Identification of a missense mutation and several polymorphisms in the proenkephalin A gene of schizophrenic patients.

Schizophrenia is a complex and severe disorder of unknown cause and pathophysiology. In this study, we examined the opioid hypothesis for schizophrenia at the molecular level, focusing on the dopamine-regulated proenkephalin A gene (chromosome 8q11.23-q12). We have screened 150 schizophrenic patients for sequence variations within the promoter region, entire coding sequence, and 3'-untranslated region. We find one sequence change in a conserved amino acid that may be of functional significance. This mutation was found in a single schizophrenia patient but not in controls. Although several new, race-specific polymorphisms were identified, all other sequence changes appeared to be common polymorphisms, unlikely to contribute to the etiology of schizophrenia.