Tryptophan-hydroxylase 2 haplotype association with borderline personality disorder and aggression in a sample of patients with personality disorders and healthy controls

• Published in: Journal of psychiatric research Vol. 44; no. 15; pp. 1075 - 1081
• Main Authors: Mercedes Perez-Rodriguez, M., Weinstein, Shauna, New, Antonia S., Bevilacqua, Laura, Yuan, Qiaoping, Zhou, Zhifeng, Hodgkinson, Colin, Goodman, Marianne, Koenigsberg, Harold W., Goldman, David, Siever, Larry J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.11.2010; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Affective instability; Aggression; Aggression - psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Borderline personality disorder; Borderline Personality Disorder - ethnology; Borderline Personality Disorder - genetics; Borderline Personality Disorder - psychology; Ethnicity - genetics; Female; Gene Frequency; Genes; Genetic Predisposition to Disease - genetics; Genome-Wide Association Study - methods; Haplotypes; Humans; Impulsive aggression; Impulsivity; Indexing in process; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Personality disorders; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide - genetics; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Sex Factors; Suicidal behavior; Suicidal behaviour; Suicide; Suicide, Attempted - psychology; Surveys and Questionnaires; TPH2; Tryptophan Hydroxylase - genetics; White People - ethnology; Affective instability; TPH2; Suicidal behavior; Impulsive aggression; Borderline personality disorder; Human; Impulsivity; Borderline; Enzyme; Aggression; Emotional disorder; Suicide; Genetic determinism; Personality disorder; Suicide attempt; Tryptophan 5-monooxygenase; Genetics; Oxidoreductases; Haplotype
• ISSN: 0022-3956; 1879-1379; 1879-1379
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2010.03.014

There is a decreased serotonergic function in impulsive aggression and borderline personality disorder (BPD), and genetic association studies suggest a role of serotonergic genes in impulsive aggression and BPD. Only one study has analyzed the association between the tryptophan-hydroxylase 2 (TPH2) gene and BPD. A TPH2 “risk” haplotype has been described that is associated with anxiety, depression and suicidal behavior. We assessed the relationship between the previously identified “risk” haplotype at the TPH2 locus and BPD diagnosis, impulsive aggression, affective lability, and suicidal/parasuicidal behaviors, in a well-characterized clinical sample of 103 healthy controls (HCs) and 251 patients with personality disorders (109 with BPD). A logistic regression including measures of depression, affective lability and aggression scores in predicting “risk” haplotype was conducted. The prevalence of the “risk” haplotype was significantly higher in patients with BPD compared to HCs. Those with the “risk” haplotype have higher aggression and affect lability scores and more suicidal/parasuicidal behaviors than those without it. In the logistic regression model, affect lability was the only significant predictor and it correctly classified 83.1% of the subjects as “risk” or “non-risk” haplotype carriers. We found an association between the previously described TPH2 “risk” haplotype and BPD diagnosis, affective lability, suicidal/parasuicidal behavior, and aggression scores.