No association between the -399 C > T polymorphism of the neuropeptide Y gene and schizophrenia, unipolar depression or panic disorder in a Danish population.

OBJECTIVE

A polymorphism in the promoter region of the NPY gene at position -399 C > T was recently reported to be associated with schizophrenia in a Japanese population and with treatment refractory unipolar depression in a Swedish population. The objective of this study was to investigate potential associations between the polymorphism and three psychiatric disorders in a Danish population.

METHOD

We investigated the occurrence of the polymorphism in patients with schizophrenia (n = 291), unipolar depression (n = 256) and panic disorder (n = 142) compared with controls (n = 716).

RESULTS

We detected the polymorphism -399 C > T at a frequency of 48% in controls. No significant differences were found between genotype or allele frequencies in controls vs. the patient groups.

CONCLUSION

The lack of association between the -399 C > T polymorphism and schizophrenia, unipolar depression or panic disorder, respectively, suggests that the polymorphism is not involved in the etiology of these disorders in the Danish population.