Associationoffunctionalgenespolymorphisms ofkeyenzymesinthemetabolismofbiogenic amineswithparanoidschizophreniasusceptibility andtheinfluenceofthesepolymorphisms onPAnSSresultsinantipsychotictreatment

Summary Introduction: The genetic components of schizophrenia susceptibility are calculated as being 50 %. Aim: We evaluated the frequency of alleles and genotypes of COMT and MAO-A genes polymorphisms in patients with schizophrenia and in the healthy population. We searched for associations between the gen- otypes and PANSS results among patients in a three month-long antipsychotic therapy. Subjectsandmethods: The study comprised 72 unrelated patients who met ICD-10 criteria for schiz- ophrenia, and 187 unrelated healthy controls. The analysis of COMT and MAO-A genes polymorphisms were performed using the polymerase chain reaction technique (RFLP-restriction fragments length poly- morphism and VNTR-variable number tandem repeats). The severity of psychopathological symptoms was measured using the PANSS (Positive and Negative Schizophrenia Scale). Results: We did not find any association between the genotype of COMT and MAO-A genes polymor- phisms and schizophrenia. We found a statistically significant different allele distribution in MAO gene pol- ymorphism: alleles with three tandem repeats in the promoter region were more frequent among females with schizophrenia. We did not find any association between the genotype of COMT and MAO-A genes polymorphisms and PANSS results in any time periods. Due to a small number of patients in this study the obtained results should be regarded as preliminary.