Ying He,1,* Xinbo Yang,1,* Zongchang Li,1 Weiqing Liu,2,3 Jinsong Tang,4 Xiaogang Chen1 

1Department of Psychiatry, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, and National Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, 410011, People’s Republic of China; 2Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, Shanghai Pudong New Area Mental Health Center, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200122, People’s Republic of China; 3Laboratory for Molecular Mechanisms of Brain Development, Center for Brain Science (CBS), RIKEN, Wako, Saitama, Japan; 4Department of Psychiatry, Zhejiang University School of Medicine Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence: Ying He, Email yinghe@csu.edu.cn

Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is significantly influenced by genetic factors. The present study aims to examine the potential correlation between the 4977 bp deletion of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and MDD.
Methods: The 4977 bp deletion of mtDNA was detected in the peripheral blood of 253 MDD patients and 257 healthy controls, with depression assessed by the Hamilton Depression Rating scale and functioning by the Global Assessment of Function Scale.
Results: MDD patients had a higher incidence of the 4977 bp deletion, unaffected by demographic or clinical factors.
Conclusion: The 4977 bp deletion may be a trait marker for MDD.

Keywords: major depressive disorder, mitochondrial DNA deletion, mtDNA deletion, 4977 bp deletion