Polymorphisms in the serotonin receptor 2A gene (HTR2A), parenting styles and the risk of depression in young adulthood: results from a family study

A recent study (Jokela et al., 2007) showed that the effect of polymorphisms of the HTR2A gene on depression depended on maternal care. The aim of this study was to expand these findings by examining whether polymorphisms in the HTR2A gene moderate the effect of parenting styles on depression. Data came from 160 German nuclear families ascertained through affected offspring with a subthreshold diagnosis of major depressive disorder. The sample is part of the 10-year prospective-epidemiological Early-Developmental-Stages-of-Psychopathology (EDSP) Study. DSM-IV diagnoses/symptoms of major depressive disorder were assessed using the M-CIDI. Parenting style was measured by the Questionnaire of Recalled Parental Rearing Behaviour (German version, FEE). We tested 35 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the HTR2A gene using SNPs from the Illumina 550k Bead Chip. Family-based association tests were performed using PBAT. The PBAT/FBAT approach is a generalized version of the transmission disequilibrium test TDT. Results: revealed significant SNP-by-parenting style interactions in regard to depression with multiple individual single-nucleotide polymorphisms. The strongest SNP-by-parenting style interactions were found for the parental-rejection subscale with p-values for FBAT-Interaction varying between 0.00023 and 0.04909. These preliminary results suggest that parental rejection may modify the influence of polymorphisms in HTR2A gene on depressive symptoms.