title: Functional variants of the genes involved in neurodevelopment and susceptibility to schizophrenia in an Armenian population.
abstract: Aberrant neurodevelopment contributes to the etiology of schizophrenia. This study aimed to investigate the potential association of netrin G1 (NTNG1) rs628117 and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) Val66Met (rs6265) genetic polymorphisms with susceptibility to schizophrenia. One hundred three Armenian patients with schizophrenia and 105 healthy control subjects were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction with sequence-specific primers. Whereas the NTNG1 rs628117 genotypes were equally distributed in the groups, the carriers of the less common BDNF 66Met allele were overrepresented among patients with schizophrenia when compared with healthy controls (55% vs 35%, odds ratio = 2.28, 95% confidence interval 1.14-1.98, p(corrected) = 0.006). Furthermore, the 66Met/Met genotype correlated with earlier disease onset (p = 0.024). In conclusion, our single-cohort study nominates the BDNF 66Met allele as a risk factor for schizophrenia in an Armenian population. This must be confirmed in other Armenian cohorts.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Macromolecular Complexes, Institute of Molecular Biology, National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia.
authors.forename: Roksana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zakharyan
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Boyajyan
authors.forename: Arsen
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arakelyan
authors.forename: Anaida
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gevorgyan
authors.forename: Frantisek
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mrazek
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Petrek
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D001136:Armenia; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D058851:GPI-Linked Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005787:Gene Frequency; D056726:Genetic Association Studies; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D060005:Genotyping Techniques; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D009420:Nervous System / Q000196:embryology / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D000075385:Netrins; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; D058851:GPI-Linked Proteins; C463082:NTNG1 protein, human; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D000075385:Netrins