Abstract Background: Polymorphism in the serotonin transporter-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) plays an important role in the modulation of transcription of the SLC6A4 gene. In comparison to the long (L) alleles of 5-HTTLPR, the short (S) alleles cause reduced expression of serotonin transporter (5-HTT) together with higher sensitivity to the effects of stress, which may lead to mental disorders. Thus, 5-HTTLPR has been extensively investigated to understand the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. However, the findings to date are largely inconsistent. Moreover, studies conducted among Indian schizophrenia patients are also not in agreement. In addition, studies are lacking from North Bengal to understand the role of 5-HTTLPR in schizophrenia. Aim: The present study was undertaken to understand whether polymorphism in 5-HTTLPR provide the risk for schizophrenia among the patients from North Bengal, India. Subjects and Methods: Patients ( n = 124) belonging to Bengalee ethnicity were recruited from the outpatient department of North Bengal Medical College and Hospital, Siliguri, West Bengal. The healthy controls ( n = 150) belonging to Bengalee ethnicity were recruited from Siliguri. The genotyping of 5-HTTLPR was performed with locus-specific primers using polymerase chain reaction. The frequency of 5-HTTLPR was compared between patients and controls using Fisher’s exact test and the measure of association was calculated by odds ratios at 95% confidence intervals. Results: The frequency distribution of 5-HTTLPR genotypes (SS, SL, LL) and allele (S, L) was not found to vary among the patients and controls. Conclusion: The results suggest that the polymorphism in 5-HTTLPR does not provide risk for schizophrenia among the patients from North Bengal.
Gurung et al. (Fri,) studied this question.