Gian Battista Tura

Publications (6)24.01 Total impact

• Article: A putative regulatory subunit (NR3A) of the NMDA receptor complex as candidate gene for susceptibility to schizophrenia: a case-control study.

  Rossella Gulli, Bianca Masnata, Cristian Bonvicini, Gian Battista Tura, Luciano Manglaviti, Marco Vaggi, Marco Mollica, Emilia Bellone, Paola Mandich, Massimo Gennarelli, Emilio Di Maria
  Psychiatric Genetics 01/2008; 17(6):355-6. · 2.58 Impact Factor
• Article: Study on GRIA2, GRIA3 and GRIA4 genes highlights a positive association between schizophrenia and GRIA3 in female patients.

  Chiara Magri, Rita Gardella, Paolo Valsecchi, Stefano Davide Barlati, Luca Guizzetti, Laura Imperadori, Cristian Bonvicini, Gian Battista Tura, Massimo Gennarelli, Emilio Sacchetti, Sergio Barlati
  [show abstract] [hide abstract]
  ABSTRACT: Impairment of glutamatergic neurotransmission is one of the major hypotheses proposed to explain the neurobiology of schizophrenia. Therefore, the genes involved in the glutamate neurotransmitter system could be considered potential candidate genes for schizophrenia susceptibility. A systematic study on alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole-propionic acid (AMPA) receptor genes has been carried out and the results obtained from the analysis on GRIA2, GRIA3 and GRIA4 are reported. No evidence of association with schizophrenia was found for the GRIA2 and GRIA4 genes; strong evidence of association with schizophrenia was found for GRIA3. This X-linked gene showed a different behavior in the two genders; a positive association with schizophrenia was observed among females but not in males. Female carriers of rs1034428 A allele were found to have a 2.19-fold higher risk of developing schizophrenia compared to non-carriers and 3.28-fold higher risk for developing a non-paranoid phenotype. The analysis at the haplotype level showed that susceptibility to schizophrenia was associated with the specific haplotype rs989638-rs1034428-rs2227098 CAC (P = 0.0008). We conclude that, of the three AMPA genes analyzed here, only GRIA3 seems to be involved in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia, but only in females.
  American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B Neuropsychiatric Genetics 01/2008; 147B(6):745-53. · 3.70 Impact Factor
• Article: No association between Ala9Val functional polymorphism of MnSOD gene and schizophrenia in a representative Italian sample.

  Mariacarla Ventriglia, Catia Scassellati, Cristian Bonvicini, Rosanna Squitti, Maria Gabriela Bevacqua, Giovanni Foresti, Gian Battista Tura, Massimo Gennarelli
  [show abstract] [hide abstract]
  ABSTRACT: Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been suggested to play an important role in physiopathology of schizophrenia. The polymorphisms in the genes encoding antioxidant enzymes, such as manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) should, thus, result in predisposition to this psychiatric disorder. A functional amino acid polymorphism (Ala9Val) has been described in the signal sequence of enzyme associated with a decreased defense capacity against oxidative stress. Preliminary evidence in a Turkey population indicated that this polymorphism contributes to physiopathogenesis of schizophrenia. The object of this study was to verify the association between Ala9Val and schizophrenia in a representative Italian sample. The polymorphism was genotyped by PCR amplification and Single-Stranded Conformational Polymorphism (SSCP) analysis in 212 DSMIV schizophrenic patients and 257 healthy volunteers. No association was observed between cases and controls (genotype and allele frequencies: p = 0.72, p = 0.55, respectively) even when a sample stratification for gender, age at onset and diagnostic subtypes was performed. This suggests that the gene variant could not be a risk factor for schizophrenia susceptibility in an Italian sample.
  Neuroscience Letters 01/2007; 410(3):208-11. · 2.11 Impact Factor
• Article: Association study of -1727 A/T, -50 C/T and (CAA)n repeat GSK-3beta gene polymorphisms with schizophrenia.

