Association study of sertonin-6 receptor variant (C267T) with schizophrenia and aggressive behavior

The relative abundance of serotonin type 6 receptors (5-HT6) in some limbic regions and the high affinity of some antipsychotics to 5-HT6 receptors su ggest that they might be involved in the pathogenesis of schizophrenic diso rders. In a population-based association study, we tested the hypothesis th at the allelic variant, C267T, of the human 5-HT6 gene confers susceptibili ty to schizophrenic disorders and associated aggressive behavior. We genoty ped 5-HT6 receptors in 186 patients with schizophrenic disorders and 163 co ntrols. The results demonstrated no significant difference in genotype or a llele frequencies between patients with or without aggressive behaviors. Ho wever, genotype distribution was significantly different between schizophre nic patients and control subjects. This suggests that the 5-HT6 gene may pl ay a role in the pathogenesis of schizophrenic disorders. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.