The association between BDNF C270T genetic variants and smoking in patients with mental disorders and in healthy controls

Abstract

Studies investigating the association between smoking and the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) Val66Met polymorphism have reported inconclusive results, while the studies on the association of smoking status with BDNF C270T polymorphism are missing. We aimed to determine the association of smoking and BDNF Val66Met and C270T genetic variants in control subjects and patients with mental disorders. This study included 3502 Caucasian subjects: 918 healthy controls and 2584 patients with mental disorders (519 individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), 419 patients with depression, 996 patients with schizophrenia, and 650 patients with alcohol dependence). The frequency of the BDNF Val66Met and C270T variants were presented in codominant, dominant and recessive models. BDNF C270T, but not BDNF Val66Met polymorphism, was significantly associated with smoking in all groups, since the presence of the C270T T allele was more frequently found in smokers compared to non-smokers. Significant predictors of smoking were sex, age and BDNF C270T genetic variants. However, after detailed analysis of the separate diagnostic entities, the significant association of BDNF C270T polymorphism was confirmed only in healthy subjects, but not in patients with mental disorders; and was not related to number of cigarettes smoked per day. In patients with alcohol dependence, the severity of smoking was significantly associated with BDNF Val66Met variants. This is a first report of the significant association between the BDNF C270T polymorphism and smoking status in the large groups of Caucasian cases/controls.

Keywords: Alcohol dependence; BDNF genetic variants; Depression; Healthy subjects; PTSD; Schizophrenia; Smoking.