Association of the Serotonin Transporter Promoter Polymorphism with Suicidal Behavior

Because the potential role of the functional polymorphism in the regulatory region of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) in suicidal behavior has been a matter of controversy, the authors hypothesized that the conflicting results may be explained by differences in characterization of suicide attempts. To test this hypothesis they investigated the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism in a well-characterized sample of in-patients, subgrouped according to lifetime suicide behavior characteristics, & in a sample of healthy controls. Results are discussed. (8 refs)