Response to chlorpromazine treatment may be associated with polymorphisms of the DRD2 gene in Chinese schizophrenic patients.

Abstract

Previous studies have demonstrated that the -141C Ins/Del and TaqI A polymorphisms in the DRD2 gene affect the density of the dopamine D2 receptor. The present study examines the correlation between these two polymorphisms and the therapeutic response to chlorpromazine, a typical antipsychotic drug, in 135 inpatients with schizophrenia. Clinical symptoms were evaluated using the Brief Psychiatry Rating Scale (BPRS) before and after 8 weeks of treatment with 300-600 mg/day of chlorpromazine. Our results show that genotyping -141C Ins/Del may help to predict the efficacy of chlorpromazine treatment (P=0.01) due to the fact that patients with no Del allele showed greater improvement than those with Del allele on the overall BPRS (P=0.03), and that, therefore, the potential for therapy in patients with schizophrenia is related to the -141C Ins/Del polymorphism in the DRD2 gene. However, no such relationship was found for the TaqI A polymorphism.

• Authors: Shengnan Wu, Qinghe Xing, Rui Gao, Xingwang Li, Niufan Gu, Guoyin Feng, Lin He
• Journal: Neuroscience letters (Neurosci Lett) Vol. 376 Issue 1 Pg. 1-4 (Mar 07 2005) ISSN: 0304-3940 [Print] Ireland
• PMID: 15694263 (Publication Type: Comparative Study, Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Antipsychotic Agents
• DRD4 protein, human
• RNA, Messenger
• Receptors, Dopamine D2
• Receptors, Dopamine D4
• Taq Polymerase
• Chlorpromazine

Topics

• Adult
• Antipsychotic Agents (therapeutic use)
• China (epidemiology)
• Chlorpromazine (therapeutic use)
• Female
• Gene Deletion
• Genetic Predisposition to Disease
• Genotype
• Humans
• Male
• Polymorphism, Genetic
• Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
• RNA, Messenger (biosynthesis)
• Receptors, Dopamine D2 (genetics)
• Receptors, Dopamine D4
• Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (methods)
• Schizophrenia (drug therapy, genetics)
• Taq Polymerase