Serotonin 2A receptor gene polymorphism is not associated with completed suicide

Several lines of evidence indicate that a serotonergic dysfunction is involved in the biological susceptibility to suicide. Recently, the A-1438G polymorphism of the serotonin 2A (5-HT2A) receptor gene has been suggested to be associated with suicide, but the results are inconsistent. We examined whether the A-1438G polymorphism of the 5-HT2A receptor gene was associated with suicide itself using 151 Japanese completed suicides. No significant difference in genotype distribution or allele frequencies of the polymorphism was found between the completed suicides and the comparison group. We conclude that the A-1438G polymorphism of the 5-HT2A receptor gene is not likely to have a major effect on the biological susceptibility of suicide. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.