Tryptophan hydroxylase 2 gene polymorphisms and poststroke anxiety disorders

BackgroundAnxiety is common in stroke survivors and may adversely affect recovery. Polymorphisms of tryptophan hydroxylase2 (THP2) gene have been shown to be associated with anxiety disorders and other affective disorders. This study was aimed to investigate the association of two polymorphisms of THP2 gene, rs4570625 and rs4565946, with poststroke anxiety disorders in a Han Chinese population.MethodsThis case control study included 112poststroke anxiety patients and 246 non-anxious controls. All participants completed Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale and DNA was extracted from blood and genotyped for the two polymorphisms of THP2 gene.ResultsResults revealed that the G allele of rs4570625 was associated with the increased risk of poststroke anxiety. In the female subgroup, both the GG genotype and G allele were observed to be significantly higher in case than in control. No significant difference in genotype and allele frequencies of the rs4565946 was found between case and control. Haplotype analysis identified that patients with the G-C haplotype had significantly increased the risk of poststroke anxiety.LimitationsMore than 20 TPH2 polymorphisms have been detected, some of which are tightly-linked and may function together, only two SNPs of TPH2 were investigated in this study.ConclusionsThe findings suggest that these polymorphisms in TPH2 gene are involved in development of poststroke anxiety in the Han Chinese population.