Association of galanin and major depressive disorder in the Chinese Han population

PLoS One. 2013 May 31;8(5):e64617. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0064617. Print 2013.

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the association of galanin (GAL) gene and the development of depression in the Chinese Han population.

Methods: A total of 700 patients with depression who met the diagnostic criteria of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) and 673 healthy controls were used in this study. Ligase detection reactions were performed on 10 selected single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) sites in the GAL gene. A series of statistical methods were carried out to investigate the correlation between the GAL gene SNP and the patient susceptibility to depression.

Results: The SNPs of rs694066 in the GAL gene showed a positive correlation with MDD. Compared with the healthy controls, lower frequency of G/G genotype and higher frequency of A/G genotype were observed in rs694066 in MDD patients, a lower frequency of G-allele and higher frequency of A-allele were observed in rs694066. These correlations were more pronounced in the 376 female patients and 360 female control subjects than in the 324 male patients and 313 healthy male subjects.

Conclusions: This study investigated the relationship between the GAL gene SNP and the susceptibility to depression in the Chinese Han population. The findings clearly indicate that the GAL gene polymorphism is closely correlated to the incidence of depression in the Chinese Han female patients.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Alleles
  • Asian People
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Depressive Disorder, Major / diagnosis
  • Depressive Disorder, Major / ethnology
  • Depressive Disorder, Major / genetics*
  • Female
  • Galanin / genetics*
  • Gene Expression
  • Gene Frequency
  • Genetic Predisposition to Disease*
  • Haplotypes
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide*
  • Sex Factors

Substances

  • Galanin

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (project number 30870815, 81071083, 31171032), Beijing Natural Science Foundation (Key Project, project number 09G0013), Beijing Excellent Talent Project (PHR20100510), and Tianjin Health Bureau Technology Fund(project number 2012KR01,12KG111). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.