Published online Jul 19, 2023. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v13.i7.435
Peer-review started: April 12, 2023
First decision: May 12, 2023
Revised: May 18, 2023
Accepted: May 31, 2023
Article in press: May 31, 2023
Published online: July 19, 2023
Processing time: 97 Days and 9.8 Hours
Genetic factors play an important role in the pathogenesis of panic disorder (PD). However, the effect of genetic variants on PD remains controversial.
To evaluate the associations between glutamate decarboxylase 1 (GAD1) gene polymorphisms and PD risk and assess the effect of GAD1 gene polymorphisms on the severity of clinical symptoms in PD.
We recruited 230 PD patients and 224 healthy controls in this study. All participants were assessed for anxiety and panic symptom severity using the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A) and Panic Disorder Severity Scale (PDSS). GAD1 gene polymorphisms (rs1978340 and rs3749034) were genotyped and assessed for allele frequencies.
There were no significant differences between cases and controls in the genotype distributions or allele frequencies of GAD1 (rs1978340 and rs3749034). In addition, the effect of GAD1 (rs1978340 and rs3749034) on PD severity was not significant. However, regarding respiratory symptoms, patients with the GAD1 rs1978340 A/A genotype had significantly higher scores than those with the A/G or G/G genotype.
Here, we showed that the A/A genotype of GAD1 rs1978340 was associated with increased severity of respiratory symptoms in patients with PD.
Core Tip: The study found that the A/A genotype of glutamate decarboxylase 1 (GAD1) rs1978340 was associated with increased severity of respiratory symptoms in patients with panic disorder (PD). However, there were no significant differences between cases and controls in the genotype distributions or allele frequencies of GAD1 (rs1978340 and rs3749034), and neither did GAD1 (rs1978340 and rs3749034) have a significant effect on the severity of PD symptoms. These findings suggest that genetic factors may play a role in the pathogenesis of PD, particularly in respiratory symptoms, but further studies with larger sample sizes are needed to confirm these results.