AN ASSOCIATION STUDY OF A NEUROTROPHIN-3 (NT-3) GENE POLYMORPHISM WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA

Since abnormalities of brain development play a role in the aetiology of schizophrenia, growth factors, known to play a role in neurodevelop ment, such as neurotrophin-3 (NT-3), are therefore candidate genes for this disorder. The A3/147 bp allele of a dinucleotide repeat polymorp hism in the promoter region of the NT-3 gene has been reported as occu rring more frequently in a sample of Japanese schizophrenics compared to controls. We have determined the frequency of alleles of this polym orphism in 175 Caucasian schizophrenic patients and 147 control subjec ts. The patient and control samples showed no significant deviation fr om Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and, in a test of all alleles, the patie nts and controls did not differ significantly in allele frequencies. H owever, the male schizophrenics were more likely than male controls to have the A3/147 bp allele (P = 0.029).