Association study of the dopamine transporter gene with personality traits and major depressive disorder in the Han Chinese population.

Major depression is a complex psychiatric disorder involving multiple factors, including genetic and personality components. This study used 17 polymorphisms of dopamine transporter gene (DAT1) to explore whether this gene is associated with major depression and whether it influences personality traits in patients with major depression. The DAT1 polymorphisms were analyzed in 1017 unrelated individuals and 459 patients were eligible to assess personality traits. We found a borderline association between controls and total major depression and between major depression with family history versus controls; however, these differences were obscured after correction for multiple testing. Furthermore, the DAT1 polymorphisms were not associated either with major depression in haplotype analysis or with personality traits. Despite the fact that several association tendencies were found between DAT1 and major depression, we did not confirm a major role for DAT1 in the susceptibility to major depression. In addition, DAT1 does not seem to affect personality traits observed in patients with major depression.