Genetic susceptibility for adolescent depression: parenting dimensions pick favourites
Year: 2017
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Genetic susceptibility for environmental factors leading to depressive symptoms in adolescence, is supposed to be reflected in gene-environment interactions (GxE). However, polygenic approaches for GxE that allow identifying selections of genes increasing susceptibility for one particular environmental aspect, are scarce. We present results that show that different genes interact differently with specific dimensions of perceived parenting (perceived parental support, perceived psychological control and perceived harsh punishment) in explaining depressive symptoms in adolescents. We used an extensive hypothesis-based SNP dataset with 263 genes represented by 4948 SNPs. Analyses were conducted on a sample of 1,031 Belgian adolescents (13.79±0.94 years; boys: n=528, girls: n=503). The Leuven Adolescent Perceived Parenting Scale (LAPPS) and the Parental Behavior Scale (PBS) assessed perceived parental psychological control, perceived harsh punishment and perceived support. The score on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D Scale) was the outcome measure. Using a gene-based interaction technique with correction for linkage disequilibrium, we identified genes displaying an excess of significant SNPs in interaction with the environment variable, yielding an enrichment p-value for every single gene. We corrected for the number of genes tested using Bonferroni (n=263; p < 2.16 x10-4). Three genes showed a significant interaction with perceived support: : SLC6A11 (p = 7.50 x10-6), GABRR1 (p = 2.04 x10-5) and GABRR2 (p = 2.06 x10-5). Two genes showed a significant interaction with psychological control: SLC6A11 (p = 9.69 x10-5) and DDC (p = 4.75 x10-5). No genes were significant in interaction with harsh punishment. In assessing genetic susceptibility, opportunities and methods to identify specific sets of genes which interact with a particular environmental aspect are limited. We show that it is important to take this into account and present a gene-based interaction method that can help pursue these goals, as we see indeed different interaction profiles per parenting dimension.
Source: Lirias
Authors: Van Assche, Evelien, Moons, Tim, Viechtbauer, Wolfgang, Van Leeuwen, Karla, Verschueren, Karine, Colpin, Hilde, Van Den Noortgate, Wim, Goossens, Luc, Claes, Stephan, van Winkel, Ruud
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7037910513