Citation

Edgar PF, Hooper AJ, Poa NR, Burnett JR. Mol. Psychiatry 2007; 12(3): 258-63; 221.

Affiliation

Molecular Psychiatry Research Group, Department of Psychological Medicine, Christchurch School of Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand. paul.edgar@chmeds.ac.nz

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1038/sj.mp.4001910

PMID

17043676

Abstract

A 26-year-old male, the index patient, presented with persecutory delusions and suicidal behavior. He had 10 paternal male relatives in two prior generations. Five of them died by violent suicide and one, of the five, also committed a double homicide. The index patient was found to be hypocholesterolemic due to being heterozygous for a novel mutation of apolipoprotein B (apoB-29.4). His mother and paternal grandmother were normocholesterolemic, whereas a surviving paternal uncle was hypocholesterolemic and heterozygous for the apoB-29.4 mutation. This indicated that the index patient's father and paternal grandfather, both of which died by violent suicide, were obligate heterozygotes for the apoB-29.4 mutation and that the index patient inherited the mutation from his paternal grandfather. The odds ratio for the association between hypocholesterolemia and violent behavior in this family, where cholesterol status was known, was 16.9 (95% confidence interval 1.1-239.3). Therefore, our results support an inheritable relationship between violent behavior and hypocholesterolemia.

Language: en