Association of the orphan nuclear receptor NR4A1 with tardive dyskinesia

Recent evidence has identified the NR4A1 (NUR77, NGFI-B) gene as a strong candidate for involvement in tardive dyskinesia (TD). We have investigated the association of six single nucleotide polymorphisms within the NR4A family of genes with TD in a sample of 171 patients with schizophrenia of Caucasian descent. The NR4A1 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) marker rs2603751 showed a nominal association with the risk of TD, as well as with the extent of TD based on the Abnormal Involuntary Movements Scale (AIMS) scores. The haplotype generated by the markers rs2603751 and rs2701124 also showed association with TD and, after adjustment for multiple testing, both the NR4A1 marker rs2603751 and the haplotype continued to show a trend toward association with TD. Although the results of this study are limited by a small sample size, it presents important pilot data and warrants further investigation of the involvement of NR4A1 variants in TD.