title: Contribution of the serotoninergic system to anxious and depressive traits that may be partially responsible for the phenotypical variability of bulimia nervosa.
abstract: Eating disorders (ED), such as anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN), are complex psychiatric phenotypes influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. We investigated the genetic contribution of four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within the serotonin receptor 5HT2C and two sequence variants within the serotonin transporter SLC6A4 to different ED-related psychopathological symptoms in a total sample of 82 ED patients. All patients were diagnosed according to DSM-IV criteria and underwent diagnostic and psychopathological assessments by means of structured clinical interviews and rating scales. We detected significant evidence of association between the -995A/-759T/-697C/Cys23 haplotype of the 5HT2C gene and different anxious and depressive subscales of the SCL90-R instrument, that included Somatization (p = 0.029), Obsessive-Compulsiveness (p = 0.021), Depression (p = 0.032), Anxiety (p = 0.004), Hostility (p = 0.028), Phobic Anxiety (p = 0.029) and Paranoid Ideation (p = 0.008), in BN patients. We also observed a strong association between the 5HTTLPR polymorphism of the SLC6A4 gene and Anxiety in the same group of BN patients (p = 0.004). However, no epistatic effects between the 5HT2C and SLC6A4 genes on the different anxious and depressive subscales were observed. Our preliminary data suggest that the serotoninergic system contributes to the different psychopathological symptoms that may be partially responsible for the phenotypical variability within the bulimic phenotype.
authors.affiliation: Genes and Disease Program, Center for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona Biomedical Research Park, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ribasés
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fernández-Aranda
authors.forename: Mònica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gratacòs
authors.forename: Josep M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Mercader
authors.forename: Carolina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Casasnovas
authors.forename: Araceli
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Núñez
authors.forename: Julio
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vallejo
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Estivill
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000235:genetics*; D052018:Bulimia Nervosa / Q000150:complications / Q000235:genetics*; D003863:Depression / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D044405:Receptor, Serotonin, 5-HT2C / Q000235:genetics*; D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D044405:Receptor, Serotonin, 5-HT2C; C493230:SLC6A4 protein, human; D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins