Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

Gene by environment (GxE) interaction studies have investigated the influence of a number of candidate genes and variants for major depressive disorder (MDD) on the association between childhood trauma and MDD. Most of these studies are hypothesis driven and investigate only a limited number of SNPs in relevant pathways using differing methodological approaches. Here (1) we identified 27 genes and 268 SNPs previously associated with MDD or with GxE interaction in MDD and (2) analyzed their impact on GxE in MDD using a common approach in 3944 subjects of European ancestry from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium who had completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. (3) We subsequently used the genome-wide SNP data for a genome-wide case-control GxE model and GxE case-only analyses testing for an enrichment of associated SNPs. No genome-wide significant hits and no consistency among the signals of the different analytic approaches could be observed. This is the largest study for systematic GxE interaction analysis in MDD in subjects of European ancestry to date. Most of the known candidate genes/variants could not be supported. Thus, their impact on GxE interaction in MDD may be questionable. Our results underscore the need for larger samples, more extensive assessment of environmental exposures, and greater efforts to investigate new methodological approaches in GxE models for MDD.

Original publication

DOI

10.1002/ajmg.b.32593

Type

Journal article

Journal

American journal of medical genetics. Part B, Neuropsychiatric genetics : the official publication of the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics

Publication Date

01/2018

Volume

177

Pages

40 - 49

Addresses

Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.

Keywords

Major Depressive Disorder Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, Humans, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Risk Factors, Case-Control Studies, Depression, Life Change Events, Depressive Disorder, Major, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Female, Male, Genome-Wide Association Study, Gene-Environment Interaction, White People