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Further evidence of association between two NET single-nucleotide polymorphisms with ADHD

Molecular Psychiatry volume 13, pages 624–630 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

The norepinephrine transporter (NET) gene is an attractive candidate gene for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Noradrenergic systems are critical to higher brain functions such as attention and executive function, which are defective in ADHD. The clinical efficacy of medications that target NET also supports its role in the etiology of ADHD. Here, we have applied a dense mapping strategy to capture all genetic variations within the NET gene in a large number of ADHD families (474 trios). As a result, we found association of the same alleles from two single-nucleotide polymorphisms (rs3785143 and rs11568324) previously identified in another large-scale ADHD genetic study (International Multisite ADHD Geneproject). Furthermore, the effect sizes were consistent across both studies. This is the first time that identical alleles of NET from different studies were implicated, and thus our report provides further evidence that the NET gene is involved in the etiology of ADHD.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful for the families and individuals who participated in this study. We thank Dr Keeley Brookes and Professor Philip Asherson for sharing their data with us, and Brian Galloway for technical assistance. This work was supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) Grants HD37694, HD37999 and MH66877 to SVF and NARSAD Young Investigator Award to JWK. JWK is an NARSAD Sidney R Baer Jr Foundation Investigator.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychiatric and Neurodevelopmental Genetics Unit, Center for Human Genetic Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    J W Kim, C L McGrath, J Fagerness, S Purcell, J W Smoller & P Sklar

  2. Pediatric Psychopharmacology Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    J Biederman, A E Doyle & E Mick

  3. Department of Psychiatry, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY, USA

    S V Faraone

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  1. J W Kim
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  2. J Biederman
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Correspondence to J W Kim.

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Supplementary Information accompanies the paper on the Molecular Psychiatry website (http://www.nature.com/mp)

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Kim, J., Biederman, J., McGrath, C. et al. Further evidence of association between two NET single-nucleotide polymorphisms with ADHD. Mol Psychiatry 13, 624–630 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.mp.4002090

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