The first aim is to define those aspects of the schizophrenic profile that are persistent and more likely to represent an underlying biological pathogenesis, as opposed to fluctuating, possibly environmentally mediated symptoms. Specifically, this core phenotype will be defined by using information from a detailed battery of psychiatric and diagnostic instruments including BPRS, GAF, PANSS. This analysis will be performed using an already existing database of the Section of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology, University of Verona, inclusive of both genotypes and detailed, longitudinal clinical assessments in a representative cohort of patients affected by schizophrenia.
The second step is to test if the core phenotype is associated with genetic polymorphisms and haplotypes of putative susceptibility gene for schizophrenia and in particular with dysbindin gene in the sample collected by GSK. This analysis will be performed using GSK’s data collections.