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The CRHR1 Gene Contributes to Genetic Susceptibility of Aggressive Behavior Towards Others in Chinese Southwest Han Population

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Abstract

Accumulating evidence suggests that the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis might play a major role in genetic susceptibility of aggressive behavior. The aim of the present study is to investigate the association between corticotrophin-releasing hormone receptor 1 (CRHR1) gene and aggressive behavior in Chinese southwest Han population. Participants consist of 282 healthy controls and 177 violent criminals (including robbery and intentional injury, which represent for aggressive behavior towards property and aggressive behavior towards others). Three tag single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of CRHR1 gene including rs4458044, rs242924, and rs1768996 were genotyped using improved multiplex ligase detection reaction (iMLDR) methods. Single-locus analysis revealed that none of the studied SNPs was significantly associated with the risk of aggressive behavior; however, haplotype analysis showed that a haplotype GGA significantly increased the susceptibility of aggressive behavior towards others with an odds ratios equal to 3.32 (p = 0.003). The present results, for the first time, indicate that the CRHR1 gene polymorphism is significantly associated with aggressive behavior in Chinese southwest Han population. Subjects with GGA haplotype have an increased susceptibility to aggressive behavior towards others.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the grants 31100906 and 81241136 from the National Natural Science Foundation of China and by the grant 2009CD082 from Yunnan Natural Science Foundation Program.

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The authors report no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong, China

    Bifeng Chen

  2. Center for Disease Prevention and Control of Kunming, Kunming, Yunnan, 650228, China

    Tao Gu

  3. Yunnan Walvax Biotechnology Co., Ltd, Kunming, Yunnan, 650106, China

    Bo Ma

  4. Yunnan Guandu Prison, Kunming, Yunnan, 650211, China

    Guoqing Zheng & Bingxiong Ke

  5. School of Forensic Medicine, Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan, 650500, China

    Xiufeng Zhang, Lirui Zhang, Liping Hu, Yang Chen & Shengjie Nie

  6. First Affiliated Hospital, Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan, 650500, China

    Yuanyuan Wang

  7. Criminal Investigation Squadrons of Nanjian Police Bureau, Dali, Yunnan, 675700, China

    Jianbo Qiu

Authors
  1. Bifeng Chen
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  2. Tao Gu
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  3. Bo Ma
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  4. Guoqing Zheng
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  5. Bingxiong Ke
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  7. Lirui Zhang
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  8. Yuanyuan Wang
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  9. Liping Hu
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  10. Yang Chen
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  12. Shengjie Nie
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shengjie Nie.

Additional information

Bifeng Chen and Tao Gu contributed equally to this work.

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Chen, B., Gu, T., Ma, B. et al. The CRHR1 Gene Contributes to Genetic Susceptibility of Aggressive Behavior Towards Others in Chinese Southwest Han Population. J Mol Neurosci 52, 481–486 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12031-013-0160-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12031-013-0160-z

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