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Published on: February 4, 2014
Preliminary evidence for association of genome-wide significant DRD2 schizophrenia risk variant with clozapine
Eric Huang1,2, Malgorzata Maciukiewicz2, Clement C Zai2
11 King's College Circle, Institute of Medical Science, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 1A8, Canada.
Aim:
The recent Psychiatric Genomics Consortium genome-wide association study identified an SNP, rs2514218, located 47kb upstream of the DRD2 gene to be associated with risk for schizophrenia (p = 2.75e-11). Since all antipsychotics bind to dopamine D2 receptors, we examined rs2514218 in relation to response to antipsychotic treatment.
Patients & Methods:
We investigated the SNP in relation to treatment response in a prospective study consisting of 208 patients (151 Caucasians, 42 African-Americans and 15 others) treated with clozapine for 6 months.
Results:
rs2514218 was associated with total score change in the brief psychiatric rating scale under an additive model (pcorr= 0.033).
Conclusion:
Our finding provides evidence for rs2514218 association with antipsychotic response, but further replication is required before firm conclusions can be drawn.
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