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The dopamine D4 receptor gene 48-base-pair-repeat polymorphism and mood disorders: a meta-analysis
Sandra López León1, Esther A Croes, Fakhredin A Sayed-Tabatabaei
1Genetic Epidemiology Unit, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Background:
We conducted a meta-analysis to re-evaluate the role of the dopamine D4 receptor gene 48-base-pair- repeat (DRD4) polymorphism in mood disorders.
Methods:
DRD4 allele frequencies were compared between 917 patients with unipolar (UP) or bipolar affective disorder (BP) and 1164 control subjects from 12 samples, using the Cochrane Review Manager.
Results:
An association was found between all mood disorder groups and DRD4.2. After correcting for multiple testing, the association between DRD4.2 and BP dropped to insignificance; however, the evidence of an association between the DRD4.2 allele and UP (p < .001) and the combined group (p < .001) remained. There was no evidence for heterogeneity or publication bias.
Conclusions:
These findings suggest that the DRD4.2 allele is a risk allele for depression symptomatology. Meta-analysis may be a valuable objective tool for a quantitative summary of evidence for association studies in psychiatric genetics.
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