Association study between two variants in the DOPA decarboxylase gene in bipolar and unipolar affective disorder.
Irregularities of dopaminergic and serotonergic neurotransmission have been implicated in a variety of neuropsychiatric disorders. DOPA decarboxylase (DDC), also known as aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase, is an enzyme involved directly in the synthesis of dopamine and serotonin and indirectly in the synthesis of noradrenaline. Therefore, the DDC gene can be considered as a candidate gene for affective disorders. Recently, two novel variants were reported in the DDC gene: a 1-bp deletion in the promoter and a 4-bp deletion in the untranslated exon 1. Subsequently, an association case-control study including 112 English patients and 80 Danish patients with bipolar affective disorder (BPAD) revealed a significant association with the 1-bp deletion. This finding prompted us to analyze whether this effect was also present in a larger and ethnically homogeneous sample of 228 unrelated German patients with BPAD (208 patients with BP I disorder, 20 patients with BP II disorder), 183 unrelated patients with unipolar affective disorder (UPAD), and 234 healthy control subjects. For both BPAD and UPAD we could not detect a genetic association with either variant. Thus, our results do not support an involvement of the 1-bp or 4-bp deletion within the DDC gene in the etiology of affective disorders.
Institute of Human Genetics, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
Esther
E
Jahnes
Daniel J
DJ
Müller
Thomas G
TG
Schulze
Christine
C
Windemuth
Sven
S
Cichon
Stephanie
S
Ohlraun
Heiner
H
Fangerau
Tilo
T
Held
Wolfgang
W
Maier
Peter
P
Propping
Markus M
MM
Nöthen
Marcella
M
Rietschel
D000328:Adult; D000483:Alleles; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D004296:Dopa Decarboxylase / Q000235:genetics*; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D017384:Sequence Deletion
D004296:Dopa Decarboxylase