Genetic Variants in the Genes of the Stress Hormone Signalling Pathway and Depressive Symptoms during and after Pregnancy

Abstract

Purpose. The aim of this study was to investigate whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes of the stress hormone signaling pathway, specifically FKBP5, NR3C1, and CRHR1, are associated with depressive symptoms during and after pregnancy. Methods. The Franconian Maternal Health Evaluation Study (FRAMES) recruited healthy pregnant women prospectively for the assessment of maternal and fetal health including the assessment of depressiveness. The German version of the 10-item Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) was completed at three time points in this prospective cohort study. Visit 1 was at study entry in the third trimester of the pregnancy, visit 2 was shortly after birth, and visit 3 was 6–8 months after birth. Germline DNA was collected from 361 pregnant women. Nine SNPs in the above mentioned genes were genotyped. After construction of haplotypes for each gene, a multifactorial linear mixed model was performed to analyse the depression values over time. Results. EPDS values were within expected ranges and comparable to previously published studies. Neither did the depression scores differ for comparisons among haplotypes at fixed time points nor did the change over time differ among haplotypes for the examined genes. No haplotype showed significant associations with depressive symptoms severity during pregnancy or the postpartum period. Conclusion. The analysed candidate haplotypes in FKBP5, NR3C1, and CRHR1 did not show an association with depression scores as assessed by EPDS in this cohort of healthy unselected pregnant women.

Implications of Polymorphisms in the CRHR1 Gene on the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis Functioning in Postpartum Depression

“…While two investigations failed to find associations between peripartum depression and CRHR1 polymorphisms [25,26], a third one found a positive association between the G allele of the CRHR1 SNP rs242939 and depression during both pregnancy and postpartum, but the presence of the T allele of SNP rs242941 was associated only with postpartum depression [27]. In addition, few studies have investigated the associations between CRHR1 polymorphisms and the functioning of the HPA axis.…”

PROYECTO MAMÁFELIZ: Estudio sobre la Salud Mental prenatal a través de Internet

“…Por ejemplo, Schneider et al (2014) realizaron un estudio en el que intentaron examinar si los polimorfismos de nucleótido único de los genes de la vía de señalización de la hormona del estrés, específicamente FKBP5, NR3C1 y CRHR1, estaban asociados con síntomas depresivos durante y después del embarazo. La muestra final estaba formada por 361 mujeres con embarazos sin riesgo que se encontraban como mínimo en la 31 semana de gestación.…”

Interação genético-ambiental nos estados depressivos periparto

“…Através desta revisão sistemática, podemos verificar que apenas dois estudos foram realizados com o intuito de avaliar o papel do CRHR1 na vulnerabilidade para a ocorrência de sintomas depressivos perinatais, encontrando resultados divergentes (Engineer et al, 2013;Schneider et al, 2014 (Sanjuan et al, 2008;Binder et al, 2010;Pinheiro et al, 2013).…”

“…Avaliando 361 mulheres de uma coorte alemã, Schneider e cols. (Schneider et al, 2014) não observaram nenhuma evidência de associação entre os haplótipos formados por 2 dos SNPs aqui avaliados (rs7209436 e rs110402) e sintomas depressivos gestacionais. Estes resultados foram coerentes com os nossos resultados se considerarmos apenas a amostra de mulheres que se auto referiram como brancas.…”

“…(Tan et al, 2014), mais recentemente, avaliaram os mesmos três SNPs, mas não verificaram associação dos mesmos com sintomas depressivos perinatais. Em síntese, antes deste estudo, somente um trabalho havia avaliado alguns dos polimorfismos aqui avaliados (Schneider et al, 2014).…”