Association of angiotensin-converting enzyme gene promoter single nucleotide polymorphisms and haplotype with major depression in a northeastern Thai population.
BACKGROUND
Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) is thought to influence the activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical system, which shows hyperactivity in the majority of patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). This study aimed at determining an association between two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (rs4291;-240A/T and rs4292;-93T/C) of the ACE gene promoter and MDD in northeastern Thais.Subjects and methods. In the present case-control study, genotyping of 187 unrelated patients with MDD (44.89+/-12.92 years) and 207 unrelated healthy controls (41.34+/-9.76 years) from the northeastern part of Thailand was performed using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism technique.


RESULTS
Comparing the two groups, no significant difference was observed with regard to either genotype distributions or allele frequencies of the -93T/C SNP of ACE. For the -240A/T SNP, a significant difference in genotype distributions was found (chi(2)=6.65, df=2, p=0.036).The presence of the -240A allele of ACE was associated with a decreased risk for MDD compared with the -240T allele (chi(2)=4.24, df=1, p=0.040, odds ratio=0.702 [95% confidence interval=0.508-0.971]). Moreover, haplotype frequency analysis revealed that the -240T/-93T combination was significantly over-represented in patients with MDD in comparison with controls (13.6% and 6.8%, p=0.002 on chi(2) test, empirical p=0.004).


CONCLUSIONS
In the present investigation, an association between the -240A allele and a reduced risk for MDD was observed, but the genotype distributions of controls were only just in marginal agreement with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.The T-T haplotype in the ACE gene was significantly associated with an increased risk for MDD.
Angunsri
Rudee
R
Department of Clinicals Chemistry, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.
Sritharathikhun
Thapanut
T
Suttirat
Sarawut
S
Tencomnao
Tewin
T
D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006239:Haplotypes / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D015810:Linkage Disequilibrium / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D007703:Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A / Q000235:genetics*; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics*; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D013785:Thailand
D007703:Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A