title: Association between Neurocognitive Impairment and the Short Allele of the 5-HTT Promoter Polymorphism in Depression: A Pilot Study.
abstract: Depression has been shown to be associated with cognitive deficits in various cognitive domains. However, it is still unclear which factors contribute to cognitive impairment. The objective of this study was to find out whether a functional polymorphism in the promoter region of the serotonin transporter (5-HTTLPR) gene is associated with the impairment of cognitive functioning among depressed patients. In a pilot study, a sample of 19 patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and 19 healthy controls was investigated with an extensive psychiatric and neuropsychological examination. All participants were genotyped for 5-HTTLPR. Depressed patients with the short allele of the 5-HTT promoter region exhibited inferior cognitive performance compared to patients with the long allele polymorphism. In healthy controls, no association between genotype and cognitive performance was found. The result suggests that in MDD patients with the short allele of the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism the vulnerability to cognitive impairment is increased compared to MDD patients without the short allele inheritance. These preliminary findings need to be confirmed in a larger cohort of MDD patients.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 9, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Hely
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kalska
authors.forename: Ullamari
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Pesonen
authors.forename: Sanna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lehikoinen
authors.forename: Jan-Henry
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Stenberg
authors.forename: Jari
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lipsanen
authors.forename: Jussi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Niemi-Pynttäri
authors.forename: Arja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tuunainen