Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Sep 28, 2016; 22(36): 8137-8148
Published online Sep 28, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i36.8137
Regulation of the serotonin transporter in the pathogenesis of irritable bowel syndrome
Duo-Chen Jin, Hai-Long Cao, Meng-Que Xu, Si-Nan Wang, Yu-Ming Wang, Fang Yan, Bang-Mao Wang
Duo-Chen Jin, Hai-Long Cao, Meng-Que Xu, Si-Nan Wang, Yu-Ming Wang, Fang Yan, Bang-Mao Wang, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, General Hospital, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300052, China
Hai-Long Cao, Fang Yan, Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, Department of Pediatrics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 372320696, United States
Author contributions: Jin DC, Cao HL and Wang BM designed the review; Jin DC, Cao HL, Xu MQ, Wang SN and Wang YM collected and analyzed the literature; Jin DC and Cao HL wrote the paper; Jin DC, Cao HL, Xu MQ, Wang SN, Yan F and Wang BM modified the manuscript; all authors were involved in the final approval of the article.
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81300272, No. 81470796, No. 81570489 and No. 81570478, and the Tianjin Research Program of Application Foundation and Advanced Technology of China, No. 15JCZDJC36600.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Hai-Long Cao, MD, PhD, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, General Hospital, Tianjin Medical University, 154 Anshan Road, Heping District, Tianjin 300052, China. cao_hailong@163.com
Telephone: +86-22-60362608 Fax: +86-22-27813550
Received: March 27, 2016
Peer-review started: March 28, 2016
First decision: May 12, 2016
Revised: May 28, 2016
Accepted: June 15, 2016
Article in press: June 15, 2016
Published online: September 28, 2016
Core Tip

Core tip: The serotonin transporter (SERT) participates in metabolizing serotonin in the gut and plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). This review summarizes the relevant evidence on the factors that might regulate SERT, including SERT gene polymorphisms, microRNAs, immunity and inflammation, gut microbiota and growth factors. This review also reveals several potential treatments targeting SERT for IBS patients.