Serotonin transporter genetic polymorphism

Furlong, R.A., et al., "Analysis and Meta-Analysis of Two Serotonin Transporter Gene Polymorphisms in Bipolar and Unipolar Affective Disorders," Am. ]. Med. Genet., 81, 58-63 (1998). 

Huang CH, Santangelo SL (2008) Autism and serotonin transporter gene polymorphisms a systematic review and meta-analysis. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet 147B 903-913 Insel TR, O Brien DJ, Leckman IF (1999) Oxytocin, vasopressin, and autism is there a connection Biol. Psychiatry 45 145-157... 

Sen S, Burmeister M, Ghosh D. Meta-analysis of the association between a serotonin transporter promoter polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) and anxiety-related personality traits. Am. J. Med. Genet. B Neuropsychiatr. Genet. 2004 127 85-89. 

Bradley SL, Dodelzon K, Sandhu HK, et al. Relationship of serotonin transporter gene polymorphisms and haplotypes to inRNA transcription. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsy-chiatr Genet 2005 136(1) 58-61. 

Smeraldi, E., Zanardi, R. et al. (1998). Polymorphism within the promoter of the serotonin transporter gene and antidepressant efficacy of fluvoxamine. Mol. Psychiatry, 3(6), 508-11. Wang, S. L., Huang, J. D. et al. (1993). Molecular basis of genetic variation in debrisoquin hydroxylation in Chinese subjects polymorphism in RFLP and DNA sequence of CYP2D6. Clin. Pharmacol. Ther., 53(4), 410-18. 

Gelernter J, Cubells JF, Kidd JR, Pakstis AJ, Kidd KK (1999) Population studies of polymorphisms of the serotonin transporter protein gene. Am J Med Genet 88 61-66 Hahn MK, Blakely RD (2002) Monoamine transporter gene structure and polymorphisms in relation to psychiatric and other complex disorders. Pharmacogenomics J 2 217-235 HeUs A, Teufel A, Petri S, et al (1996) Allelic variation of human serotonin transporter gene expression. J Neurochem 66 2621-2624... 

Maestrini, E., Lai, C., Marlow, A., Matthews, N., Wallace, S., Bailey, A., Cook, E., Weeks, D., Monaco, A., and International Molecular Genetics of Autism Consortium. (1999) Serotonin transporter (S-HTT) and gamma-aminobuyric acid receptor subunit beta-3 (GABRB3) gene polymorphisms are not associated with autism in the IMGSA families. Am J Med Genet (Neuropsychiatr Genet), 88 492-496. 

Yirmiya, N., Pilowsky, T., Nemanov, L., Arbelle, S., Feinsilver, T, Fried, I., Ebstein, R.P. (2001) Evidence for an association with the serotonin transporter promoter region polymorphism and autism. Am J Med Genet 105 381-386. 

Individuals with the short form of the serotonin transporter have a poorer response to lithium (55). The short form of the serotonin transporter is a genetic polymorphism that increases the risk of depression in the setting of adversity (56,57,58) and reduces the likelihood of a response to antidepressant treatment, and is therefore associated with a poorer outcome (59,60,61,62). Similarly, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the gene that encodes brain-derived neurotrophic factor (the val66met SNP of BDNF) has been associated with a poor response to lithium (63). This SNP is over-represented among patients with rapid cycling (64), who are less likely to respond well to lithium. 

Of conrse, the very existence of a genetic factor that is less than 100% responsible for the generational transmission of disease means that other factors, namely, the environment ( nurture ), must provide the necessary complement for the pathological process to manifest itself. So what in effect is happening is that what is inherited is not really the disease but rather the vulnerability to it. An excellent example of this paradigm, of relevance to mental illness, is the report by Caspi et al. (2003), later replicated by Kendler et al. (2005), which examined the moderating effect of genetic polymorphism of the serotonin transporter... 

---