BDNF and metabolic syndrome: Likewise, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) deficiency has been reported to result in metabolic traits, such as increased food intake, hyperphagia and obesity, etc. In this study, we hypothesized that a functional polymorphism (Val66Met) in the BDNF gene may confer susceptibility to clozapine-induced MetS, potentially in a sex-specific manner, since an interaction between Val66Met polymorphism and sex was observed in our previous studies.