¹Department of Psychological Medicine and Psychiatry, Lapeyronie Hospital, INSERM E99-30, Montpellier, France

²Department of Psychiatry, Geneva University Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland

³Department of Psychiatry, Carémeau Hospital, Nîmes, France

⁴University Department of Psychiatry, La Colombière Hospital, INSERM E99-30, Montpellier, France

Correspondence to: P Courtet, Department of Psychological Medicine and Psychiatry, Lapeyronie Hospital, 34295 Montpellier Cedex 5, France. E-mail: courtet@aol.com

There is compelling evidence that serotonin system dysfunction is associated with certain behavioral disorders, such as suicidal behavior and impulsive aggression. A functional polymorphism in the promoter region of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) was recently identified and the presence of the short allele found to be associated with a lower level of expression of the gene, lower levels of 5-HT uptake, suicidal behavior and anxiety-related traits. We genotyped 51 West European Caucasians who had made violent suicide attempts and 139 controls of the same ethnic origin, with no history of suicidal behavior. The frequencies of the S allele and the SS genotype were significantly higher in the violent suicide attempters than in the controls. The odds ratio for the SS genotype vs the LL genotype was 3.63 (95% CI (1.27-10.40)). This suggests that a change in expression of the gene encoding the 5-HT transporter may be involved in violent suicidal behavior. Molecular Psychiatry (2001) 6, 338-341.

serotonin transporter; suicidal behavior; violence; polymorphism; association study