HFE mutations and transferrin C1/C2 polymorphism among Croatian patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder.

The aim of this study was to investigate the possible influence of hemochromatosis gene mutations (HFE-C282Y and H63D) and transferrin gene C2 variant (TF-C2) on susceptibility to schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder and/or age at first hospital admission. Genotyping was performed in 176 Croatian patients and 171 non-psychiatric Croatian controls using PCR-RFLP analyses. Regarding the H63D mutation, allele and genotype frequencies reached boundary statistical significance. Other allele and genotype distributions were not significantly different between two groups. We also analyzed age at first hospital admission as a continuous variable using the non-parametric Mann-Whitney U-test and Kruskal-Wallis test, and multiple regression analysis. The results of these tests were negative. We concluded that investigated HFE mutations and TF-C2 variant are not high-risk genetic variants for schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder in our population. Also our data do not support their impact on age at onset of the first psychotic symptoms.