Association study between the rs165599 catechol-O-methyltransferase genetic polymorphism and schizophrenia in a Brazilian sample Estudo de associação entre o polimorfismo genético rs165599 da catecol-O-metiltransferase e esquizofrenia em uma amostra brasileira

Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder characterized by psychotic symptoms and functional impairment, with recurrent relapses and continuing disability. The risk factors for schizophrenia are indicators currently perceived as epiphenomena of pathophysiological processes resulting from geneenvironment interactions that remain poorly understood1. Widespread impairments in brain function and structure have been shown in schizophrenia cases. It is also clear that, to a lesser degree, unaffected family members share many of the neurobiological abnormalities found in affected individuals, which suggests that the alleles that underlie the genetic risk of schizophrenia may primarily exert their effects on intermediate traits such as cerebral structure or function1. Although the etiology of schizophrenia is not well established yet, data from many studies have shown that genetic load alone cannot determine development of schizophrenia, thus favoring an additive model of interactive genetic and environmental risk factors. This gene-environment interaction