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Schizophrenia affects about 1% of the population. Its etiology is not fully understood. Environmental conditions certainly contribute to the development of schizophrenia, but the determining factor is genetic predisposition: the coefficient of heritability of schizophrenia is about 80%, which is typical for the most highly heritable multifactorial diseases. Polymorphic loci of genes of enzymes and receptors involved in the processes of neuroprotection and neurotrophia play significant role in the development of this disease. In this paper we investigated 48 polymorphic variants of genes of the neurotrophins and neurexins family ( BDNF, NTRK2, NTRK3, NGF, NXPH1, and NRXN1) in Russian and Tatar cases and in a control group living in the Republic of Bashkortostan. The results of this study confirm the important role of neurotrophin and neurexin genes in paranoid schizophrenia development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyzed three single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) at the interleukin-10 (IL-10) 5' flanking region (positions -1082 A/G, -819 C/T and -592 C/A) in an association case-control study involving 248 patients with plaque type of psoriasis and 148 unrelated healthy volunteers using ARMS (amplification refractory mutation system)-PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) method. No difference was found in the frequencies of haplotype distribution between healthy controls and patients with psoriasis. There were no significant differences in the IL-10 haplotype distribution depending on the age of onset and family history of psoriasis. However, the results of our study demonstrate that the IL-10 haplotype has a role in determining severity and course of plaque type of psoriasis. IL-10 ACC haplotype (P`0.05) is likely to be defining lower activity of disease (PASI=20; extent=10%) and ATA haplotype is likely to be associated with persistent eruption (P`0.01). As ACC haplotype is suggested to be associated with high IL-10 secretion and ATA is related to low IL-10 secretion, potential differences in the IL-10 secretion levels might contribute the differences in the clinical course of psoriasis.Genes and Immunity (2003) 4, 455-457. doi:10.1038/sj.gene.6364004 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]