No association between a functional polymorphism in the promoter region of the neuropeptide Y gene (-485C>T) and schizophrenia.
It has been suggested that hypoactivity of neuropeptide Y (NPY) may be involved in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. A post-mortem study revealed a decreased level of NPY in the brain of patients with schizophrenia. An increased level of NPY after antipsychotic treatment was also reported in animal brain and cerebrospinal fluid of patients. Previously Itokawa et al. reported a positive association between the functional -485C>T polymorphism in the NPY gene and schizophrenia in a Japanese population. The aim of this study is to replicate their positive findings in an independent Japanese case-control sample. Our sample includes 260 patients with schizophrenia (DSM-IV) and 196 control subjects. No significant differences in distribution of genotype or allele frequencies between patients and controls were observed. Our results suggest that the NPY -485C>T polymorphism may not confer susceptibility to schizophrenia, at least in our sample. Further studies in larger samples are warranted.
Inoue
Yoshiaki
Y
Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Kitakyushu 807-8555, Japan.
Shinkai
Takahiro
T
Utsunomiya
Kensuke
K
Sakata
Shinichi
S
Fukunaka
Yuko
Y
Yamaguchi
Wakana
W
Yamada
Kenji
K
Chen
Hsin-I
HI
Hwang
Rudi
R
Ohmori
Osamu
O
Nakamura
Jun
J
D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009478:Neuropeptide Y / Q000235:genetics*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D011180:Postmortem Changes; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology
D009478:Neuropeptide Y