Biallelic and Triallelic 5-Hydroxytyramine Transporter Gene-Linked Polymorphic Region (5- HTTLPR) Polymorphisms and Their Relationship with Lifelong Premature Ejaculation: A Case-Control Study in a Chinese Population

Abstract

BackgroundThis study aimed to explore the relationship between premature ejaculation (PE) and the serotonin transporter gene-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) with respect to the biallelic and triallelic classifications.Material/MethodsA total of 115 outpatients who complained of ejaculating prematurely and who were diagnosed as having lifelong premature ejaculation (LPE) and 101 controls without PE complaint were recruited. All subjects completed a detailed questionnaire and were genotyped for 5-HTTLPR polymorphism using PCR-based technology. We evaluated the associations between 5-HTTLPR allelic and genotypic frequencies and their association with LPE, as well as the intravaginal ejaculation latency time (IELT) of different 5-HTTLPR genotypes among LPE patients.ResultsThe patients and controls did not differ significantly in terms of any characteristic except age. The results showed no significant difference regarding biallelic 5-HTTLPR. According to the triallelic classification, no significant difference was found when comparing the genotypic distribution (P=0.091). However, the distribution of the S, LG, and LA alleles in the cases was significantly different from the controls (P=0.018). We found a significantly lower frequency of LA allele and higher frequency of LG allele in patients. Based on another classification by expression, we found a significantly lower frequency of the L’L’ genotype (OR=0.37; 95%CI=0.15–0.91, P=0.025) in patients with LPE. No significant association was detected between IELT of LPE and different genotypes.ConclusionsContrary to the general classification based on S/L alleles, triallelic 5-HTTLPR was associated with LPE. Triallelic 5-HTTLPR may be a promising field for genetic research in PE to avoid false-negative results in future studies.

Changes in sexual performance and biochemical characterisation of functional neural regions: A study in serotonin transporter knockout male rats

“…Studies found that humans who carried gene polymorphisms in the SERT promoter region (5‐HTTLPR), where a 44‐base pair in the SERT insertion/deletion sequence underlies the short ( S ) allelic variant and long ( L ) allelic variant, lead to differential SERT expression levels (Lesch et al, ; Little et al, ). Given that, a number of studies were designed to explore the SERT promoter region polymorphisms(5‐HTTLPR) on PE in humans(Huang et al, ; Janssen et al, ; Jern, Eriksson, & Westberg, ; Ozbek et al, ; Peng et al, ; Zuccarello et al, ). However, these researchers’ results were contradictory and failed to identify the actual 5‐HTTLPR genetic loci that contributed to PE aetiology.…”

Association between 5-hydroxytryptamine transporter gene-linked promoter region polymorphism and the susceptibility of lifelong premature ejaculation: a meta-analysis involving 1,604 subjects

“…In these studies we have included, just one study discussed the relationship with Chinese and suggested that triallelic way should be used in studying 5-HTTLPR (20). In addition, Safarinejad et al and Zuccarello et al also used triallelic approach to study 5-HTTLPR.…”

“…We excluded 42 studies: 10 were about the relation between the polymorphism of PE with medicine response; 19 were about other single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with PE; 2 were review; 11 were comments and responses. Finally, our meta contained 8 studies, a total of 898 LPE patients and 706 health controls (14,15,(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25). The basic characteristics of all studies were showed in Table 1.…”

A comprehensive assessment of genetic variation in serotonin transporter gene (5‐HTTLPR+rs25531) and the response to dapoxetine in Chinese patients with premature ejaculation

“…Several efforts were conducted in the last decades to investigate the relationship between 5‐HTTLPR polymorphisms and the susceptibility to PE which had yielded inconsistent results in different population (Huang et al., 2016; Janssen et al., 2009; Khan et al., 2018; Ozbek et al., 2009; Safarinejad, 2009; Zuccarello et al., 2012). Besides, studies in psychiatric disorders had shown that 5‐HTTLPR polymorphism was associated with the response to SSRI treatment (Illi et al., 2011; Manoharan et al., 2016).…”

“…Several efforts were conducted in the last decades to investigate the relationship between 5-HTTLPR polymorphisms and the susceptibility to PE which had yielded inconsistent results in different population (Huang et al, 2016;Janssen et al, 2009;Khan et al, 2018;Ozbek et al, 2009;Safarinejad, 2009;Zuccarello et al, 2012).…”