Aim: The genetic components of the schizophrenia susceptibility are calculated as being 50%. We evaluated the frequency of alleles and genotypes of COMT and MAO-A genes polymorphisms in patients with schizophrenia and in the healthy population. We searched for the associations between genotypes and PANSS results among patients in a three month antipsychotic therapy.
Method: The study comprised 72 unrelated patients who met ICD-10 criteria for schizophrenia, and 187 unrelated healthy controls. The analysis of COMT and MAO-A genes polymorphisms were performed using the polymerase chain reaction technique (RFLP-restriction fragments length polymorphism and VNTR-variable number tandem repeats). The severity of psychopathological symptoms was measured by the PANSS (Positive and Negative Schizophrenia Scale).
Results: We did not find an association between the genotype of COMT and MAO-A genes polymorphisms and schizophrenia. We found statistically significant different allele distribution in MAO gene polymorphism: alleles with three tandem repeats in the promoter region were more frequent among females with schizophrenia. We did not find any association between the genotype of COMT and MAO-A genes polymorphisms and PANSS results in any time periods. Due to a small number of patients in this study the obtained results should be regarded as preliminary.