title: Association study for a functional serotonin transporter gene polymorphism and late-onset Alzheimer's disease for Chinese patients.
abstract: Two recent studies have demonstrated an association for a deletion/insertion polymorphism within the promoter region of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR), and Alzheimer's disease (AD). According to these studies, subjects with the short variant of the 5-HTTLPR gene are at increased risk for AD; however, this finding has not been confirmed by other workers. To evaluate the role of the 5-HTTLPR gene in susceptibility for AD, we conducted an association study for this polymorphism in a Chinese population. No significant differences were determined for genotype distribution or allele frequencies, comparing AD patients and normal controls. Even dividing the population into subgroups according to the presence of the APOE epsilon4 allele, no differences for genotype or allele frequencies were determined, comparing patients and controls. These results suggest that it is unlikely that the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism plays a substantial role in conferring susceptibility to AD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Veterans General Hospital-Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: T Y
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: C Y
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000483:Alleles; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics*; D053327:Apolipoprotein E4; D001057:Apolipoproteins E / Q000235:genetics; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D002872:Chromosome Deletion; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency / Q000235:genetics; D006580:Genetic Carrier Screening; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000235:genetics; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000235:genetics*; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D012307:Risk Factors; D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins; D013624:Taiwan
chemical_list: D053327:Apolipoprotein E4; D001057:Apolipoproteins E; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; C493230:SLC6A4 protein, human; D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins