engleski

Serotonin 5-HT2A receptor gene polymorphism in posttraumatic stress disorder

Introduction: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a complex psychiatric and polygenetic disorder that occurs in some people exposed to extreme traumatic events. Literature data suggest that the alterations in serotonergic system and its receptors are involved in the aetiology and treatment of PTSD. Serotonergic receptors type 2A (5-HT2AR) are widely distributed in the brain and periphery. The association between T102C polymorphism of 5-HT2AR gene and personality traits including aggression and suicidality was reported. The aim of the present study was to determine a) the distribution of genotypes and alleles of the 5-HT2AR 102T/C SNP in healthy Croatian population and b) the association between 5-HT2AR gene polymorphism and vulnerability to PTSD in Croatian combat exposed war veterans. Subjects and Methods: The study included 264 war veterans (mean age &plusmn ; SD, 39.0&plusmn ; 9.8 years), with current chronic PTSD (SCID for DSM-IV), 89 combat exposed war veterans (age 38.1 &plusmn ; 4.2 years) without PTSD and 291 healthy male persons (age 41.5 &plusmn ; 12.1 years). PTSD diagnosis was evaluated with Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV. Genomic DNA was extracted from whole blood by a salting out procedure. The DNA samples were genotyped using ABI Prism 7000 Sequencing Detection System apparatus using Taqman-based allele-specific polymerase chain reaction assay. The chi-square (χ 2) test was applied to test the difference in genotype and allele frequencies of 5-HT2AR polymorphism between groups. Results: There was no significant deviation from the Hardy-Weinberg distribution for any group. Among healthy subjects CC, CT, TT genotype was found in 33.9%, 45.6% and 20.5% subjects respectively. CC genotype was found in 29.5%, CT in 43.2% and TT in 27.3% of war veterans with PTSD. Within war veterans without PTSD 38.2% carried CC, 46.1 CT and 15.7% TT genotype. 5-HT2AR genotype frequencies were similarly (χ 2=1.05, df=2, p=0.591) distributed between the two groups of war veterans A statistically significant (χ 2=5.06, df=1, p=0.024) difference was observed in alleles distribution between veterans with and without PTSD. C allele carriers were 51.1% and 61.2%, T allele carriers were 48.9% and 38.8% in war veterans with and without PTSD, respectively. Conclusions: Our results suggest that T allele of the 5-HT2AR 102T/C could be associated with the development of PTSD in subjects exposed to trauma.

Serotonin 5-HT2A receptor gene polymorphism; posttraumatic stress disorder

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