Evidence for Association between the Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Gene and Panic Disorder: A Novel Haplotype Analysis

OBJECTIVE: Panic disorder (PD) is a common psychiatric disorder with a complex etiology, and several studies have suggested that it has a genetic component. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is the most abundant of the neurotrophins in the brain and is recognized for its important role in the survival, differentiation and growth of neurons. Several lines of research have suggested possible associations between the BDNF gene and PD. In this study, we investigated the BDNF 196G/A (rs6265), 11757G/C (rs16917204), and 270C/T (rs56164415) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in order to determine an association with PD. We also identified the genetic sequence associations with PD via haplotype analysis. METHODS: Participants in this study included 136 PD patients and 263 healthy controls. Male and female subjects were analyzed separately. The genotype and allele frequencies of the PD patients and controls were analyzed using χ(2) statistics. Frequencies and haplotype reconstructions were calculated using the SNP analyzer 2.0. RESULTS: We found no significant statistical differences in the genotype distributions or allele frequencies of the three tested polymorphisms between the PD and control groups. In addition, no differences were found between PD patients and the controls in either male or female subgroups. However, we found that, the frequency of the G-C haplotype for 196G/A and 11757G/C was significantly higher in PD patients than in the controls. CONCLUSION: Our result suggest that patients with the G-C haplotype for 196G/A and 11757G/C may be more susceptible to the development of PD. Further studies are needed to replicate the associations that we observed.