Journal of Depression and Anxiety
Open Access

Abstract

Escitalopram Response in Panic Disorder is Not Associated with Three 5-HT1A Receptor Gene Polymorphisms (Rs6295, Rs10042486, or Rs1364043) in Chinese-Han Patients

Wenhui C, Qian L, Suxia C, Jianyue P and Hengfen L*

Background: Prior studies have implicated 5-HT1A receptor gene (HTR1A) polymorphisms in the etiology of panic disorder (PD) as well as in the therapeutic response to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). A functional HTR1A C-1019G polymorphism (rs6295) in the promoter region and two non-synonymous polymorphisms (rs10042486 and rs1364043) were previously found to be associated with SSRI pharmacogenetics. However, no studies have examined this relationship in Chinese-Han PD patients.
Methods: Seventy-seven patients with PD according to DSM-IV criteria were recruited. All of them with a minimum score of 8 on the seven item Panic Disorder Severity Scale, Chinese version (PDSS-CV). In this study, we evaluated the association between three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of HTR1A (rs6295, rs10042486, and rs1364043) and the clinical effects of escitalopram in Chinese-Han PD patients.
Results: The C/C genotype of C-1019G carriers showed better responses to escitalopram compared to the C/G or G/G genotypes. However, after Bonferroni correction, the effect was not statistically significant. Similarly, no significant associations were noted between rs10042486 or rs1364043 and the escitalopram clinical response.
Conclusion: Our results suggest that these three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 5-HT1A genes examined here may not influence the escitalopram response in Chinese-Han PD patients.