Association Study of Energy Homeostasis Genes and Antipsychotic-Induced Weight Gain in Patients with Schizophrenia

Introduction: Marked inter-individual variation has been observed with respect to the risk of weight gain and related metabolic disturbances during antipsychotic treatment, which in part could be explained by heritability. Such adverse effects have been proposed to occur through drug-induced mechanisms involving both the central nervous system and different peripheral tissues. Methods: We genotyped tagSNPs in several genes (ADIPOQ, PRICAA1, PRICAA2, PRICAB1, PRKAG1, PRKAG2, PRKAG3, FTO and FABP3) that regulate lipid and energy homeostasis for their possible association to antipsychotic-induced weight gain. Results: In a sample of 160 patients of German origin with schizophrenia who had been monitored with respect to body weight, we found marked association between antipsychoticrelated changes in BMI and 6 markers in the adiponectin gene (ADIPOQ). Discussion: These findings support previous observations (in patients' serum) that adiponectin is involved in antipsychotic-mediated metabolic adverse effects.