title: Association study of serotonin transporter gene VNTR polymorphism and mood disorders, onset age and suicide attempts in a Chinese sample.
abstract: The human serotonin transporter (5-HTT) gene is an important candidate for the pathogenesis of mood disorders. Associations have been reported between a variable-number tandem-repeat polymorphism in intron 2 of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTVNTR) and mood disorders in a number of studies of Western and Chinese populations. However, no such relationships have been determined in other analogous research. To replicate these positive findings in a Chinese population and to determine the association between onset age of bipolar disorder and 5-HTTVNTR, we investigated the prevalence of this polymorphism in an independent Chinese population (83 bipolar disorder patients, 77 major depressive disorder patients and 169 controls), demonstrating no significant association between the 5-HTTVNTR polymorphism and mood disorders or age at onset. Further, no association was demonstrated between this polymorphism and suicidal history in mood disorder patients. These negative findings suggest that 5-HTTVNTR does not play a major role in the pathogenesis of mood disorder in Chinese populations.
authors.affiliation: Divison of Psychiatry, Cheng-Hsin Rehabilitation and Medical Center, Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Feng-Chang
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Yen
authors.forename: Chen-Jee
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Sheu-Jane
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.forename: Jiunn-Kae
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Shih-Jen
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Tsai
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000235:genetics*; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; D008875:Middle Aged; D018598:Minisatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics*; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins; D013406:Suicide, Attempted
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; C493230:SLC6A4 protein, human; D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins