Prenatal exposure to serotonin reuptake inhibitors and congenital heart anomalies: an exploratory pharmacogenetics study

Aim: To explore the role of pharmacogenetics in determining the risk of congenital heart anomalies (CHA) with prenatal use of serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Methods: We included 33 case-mother dyads and 2 mother-only (child deceased) cases of CHA in a case-only study. Ten genes important in determining fetal exposure to serotonin reuptake inhibitors were examined: CYP1A2, CYP2C9, CYP2C19, CYP2D6, ABCB1, SLC6A4, HTR1A, HTR1B, HTR2A and HTR3B. Results: Among the exposed cases, polymorphisms that tended to be associated with an increased risk of CHA were SLC6A4 5-HTTLPR and 5-HTTVNTR, HTR1A rs1364043, HTR1B rs6296 and rs6298 and HTR3B rs1176744, but none reached statistical significance due to our limited sample sizes. Conclusion: We identified several polymorphisms that might potentially affect the risk of CHA among exposed fetuses, which warrants further investigation.