psychopatológia

Koyš, Boris, Hašto, Jozef

Influence of Life Stress on Depression: Moderation by a Polymorphism in the 5-HTT Gene
Avshalom Caspi, Karen Sugden, Terrie E. Moffitt, Alan Taylor, Ian W. Craig, HonaLee Harrington, Joseph McClay, Jonathan Mill, Judy Martin, Antony Braithwaite, Richie Poulton
In a prospective-longitudinal study of a representative birth cohort, we tested why stressful experiences lead to depression in some people but not in others. A functional polymorphism in the promoter region of the serotonin transporter (5-HT T)gene was found to moderate the influence of stressful life events on depression. Individuals with one or two copies of the short allele of the 5-HT T promoter polymorphism exhibited more depressive symptoms, diagnosable depression, and suicidality in relation to stressful life events than individuals homozygous for the long allele. This epidemiological study thus provides ev-idence of a gene-by-environment interaction, in which an individual’s response to environmental insults is moderated by his or her genetic makeup.