title: Genetic association between BDNF gene polymorphisms and phobic disorders: a case-control study among mainland Han Chinese.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Phobic disorders are a common group of syndromes comprising persistently recurring, irrational severe anxiety of specific objects, activities, or situations with avoidance behavior of the phobic stimulus. The present study investigated the association between whole region polymorphisms, (including the Val66Met variant), in the BDNF gene and phobic disorders among Han Chinese young adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a case-control study to investigate the genetic association between BDNF polymorphisms and phobic disorders among mainland Chinese. One hundred and twenty young adults with phobic disorders and 267 matched controls were recruited. Three tag SNPs of BDNF were successfully genotyped by using PCR-based ligase detection reaction (PCR-LDR).
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found significant differences in allele distributions of SNP rs10835210 (P<0.001) between the experimental and the control groups. In the haplotype analysis based on linkage-disequilibrium across this gene locus, we demonstrated significant association between phobic disorders and BDNF haplotype CAC (P=0.004). Association was significant after 10(4) permutation tests (P<0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study showing that the BDNF gene may play a significant role in the etiology of phobic disorders in the Han Chinese population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, Center for Genomic Medicine, School of Public Health, Jilin University, 1163 Xinmin Street, Changchun, Jilin 130021, China.
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Binbin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Peisu
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Suo
authors.forename: Changgui
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kou
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xiangfei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.forename: Longfei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Yaqin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yu
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics*; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000235:genetics*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002681:China; D056726:Genetic Association Studies; D005828:Genetics, Population; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics; D011594:Psychometrics; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor