Association study of a functional catechol- O-methyltransferase gene polymorphism in Japanese schizophrenics

• Published in: Neuroscience letters Vol. 243; no. 1; pp. 109 - 112
• Main Authors: Ohmori, Osamu, Shinkai, Takahiro, Kojima, Hideki, Terao, Takeshi, Suzuki, Takashi, Mita, Takashi, Abe, Kazuhiko
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ireland Elsevier Ireland Ltd 27.02.1998
• Subjects: Alleles; Association; Catechol O-Methyltransferase - genetics; Catechol- O-methyltransferase; Chromosome 22; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 22; Dopamine; Dopamine - physiology; Female; Genetic Linkage; Genotype; Humans; Japan; Japanese; Male; Middle Aged; Polymorphism; Polymorphism, Genetic; Schizophrenia; Schizophrenia - enzymology; Schizophrenia - genetics; Japan; Association; Dopamine; Catechol- O-methyltransferase; Schizophrenia; Chromosome 22; Japanese; Polymorphism
• ISSN: 0304-3940; 1872-7972
• DOI: 10.1016/S0304-3940(98)00100-1

Catechol- O-methyltransferase (COMT) is an enzyme which inactivates catecholamine neurotransmitters by methylation, and is considered a candidate for involvement in schizophrenia. A functional COMT gene polymorphism influencing the enzyme activities, the high activity (val-108) and the low activity allele (met-108), was recently confirmed. We investigated a genetic association between schizophrenia and the COMT gene polymorphism in 150 Japanese schizophrenics and controls. We detected the low activity met-108 allele more frequently in schizophrenics than in the controls, and found that subjects sharing the met-108 allele (val/met and met/met) are significantly more common in the patients than in the controls. The results suggest that the low activity met-108 allele may be involved in susceptibility for schizophrenia.