Background Chemokines are known to play a major role in driving inflammation and immune responses in several neuroinflammatory diseases, including multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. Inflammation has also been implicated in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Aim We aimed to investigate a potential link between chemokines and schizophrenia and analyze the role of MCP-1-A2518G, SDF-1-3'A, CCR5-delta32, CCR5-A55029G, CXCR4-C138T and CCR2-V64I gene polymorphisms in the Turkish population. Methods Genotyping was conducted by PCR-RFLP based on 140 patients and 123 unrelated healthy controls to show the relation between chemokine gene variants and schizophrenia risk. Results Frequencies of CCR5-A55029G A genotypes and CCR5-A55029G AG genotypes were found higher in patients than the controls and even also CCR2-V64I WT: CCR5-A55029G A and CCR2-V64I 64I: CCR5-A55029G A haplotypes significantly associated according to Bonferroni correction. However, no significant association was found for any of the other polymorphisms with the risk of schizophrenia. Conclusions Our findings suggest that CCR5-A55029G polymorphisms and CCR2-V64I WT: CCR5-A55029G A and CCR2-V64I 64I: CCR5-A55029G A haplotypes might have association with schizophrenia pathogenesis.
Keywords: CCR2-V64I; CCR5-A55029G; Chemokines; genetic polymorphisms; schizophrenia.