Antipsychotic drugs are one of the largest types of prescribed drugs. However, antipsychotic-induced weight gain (AIWG) is a major problem for the patients. AIWG increases cardiovascular and cerebrovascular morbidity and mortality, and reduces quality of life and drug compliance. To characterize changes in gene expression related to AIWG, we sequenced total messenger RNA from the blood samples of two groups of schizophrenia patients before and after 3 months of treatment with antipsychotics. The “weight gain” group was defined by an increase of body mass index (BMI) >1.5 points (18 patients; median BMI increase = 2.69) and the “no weight gain” group was defined by a change of BMI between <1.0 and >−1.0 points (18 patients; median BMI increase = 0.26). We found 115 genes with significant differential expression in the weight gain group before and after medication and 156 in the no weight gain group before and after medication. The weight gain group was significantly enriched with genes related to “obesity” and “BMI” (Fisher; p = 0.0002 and 0.01, respectively) according to the Gene Reference into Function (GeneRIF) database. In the no weight gain group, the enrichment was much smaller (Fisher; p = 0.02 and 0.79). This study is a first step toward detecting genetic factors that cause AIWG and to generating prediction tests in future studies with larger data sets.

抗精神病药是处方药中最大的一种。然而，抗精神病药物引起的体重增加（AIWG）是患者的主要问题。AIWG增加了心脑血管的发病率和死亡率，并降低了生活质量和药物依从性。为了表征与AIWG相关的基因表达的变化，我们对抗精神病药物治疗3个月之前和之后的两组精神分裂症患者血液样本中的总信使RNA进行了测序。“体重增加”组的定义为体重指数（BMI）> 1.5点的增加（18例患者；中位数BMI增加= 2.69），而“无体重增加”的组定义为BMI的变化在1.0至1.0之间。 > −1.0分（18位患者； BMI中位数增加= 0.26）。我们发现在用药前后体重增加组中有115个基因具有明显差异表达，在用药前后无体重增加组中有156个基因。体重增加组中大量富含与“肥胖”和“ BMI”相关的基因（Fisher; 根据基因参考功能（GeneRIF）数据库，分别为p = 0.0002和0.01）。在无体重增加组中，富集小得多（Fisher；p  = 0.02和0.79）。这项研究是检测导致AIWG的遗传因素并在具有更大数据集的未来研究中生成预测测试的第一步。