Brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene (BDNF) variants and schizophrenia: an association study.
Polymorphisms in the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene have been suggested to be associated with schizophrenia. In a replication attempt, Swedish patients with schizophrenia (n=187) and control subjects (n=275) were assessed for four BDNF gene polymorphisms. There were no significantly different allele, genotype or haplotype frequencies between cases or controls. Neither were there any differences when schizophrenic patients were sub-divided with regard to a number of different clinical variables, although a small group of psychotic patients with prominent affective features displayed higher frequencies of the less common alleles of the Val66Met and 11757 G/C polymorphisms compared to controls. The present Swedish results do not verify previous associations between putative functional BDNF gene polymorphisms and schizophrenia. However, when combined with previous studies meta-analyses indicated that the BDNF 270 T-allele and the Val66Met homozygous state were associated with the disorder. Thus, the BDNF gene may confer susceptibility to schizophrenia. Additional studies are warranted to shed further light on this possibility.
Department of Clinical Neuroscience, HUBIN project, Karolinska Institutet and Hospital, R5:00, SE-171 76 Stockholm, Sweden. erik.jonsson@ki.se
Erik G
EG
Jönsson
Bodil
B
Edman-Ahlbom
Anna
A
Sillén
Agneta
A
Gunnar
Bettina
B
Kulle
Arnoldo
A
Frigessi
Maria
M
Vares
Birgit
B
Ekholm
Birgitta
B
Wode-Helgodt
Johannes
J
Schumacher
Sven
S
Cichon
Ingrid
I
Agartz
Göran C
GC
Sedvall
Håkan
H
Hall
Lars
L
Terenius
D000328:Adult; D000483:Alleles; D019943:Amino Acid Substitution; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000235:genetics*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D015810:Linkage Disequilibrium / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics*; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology
D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor