Kalska Hely, Pesonen Ullamari, Lehikoinen Sanna, Stenberg Jan-Henry, Lipsanen Jari, Niemi-Pynttäri Jussi, Tuunainen Arja
Institute of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 9, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland.
Psychiatry J. 2013;2013:849346. doi: 10.1155/2013/849346. Epub 2012 Dec 18.
Depression has been shown to be associated with cognitive deficits in various cognitive domains. However, it is still unclear which factors contribute to cognitive impairment. The objective of this study was to find out whether a functional polymorphism in the promoter region of the serotonin transporter (5-HTTLPR) gene is associated with the impairment of cognitive functioning among depressed patients. In a pilot study, a sample of 19 patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and 19 healthy controls was investigated with an extensive psychiatric and neuropsychological examination. All participants were genotyped for 5-HTTLPR. Depressed patients with the short allele of the 5-HTT promoter region exhibited inferior cognitive performance compared to patients with the long allele polymorphism. In healthy controls, no association between genotype and cognitive performance was found. The result suggests that in MDD patients with the short allele of the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism the vulnerability to cognitive impairment is increased compared to MDD patients without the short allele inheritance. These preliminary findings need to be confirmed in a larger cohort of MDD patients.
抑郁症已被证明与各个认知领域的认知缺陷有关。然而，仍不清楚哪些因素导致认知障碍。本研究的目的是查明血清素转运体（5-HTTLPR）基因启动子区域的功能多态性是否与抑郁症患者的认知功能损害有关。在一项初步研究中，对19名重度抑郁症（MDD）患者和19名健康对照者进行了广泛的精神科和神经心理学检查。所有参与者均进行了5-HTTLPR基因分型。与具有5-HTT启动子区域长等位基因多态性的患者相比，具有短等位基因的抑郁症患者表现出较差的认知能力。在健康对照者中，未发现基因型与认知能力之间存在关联。结果表明，与没有短等位基因遗传的MDD患者相比，具有5-HTTLPR多态性短等位基因的MDD患者认知障碍的易感性增加。这些初步发现需要在更大的MDD患者队列中得到证实。
