TY - JOUR
T1 - Interazioni geni-ambiente nella schizofrenia
AU - Ursini, Gianluca
AU - di Giorgio, Annabella
AU - Fazio, Leonardo
AU - de Simeis, Giuseppe
AU - Sinibaldi, Lorenzo
AU - Latorre, Valeria
AU - Caforio, Grazia
AU - Rizzo, Miriam
AU - Rampino, Antonio
AU - Douzgou, Sofia
AU - Castellana, Chiara
AU - Romano, Raffaella
AU - Taurisano, Paolo
AU - Gambi, Francesco
AU - Papazacharias, Apostolos
AU - Aquilino, Simona
AU - Lobianco, Luciana
AU - Popolizio, Teresa
AU - Blasi, Giuseppe
AU - Dallapiccola, Bruno
AU - Nardinil, Marcello
AU - Bertolino, Alessandro
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2009 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2008/12
Y1 - 2008/12
N2 - Background: Family, twin, and adoption studies have firmly established the roles of both genes and environment in schizophrenia, suggesting how gene-environment interactions (GxE) could shed light on underlying etiologic mechanisms in this psychiatric condition. Several studies, focused on the role of GxE and conducted by indirect genotype determination, provide evidence of an interaction between genetic susceptibility to schizophrenia and environmental factors such as obstetric complications (OC). Research oriented to identify genetic variations that interact with environmental factors indicates that the risk of schizophrenia might be affected by interaction between OC, cannabis use and schizophrenia candidate genes, like AKT1 and COMT. These studies do not clearly highlight the mechanism by which genes and environment might interact in schizophrenia etiopathogenesis. We think that this mechanism might be easier to understand by focusing on the effect of GxE on intermediate phenotypes related to fundamental aspects of brain development and function. Aim of the study: We analysed how the SNP rs4680 (G > A) of COMT gene and chronic stress interact in modulating the prefrontal neuronal activity during working memory and we found that the effect of stress on prefrontal physiology is conditional on COMT genotype. Conclusions: This result provides further support on the role of the COMT gene in schizophrenia etiopathogenesis, since, in subjects genotyped as GG, stress might reduce neuronal efficiency in the prefrontal cortex, favouring the onset of the illness. The research on GxE, and, in particular, on the role of epigenetic variations in mediating these interactions, could help in explaining and preventing schizophrenia.
AB - Background: Family, twin, and adoption studies have firmly established the roles of both genes and environment in schizophrenia, suggesting how gene-environment interactions (GxE) could shed light on underlying etiologic mechanisms in this psychiatric condition. Several studies, focused on the role of GxE and conducted by indirect genotype determination, provide evidence of an interaction between genetic susceptibility to schizophrenia and environmental factors such as obstetric complications (OC). Research oriented to identify genetic variations that interact with environmental factors indicates that the risk of schizophrenia might be affected by interaction between OC, cannabis use and schizophrenia candidate genes, like AKT1 and COMT. These studies do not clearly highlight the mechanism by which genes and environment might interact in schizophrenia etiopathogenesis. We think that this mechanism might be easier to understand by focusing on the effect of GxE on intermediate phenotypes related to fundamental aspects of brain development and function. Aim of the study: We analysed how the SNP rs4680 (G > A) of COMT gene and chronic stress interact in modulating the prefrontal neuronal activity during working memory and we found that the effect of stress on prefrontal physiology is conditional on COMT genotype. Conclusions: This result provides further support on the role of the COMT gene in schizophrenia etiopathogenesis, since, in subjects genotyped as GG, stress might reduce neuronal efficiency in the prefrontal cortex, favouring the onset of the illness. The research on GxE, and, in particular, on the role of epigenetic variations in mediating these interactions, could help in explaining and preventing schizophrenia.
KW - COMT
KW - Gene-environment interactions
KW - Prefrontal cortex
KW - Schizophrenia
KW - Stress
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M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:58349105796
SN - 0393-0645
VL - 27
SP - 133
EP - 135
JO - Quaderni Italiani di Psichiatria
JF - Quaderni Italiani di Psichiatria
IS - 4
ER -