Ohmori O, Shinkai T, Kojima H, Terao T, Suzuki T, Mita T, Abe K
Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Kitakyushu, Japan.
Neurosci Lett. 1998 Feb 27;243(1-3):109-12. doi: 10.1016/s0304-3940(98)00100-1.
Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) is an enzyme which inactivates catecholamine neurotransmitters by methylation, and is considered a candidate for involvement in schizophrenia. A functional COMT gene polymorphism influencing the enzyme activities, the high activity (val-108) and the low activity allele (met-108), was recently confirmed. We investigated a genetic association between schizophrenia and the COMT gene polymorphism in 150 Japanese schizophrenics and controls. We detected the low activity met-108 allele more frequently in schizophrenics than in the controls, and found that subjects sharing the met-108 allele (val/met and met/met) are significantly more common in the patients than in the controls. The results suggest that the low activity met-108 allele may be involved in susceptibility for schizophrenia.
儿茶酚-O-甲基转移酶（COMT）是一种通过甲基化使儿茶酚胺神经递质失活的酶，被认为是参与精神分裂症发病的一个候选因素。最近证实了一种影响该酶活性的功能性COMT基因多态性，即高活性（val-108）和低活性等位基因（met-108）。我们在150名日本精神分裂症患者和对照组中研究了精神分裂症与COMT基因多态性之间的遗传关联。我们发现，精神分裂症患者中低活性met-108等位基因的检出频率高于对照组，并且发现携带met-108等位基因（val/met和met/met）的患者比对照组更为常见。结果表明，低活性met-108等位基因可能与精神分裂症易感性有关。
