Association Of Variation In BDNF Val66Met Polymorphism And Suicide Behavior

Suicide behavior has become an increasingly serious public health problem and social problem all over the world. Research so far, predictions and interventions of suicide behavior are still faced with many challenges because it is still unable to accurately predict the occurrence of individual suicide behavior. As the development of neural plasticity hypothesis was confirmed by many studies, the Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) which plays an important role in neural plasticity becomes the focus of the suicidal studies. Through introducing the role of BDNF and its regulation mechanism in the suicide behavior, this review introduces a functional polymorphism of BDNF (BDNF Va166Met) with its neural pathological effects, the role of some relevant mental diseases. And from the studies, we suggest that BDNF Va166Met is involved in the suicide behavior. We also discusses the reasons of the divergence of related researches, the deficiencies of the current research and the directions for future researches. By studying and summarizing the current studies of BDNF Va166Met, this review aims to put forward ideas and suggestions in the genetic factor of suicide studies in the future.