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Lack of an association between 5‐HT 6 receptor gene polymorphisms and suicide victims
Author(s) -
OKAMURA KENJI,
SHIRAKAWA OSAMU,
NISHIGUCHI NAOKI,
ONO HISAE,
NUSHIDA HIDEYUKI,
UENO YASUHIRO,
MAEDA KIYOSHI
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
psychiatry and clinical neurosciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1440-1819
pISSN - 1323-1316
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1819.2005.01380.x
Subject(s) - haplotype , genotype , serotonergic , allele , genetics , polymorphism (computer science) , allele frequency , poison control , biology , receptor , medicine , serotonin , gene , environmental health
An association between serotonergic dysfunction in the brain and suicidal behavior has previously been suggested. The high affinity of some antipsychotic and antidepressant drugs to serotonin 6 (5‐HT 6 ) receptors, and the predominant localization of 5‐HT 6 receptors in some limbic regions, suggest that 5‐HT 6 receptors play a role in the pathogenesis of suicide. The objective of the present study was to examine the association between suicide victims and two polymorphisms of the 5‐HT 6 receptor gene: a biallelic polymorphism (267C/T) in exon 1 and a trinucleotide repeat polymorphism ([GCC] 2/3 ) in the 5′‐upstream region of the gene. The two polymorphisms were genotyped in 163 suicide victims and 166 controls, and the distribution of genotype and allele frequencies between the two groups were compared. Haplotype frequencies of these two polymorphisms were estimated from genotypic data by the maximum‐likelihood method. In both polymorphisms, there were no significant differences in genotype or allele frequencies between the suicide victims and the controls. Moreover, there were no significant differences in the haplotype distributions of these polymorphisms between the two groups. These findings suggest that it is unlikely that the 5‐HT 6 receptor gene is involved in the susceptibility to suicide.