TY  - JOUR
A1  - Straube, B.
A1  - Reif, A.
A1  - Richter, J.
A1  - Lueken, U.
A1  - Weber, H.
A1  - Arolt, V.
A1  - Jansen, A.
A1  - Zwanzger, P.
A1  - Domschke, K.
A1  - Pauli, P.
A1  - Konrad, C.
A1  - Gerlach, A. L.
A1  - Lang, T.
A1  - Fydrich, T.
A1  - Alpers, G. W.
A1  - Stroehle, A.
A1  - Wittmann, A.
A1  - Pfleiderer, B.
A1  - Wittchen, H.-U.
A1  - Hamm, A.
A1  - Deckert, J.
A1  - Kircher, T.
T1  - The functional - 1019C/G HTR1A polymorphism and mechanisms of fear
JF  - Translational Psychiatry
N2  - Serotonin receptor 1A gene (HTR1A) knockout mice show pronounced defensive behaviour and increased fear conditioning to ambiguous conditioned stimuli. Such behaviour is a hallmark of pathological human anxiety, as observed in panic disorder with agoraphobia (PD/AG). Thus, variations in HTR1A might contribute to neurophysiological differences within subgroups of PD/AG patients. Here, we tested this hypothesis by combining genetic with behavioural techniques and neuroimaging. In a clinical multicentre trial, patients with PD/AG received 12 sessions of manualized cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) and were genotyped for HTR1A rs6295. In four subsamples of this multicentre trial, exposure behaviour (n = 185), defensive reactivity measured using a behavioural avoidance test (BAT; before CBT: n = 245; after CBT: n = 171) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data during fear conditioning were acquired before and after CBT (n = 39). HTR1A risk genotype (GG) carriers more often escaped during the BAT before treatment. Exploratory fMRI results suggest increased activation of the amygdala in response to threat as well as safety cues before and after treatment in GG carriers. Furthermore, GG carriers demonstrated reduced effects of CBT on differential conditioning in regions including the bilateral insulae and the anterior cingulate cortex. Finally, risk genotype carriers demonstrated reduced self-initiated exposure behaviour to aversive situations. This study demonstrates the effect of HTR1A variation on defensive behaviour, amygdala activity, CBT-induced neural plasticity and normalization of defence behaviour in PD/AG. Our results, therefore, translate evidence from animal studies to humans and suggest a central role for HTR1A in differentiating subgroups of patients with anxiety disorders.
KW  - randomized-controlled trial
KW  - panic disorder
KW  - 5-HT1A receptor
KW  - defensive reactivity
KW  - major depression
KW  - cognitive-behavioral therapy
KW  - receptor gene polymorphism
KW  - C(-1019)G polymorphism
KW  - anxiety disorders
KW  - serotonin(1A) receptor
Y1  - 2014
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-114369
SN  - 2158-3188
VL  - 4
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Weber, Heike
A1  - Scholz, Claus Jürgen
A1  - Domschke, Katharina
A1  - Baumann, Christian
A1  - Klauke, Benedikt
A1  - Jacob, Christian P.
A1  - Maier, Wolfgang
A1  - Fritze, Jürgen
A1  - Bandelow, Borwin
A1  - Zwanzger, Peter Michael
A1  - Lang, Thomas
A1  - Fehm, Lydia
A1  - Ströhle, Andreas
A1  - Hamm, Alfons
A1  - Gerlach, Alexander L.
A1  - Alpers, Georg W.
A1  - Kircher, Tilo
A1  - Wittchen, Hans-Ulrich
A1  - Arolt, Volker
A1  - Pauli, Paul
A1  - Deckert, Jürgen
A1  - Reif, Andreas
T1  - Gender Differences in Associations of Glutamate Decarboxylase 1 Gene (GAD1) Variants with Panic Disorder
N2  - Background: Panic disorder is common (5% prevalence) and females are twice as likely to be affected as males. The heritable component of panic disorder is estimated at 48%. Glutamic acid dehydrogenase GAD1, the key enzyme for the synthesis of the inhibitory and anxiolytic neurotransmitter GABA, is supposed to influence various mental disorders, including mood and anxiety disorders. In a recent association study in depression, which is highly comorbid with panic disorder, GAD1 risk allele associations were restricted to females. Methodology/Principal Findings: Nineteen single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) tagging the common variation in GAD1 were genotyped in two independent gender and age matched case-control samples (discovery sample n = 478; replication sample n = 584). Thirteen SNPs passed quality control and were examined for gender-specific enrichment of risk alleles associated with panic disorder by using logistic regression including a genotype6gender interaction term. The latter was found to be nominally significant for four SNPs (rs1978340, rs3762555, rs3749034, rs2241165) in the discovery sample; of note, the respective minor/risk alleles were associated with panic disorder only in females. These findings were not confirmed in the replication sample; however, the genotype6gender interaction of rs3749034 remained significant in the combined sample. Furthermore, this polymorphism showed a nominally significant association with the Agoraphobic Cognitions Questionnaire sum score. Conclusions/Significance: The present study represents the first systematic evaluation of gender-specific enrichment of risk alleles of the common SNP variation in the panic disorder candidate gene GAD1. Our tentative results provide a possible explanation for the higher susceptibility of females to panic disorder.
KW  - Medizin
Y1  - 2012
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-75830
ER  -