title: No association of catechol-O-methyltransferase polymorphisms with schizophrenia in the Han Chinese population.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Genetics play a major role in the etiology of schizophrenia (SZ). Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) is one of the promising candidate genes for SZ. A nonsynonymous single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), rs4680, causing a Valine (Val) to Methionine (Met) substitution, has been widely studied in relation to psychiatric phenotypes, including SZ, but with conflicting results. We conducted a two-stage study to examine the association of COMT polymorphisms with SZ in the Han Chinese population.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Association analysis of nine SNPs in 768 patients and 1348 controls failed to detect any positive markers or haplotypes. Then, we tested rs4680 in a validation sample of 963 patients and 992 controls, and no significant association was observed, but the cases significantly deviated from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (p=5.7e-4). There was no association of rs4680 with SZ in the combined sample (n=4071, p=0.110, odds ratio=1.08).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results do not support the association of COMT with SZ in the Han Chinese population.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, P.R. China. zfq@bjmu.edu.cn
authors.forename: Fuquan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Chenxing
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yaguang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Lifang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Tianlan
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Yanyan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ruan
authors.forename: Weihua
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yue
authors.forename: Dai
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000483:Alleles; D044466:Asian People / Q000208:ethnology / Q000235:genetics*; D002394:Catechol O-Methyltransferase / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000235:genetics*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D002394:Catechol O-Methyltransferase