Association study of sleep apnea syndrome and polymorphisms in the serotonin transporter gene / 中华医学遗传学杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To identify polymorphisms of the serotonin transporter(5-HTT) gene and to find out whether there was relationship between any such polymorphisms and sleep apnea syndrome (SAS).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>For two polymorphisms of 5-HTT target DNA gene was amplified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and 6% non-denaturing polyacrylamide gels electrophoresis. The frequencies of the different forms of the genotypes and alleles of 5-HTT gene were analyzed in 104 patients with SAS and 150 healthy controls.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The frequencies of the S or L alleles and the S/S, S/L or L/L genotypes in promoter region of 5-HTT gene in SAS group were not significantly different to those in healthy controls (P > 0.05). However, the frequencies of 10/10, 12/10 genotypes of 5-HTT-VNTR in SAS patients were significantly higher than those in healthy control subjects (P < 0.05). Moreover, the frequency of the allele 10 of 5-HTT-VNTR in SAS patients was significantly higher than that in healthy controls (P<0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The allele 10 of 5-HTT-VNTR might be a susceptible factor in the pathogenesis of SAS.</p>