Am J Psychiatry 1994; 151:112-116
Copyright © 1994 by American Psychiatric Association
Haptoglobin phenotypes and gene frequencies in unipolar major depression
M Maes, J Delanghe, S Scharpe, HY Meltzer, P Cosyns, E Suy and E Bosmans
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospitals of Cleveland, OH 44106.
OBJECTIVE: Studies from the authors' laboratory have shown that major
depression is accompanied by significantly increased plasma concentrations
of positive acute-phase proteins such as haptoglobin. Haptoglobin is
characterized by a molecular variation with three known phenotypes (Hp 1-1,
Hp 2-1, and Hp 2-2). This study investigated haptoglobin plasma levels and
phenotype and gene frequencies in unipolar major depression. METHOD:
Haptoglobin plasma levels of 22 healthy volunteers, 32 patients with minor
depression, and 72 patients with major depression were determined by means
of a laser nephelometric method. Haptoglobin phenotyping of these 126
subjects and 200 healthy blood donors was also carried out. RESULTS: The
patients with major depression exhibited significantly higher haptoglobin
plasma levels than the healthy comparison subjects and the patients with
minor depression. Subjects with the haptoglobin phenotype Hp 2-2 had
significantly lower haptoglobin levels than the phenotype Hp 1-1 and Hp 2-1
carriers. The frequencies of haptoglobin phenotypes Hp 2-1 (61.1%) and Hp
2-2 (20.8%) in the patients with major depression were significantly higher
and lower, respectively, than the frequencies in the normal population
(i.e., the blood donors: 48.0% and 37.0%, respectively). The frequency of
the Hp-1 gene was significantly greater in the patients with major
depression (48.6%) than in the normal population (39.0%). CONCLUSIONS:
Major depression is characterized by a hyperhaptoglobinemia that is largely
independent of haptoglobin phenotypes. This altered distribution of
haptoglobin phenotypes and genes suggests that genetic variation on
chromosome 16 may be associated with that illness.
