Norepinephrine transporter gene (NET) variants in patients with panic disorder

Several lines of evidence suggest that catecholamines, especially norepinephrine, are implicated in the etiology and/or symptomatology of panic disorder (PD). At the cellular level, functional noradrenergic neurotransmission depends on synaptic reuptake of norepinephrine as mediated by the norepinephrine transporter (NET). A pharmacological target of agents with an established anti-panic efficacy, e.g. tricyclic antidepressants, the NET is of particular interest in PD. We investigated the NET gene for the presence of 6 naturally occurring exonic sequence variants, 5 of which give rise to amino acid substitutions (VaI69IIe, Thr99IIe, Val245IIe, Val449IIe and Gly478Ser) in a population of 87 patients with PD and 89 healthy controls. Except for a silent substitution (G1287A), overall frequencies of variant alleles were low (less than or equal to0.016). None of the variants under study was found to be associated with PD regardless of an additional diagnosis of agoraphobia. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.