  Catia Scassellati, Cristian Bonvicini, Jorge Perez, Luisella Bocchio-Chiavetto, Gian Battista Tura, Giuseppe Rossi, Giorgio Racagni, Massimo Gennarelli
  [show abstract] [hide abstract]
  ABSTRACT: Glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) is a downstream component of the Wnt pathway and recent studies have reported abnormal levels of GSK-3beta in schizophrenia. In a sample of 147 schizophrenic patients and 212 healthy individuals, we analyzed two common SNPs at position -1727 A/T and -50 C/T and a (CAA)(n) repeat polymorphism localized in intron 1 of the gene. The results showed that the allele, genotype and haplotype distributions for the three polymorphisms investigated do not differ between schizophrenic patients in general and control subjects. However, in the subtype of paranoid schizophrenic patients, we found that the (CAA)(3)/(CAA)(5) heterozygotes were more often represented. Although taken from a small sample, our results support the reports that GSK-3beta appears to be involved in a subtype of schizophrenic patients, but not in schizophrenia in general. In conclusion, we would speculate that this gene may be linked to some features of psychotic disorders rather than to schizophrenia itself.
  Neuropsychobiology 02/2004; 50(1):16-20. · 2.67 Impact Factor
• Article: Association between promoter polymorphic haplotypes of interleukin-10 gene and schizophrenia.

  Luisella Bocchio Chiavetto, Francesco Boin, Roberta Zanardini, Maurizio Popoli, Anna Michelato, Stefano Bignotti, Gian Battista Tura, Massimo Gennarelli
  [show abstract] [hide abstract]
  ABSTRACT: Schizophrenia is one of the most severe psychiatric disorders, with a worldwide incidence of 1%. Several reports show abnormal cytokine levels in psychotic patients and indicate a possible role of the immune response system in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Increased concentrations of interleukin 10 (IL-10) have been found in plasma of schizophrenic patients, suggesting its potential role as a candidate gene for susceptibility to schizophrenia. IL-10 gene maps on chromosome 1 (q31-q32), a locus associated with genetic susceptibility to schizophrenia. Three functional haplotypes of the gene (GCC, ACC, ATA) have been described, derived from different combinations of three "single nucleotide polymorphisms" and directly related to the expression levels of the protein. We analyzed allele, genotype, and haplotype distributions in an association case-control study involving 106 schizophrenic patients and 143 unrelated healthy volunteers using polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-Single Strand Conformation Polymorphism and PCR Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism methods. Our results show a significant increase of GCC homozygotes (the high IL-10-producing haplotype) in schizophrenic patients compared to control subjects (chi(2) = 13, p =.023; odds ratio = 3.03; 95% confidence interval, 1.274-7.355). These data could partly explain the abnormal secretion of IL-10 occurring in schizophrenic patients in response to infections or different stressors and suggest a potential role of IL-10 as a candidate gene for susceptibility to schizophrenia.
  Biological Psychiatry 04/2002; 51(6):480-4. · 8.28 Impact Factor
• Article: Association between IL-1beta -511C/T and IL-1RA (86bp)n repeats polymorphisms and schizophrenia.

  Roberta Zanardini, Luisella Bocchio-Chiavetto, Catia Scassellati, Cristian Bonvicini, Gian Battista Tura, Giuseppe Rossi, Jorge Perez, Massimo Gennarelli
  [show abstract] [hide abstract]
  ABSTRACT: It has been established that cytokines play a critical role in the regulation of the CNS and recent studies have suggested that dysfunctions of both pro-inflammatory (IL-1beta, IL-6, and TNF-alpha) and anti-inflammatory (IL-1RA and IL-10) cytokines could be involved in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Previous studies have reported that functional polymorphisms in some cytokines genes may have important regulatory effects on such system. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to explore the possible role of the IL-1beta -511C/T and IL-1RA (86bp)(n) repeats polymorphisms in schizophrenia. A case control association study comparing genotype and allele frequencies in 346 northen Italian subjects (169 schizophrenic patients and 177 unrelated healthy volunteers) was performed. The frequencies of IL-1beta -511C and IL-1RA allele 1 (86bp)(4) are significantly higher in schizophrenic patients compared to controls (IL-1beta -511 P=0.047; IL-1RA (86bp)(n) P=0.002). Moreover our data show a protective effect of the IL-1RA allele 2 (86bp)(2) against schizophrenia (OR=0.59 95%CI:0.388-0.910; P=0.016) and this effect is enhanced by the concomitant presence of IL-1beta -511T (OR=0.48 95%CI:0.30-0.76; P=0.002). Our findings support the hypothesis that genetically determined changes in IL-1 metabolism regulation may contribute to the pathogenesis of schizophrenia confirming a role of IL-1 gene cluster in disease susceptibility.
  Journal of Psychiatric Research 37(6):457-62. · 4.66 Impact Factor