Estrogen receptor alpha gene polymorphism in schizophrenia: frequency, age at onset, symptomatology and prognosis

Schizophrenic disorders are equally distributed for both sexes; however, later onset, milder psychopathology and better outcome are associated with the female gender. This sex difference is thought to be partly due to the estrogen system. Recent studies have determined that estrogen receptor alpha subtype (ER alpha) genetic polymorphisms may affect the expression of ER alpha, and are associated with Alzheimer's disease. For this study, we investigated the association of ER alpha polymorphisms for 125 schizophrenic patients and 142 control subjects. No significant differences for genotype distribution or allele frequency were revealed comparing controls and schizophrenic patients. The ER alpha genotypes were not associated with onset age, psychiatric symptoms or outcome for schizophrenic cases. With new research highlighting the prominent role of sex hormones in neurological and psychological dysfunction, further study is needed to explore the genetic effect of the sex hormone receptor gene on susceptibility mental disorders and associations with different phenotypes.