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PMID: 18937309 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Sexually dimorphic effects of four genes (COMT, SLC6A2, MAOA, SLC6A4) in genetic associations of ADHD: a preliminary study.

American journal of medical genetics. Part B, Neuropsychiatric genetics : the official publication of the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics ·Vol. 147B ·No. 8 ·2008-12-05 ·Pages 1511-8

Biederman J, Kim JW, Doyle AE, Mick E, Fagerness J, Smoller JW, Faraone SV

Abstract

A growing body of literature finds gender differences in ADHD. However, little is known about the causes of these differences. One possibility is that ADHD risk genes have sexually dimorphic effects. We have investigated four ADHD candidate genes (COMT, SLC6A2, MAOA, SLC6A4) for which there is evidence of sexually dimorphic effects. Past neurobiological and genetic studies suggest that COMT, and SLC6A4 variants may have a greater influence on males and that SLC6A2, and MAOA variants may have a greater influence on females. Our results indicate that genetic associations are stronger when stratified by sex and in the same direction as the previous neurobiological studies indicate: associations were stronger in males for COMT, SLC6A4 and stronger in females for SLC6A2, MAOA. Moreover, we found a statistically significant gender effect in the case of COMT (P = 0.007) when we pooled our work with a prior study. In conclusion, we have found some evidence suggesting that the genetic association for these genes with ADHD may be influenced by the sex of the affected individual. Although our results are not fully validated yet, they should motivate further investigation of gender effects in ADHD genetic association studies.

MeSH Terms
Adolescent Adult Alleles Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity/diagnosis,genetics Case-Control Studies Catechol O-Methyltransferase/genetics Chi-Square Distribution Child Child, Preschool Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins/genetics Female Genetic Markers Genetic Predisposition to Disease Genotype Humans Interviews as Topic Linkage Disequilibrium Male Monoamine Oxidase/genetics Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins/genetics Sex Factors Siblings Young Adult
Chemicals
Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins Genetic Markers SLC6A3 protein, human SLC6A4 protein, human Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins Monoamine Oxidase Catechol O-Methyltransferase
Authors & Affiliations
7 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Biederman Joseph
Pediatric Psychopharmacology Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. [email protected]
Kim Jang Woo
Doyle Alysa E
Mick Eric
Fagerness Jesen
Smoller Jordan W
Faraone Stephen V
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Article Info
Journal
American journal of medical genetics. Part B, Neuropsychiatric genetics : the official publication of the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics
Abbr.
Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet
ISSN
1552-485X
DOI
10.1002/ajmg.b.30874
Email
[email protected]
Published
2008-12-05
Pages
1511-8
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
101235742
PMCID
PMC2587524
Subset
IM
Grants
NIMH NIH HHS · R01MH66877 · United States
NIMH NIH HHS · R01 MH066877 · United States
NICHD NIH HHS · R01 HD037999 · United States
NICHD NIH HHS · R01HD37694 · United States
NICHD NIH HHS · R01 HD037694 · United States
NICHD NIH HHS · R01HD37999 · United States
NICHD NIH HHS · R01 HD037694-05 · United States
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1002/ajmg.b.30874 PMC Full Text View journal details
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