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BMC Psychiatry
Published in: BMC Psychiatry 1/2014

Open Access 01-12-2014 | Research article

Association of TPH-1 and TPH-2 gene polymorphisms with suicidal behavior: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Authors: Thelma Beatriz González-Castro, Isela Juárez-Rojop, María Lilia López-Narváez, Carlos Alfonso Tovilla-Zárate

Published in: BMC Psychiatry | Issue 1/2014

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Abstract

Background

It is widely acknowledged that suicidal behavior (SB) has a genetic influence. As a consequence, molecular genetic studies have been mostly conducted on serotonergic genes. One of the most promising candidate genes of this system is tryptophan hydroxylase (TPH). Although there have been several positive studies associating TPH genes and SB, the evidence is not entirely consistent. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis to gain a better understanding into this issue.

Methods

The meta-analysis was conducted with 37 articles of genetic association studies of TPH-1 (A218C and A779C) and TPH2 (G-703 T, A-473 T and G19918A) genes. To analyze the association of these variants with SB we used the following models: allelic, additive, dominant and recessive. In addition, we performed a sub-group analysis by Caucasian and Asian populations using the same four models.

Results

TPH-1 gene variants showed a positive significant association with SB, but only in the fixed effects models. With regard to TPH-2 gene variants we could not find an association with SB.

Conclusions

The study provides evidence that A218C/A779C TPH-1 variants may be a risk factor to manifest SB at the clinical level, which is in agreement with previously reported meta-analyses. With regard to G-703 T/A-473 T/G19918A TPH-2 variants, our up-to-date meta-analysis could not detect any significant association between those genetic variants and SB. However, these results should be interpreted with caution since further studies need to be undertaken using larger sample sizes in different ethnic populations to confirm our findings.
Appendix
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Metadata
Title
Association of TPH-1 and TPH-2 gene polymorphisms with suicidal behavior: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors
Thelma Beatriz González-Castro
Isela Juárez-Rojop
María Lilia López-Narváez
Carlos Alfonso Tovilla-Zárate
Publication date
01-12-2014
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Psychiatry / Issue 1/2014
Electronic ISSN: 1471-244X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-244X-14-196

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