Association of 14-3-3 ε gene haplotype with completed suicide in Japanese

Genetic factors have been suggested to be involved in suicide. Although some genetic factors, such as serotonergic transduction, have been associated with suicide, the results are inconsistent. There is a possibility that various signaling anomalies are involved in the biological vulnerability to suicide. We carried out a genome-wide gene-expression study in the brains of suicide victims using DNA microarrays;14-3-3 ε, which is related to neurogenesis, was one of the genes upregulated in the brains of suicide victims in the microarray analysis. This was confirmed by Western blot analysis. To examine the possibility of the involvement of 14-3-3 ε in the pathogenesis of suicide, we investigated the association of the 14-3-3 ε gene and completed suicide. We used three high-frequency SNPs (rs1532976, rs3752826, and rs9393) and found a significant association of two alleles (rs1532976 and rs3752826) with completed suicide (p < 0.05). Moreover, the distribution of haplotype revealed a more significant difference between completed suicide and controls (p=0.0005). This finding suggests that 14-3-3 ε is a potential suicide susceptibility gene and implies that dysregulation of neurogenesis may be involved in suicide.