Abstract:
Prevalence of clinical depression, a chronic disorder, in Pakistan is quite high as compared to
other developing countries. Environmental factors and genetic predisposition enhance the risk
of depression. Two important genes in this regard are BDNF and TPH2. The study is designed
to find out any genetic association between two SNPs, rs6265 (BDNF) and rs4570625 (TPH2),
with clinical depression in studied sample. Blood samples of patients with clinical depression
from Rawalpindi, Pakistan were collected and analysed through ARMS-PCR. The results
showed statistically significant association of BDNF SNP rs6265 with clinical depression in
the sample. In-silico analysis suggested no alteration in siRNA binding pattern and alternative
splicing pattern due to both SNPs. These results were obtained from a small sample size (87
patients vs 70 controls). Replication of these findings in larger population size from different
ethnic groups may be performed in future to confirm these results. This is first report on
association study of BDNF and TPH2 gene polymorphisms and depression from Pakistan
