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. 2024 Mar;44(1):262-266.
doi: 10.1002/npr2.12410. Epub 2024 Jan 24.

Association study of a single nucleotide polymorphism in the hypoxia response element of the macrophage migration inhibitory factor gene promoter with suicide completers in the Japanese population

Toshiyuki Shirai  1 , Satoshi Okazaki  1 , Takaki Tanifuji  1 , Ikuo Otsuka  1 , Masao Miyachi  1 , Shohei Okada  1 , Ryota Shindo  1 , Tadasu Horai  1 , Kentaro Mouri  1 , Motonori Takahashi  2 , Takeshi Kondo  2 , Yasuhiro Ueno  2 , Akitoyo Hishimoto  1
Affiliations

Association study of a single nucleotide polymorphism in the hypoxia response element of the macrophage migration inhibitory factor gene promoter with suicide completers in the Japanese population

Toshiyuki Shirai et al. Neuropsychopharmacol Rep. 2024 Mar.

Abstract

Background: More than 800 000 people die by suicide annually. The heritability of suicide is 30%-50%. We focused on the hypoxia response element (HRE), which promotes the expression of macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) via the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) pathway, important in neurogenesis and neuroprotection. We examined a genetic polymorphism of rs17004038, a single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), in suicide completers and controls.

Methods: The study population included 1336 suicide completers and 814 unrelated healthy controls. All participants were Japanese. We obtained peripheral blood, extracted DNA, and genotyped the patients for SNP rs17004038 (C > A).

Results: No significant differences were observed between the two groups in either the allele or genotype analyses. Subgroup analyses by sex, age (<40 or ≥40), and suicide method (violent or nonviolent suicide) were performed with similar results.

Conclusion: No association was observed between SNP rs17004038 and suicide completion. Although it is challenging to collect a large number of samples from suicide completers, further MIF-related genetic studies, including those of rs17004038, are necessary with larger sample sizes.

Keywords: genetics: Human; hypoxia inducible factor; macrophage migration inhibitory factor; single nucleotide polymorphism; suicide: basic/clinical.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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