Association study of schizophrenia and the histidase gene

Previous findings of increased heterozygosity for histidinemia among schizophrenic patients make the histidase gene a plausible candidate for genetic studies in schizophrenia. In the present study, we used a tetranucleotide repeat polymorphism in intron 8 of the histidase gene to examine the possibility that the histidase gene contributes to the genetic component of schizophrenia. In a first sample of 161 patients and 128 controls, we found the 4 repeat allele to be in excess in the patients. In contrast, the 3 repeat allele was less frequent in patients. A second sample of 95 patients and 93 controls was utilized to test these hypotheses. However, both observations were not replicated. We therefore concluded that our results do not support an involvement of the histidase gene in the development of schizophrenia.