Lucky gene 5-HTTLPR and postpartum depression: A systematic review

Postpartum depression (PPD) should be given more attention for its increasing incidences, severe complications and complex pathogenesis. Previous studies of PPD have mainly been focused on the social contributions to its etiology such as age, marriage and economic status, whilst less attention has been given to inner biological factors. Currently, emerging researches have endeavored to explore 5-HTT related pathogenesis of PPD.

This report was aimed at proffering updates on some research advancements in the field of PPD through the reviewing published papers concerning postpartum depression, with prime focus on the role of 5-HTT.

This review report dug into articles containing both PPD and 5-HTTLPR. Web of Science, Pubmed and CNKI (National Knowledge Infrastructure) were employed for searching relevant publications.

There was a strong association between 5-HTTLPR polymorphism and the pathogenesis of PPD, with established evidence showing that L allele (Long allele) in 5-HTTLPR was associated with reduced susceptibility to PPD.

All things considered, sufficient clinical experiments are needed to ascertain the feasibility of our theoretical statements. In addition, relevant articles are comparatively scarce presently.