Research paperAssociation analysis between mitogen-activated protein/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (MEK) gene polymorphisms and depressive disorder in the Han Chinese population

- BDNF and ERK signaling pathways play a key role in depressive disorder.
- Our study found that three SNPs of the MAP2K1 gene were significantly associated with depressive disorder.
- Two of these SNPs remained significantly different when the analysis was stratified by gender.

BackgroundRecent research findings suggest that BDNF and BDNF signaling pathways participate in the development of major depressive disorder. Mitogen-activated extracellular signal-regulated kinase (MEK) is the most important kinase in the extracellular signal-regulated kinase pathway, and the extracellular signal-regulated kinase pathway is the key signaling pathway of BDNF, so it may play a role in development of depressive disorder.The aim of this study is to investigate the association between polymorphisms of the MAP2K1 (also known as MEK) gene and depressive disorder.ResultsThree single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), were significantly associated with depressive disorder: rs1549854 (p = 0.006), rs1432441 (p = 0.025), and rs7182853 (p = 0.039). When subdividing the sample by gender, two of the SNPs remained statistically associated with depressive disorder in females: rs1549854 (p = 0.013) and rs1432441 (p = 0.04).ConclusionThe rs1549854 and rs1432441 polymorphisms of the MAP2K1 gene may be associated with major depressive disorder, especially in females. This study is the first to report that the MAP2K1 gene may be a genetic marker for depressive disorder.