Prognostication of Functional Outcomes of Schizophrenia Using a Multigene Panel

Objectives. To compare groups of schizophrenia patients with different levels of functional outcomes and different frequencies of risk variants at polymorphic loci of five candidate genes to create a multigene panel and to test its predictive value for long-term disease outcomes. Materials and methods. Patients included in this study were divided in terms of the typology used here into three groups with different levels of social functioning. Group 1 patients had the highest levels, while values were significantly lower in group 2 and lowest in group 3. The multigene panel included genes for the type 2A serotonin receptor (5-HTR2a T102C), the serotonin transporter (5-HTTLPR), C-reactive protein (CRP-717A>G), the type 1 angiotensin II receptor (AGTR1 A1166C), and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF Val66Met). Computation of multigene risk (MGR) was by summation of all the risk alleles carried by a particular patient. For each polymorphism, carriers of the genotype homozygous at the high-risk allele had a value of 2 and heterozygotes had a value of 1; homozygotes at the low-risk allele had a value of 0. MGR Values for a patient could range from 0 to 10 risk alleles. Results. Group was found to have a significant effect on MGR ( p < 0.0001). Between-group differences were also significant ( p < 0.01). Group 1 contained no carriers of six or more risk alleles and more than 50% were carriers of fewer than five alleles. In group 2, 19.4% of patients were carriers of ≥6 risk alleles, while 31.7% of patients in group 3 carried ≥6 risk alleles. These groups had no carriers of 0–2 risk alleles, while 20.7% of patients group 1 carried 0–2 risk alleles. Conclusions. MGR may be a predictor of functional outcome in schizophrenia patients. Low levels of risk alleles (0–4) allowed individuals to be predicted with high probability to have favorable functional outcome in the long-term period of illness.