title: Influence of BCL2 gene in major depression susceptibility and antidepressant treatment outcome.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Our recent work indicated that low-expression of the anti-apoptotic protein B-cell/lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) mRNA was observed among untreated major depressive disorder (MDD) patients, and the subsequent altered level of Bcl-2 was found to be close to the antidepressant treatment outcome. The primary aim of this present study was to examine whether a particular gene, encoding Bcl-2 (BCL2) confers risk to MDD, and likewise to investigate whether this gene acts as an indicator of antidepressant treatment outcome.
  
  
  METHODS
  We enrolled 178 treatment-resistant depression (TRD) and 612 non-treatment-resistant depression (NTRD) patients as well as 725 healthy controls. In total, three selected tagging SNPs (tagSNPs) of BCL2 (rs2279115, rs1801018 and rs1564483) were genotyped to test for possible association. Using TaqMan relative quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), we analyzed leukocytic expression of BCL2 mRNA in 47 healthy subjects.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the three SNPs, we observed no significant differences in genotype and allele frequencies between the MDD and control groups as well as between the TRD and NTRD groups. However, we found a significant association between the rs2279115C allele and TRD in males (corrected P=0.048) but not in females. Further real-time quantitative PCR analysis in healthy subjects revealed that the rs2279115 polymorphism significantly influenced BCL2 mRNA expression (P=0.03).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is a preliminary investigation with relatively small sample size and cross-sectional design.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These initial findings strengthen the hypothesis that BCL2 may play an important role in mediating the outcome of antidepressant treatment, a result that may further be confirmed by future genetic studies from large-scale populations that can overcome the limited sample size of this preliminary finding.
authors: Division of Mood Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China; Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of the Chinese Academy of Sciences & Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Kunming, Yunnan, China.
authors: Chen
authors: C
authors: Zhang
authors: Division of Mood Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
authors: Zhiguo
authors: Z
authors: Wu
authors: Division of Mood Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
authors: Wu
authors: W
authors: Hong
authors: Division of Mood Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China; Department of Psychiatry, Hongkou District Mental Health Center of Shanghai, Shanghai, China.
authors: Zuowei
authors: Z
authors: Wang
authors: Division of Mood Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
authors: Daihui
authors: D
authors: Peng
authors: Division of Mood Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
authors: Jun
authors: J
authors: Chen
authors: Division of Mood Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
authors: Chengmei
authors: C
authors: Yuan
authors: Department of Genetics, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
authors: Shunying
authors: S
authors: Yu
authors: Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of the Chinese Academy of Sciences & Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Kunming, Yunnan, China.
authors: Lin
authors: L
authors: Xu
authors: Division of Mood Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China. Electronic address: yirufang@gmail.com.
authors: Yiru
authors: Y
authors: Fang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000483:Alleles; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000235:genetics*; D061218:Depressive Disorder, Treatment-Resistant / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D019254:Genes, bcl-2 / Q000235:genetics*; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics; D012737:Sex Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents
keywords: Association; B-cell/lymphoma 2; Major depressive disorder; Treatment-resistant depression