Genetic Epidemiology, Translational Neurogenomics, Psychiatric Genetics and Statistical Genetics Laboratories investigate the pattern of disease in families, particularly identical and non-identical twins, to assess the relative importance of genes and environment in a variety of important health problems.
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PMID
15505638
TITLE
Separate and interacting effects within the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) are associated with schizophrenia.
ABSTRACT
Several lines of evidence have implicated the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene as a candidate for schizophrenia (SZ) susceptibility, not only because it encodes a key dopamine catabolic enzyme but also because it maps to the velocardiofacial syndrome region of chromosome 22q11 which has long been associated with SZ predisposition. The interest in COMT as a candidate SZ risk factor has led to numerous case-control and family-based studies, with the majority placing emphasis on examining a functional Val/Met polymorphism within this enzyme. Unfortunately, these studies have continually produced conflicting results. To assess the genetic contribution of other COMT variants to SZ susceptibility, we investigated three single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (rs737865, rs4633, rs165599) in addition to the Val/Met variant (rs4680) in a highly selected sample of Australian Caucasian families containing 107 patients with SZ. The Val/Met and rs4633 variants showed nominally significant associations with SZ (P<0.05), although neither of the individual SNPs remained significant after adjusting for multiple testing (most significant P=0.1174). However, haplotype analyses showed strong evidence of an association; the most significant being the three-marker haplotype rs737865-rs4680-rs165599 (global P=0.0022), which spans more than 26 kb. Importantly, conditional analyses indicated the presence of two separate and interacting effects within this haplotype, irrespective of gender. In addition, our results indicate the Val/Met polymorphism is not disease-causing and is simply in strong linkage disequilibrium with a causative effect, which interacts with another as yet unidentified variant approximately 20 kb away. These results may help explain the inconsistent results reported on the Val/Met polymorphism and have important implications for future investigations into the role of COMT in SZ susceptibility.
DATE PUBLISHED
2005 Jun
HISTORY
PUBSTATUS PUBSTATUSDATE
pubmed 2004/10/27 09:00
medline 2005/07/28 09:00
entrez 2004/10/27 09:00
AUTHORS
NAME COLLECTIVENAME LASTNAME FORENAME INITIALS AFFILIATION AFFILIATIONINFO
Handoko HY Handoko H Y HY Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research, The Park, Centre for Mental Health, Wacol, QLD, Australia.
Nyholt DR Nyholt D R DR
Hayward NK Hayward N K NK
Nertney DA Nertney D A DA
Hannah DE Hannah D E DE
Windus LC Windus L C LC
McCormack CM McCormack C M CM
Smith HJ Smith H J HJ
Filippich C Filippich C C
James MR James M R MR
Mowry BJ Mowry B J BJ
INVESTIGATORS
JOURNAL
VOLUME: 10
ISSUE: 6
TITLE: Molecular psychiatry
ISOABBREVIATION: Mol. Psychiatry
YEAR: 2005
MONTH: Jun
DAY:
MEDLINEDATE:
SEASON:
CITEDMEDIUM: Print
ISSN: 1359-4184
ISSNTYPE: Print
MEDLINE JOURNAL
MEDLINETA: Mol Psychiatry
COUNTRY: England
ISSNLINKING: 1359-4184
NLMUNIQUEID: 9607835
PUBLICATION TYPE
PUBLICATIONTYPE TEXT
Clinical Trial
Controlled Clinical Trial
Journal Article
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
COMMENTS AND CORRECTIONS
GRANTS
GRANTID AGENCY COUNTRY
R01 MH 59588 NIMH NIH HHS United States
GENERAL NOTE
KEYWORDS
MESH HEADINGS
DESCRIPTORNAME QUALIFIERNAME
Amino Acid Substitution genetics
Australia genetics
Catechol O-Methyltransferase genetics
Chromosomes, Human, Pair 22 genetics
European Continental Ancestry Group genetics
Family genetics
Female genetics
Genetic Predisposition to Disease genetics
Humans genetics
Linkage Disequilibrium genetics
Male genetics
Pedigree genetics
Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide genetics
Risk Factors genetics
Schizophrenia genetics
SUPPLEMENTARY MESH
GENE SYMBOLS
CHEMICALS
REGISTRYNUMBER NAMEOFSUBSTANCE
EC 2.1.1.6 Catechol O-Methyltransferase
OTHER ID's