Pooling pharmacogenetic studies on the serotonin transporter: A mega-analysis

• Published in: Psychiatry research Vol. 145; no. 1; pp. 61 - 65
• Main Authors: Serretti, Alessandro, Cusin, Cristina, Rausch, Jeffrey L., Bondy, Brigitta, Smeraldi, Enrico
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shannon Elsevier Ireland Ltd 29.11.2006; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Alleles; Antidepressant treatment; Antidepressive Agents, Second-Generation - therapeutic use; Biological and medical sciences; Depressive Disorder, Major - drug therapy; Depressive Disorder, Major - genetics; Female; Genetic Variation - genetics; Genotype; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Mood disorders; Neuropharmacology; Pharmacogenetics; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Promoter Regions, Genetic - genetics; Psychoanaleptics: cns stimulant, antidepressant agent, nootropic agent, mood stabilizer..., (alzheimer disease); Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopharmacology; Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins - genetics; Serotonin Uptake Inhibitors - therapeutic use; Treatment Outcome; Mood disorders; Pharmacogenetics; Antidepressant treatment; Mood disorder; Chemotherapy; Treatment; Serotonin transporter; Psychotropic; Antidepressant agent
• ISSN: 0165-1781; 1872-7123
• DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2005.09.020

Pharmacogenetic studies on antidepressants have reported an association between the promoter of the serotonin transporter gene (SERTPR) and response to antidepressant treatment. In the present study, individual subject data from three pharmacogenetic studies on SERTPR were pooled (‘mega-analysis’) to investigate the role of this gene in the antidepressant activity of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). A group of 548 patients who were treated with different SSRIs in a double blind design were included; the severity of depressive symptoms was weekly assessed with the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression. SERPR allelic variants were determined in each subject using a PCR-based technique. In the whole sample, subjects with SERPR ⁎ l/l variants showed a significantly better response to treatment, and this effect was independent from analyzed demographic and clinical variables but was not uniform across samples. This result supports the involvement of the SERTPR gene in response to antidepressant treatments.