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FKBP5, Adverse life events, Anxiety, Depression, Preschool children
Abstract:
FKBP5 is thought to be involved in the pathogenesis of stress-related
disorders. Studies have shown that FKBP5 genotypes moderate the risk of
post-traumatic stress disorder and depression in traumatized adults. We
aimed to replicate this finding in a sample of preschool children.
Parents of preschoolers (N = 186) were interviewed using the Preschool
Age Psychiatric Assessment (PAPA) to evaluate the presence of anxiety
and depressive disorders and to quantify the child's exposure to adverse
events. All FKBP5 polymorphisms showed significant interactions with
mild to moderate life events, but not with severe life events, in
predicting the risk of anxiety and/or depressive disorders (p =
0.003-0.019). Children who experienced a high number of mild to moderate
life events had a higher risk of developing an anxiety and/or depressive
disorder if they were carriers of the minor allele compared to major
allele homozygotes. Results indicate that genetic variation in FKBP5
influences the risk of anxiety and/or depressive disorders in preschool
age by altering the sensitivity to the deleterious effects of mild to
moderate adverse events. In case of severe life events, the FKBP5
genotype does not seem to play a role, suggesting that severe life
events might influence directly the risk of anxiety and/or depressive
disorders independent of an FKBP5 genotype-dependent vulnerability. (C)
2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
