No association between polymorphisms in the DDC gene and paranoid schizophrenia in a northern Chinese population.
Several lines of evidence suggest that dysfunctions of neurotransmitters are associated with schizophrenia. DOPA decarboxylase (DDC) is an enzyme involved directly in the synthesis of dopamine and serotonin, and indirectly in the synthesis of noradrenaline. Therefore, the DDC gene can be considered a candidate gene for schizophrenia. We performed an association study between three single nucleotide polymorphisms in the DDC gene and paranoid schizophrenia. However, in our study no significant differences were found in the genotype distributions and allele frequencies between 80 paranoid schizophrenics and 108 controls for any of the polymorphisms. Neither did the haplotypes of the single nucleotide polymorphisms show any association with paranoid schizophrenia. Therefore, we conclude that the polymorphisms studied do not play a major role in paranoid schizophrenia pathogenesis in the population investigated.
National Laboratory of Medical Molecular Biology, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
Boyu
B
Zhang
Yanbin
Y
Jia
Yanbo
Y
Yuan
Xin
X
Yu
Qi
Q
Xu
Yucun
Y
Shen
Yan
Y
Shen
D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D002681:China; D017931:DNA Primers; D004296:Dopa Decarboxylase / Q000235:genetics*; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics; D012016:Reference Values; D012563:Schizophrenia, Paranoid / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*
D017931:DNA Primers; D004296:Dopa Decarboxylase