title: Association between a functional polymorphism in the monoamine oxidase A gene promoter and major depressive disorder.
abstract: Various polymorphisms of the X-chromosomal monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) gene were investigated for association with affective disorders. However, none of the studied variants could consistently be associated with either major depressive or bipolar affective disorder. Recently, a positive association between panic disorder and a novel functional repeat polymorphism in the MAO-A gene promoter, with the longer alleles being more active, was reported. Since monoaminergic neurotransmission is supposed to play an important role in affective disorders, we investigated a potential association of this polymorphism with major depressive illness in a sample of 146 unrelated patients of German descent and a control group of 101 individuals with a negative life history for affective disorders. Similarly to the recent findings in panic disorder, we observed a significantly increased frequency of genotypes containing only long alleles in female patients with recurrent major depression in comparison with age- and sex-matched controls. Thus, our data suggest that an excess of high-activity MAO-A gene promoter alleles resulting in an elevated MAO-A activity is a risk factor for major depressive disorder in females. Am. J. Med. Genet. (Neuropsychiatr. Genet.) 96:801-803, 2000.
authors: Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany. tschulze@uni-bonn.de
authors: T G
authors: TG
authors: Schulze
authors: D J
authors: DJ
authors: Müller
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Krauss
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Scherk
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Ohlraun
authors: Y V
authors: YV
authors: Syagailo
authors: C
authors: C
authors: Windemuth
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Neidt
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Grässle
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Papassotiropoulos
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Heun
authors: M M
authors: MM
authors: Nöthen
authors: W
authors: W
authors: Maier
authors: K P
authors: KP
authors: Lesch
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Rietschel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000483:Alleles; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008995:Monoamine Oxidase / Q000235:genetics*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D008995:Monoamine Oxidase