The s allele variant of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTT) has recently been observed to moderate the relationship of stress to depression and anxiety.
A polymorphism in the human serotonin transporter gene promoter (5-HTTLPR) is associated with anxiety and increased risk for developing depression in the face of adversity.
Trait anxiety was positively associated with emotional belief-bias, and the 5-HTTLPR genotype significantly accounted for the variance in this association.
The efficacy of serotonin reuptake inhibitors in depression and anxiety disorders suggests the gene coding for the serotonin transporter (5-HTT), SLC6A4, as a candidate of importance for these conditions.
The serotonin transporter length polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) short allele (5-HTTLPR-s) has been associated with differential susceptibility for anxiety and depression in multiple psychiatric disorders.
In the current commentary, we discuss Stoltenberg and colleagues' finding (reported in this issue) that variation in the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) is associated with prosocial behavior via effects on anxiety in social situations.
The present findings hint towards distinct mechanisms mediating the influence of 5-HTTLPR/rs25531 genotype on depressive symptoms and anxiety, with negative life events playing a crucial role in both phenotypes.
A SERT gene genotype with no apparent individual effect on risk and known to be associated with anxiety is preferentially transmitted to children with AN (chi2 trend=9.457, 1 df, P=0.0021) and AN-R alone (chi2 trend=7.477, 1 df, P=0.0063) when the 'more active' MAOA gene variant is also transmitted.
No clear consensus on the role of any individual gene variant in personality modulation emerged, although SLC6A4 haplotypes and the DRD4 rs1800955 promoter variant seemed to be more reliably related to anxiety and impulsivity-related traits, respectively.
We tested whether the association between self-reported maternal anxiety at 20 weeks gestation (Brief Symptom Inventory) and mother-rated infant negative emotionality at 6 months after birth (Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised) would be moderated by the 5-HTTLPR in a large Dutch cohort sample (n = 1513).
We studied 120 healthy subjects in whom the baseline personality and anxiety traits and the serotonin transporter-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) genotype were measured.
Furthermore, PMDD patients with at least one copy of the short allele of the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism scored higher on psychic trait anxiety and lack of assertiveness than PMDD patients who were homozygous for the long allele.
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are used to treat a number of psychiatric disorders related to mood and anxiety, and variations in the serotonin transporter (5-HTT) gene may be involved in a number of these.
Using functional MRI, we investigated whether and how the serotonin transporter promoter polymorphism (5-HTTLPR), which has been associated with mental disorders such as anxiety and depression, moderates the associations between a cultural trait (i.e., interdependence) and self-report of death anxiety/depression and between interdependence and brain responses to mortality threats.
The aim of this study was to investigate whether anxiety disorders and anxiety-related traits are associated with 5-HTTLPR (biallelic and triallelic) in adolescents, integrating both case-control-based and family-based designs in a community sample.
A commonly occurring polymorphic variant of the human 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) transporter (5-HTT) gene that increases 5-HTT expression has been associated with reduced anxiety levels in human volunteer and patient populations.
However, infants with the 7-repeat DRD4 allele and homozygous for the short form of 5-HTTLPR (7(+), s/s) showed more anxiety and resistance to the stranger's initiation of interaction.
We investigated the relationship between 5-HTTLPR genotype and depression and anxiety in a population with diabetes mellitus, a condition associated with high rates of stress and depression.
These effects may underlie the vulnerability to mood and anxiety disorders potentially triggered by socially salient, emotional cues in individuals with the S allele of 5-HTTLPR.
These findings replicate previous work and suggest that 5-HTTLPR L(A) homozygotes possess a protective attentional bias that may decrease susceptibility to depression and anxiety.
The human serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) transporter (hSERT, SLC6A4) figures prominently in the etiology and treatment of many prevalent neurobehavioral disorders including anxiety, alcoholism, depression, autism, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
Thus, our results provide further evidence that 5-HTTLPR and COMT Val(158)Met genotypes influence the vulnerability for the development of anxiety disorders via different mechanisms.
The distribution of 5-HTT gene polymorphisms in the healthy group, the group with asthma but without anxiety, and the group with asthma and anxiety had significant differences.