Background: The G1287A polymorphism (rs5569) in exon 9 of the norepinephrine transporter (NET) gene has been associated with schizophrenia in several populations. However, the results are conflicting. Moreover, few studies have investigated the relationship between the G1287A polymorphism and schizophrenia among the Chinese Han population.
Methods: A case-control study was designed to explore whether the G1287A genetic variant is related to schizophrenia in the Chinese Han population. The results from this study were then included in the performance of a meta-analysis to further analyze the association of the G1287A polymorphism with schizophrenia.
Results: No significant differences in the genotype and allele distributions of G1287A were found between Chinese Han patients with schizophrenia and control participants. Similarly, in gender-specific analyses, no significant differences were found for G1287A genotype and allele distributions in either the male or the female case-control comparisons. Finally, the results of this meta-analysis also showed that the NET gene G1287A polymorphism was not associated with schizophrenia in the total population under allelic, recessive, dominant, or homozygous genetic models.
Conclusion: Our case-control study and meta-analysis suggest that the NET gene G1287A polymorphism may not be involved in the etiology of schizophrenia in the Chinese Han population.
Keywords: association study; meta-analysis; polymorphisms; schizophrenia.