Genetics of Phobic Disorders

Abstract

At present time, on the basis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS), several authors found linkage of phobic disorders with certain regions of chromosomes – 3q26 (agoraphobia), 14q13 (specific phobias), 16q21 (social phobias), 16q22 (social phobias) and 4q31-q34 (phobic disorders). We propose 19 genes that are localized in these regions and are expressed in the brain: PRKCI, CLDN11, EIF5A2, TNIK, CLCN3, CPE, GLRB, GRIA2, NEK1, NPY2R, NPY5R, RAPGEF2, TRIM2, SMAD1, ADGRG1, BEAN1, CDH8, DOK4 and KATNB1. Therefore, these genes may be investigated as candidate genes of phobic disorders.
 Various sources propose 26 potential candidate genes of phobic disorders. Finnish geneticist J. Donner carries out a meta-analysis to study the 8 most probable among them and corroborates statistical validity only for 4 genes: ALAD, CDH2, EPB41L4A and GAD1. First three genes are involved in the social phobias, and fourth is involved in whole phobic disorders.
 Phobias are heterogeneous and multifactorial diseases. To understand the biological mechanisms of such disorders, to create effective methods for their prevention and treatment, there are needed further intensive molecular genetic studies of these disorders on sufficiently large samples and corroborating these results by other authors.