The pathophysiology of depression still remains not fully understood. And despite the contributions of the monoaminergic hypothesis to the understanding of neurobiological aspects of this disorder, studies have been carried out to investigate the role of neuroinflammation, polymorphisms in genes that influence inflammatory activity and monoaminergic receptor functions in the development of major depressive disorder (MDD). However, few studies have analyzed the role of upstream inflammatory pathways (such as the role of NFKB1 and PAR1 genes, which are capable of influencing transcription of proinflammatory cytokines) and of the alpha 2 adrenergic receptor encoding gene's polymorphism (ADRA2B gene) in individuals diagnosed with depression. Therefore, the objective of this study was to analyze the role of the INDEL type polymorphisms of NFKB1 (rs28362491), PAR1 (rs11267092) e ADRA2B (rs34667759) genes in the development of major depressive disorder. Twelve patients diagnosed with MDD and 145 healthy controls had blood samples collected and the INDEL polymorphisms of these 3 genes were genotyped by a single multiplex reaction. The multiplex PCR products were separated by capillary electrophoresis and the data analyzed in GeneMapper 3.7 software (Applied Biosystems). This research found a statistically significant association between depression and Del/Del genotype of the ADRA2B gene (p = 0.002): these individuals presented a 6.41 times greater chance of developing depression when compared to Del/Ins and Ins/Ins genotypes. There was no statistical significance between the INDEL polymorphisms of NFKB1 and PAR1 genes and depressive phenotype. Our results suggest that the INDEL marker of the ADRA2B gene (rs34667759), specifically the deletion allele, is a possible genetic biomarker of vulnerability for the development of MDD.
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