Study Report

Reference	Kunugi, H.,1999(a) PMID: 10327914
Citation	Kunugi, H., S. Ishida, et al. (1999). "No evidence for an association of polymorphisms of the tryptophan hydroxylase gene with affective disorders or attempted suicide among Japanese patients." Am J Psychiatry 156(5): 774-776.
Disease Type	Bipolar Disorder & Major Depressive Disorder
Study Design	case-control
Study Type	Candidate-gene association study
Sample Size	141 patients with bipolar disorder,73 patients with unipolar affective disorder and 208 healthy volunteers.
SNP/Region/Marker Size	1 variant
Predominant Ethnicity	Mongloid
Population	Japanese
Gender	53 men and 88 women in patients with bipolar disorder;25 men and 48 women in patients with unipolar major depression and 95 men and 113 women in healthy volunteers.
Age Group	Adults : patients with bipolar disorder (mean age=46.7 years, SD=13.8),patients with unipolar major depression (mean age=55.0, SD=14.6), and healthy volunteers (mean age=32.1, SD=13.3).

Sample Diagnosis	DSM
Sample Status	These patients were recruited from the psychiatric clinics of Teikyo University Hospital, Shiga University of Medical Science Hospital, and Showa University Hospital from 1992 to 1997. Among the patients, 46 (seven men; mean age=45.7, SD=12.8) had a history of attempted suicide. Consensus diagnosis according to DSM-IV by at least two experienced psychiatrists was made for each patient on the basis of unstructured interviews and information from medical records.Healthy volunteers were recruited from hospital staff and medical students, who were not assessed for psychiatric symptoms by any structured interview method but who showed good social functioning(i.e., no history of long-term absence from work or school) and reported themselves to be in good health. All patients and comparison subjects were unrelated to each other, and all were Japanese.
Technique	Genotyping
Statistical Method	Chi-square tests
Result Summary	There was no significant genotypic or allelic association of the A218C polymorphism with bipolar disorder, unipolar depression, or history of attempted suicide. In nearly 100% of the subjects, genotypes for the A779C were identical to those for the A218C. CONCLUSIONS: The authors conclude that the examined polymorphisms are unlikely to have major relevance to the pathogenesis of affective disorders or suicidal behavior.