FURTHER ASSOCIATION STUDY ON DOPAMINE D2 RECEPTOR VARIANT S311C IN SCHIZOPHRENIA AND AFFECTIVE-DISORDERS

The dopamine D2 receptor gene is a candidate gene for schizophrenia be cause the potency of certain neuroleptics correlates with their affini ty for this receptor, Case-control studies in 291 schizophrenics, 78 p atients with affective disorders, and 579 controls on an association o f a molecular variant of S311C of the dopamine D2 receptor with psychi atric disorders were conducted. The frequency of individuals with S311 C was significantly higher in schizophrenics with the absence of negat ive symptoms (17.1%, P < 0.00001), but similar in schizophrenics with the presence of negative symptoms (5.7%, P = 0.46) when compared with the controls (4.1%). The frequency of S311C was significantly higher i n familial schizophrenics from one local area but not in those from ot her areas. It was significant that S311C was frequently present in pat ients with mood-incongruent psychotic affective disorders (33.3%, P < 0.0001), but not in those with other affective disorders. These data s uggest that S311C might be one of the genetic factors for symptomatic dimensions of delusions and hallucinations and might be involved in un derlying clinical heterogeneity in schizophrenia and affective disorde rs. (C) 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.