included a novel IVS 1 indel polymorphism, yielding seven-site haplotype frequencies for normal individuals in the 38 globally distributed populations, including a sample of Ashkenazi Jews. We report that the schizophrenia-associated haplotype is significantly heterogeneous in populations worldwide. The three-site, schizophrenia-associated haplotype frequencies range from 0% in South America to 37.1% in Southwest Asia, despite the fact that schizophrenia occurs at roughly equal frequency around the world. Assuming that the published associations found between the exon 4 Val158Met SNP and schizophrenia are due to linkage disequilibrium, these new haplotype data support the hypothesis of a relevant cis variant linked to the rs737865 site, possibly just upstream in the P2 promoter driving transcription of the predominant form of COMT in the brain. The previously described HindIII restriction site polymorphism, located within the P2 promoter, varies within all populations and may provide essential information in future studies of schizophrenia.
 ...
PMID:COMT haplotypes suggest P2 promoter region relevance for schizophrenia. 1509

Some studies have reported associations between COMT and MAO genotypes and aggression, though results have been inconsistent. We examined the relationship between Overt aggression scale (OAS) scores, and both MAOA and MAOB polymorphisms in a well-powered sample of 346 subjects with schizophrenia. We also examined COMT in a Stage II replication sample of 150 individuals, and combined these results with our previously reported (Stage I) findings for COMT. We found no evidence of any associations between OAS ratings and any of the polymorphisms investigated under different genetic models. There was no evidence of epistatic interaction between MAOA and COMT on OAS scores. These results fail to support the theory that functional polymorphisms within the MAOA, MAOB, or COMT genes, as determinants of catecholamine enzymatic activity, are risk factors for aggressive behavior.
 ...
PMID:Polymorphisms in the MAOA, MAOB, and COMT genes and aggressive behavior in schizophrenia. 1521 23


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next >>