TY - JOUR A1 - Weber, Heike A1 - Maihofer, Adam X. A1 - Jaksic, Nenad A1 - Bojic, Elma Feric A1 - Kucukalic, Sabina A1 - Dzananovic, Emina Sabic A1 - Uka, Aferdita Goci A1 - Hoxha, Blerina A1 - Haxhibeqiri, Valdete A1 - Haxhibeqiri, Shpend A1 - Kravic, Nermina A1 - Umihanic, Mirnesa Muminovic A1 - Franc, Ana Cima A1 - Babic, Romana A1 - Pavlovic, Marko A1 - Mehmedbasic, Alma Bravo A1 - Aukst-Margetic, Branka A1 - Kucukalic, Abdulah A1 - Marjanovic, Damir A1 - Babic, Dragan A1 - Jakovljevic, Miro A1 - Sinanovic, Osman A1 - Avidbegović, Esmina A1 - Agani, Ferid A1 - Warrings, Bodo A1 - Domschke, Katharina A1 - Nievergelt, Caroline M. A1 - Dzubur-Kulenovic, Alma A1 - Erhardt, Angelika T1 - Association of polygenic risk scores, traumatic life events and coping strategies with war-related PTSD diagnosis and symptom severity in the South Eastern Europe (SEE)-PTSD cohort JF - Journal of Neural Transmission N2 - Objectives Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is triggered by extremely stressful environmental events and characterized by high emotional distress, re-experiencing of trauma, avoidance and hypervigilance. The present study uses polygenic risk scores (PRS) derived from the UK Biobank (UKBB) mega-cohort analysis as part of the PGC PTSD GWAS effort to determine the heritable basis of PTSD in the South Eastern Europe (SEE)-PTSD cohort. We further analyzed the relation between PRS and additional disease-related variables, such as number and intensity of life events, coping, sex and age at war on PTSD and CAPS as outcome variables. Methods Association of PRS, number and intensity of life events, coping, sex and age on PTSD were calculated using logistic regression in a total of 321 subjects with current and remitted PTSD and 337 controls previously subjected to traumatic events but not having PTSD. In addition, PRS and other disease-related variables were tested for association with PTSD symptom severity, measured by the Clinician Administrated PTSD Scale (CAPS) by liner regression. To assess the relationship between the main outcomes PTSD diagnosis and symptom severity, each of the examined variables was adjusted for all other PTSD related variables. Results The categorical analysis showed significant polygenic risk in patients with remitted PTSD and the total sample, whereas no effects were found on symptom severity. Intensity of life events as well as the individual coping style were significantly associated with PTSD diagnosis in both current and remitted cases. The dimensional analyses showed as association of war-related frequency of trauma with symptom severity, whereas the intensity of trauma yielded significant results independently of trauma timing in current PTSD. Conclusions The present PRS application in the SEE-PTSD cohort confirms modest but significant polygenic risk for PTSD diagnosis. Environmental factors, mainly the intensity of traumatic life events and negative coping strategies, yielded associations with PTSD both categorically and dimensionally with more significant p-values. This suggests that, at least in the present cohort of war-related trauma, the association of environmental factors and current individual coping strategies with PTSD psychopathology was stronger than the polygenic risk. KW - life events KW - PTSD KW - CAPS KW - polygenic risk score KW - coping style Y1 - 2022 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-268541 SN - 1435-1463 VL - 129 IS - 5-6 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Klauke, Benedikt A1 - Winter, Bernward A1 - Gajewska, Agnes A1 - Zwanzger, Peter A1 - Reif, Andreas A1 - Herrmann, Martin J. A1 - Dlugos, Andrea A1 - Warrings, Bodo A1 - Jacob, Christian A1 - Mühlberger, Andreas A1 - Arolt, Volker A1 - Pauli, Paul A1 - Deckert, Jürgen A1 - Domschke, Katharina T1 - Affect-Modulated Startle: Interactive Influence of Catechol-O-Methyltransferase Val158Met Genotype and Childhood Trauma JF - PLoS One N2 - The etiology of emotion-related disorders such as anxiety or affective disorders is considered to be complex with an interaction of biological and environmental factors. Particular evidence has accumulated for alterations in the dopaminergic and noradrenergic system - partly conferred by catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene variation - for the adenosinergic system as well as for early life trauma to constitute risk factors for those conditions. Applying a multi-level approach, in a sample of 95 healthy adults, we investigated effects of the functional COMT Val158Met polymorphism, caffeine as an adenosine A2A receptor antagonist (300 mg in a placebo-controlled intervention design) and childhood maltreatment (CTQ) as well as their interaction on the affect-modulated startle response as a neurobiologically founded defensive reflex potentially related to fear- and distress-related disorders. COMT val/val genotype significantly increased startle magnitude in response to unpleasant stimuli, while met/met homozygotes showed a blunted startle response to aversive pictures. Furthermore, significant gene-environment interaction of COMT Val158Met genotype with CTQ was discerned with more maltreatment being associated with higher startle potentiation in val/val subjects but not in met carriers. No main effect of or interaction effects with caffeine were observed. Results indicate a main as well as a GxE effect of the COMT Val158Met variant and childhood maltreatment on the affect-modulated startle reflex, supporting a complex pathogenetic model of the affect-modulated startle reflex as a basic neurobiological defensive reflex potentially related to anxiety and affective disorders. KW - COMT VAL(158)MET polymorphism KW - serotonin transporter gene KW - life events KW - community sample KW - acoustic startle KW - prepulse inhibition KW - panic disorder KW - caffeine-induced anxiety KW - fear-potentiated startle KW - posttraumatic-stress-disorder Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-132184 VL - 7 IS - 6 ER -