Psychiatry Investig.  2009 Jun;6(2):102-107.

AKT1 Gene Polymorphisms and Obstetric Complications in the Patients with Schizophrenia

• Joo EJ
• Lee KY
• Jeong SH
• Roh MS
• Kim SH
• Ahn YM
• Kim YS

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
We performed a genetic association study with schizophrenic patients to investigate whether the V-akt murine thymoma viral oncogene homolog 1 (AKT1) gene plays a role in obstetric complications. METHODS: One-hundred-eighty patients with schizophrenia (male, 113; female, 67) were included. All patients fulfilled DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia. Obstetric complications were measured by the Lewis scale. Prenatal and perinatal information was retrospectively collected from the patients' mothers. We selected six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for the AKT1 gene: SNP1 (rs3803300), SNP2 (rs1130214), SNP3 (rs3730358), SNP4 (rs 1130233), SNP5 (rs2494732), and SNPA (rs2498804). The genotype data were analyzed for an association with the Lewis total score in terms of allele, genotype, and haplotype distribution. RESULTS: The mean total Lewis scores were 1.30+/-1.61 for males and 1.54+/-1.87 for females. Higher total score tended to be correlated with an earlier age of onset of schizophrenia in females. In the total sample, no SNP was associated with obstetric complications. However, the additional analyses for male and female subgroups found a significant association between SNPA and SNP4 and Lewis score in females (p=0.02 for SNPA, p=0.04 for SNP4). The SNP5-SNPA haplotype showed a positive association with obstetric complications (p=0.03) in the female patient group. CONCLUSION: We found an association between SNPs in the AKT1 gene and total Lewis score measuring obstetric complications in female patients with schizophrenia. Because these findings did not survive a correction for multiple testing, the significance should be interpreted carefully and replication studies are required.

Keyword

AKT1 gene; Association; Lewis scale; Obstetric complication; Schizophrenia

MeSH Terms

Age of Onset
Alleles
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
Female
Genetic Association Studies
Genotype
Haplotypes
Humans
Male
Mothers
Oncogenes
Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
Retrospective Studies
Schizophrenia
Thymoma