Abstract
Aims: this study aims to evaluate the effect of COMT rs 4680 (Val108/158Met) polymorphism, known to regulate dopamine levels, on specific response pattern to antipsychotics characterized by different dopaminergic activity. 2 Materials and Methods: the sample included 153 subjects diagnosed with schizophrenia, treated either with haloperidol, risperidone or clozapine. Clinical evaluation with PANSS scale was assessed at the beginning of treatment and at week eight. All patients underwent genetic analysis for the polymorphism of interest. Results: at week 8 we found a significant genotype-treatment interaction for PANSS Negative subscale variation. Among patients on haloperidol and risperidone, the improvement was greater for carriers of Met allele, while in the clozapine group a greater improvement was observed for Val/Val genotype. Conclusions: our results, although preliminary, suggest that COMT Val/Val genotype could represent a biological marker for treatment with clozapine in subjects with prominent negative features.