Abstract
Serotonergic mechanisms are thought to play an important role in the pathogenesis of seasonal affective disorder (SAD). The expression of the serotonin transporter (5-HTT) is regulated in part by an insertion/deletion polymorphism in the serotonin transporter gene promoter region (5-HTTLPR). The 5-HTTLPR short allele (s) has been associated with anxiety-related personality traits and depression, and one study observed an association between the 5-HTTLPR s-allele and SAD and the trait of seasonality. We genotyped 138 SAD patients and 146 healthy volunteers with low seasonality for 5-HTTLPR. No difference between patients and controls was found for genotype distribution and s-allele frequency. However, genotype distribution and allele frequencies were strongly associated with DSM-IV depression subtypes. Melancholic depression was associated with the 5-HTTLPR long (l) allele and atypical depression with the 5-HTTLPR s-allele (two-sided Fisher's exact test: genotype distribution: P=0.0038; allele frequencies: P=0.007). Our data are compatible with the hypothesis of a disease process that is not causally related to 5-HTTLPR, but involves 5-HT neurotransmission and 5-HTTLPR somewhere on its way to phenotypic disease expression.
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This study was supported by the Federal Bank of Austria (Research Grant No. 7114).
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Willeit, M., Praschak-Rieder, N., Neumeister, A. et al. A polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) in the serotonin transporter promoter gene is associated with DSM-IV depression subtypes in seasonal affective disorder. Mol Psychiatry 8, 942–946 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.mp.4001392
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.mp.4001392
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