Background: Monoamine oxidases (MAOs) catalyze the metabolism of dopaminergic neurotransmitters.\r\nPolymorphisms of isoforms MAOA and MAOB have been implicated in the etiology of mental disorders such as\r\nschizophrenia. Association studies detected these polymorphisms in several populations, however the data have\r\nnot been conclusive to date. Here, we investigated the association of MAOA and MAOB polymorphisms with\r\nschizophrenia in a Han Chinese population.\r\nMethods: Two functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), rs6323 of MAOA and rs1799836 of MAOB, were\r\nselected for association analysis in 537 unrelated schizophrenia patients and 536 healthy controls. Single-locus and\r\nHaplotype associations were calculated.\r\nResults: No differences were found in the allelic distribution of rs6323. The G allele of rs1799836 was identified as\r\na risk factor in the development of schizophrenia (P = 0.00001). The risk haplotype rs6323T-rs1799836G was\r\nassociated with schizophrenia in female patients (P = 0.0002), but the frequency difference was not significant\r\namong male groups.\r\nConclusions: Our results suggest that MAOB is a susceptibility gene for schizophrenia. In contrast, no significant\r\nassociations were observed for the MAOA functional polymorphism with schizophrenia in Han Chinese. These data\r\nsupport further investigation of the role of MAO genes in schizophrenia.
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