Association between glycogen synthase kinase-3beta gene polymorphisms and major depression and suicidal behavior in a Korean population.
BACKGROUND
Glycogen synthase kinase (GSK)-3beta plays a key role in the phosphorylation and regulation of metabolic enzymes and many transcription factors. Several lines of evidence implicate GSK-3beta in the pathophysiology of mood disorders and susceptibility to suicidal behavior. In this study, we aimed to investigate the GSK-3beta gene's association with major depressive disorder (MDD) and suicidal behavior.


METHODS
One hundred seventy suicidal depressed patients and 147 non-suicidal depressed patients who met DSM-IV criteria for MDD were recruited. One hundred sixty-four healthy volunteers recruited by local advertisement served as controls. Patients and normal controls were genotyped for GSK-3beta -1727A/T and -50C/T. Haplotype trend regression (HTR) analysis was used for the evaluation of haplotype association.


RESULTS
The genotype distributions of -1727A/T and -50C/T were in agreement with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The results showed that the alleles, genotypes, and haplotypes of the two SNPs do not differ between suicidal MDD subjects, non-suicidal MDD subjects, and normal controls. There was no difference in the haplotype frequency combination between the three groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Our study suggests that two promoter polymorphisms of the GSK-3beta gene may not be related to the pathogenesis of MDD and the risk of suicidal behavior in Korean depressive patients. Further studies with larger sample sizes and different populations are needed.
Yoon
Ho-Kyoung
HK
Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, Korea University, Republic of Korea.
Kim
Yong-Ku
YK
D000328:Adult; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D055106:Genome-Wide Association Study; D005838:Genotype; D038362:Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 / Q000235:genetics*; D000071679:Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 beta; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013405:Suicide
C000605506:GSK3B protein, human; D000071679:Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 beta; D038362:Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3