Association study of nicotinic-receptor variants and major depressive disorder.
BACKGROUND
Depressive patients are more likely to smoke than the general population and nicotine was found to reduce the incidence and severity of depressive symptoms in many studies. These findings suggest that nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) may be implicated in major depressive disorder. We tested the hypothesis that the allelic variant, 2 bp deletion, of the partially duplicated alpha7 nAChR gene confers susceptibility to major depressive disorder.


METHODS
We genotyped alpha7 nAChR in 72 patients with major depressive disorder and 103 normal controls.


RESULTS
The distribution of the partially duplicated alpha7 nAChR genotypes (P=0.027) and alleles (P=0.037) suggests a modest difference between depressive patients and controls.


CONCLUSIONS
The -2 bp allele is thought to be present only in the duplicated exon 6, and the impact of the partially duplicated alpha7 nAChR and its -2 bp variant remain to be determined.


CONCLUSIONS
The -2 bp allele of partially duplicated alpha7 nAChR may have an influence on the risk for development of major depressive disorder. The levels of significance achieved are modest and the findings must be replicated in other studies.
Lai
I C
IC
Department of Psychiatry, Veterans General Hospital, No. 201 Shih-Pai Road, Sec. 2, 11217 Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
Hong
C J
CJ
Tsai
S J
SJ
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000483:Alleles; D002872:Chromosome Deletion; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology; D005091:Exons; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000235:genetics; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D011978:Receptors, Nicotinic / Q000235:genetics*; D013624:Taiwan; D064569:alpha7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor
C579167:Chrna7 protein, human; D011978:Receptors, Nicotinic; D064569:alpha7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor