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Pharmacopsychiatry 2021; 54(06): 269-278
DOI: 10.1055/a-1478-4574
Original Paper

5-HTTLPR-rs25531 and Antidepressant Treatment Outcomes in Korean Patients with Major Depression

Yoo Jin Jang‡
1   Department of Psychiatry, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
,
Shinn-Won Lim‡
2   Department of Health Sciences and have used the tri-allelic notationTechnology, SAIHST, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Korea
,
Young Kyung Moon
1   Department of Psychiatry, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
,
Su Yeon Kim
3   Center for Clinical Research, Samsung Biomedical Research Institute, Seoul, Korea
,
Hong Lee
3   Center for Clinical Research, Samsung Biomedical Research Institute, Seoul, Korea
,
Seonwoo Kim
4   Statistics and Data Center, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea
,
Doh Kwan Kim
1   Department of Psychiatry, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
2   Department of Health Sciences and have used the tri-allelic notationTechnology, SAIHST, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Korea
› Author Affiliations Funding This study was supported by grants from the National Research Foundation (NRF) funded by the Korean government (MSIT; 2020R1A2C2101276 to DK Kim, 2016R1A6A3A11930978 to SW Lim), Republic of Korea.
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Abstract

Introduction Despite the ethnic differences in 5-HTTLPR (S allele relates to better antidepressant response in Korean and Japanese people, while L allele with better response in Caucasians), it is unclear whether 5-HTTLPR and its high expression locus rs25531 are interactively associated with antidepressant treatment outcome. We investigated the individual and interaction effects of these polymorphisms on antidepressant treatment outcomes in the Korean population.

Methods A total of 464 Korean subjects with major depressive disorder completed 6 weeks of antidepressant monotherapy. Venous blood was extracted for genotyping 5-HTTLPR and rs25531 by polymerase chain reaction and DNA sequencing. We used logistic regression analyses to verify the main and interaction effects of 5-HTTLPR and rs25531 on response and remission after antidepressant treatment.

Results After adjusting for covariates, the SS genotype of 5-HTTLPR was significantly associated with better treatment outcomes (p<0.001, odds ratio [OR] [95% confidence interval (CI)]=2.435 [1.551, 3.823] in response; p<0.001, OR [95% CI]=2.912 [1.730, 4.903] in remission), while G-containing genotype (AG+GG) of rs25531 was only associated with remission (p=0.034, OR [95% CI]=2.104 [1.058, 4.181]). The interaction effect of 5-HTTLPR and rs25531 on response and remission was insignificant (all p>0.05).

Discussion Our findings suggest variations in allelic frequency and functionality of 5-HTTLPR and rs25531 among the different ethnicities. We found a minor advantage of rs25531 in achieving remission. However, there was no interaction effect with 5-HTTLPR.

Key words

antidepressant treatment outcome - depression - 5-HTTLPR - rs25531 - Korean


Publication History

Received: 20 November 2020
Received: 19 March 2021

Accepted: 04 April 2021

Article published online:
12 May 2021

© 2021. Thieme. All rights reserved.

Georg Thieme Verlag KG
Rüdigerstraße 14, 70469 Stuttgart, Germany

 

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