title: No association between the PREP gene and lithium responsive bipolar disorder.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Bipolar disorder (BD) is a major psychiatric condition that commonly requires prophylactic and episodic treatment. Lithium (Li) has been used for over 40 years now as an effective prophylactic agent. Response to Li treatment seems to be, at least in part, genetically determined. Although we ignore how Li specifically prevents mood episodes, it has previously been suggested that Li exerts an effect on the phosphoinositide pathway, and more recently, it has been proposed that Li may modulate prolyl endopeptidase (PREP).
  
  
  METHODS
  In this study we carried out an association study looking at the PREP gene, located on ch 6q22. Five intronic single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP), three coding SNPs and one SNP in the 5' UTR were investigated for their frequency in a BD sample of 180 excellent Li responders, 69 Li nonresponders and 126 controls. Genotyping was carried out using the SNaPshot reaction from Applied Biosystems, which is a modified fluorescent single base pair extension procedure.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Following correction for multiple testing, no significant genotypic, allelic or estimated haplotypic differences were found between responders and nonresponders or between BD patients and controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PREP is an interesting candidate gene to investigate in genetic studies of BD, but our findings do not support the hypothesis that genetic variation in this gene plays a major role in the etiology of BD or Li response.
authors.affiliation: Douglas Hospital Research Centre, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. firoza.mamdani@mail.mcgill.ca <firoza.mamdani@mail.mcgill.ca>
authors.forename: Firoza
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mamdani
authors.forename: Adolfo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sequeira
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alda
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Grof
authors.forename: Guy
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rouleau
authors.forename: Gustavo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Turecki
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000187:drug effects; D018692:Antimanic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000235:genetics*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D016651:Lithium Carbonate / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D000085822:Prolyl Oligopeptidases; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D018692:Antimanic Agents; D016651:Lithium Carbonate; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases; C000705287:PREPL protein, human; D000085822:Prolyl Oligopeptidases