Am J Psychiatry 1995; 152:134-136
Copyright © 1995 by American Psychiatric Association
Exclusion of close linkage of the dopamine transporter gene with schizophrenia spectrum disorders
AM Persico, ZW Wang, DW Black, NC Andreasen, GR Uhl and RR Crowe
From the Molecular Neurobiology Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse/NIH, Baltimore, MD 21224.
OBJECTIVE: Involvement of genetic factors in the pathogenesis of
schizophrenia spectrum disorders has been indicated in twin, adoption, and
familial aggregation studies; the pivotal role played by the dopamine
transporter in dopaminergic neurotransmission makes it a candidate gene for
these disorders. Detection of close linkage between a dopamine transporter
marker and schizophrenia spectrum disorders would strongly support the
existence of causal relationships between genetic mutations at the dopamine
transporter locus and the disease phenotype. METHOD: The authors assessed
the linkage between this gene and schizophrenia spectrum disorders by using
polymorphic dopamine transporter gene markers in 156 subjects from 16
multiplex pedigrees with schizophrenia as well as schizophreniform,
schizoaffective, and schizotypal disorders and mood-incongruent psychotic
depression. RESULTS: Complete (theta = 0.0) linkage to the schizophrenia
spectrum was excluded under both dominant and recessive models.
CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that allelic variants at the dopamine
transporter locus do not provide major genetic contributions to the
etiology of schizophrenia and related disorders in these pedigrees.
