Belzeaux R, Ibrahim E C, Fakra E, Adida M, Cermolacce M, Azorin J-M
Pôle universitaire de psychiatrie, hôpital Sainte-Marguerite, 13274 Marseille cedex 09, France.
Encephale. 2011 Dec;37 Suppl 2:S127-32. doi: 10.1016/S0013-7006(11)70039-2.
Schizophrenia is a complex and heritable disorder. Nevertheless, molecular genetics of schizophrenia remains inconclusive. By developing the concept of endophenotype for the disorder, it is easier to define an association between a phenotype and genetic variants or physiopathological processes. Cognitive disorders could be useful endophenotypes for schizophrenia. For example, the val(158)/met COMT polymorphism has been associated with executive function or working memory. Therefore, several cognitive dysfunctions were proposed as endophenotypes and were investigated in the context of different genetic polymorphisms. Genome-wide association studies and epistatic studies demonstrated the complexity of the mechanisms underlying cognitive disturbance. However, meta-analysis remains inconclusive. Altogether, the study of endophenotypes is an attractive approach to solve the complex mechanisms causing schizophrenia vulnerability. Nevertheless, several limitations exist and include the lack of reproducibility, the discordant results between healthy subjects and patients, the exclusion of the many rare variants.
精神分裂症是一种复杂的遗传性疾病。然而,精神分裂症的分子遗传学研究仍无定论。通过提出该疾病的内表型概念,更容易确定一种表型与基因变异或生理病理过程之间的关联。认知障碍可能是精神分裂症有用的内表型。例如,val(158)/met儿茶酚-O-甲基转移酶(COMT)基因多态性与执行功能或工作记忆有关。因此,几种认知功能障碍被提议作为内表型,并在不同基因多态性的背景下进行了研究。全基因组关联研究和上位性研究证明了认知障碍背后机制的复杂性。然而,荟萃分析仍无定论。总体而言,内表型研究是解决导致精神分裂症易感性的复杂机制的一种有吸引力的方法。然而,仍存在一些局限性,包括缺乏可重复性、健康受试者与患者之间结果不一致、排除了许多罕见变异。