SEARCH FOR A SUSCEPTIBILITY LOCUS TO TARDIVE DYSKINESIA

In order to find a genetic marker for vulnerability to tardive dyskinesia (TD), we looked for an association between vulnerability to TD and polymorphic sites in the gene loci encoding the dopamine D2 receptor (Nco I site), the dopamine D3 receptor (Bal I site), and the dopamine transporter (40-bp, tandem repeat polymorphism). No significant difference was observed in the allele and genotype frequencies of any of the polymorphic sites examined, when comparing psychiatric patients who were specifically vulnerable to TD (n = 49) and those who were not (n = 56). These results suggest that the polymorphic gene loci examined in the present study are unlikely to be of major aetiologic importance in the development of TD. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.