Response to chlorpromazine treatment may be associated with polymorphisms of the DRD2 gene in Chinese schizophrenic patients

Neurosci Lett. 2005 Mar 7;376(1):1-4. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2004.11.014. Epub 2004 Dec 2.

Abstract

Previous studies have demonstrated that the -141C Ins/Del and TaqI A polymorphisms in the DRD2 gene affect the density of the dopamine D2 receptor. The present study examines the correlation between these two polymorphisms and the therapeutic response to chlorpromazine, a typical antipsychotic drug, in 135 inpatients with schizophrenia. Clinical symptoms were evaluated using the Brief Psychiatry Rating Scale (BPRS) before and after 8 weeks of treatment with 300-600 mg/day of chlorpromazine. Our results show that genotyping -141C Ins/Del may help to predict the efficacy of chlorpromazine treatment (P=0.01) due to the fact that patients with no Del allele showed greater improvement than those with Del allele on the overall BPRS (P=0.03), and that, therefore, the potential for therapy in patients with schizophrenia is related to the -141C Ins/Del polymorphism in the DRD2 gene. However, no such relationship was found for the TaqI A polymorphism.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Antipsychotic Agents / therapeutic use*
  • China / epidemiology
  • Chlorpromazine / therapeutic use*
  • Female
  • Gene Deletion
  • Genetic Predisposition to Disease
  • Genotype
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Polymorphism, Genetic*
  • Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
  • RNA, Messenger / biosynthesis
  • Receptors, Dopamine D2 / genetics*
  • Receptors, Dopamine D4
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / methods
  • Schizophrenia / drug therapy
  • Schizophrenia / genetics*
  • Taq Polymerase

Substances

  • Antipsychotic Agents
  • DRD4 protein, human
  • RNA, Messenger
  • Receptors, Dopamine D2
  • Receptors, Dopamine D4
  • Taq Polymerase
  • Chlorpromazine