Association study between schizophrenia and monoamine oxidase A and B DNA polymorphisms
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Updated: Nov 4, 2026

A Strategy to Identify de Novo Mutations in Common Disorders such as Autism and Schizophrenia
Published on: June 15, 2011
B Coron1, D Campion, F Thibaut
1Groupe de Recherche sur la Schizophrénie, Université de Rouen, Centre Hospitalier Spécialisé du Rouvray, Sotteville Les Rouen, France.
Abstract:
Monoamine oxidases (MAO) A and B, which are encoded by two distinct genes located on the human X chromosome, are both involved in the oxidative metabolism of dopamine. Decreased levels of platelet MAO-B activity has been reported in patients with schizophrenia and genetic variation in MAO activity had been proposed as a significant factor in the etiology of this disease. We carried out an association study using two intragenic polymorphisms within the MAO-A and MAO-B genes in 110 schizophrenic patients and 87 control subjects. For each polymorphic marker, no significant difference in allelic frequencies was observed between patients and controls. Nevertheless, a trend toward an association between allele 1 of the MAO-B gene and paranoid schizophrenia was found. Our results do not support the hypothesis that inherited variants of MAO genes might play a major role in a genetic predisposition to schizophrenia. Since several previous reports found a low MAO-B platelet activity in patients with paranoid schizophrenia, the identification of polymorphisms related to enzyme activity would be useful.
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