title: Genetic background of extreme violent behavior.
abstract: In developed countries, the majority of all violent crime is committed by a small group of antisocial recidivistic offenders, but no genes have been shown to contribute to recidivistic violent offending or severe violent behavior, such as homicide. Our results, from two independent cohorts of Finnish prisoners, revealed that a monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) low-activity genotype (contributing to low dopamine turnover rate) as well as the CDH13 gene (coding for neuronal membrane adhesion protein) are associated with extremely violent behavior (at least 10 committed homicides, attempted homicides or batteries). No substantial signal was observed for either MAOA or CDH13 among non-violent offenders, indicating that findings were specific for violent offending, and not largely attributable to substance abuse or antisocial personality disorder. These results indicate both low monoamine metabolism and neuronal membrane dysfunction as plausible factors in the etiology of extreme criminal violent behavior, and imply that at least about 5-10% of all severe violent crime in Finland is attributable to the aforementioned MAOA and CDH13 genotypes.
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden [2] Department of Forensic Psychiatry, University of Eastern Finland, Niuvanniemi Hospital, Kuopio, Finland [3] National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tiihonen
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: M-R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Rautiainen
authors.affiliation: 1] National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland [2] Stanford University Center for Sleep Sciences, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
authors.forename: H M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Ollila
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Psychiatry, University of Eastern Finland, Niuvanniemi Hospital, Kuopio, Finland.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Repo-Tiihonen
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Psychiatry, University of Helsinki, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Helsinki, Finland [2] Department of Psychiatry, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Virkkunen
authors.affiliation: 1] Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire, England [2] Analytic and Translational Genetics Unit, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA [3] Program in Medical and Population Genetics, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA [4] Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland [5] Psychiatric & Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Palotie
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Pietiläinen
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kristiansson
authors.affiliation: Social Psychiatry Unit, School of Health Sciences, University of Tampere, Finland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Joukamaa
authors.affiliation: 1] National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland [2] Psychiatric Hospital for Prisoners, Turku, Finland [3] University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lauerma
authors.affiliation: Finnish Genome Center, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Saarela
authors.affiliation: The Criminal Sanctions Agency, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tyni
authors.affiliation: The Criminal Sanctions Agency, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Vartiainen
authors.affiliation: University of Eastern Finland, Bioinformatics Center, Kuopio, Finland.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Paananen
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neurogenetics, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Rockville, MD, USA.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Goldman
authors.affiliation: 1] National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland [2] Department of Psychiatry, University of Helsinki, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Helsinki, Finland [3] Department of Psychiatry, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Paunio
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000235:genetics*; D015820:Cadherins / Q000235:genetics*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D056726:Genetic Association Studies; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008995:Monoamine Oxidase / Q000235:genetics*; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics*; D014754:Violence
chemical_list: D015820:Cadherins; C099972:H-cadherin; D008995:Monoamine Oxidase