[A study of IL-1Β and IDO gene polymorphisms in patients with schizophrenia].

OBJECTIVE: Neurotoxic metabolites of the kynurenine pathway are thought to be implicated in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. The enzyme indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) catalyzes the initial step of the kynurenine pathway that converts tryptophan to kynurenine metabolites. IDO is induced by proinflammatory cytokines. We studied IL-1Β T-511C (rs16944), IL-1Β C3954T (rs1143634), IDO VNTR and IDO rs9657182 polymorphisms in patients with schizophrenia and controls. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Genotyping was performed in 296 patients with schizophrenia (ICD-10 F20.0) and 355 healthy controls. RESULTS: The multiple dimension reduction (MDR) analysis revealed a combination included alleles С (T-511C), Т (C3954T), V1 (VNTR) and С (rs9657182), which was associated with schizophrenia (OR 3,3 CI 95% 2,3-4,8). CONCLUSION: This is the first report of the interaction between IL-1Β and IDO genes. Further research into genes of the kynurenine pathway is needed.

[The association of COMT and DRD2 gene polymorphisms with a cognitive ability to understand others in schizophrenic patients].

To evaluate a role of dopamine transmission in the theory of mind (ToM) dysfunction in schizophrenia, authors studied the association of ToM with COMT and DRD2 gene polymorphisms in 209 patients with schizophrenia and 172 healthy people. All subjects performed second-order false belief (FB2) and faux pas stories. The association between the COMT Val158Met polymorphism and performance on FB2 was found. The association was sex-specific. The worse performance was associated with a Met allele in female patients and with the ValVal genotype in male ones. A correlation analysis of the COMT Val158Met polymorphism, performance on FB2 task, neurocognitive and clinical symptoms suggests that in female patients the association was modified, in part, by the higher stress sensitivity caused by the severity of clinical symptoms and its consequences for cognitive functioning.

[The association study of interleukin-1beta and interleukin-1 receptor antagonist and clinical symptoms of schizophrenia].

Growing evidence suggest that interleukin-1beta (IL-1B) and interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RN) are involved in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. The objective of this study was to test the association of the functional promoter polymorphism 511T>C of the IL-1B gene and the VNTR polymorphism of the IL-1RN gene with clinical symptoms of schizophrenia. We studied 758 patients, 415 men and 343 women, with the ICD-10 diagnosis of schizophrenia. Symptoms of schizophrenia were measured using the Positive and Negative Symptome Scale (PANSS). The sample was stratified by gender and type of schizophrenia (chronic or episodic). We found the association between the VNTR IL-1RN polymorphism and PANSS negative symptoms (p = 0.02) in men. Male patients with the genotype 2*2 had lower scores than those with 1*2 and 1*1 genotypes. The genotype 2*2 was associated with a more severe illness course (shorter illness duration and smaller number of hospitalizations) as well. The results suggest that the VNTR polymorphism in the IL-1RN gene may be a predictor of outcome of schizophrenia in men.

[Homocysteine-related genes and attention in patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective psychosis].

The elevated level of homocysteine has been repeatedly observed in patients with schizophrenia. Molecular-genetic studies revealed the association between schizophrenia and polymorphisms of two genes - methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) and cystathionine-beta-synthase (CBS) involved in the conversion of homocysteine to methionine and cysteine, respectively. Authors have studied the association of C677T MTHFR and 844ins68 CBS polymorphisms with attention in 105 schizophrenic patients (56 women and 49 men) by measuring auditory evoked potentials and concentration of attention. Women with a genotype containing an insertion (Ins+) had the shorter latency of N100 in the frontal leads compared to those with the Ins- genotype. The results of the neuropsychological study revealed that women with Ins+ genotypes performed better on the test as well. In conclusion, the 844ins68 CBS polymorphism is associated with attention in patients with schizophrenia.

[Investigation of association of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and a serotonin receptor 2A (5-HTR2A) genes with voluntary and involuntary attention in schizophrenia].

To investigate the effect of Val66Met BDNF and 5-HTR2A T102C polymorphisms on the characteristics of voluntary and involuntary visual attention, 89 patients with schizophrenia, 91 their well relatives and 163 controls have been studied. Attention was assessed using a modified version of the Munsterberg test. The significant interaction effect of the BDNF, 5-HTR2A and diagnosis on attention characteristics was found (p=0,04). Carriers of the Val/Val genotype demonstrated higher scores of both voluntary and involuntary attention and those with the A1 (T) allele needed more time for the performance of the test. The combination of the A1 allele with a Met BDNF allele was associated with lower scores of voluntary attention and higher scores of involuntary attention. The study confirmed the impairment of selective attention in patients with schizophrenia and their relatives while any pathological changes in involuntary attention were not observed. The effect of genotypes was presented irrespective of diagnostic group studied. The data obtained suggest that carriers of the Val/Val genotype are able to allocate more attentional resources to process external stimuli. At the same time, the possibility that this polymorphism is likely associated with specific visual-spatial abilities than with attention as such or general cognitive resources can not be excluded.

[Problem of "organic neuroses" (data on functional disorders of cardiac activity)]. / K probleme "organnykh nevrozov" (na materiale funktsiona'lnykh rasstroistv serdechnoi deiate'lnosti).

Examination of 66 patients with FDCA admitted to the cardiological hospital enabled two types of bodily sensations to be distinguished: homonomous--similar in their manifestations to cardiac pathology (cardialgia+, hysterical cardialgia and heteronomous--foreign to painful sensations in pathology on the part of the heart (senestoalgias, senestopathies). It has been established that somatic mental disorders manifesting themselves by functional abnormalities in the visceral organs may form not only within the boundaries of psychogenic (neurotic reactions) but also by constitutional pathology (phases, developments). Two-dimensional diagnosis (including both nosological and syndromal qualification) is respectively adequate to the qualification of the disorders examined, with their attribution to the "supranosological" group of somatoform disorders.

[Reactive depression in patients with slowly progressive schizophrenia]. / Reaktivnye depressii u bol'nykh maloprogredientnoi shizofreniei.

Under observation there were 71 patients with reactive states developed in the presence of slowly progressing schizophrenia. Three types of the reactive depressions were distinguished: simple depressions following the line of psychogenically provoked endogenous phases; hysteric-type depressions, and reactive depressions with a polymorphous picture approaching schizophrenic reactions and being, in essence, psychogenically provoked schizophrenic episodes. It is shown that the level of the reactive lability and the time course of the reactive depressions is determined to a great measure by the degree of stabilization (or activity) of the endogenous process. In the period of stabilization (latent forms of schizophrenia, long-time remissions after an episode) the reactive states may be induced by a severe psychic trauma, and the time course of the depression, if the endogenous disturbances are added, remains within the limits of the phase. In the period of activation of the endogenous process the psychogenic depressions develop after relatively slight psychic traumas. In such cases, if the endogenous schizophrenic process is continuous, the reactive states become protracted and approach in their mechanisms to reactive development. In cases of "schubweise" schizophrenia the time course of the psychogenic reactions is confined to the limits of the episode.