Maoa and Maob polymorphisms and personality traits in suicide attempters and healthy controls: a preliminary study

Martina Balestri; Raffaella Calati; Alessandro Serretti; Annette M Hartmann; Bettina Konte; Marion Friedl; Ina Giegling; Dan Rujescu

doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2017.01.020

Maoa and Maob polymorphisms and personality traits in suicide attempters and healthy controls: a preliminary study

Psychiatry Res. 2017 Mar:249:212-217. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2017.01.020. Epub 2017 Jan 10.

Authors

Martina Balestri¹, Raffaella Calati², Alessandro Serretti³, Annette M Hartmann⁴, Bettina Konte⁴, Marion Friedl⁴, Ina Giegling⁴, Dan Rujescu⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biomedical and NeuroMotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
² INSERM U1061, University of Montpellier UM1, FondaMental Foundation, Montpellier, France.
³ Department of Biomedical and NeuroMotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy. Electronic address: alessandro.serretti@unibo.it.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry, University of Halle, Halle, Germany.

PMID: 28119174
DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2017.01.020

Abstract

Serotonergic neurotransmission dysfunctions have been well documented in patients with suicidal behaviour. We investigated monoamine oxidase A (MAOA: rs2064070, rs6323, rs909525) and B (MAOB: rs1799836, rs2311013, rs2205655) genetic modulation of personality traits (Temperament and Character Inventory, TCI) as endophenotype for suicidal behaviour. 108 suicide attempters and 286 healthy controls of German origin were screened. Among females, allelic analyses revealed associations between MAOA rs6323 A allele and higher Harm Avoidance in suicide attempters and MAOB rs2205655 A allele and higher Cooperativeness scores in healthy controls. Among males, MAOA rs909525 A allele was associated with higher Reward Dependence in suicide attempters. Multivariate analyses controlling for age and educational level mainly confirmed results. Case-control analyses in this subsample do not differ from our previously reported one. Despite of the small sample size, a possible involvement of these genes in the modulation of personality traits closely related to suicidal behaviour cannot be excluded.

Keywords: Endophenotype; Personality; Suicidal behaviour.

MeSH terms

Adult
Alleles
Endophenotypes
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Monoamine Oxidase / genetics*
Personality / genetics*
Personality Inventory
Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
Suicide, Attempted / psychology*

Substances

Monoamine Oxidase
monoamine oxidase A, human