By including individuals varying in their degree of susceptibility to MD, we showed evidence of interactions between 5-HTT and MD susceptibility in baseline cortisol, and between MAOA and MD susceptibility in baseline ACTH measures, indicating a role for these genotypes in stable-state endocrine regulation.
Since the 4R allele transcribed 2-10 times more efficiently than those with 3R allele, our findings suggest that the MAOA-uVNTR may be involved in the pathogenesis of MDD and the antidepressant therapeutic mechanisms in Chinese population, and that there may be a gender effect in this association.
Our results suggest that MAOA gene variation may modulate the expression of some clinical aspects of severe mood disorders, especially in females, and support the existence of a genetic and aetiologic heterogeneity underlying the diagnoses of bipolar disorder and major depression.
This study was conducted to detect a possible association of a T941G single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) gene with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder (PD), or major depression (MD).
The present study fails to demonstrate that the genetic polymorphisms of MAOA-VNTR and TPH-A218C affect the antidepressant effect of fluvoxamine in Japanese patients with major depressive disorder.
Thus, our data suggest that an excess of high-activity MAO-A gene promoter alleles resulting in an elevated MAO-A activity is a risk factor for major depressive disorder in females.Am.J. Med.Genet.(Neuropsychiatr.Genet.)96:801-803, 2000.
In agreement with the well-established action of MAO-A inhibitors as antidepressants, this association is particularly marked among male OCD probands with co-morbid MDD, who represent more than 50% of our male OCD sample.
We investigated the polymorphisms of the MAO-A gene, which may be related to enzyme activity (T/941/G, A/1609/G), with amino-acid change (A/1609/G), in Japanese patients with bipolar disorder patients (n = 132), unipolar major depression (n = 43), or schizophrenia (n = 95), and controls (n = 169).