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Evidence of linkage between the serotonin transporter and autistic disorder

Abstract

The serotonin transporter gene (HTT) is a primary candidate in autistic disorder based on efficacy of potent serotonin transporter inhibitors in reducing rituals and routines. We initiated a candidate gene study of HTT in trios consisting of probands with autistic disorder and both parents. Preliminary transmission/disequilibrium test (TDT) analysis with 86 families revealed no evidence for linkage or linkage disequilibrium between autistic disorder and a polymorphism in the second intron of HTT. However, preferential transmission of a short variant of the HTT promoter was found in the same 86 trios (TDT χ2 = 4.69, 1 d.f., P = 0.030). In further analyses, we considered haplotypes of the HTT promoter variant and second intron locus as alleles in a multiallelic TDT. Results confirmed the significance of the effect of this region (TDT χ2 = 11.85, 4 d.f., P = 0.018). This provides preliminary evidence of linkage and association between HTT and autistic disorder.

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Jr, E., Courchesne, R., Lord, C. et al. Evidence of linkage between the serotonin transporter and autistic disorder. Mol Psychiatry 2, 247–250 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.mp.4000266

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