Influence of 5-HTT variation, childhood trauma and self-efficacy on anxiety traits: a gene-environment-coping interaction study

Abstract

Environmental vulnerability factors such as adverse childhood experiences in interaction with genetic risk variants, e.g., the serotonin transporter gene linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR), are assumed to play a role in the development of anxiety and affective disorders. However, positive influences such as general self-efficacy (GSE) may exert a compensatory effect on genetic disposition, environmental adversity, and anxiety traits. We, thus, assessed childhood trauma (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, CTQ) and GSE in 678 adults genotyped for 5-HTTLPR/rs25531 and their interaction on agoraphobic cognitions (Agoraphobic Cognitions Questionnaire, ACQ), social anxiety (Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, LSAS), and trait anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, STAI-T). The relationship between anxiety traits and childhood trauma was moderated by self-efficacy in 5-HTTLPR/rs25531 LALA genotype carriers: LALA probands maltreated as children showed high anxiety scores when self-efficacy was low, but low anxiety scores in the presence of high self-efficacy despite childhood maltreatment. Our results extend previous findings regarding anxiety-related traits showing an interactive relationship between 5-HTT genotype and adverse childhood experiences by suggesting coping-related measures to function as an additional dimension buffering the effects of a gene-environment risk constellation. Given that anxiety disorders manifest already early in childhood, this insight could contribute to the improvement of psychotherapeutic interventions by including measures strengthening self-efficacy and inform early targeted preventive interventions in at-risk populations, particularly within the crucial time window of childhood and adolescence.

Human BDNF rs6265 polymorphism as a mediator for the generalization of contextual anxiety

“…Eighty‐one participants were selected from a larger sample of healthy volunteers recruited within the framework of the collaborative research center SFB TRR58 (Deckert et al, ; Schartner et al, ; Schiele et al, ). BDNF rs6265 was genotyped using standard PCR followed by enzymatic digestion and staining according to our previously published protocol (Mühlberger et al, ).…”

Epigenetics Underlying Susceptibility and Resilience Relating to Daily Life Stress, Work Stress, and Socioeconomic Status

“…As exemplified above, the 5-HTTLPR genotype-dependent SLC6A4 promoter methylation in response to an acute (4) or chronic work-related stressor (6) might boost or diminish an individual's subsequent reactions to similar or derivative forms of stress. Daily life stress, work-related stress, and SES therefore represent welcome additions to future epigenetic approaches to unravel the everelusive point where heredity and nature meet environment and nurture but should always be considered as plasticity variables and be evaluated alongside potential coping factors (46).…”

The interaction between serotonin transporter allelic variation and maternal care modulates sociability on Instagram

“…Concerning 5-HTTLPR, for instance, Truzzi et al [15] discovered that men with higher biological sensitivity (short form of 5-HTTLPR) and who experienced higher maternal overprotection showed distressed heart rate to female cry. With regard to rs25531, two allelic forms have been found: the substitution of thymine (T) and cytosine (C), with the paired nucleotides guanine (G) and adenine (A), shows differential susceptibility to stressors [16,17,18]. However, until now, literature has not been able to disentangle which variation is more associated with adaptive social responses [19,20].…”