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1: Science. 1996 Nov 29;274(5292):1527-31.Click here to read Links
Comment in:
Science. 1996 Nov 29;274(5292):1483.

Association of anxiety-related traits with a polymorphism in the serotonin transporter gene regulatory region.

Lesch KP, Bengel D, Heils A, Sabol SZ, Greenberg BD, Petri S, Benjamin J, Müller CR, Hamer DH, Murphy DL.

Department of Psychiatry, University of Würzburg, Füchsleinstrasse 15, 97080 Würzburg, Germany. kplesch@rzbox.uni-wuerzburg.de

Transporter-facilitated uptake of serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine or 5-HT) has been implicated in anxiety in humans and animal models and is the site of action of widely used uptake-inhibiting antidepressant and antianxiety drugs. Human 5-HT transporter (5-HTT) gene transcription is modulated by a common polymorphism in its upstream regulatory region. The short variant of the polymorphism reduces the transcriptional efficiency of the 5-HTT gene promoter, resulting in decreased 5-HTT expression and 5-HT uptake in lymphoblasts. Association studies in two independent samples totaling 505 individuals revealed that the 5-HTT polymorphism accounts for 3 to 4 percent of total variation and 7 to 9 percent of inherited variance in anxiety-related personality traits in individuals as well as sibships.

PMID: 8929413 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]