Department of Clinical Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9555, 2300 RB, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Department of Psychiatry, EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research and Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam, VU University Medical Center/GGZ inGeest, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2017 Sep;267(6):517-526. doi: 10.1007/s00406-017-0784-z. Epub 2017 Mar 28.
The oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene may be involved in resilience or vulnerability towards stress, and hence in the development of stress-related disorders. There are indications that OXTR single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) interact with early life stressors in predicting levels of depression and anxiety. To replicate and extend these findings, we examined whether three literature-based OXTR SNPs (rs2254298, rs53576, rs2268498) interact with childhood maltreatment in the development of clinically diagnosed depression and anxiety disorders.
We included 2567 individuals from the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety. This sample consisted of 387 healthy controls, 428 people with a current or past depressive disorder, 243 people with a current or past anxiety disorder, and 1509 people with both lifetime depression and anxiety diagnoses. Childhood maltreatment was measured with both an interview and via self-report. Additional questionnaires measured depression and anxiety sensitivity.
Childhood maltreatment was strongly associated with both lifetime depression and anxiety diagnoses, as well as with depression and anxiety sensitivity. However, the OXTR SNPs did not moderate these associations nor had main effects on outcomes.
The three OXTR gene SNPs did not interact with childhood maltreatment in predicting lifetime depression and anxiety diagnoses or sensitivity. This stresses the importance of replication studies with regard to OXTR gene variants in general populations as well as in clearly established clinical samples.
催产素受体 (OXTR) 基因可能与应激的适应能力或脆弱性有关，因此也与应激相关障碍的发展有关。有迹象表明，OXTR 单核苷酸多态性 (SNP) 与早期生活应激源相互作用，可预测抑郁和焦虑的水平。为了复制和扩展这些发现，我们研究了三种基于文献的 OXTR SNP(rs2254298、rs53576、rs2268498) 是否与儿童期虐待相互作用，从而导致临床诊断的抑郁和焦虑障碍。
我们纳入了来自荷兰抑郁与焦虑研究的 2567 名个体。该样本包括 387 名健康对照者、428 名目前或过去患有抑郁障碍的患者、243 名目前或过去患有焦虑障碍的患者，以及 1509 名同时患有终身抑郁和焦虑诊断的患者。儿童期虐待通过访谈和自我报告进行测量。附加的问卷测量了抑郁和焦虑敏感。
儿童期虐待与终身抑郁和焦虑诊断以及抑郁和焦虑敏感显著相关。然而，OXTR SNP 并未调节这些关联，也未对结局产生主要影响。
OXTR 基因的三个 SNP 并未与儿童期虐待相互作用，从而预测终身抑郁和焦虑诊断或敏感性。这强调了在一般人群以及明确建立的临床样本中，针对 OXTR 基因变异进行复制研究的重要性。
