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Serotonin transporter promoter genotype and illness recurrence in mood disorders
Enrico Smeraldi1, Francesco Benedetti, Raffaella Zanardi
1Istituto Scientifico Ospedale San Raffaele, Department of Neuropsychiatric Sciences, University Vita-Salute, Via Prinetti 29, 20127, Milan, Italy.
Abstract:
We tested the hypothesis that allelic variation of 5-HTT linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) could influence illness onset and recurrence in 129 bipolar and 128 unipolar recurrent patients. Among bipolar patients, homozygotes for the short variant showed an earlier age at onset and a lower recurrence rate than heterozygotes and homozygotes for the long variant. Unipolar patients showed a trend toward the same difference. Data support a role for 5-HTTLPR in course of affective illness.