Association between 5-HT2A receptor polymorphism and psychotic symptoms inAlzheimer's disease

Background: The aim of this study is to analyze the segregation of the 102T /C polymorphism in the serotonin 2A receptor gene in patients affected by s poradic and familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD) with and without psychotic s ymptoms. Methods: The polymorphism was analyzed in 275 subjects. A semistructured in terview was used to obtain information about delusions, hallucinations, and other specific behavioral signs occurring during the disease. Results: Fifty-two percent of AD patients with psychotic symptoms were homo zygous for the C102 allele, as compared with 6.9% of AD patients without ps ychosis. Similarly, the C102/C102 genotype was significantly more frequent in FAD patients with psychosis than in FAD patients without (46.5% vs. 7.8% ). Conclusions: Our data strongly confirm and extend to FAD previous studies s uggesting that the genetic variation at this locus is associated with promi nent psychotic features in AD and that the 102C allele could play an import ant role in late-onset AD. Biol Psychiatry 2001; 50:472-475 (C) 2001 Societ y of Biological Psychiatry.