Association Between a Functional Polymorphism in the Renin-Angiotensin System and Completed Suicide

The authors hypothesized that the dysregulation of the renin-angiotensin system was involved in suicide, & examined the association between completed suicide & 4 functional polymorphisms in renin-angiotensin-related genes. The I allele of the angiotensin-converting enzyme I/D polymorphism was found to be more frequent in suicide victims than controls. The I allele was also found to be more frequent in male suicides than male controls, while this was not the case in females. These results suggest the alteration of the renin-angiotensin system function caused by the genetic polymorphism is involved in the susceptibility to suicide in males. (51 refs.) JA