Interaction between BDNF Val66Met and childhood stressful life events is associated to affective memory bias in men but not women.
Recent meta-analyses point towards a pathogenic role of the Val66Met variant of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in major depressive disorder, specifically in males. We investigated whether BDNF Val66Met shows a male-specific interaction with childhood stressful life events on affective memory bias, a cognitive susceptibility factor for depression. Healthy volunteers (n=430; 272 females and 158 males) were genotyped for BDNF Val66Met (rs6265) and completed the self-referent encoding task and a childhood stressful life events scale. BDNF Met carriers reporting childhood events tended to recall a lower proportion of positive words compared to Val/Val homozygotes reporting childhood events. Sex-specific analyses revealed that the BDNF genotype×childhood events interaction was significant in male participants and not in female participants. The results suggest that in males, BDNF Val66Met interacts with childhood life events, increasing the cognitive susceptibility markers of depression. In females, this effect may be independent of BDNF Val66Met.
Department of Psychiatry, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, PO Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands. i.vanoostrom@psy.umcn.nl
Iris
I
van Oostrom
Barbara
B
Franke
Mark
M
Rijpkema
Lotte
L
Gerritsen
Alejandro
A
Arias-Vásquez
Guillèn
G
Fernández
Indira
I
Tendolkar
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015982:Bias; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D056726:Genetic Association Studies; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D008715:Methionine / Q000235:genetics*; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000235:genetics*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014633:Valine / Q000235:genetics*; D055815:Young Adult
D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; D008715:Methionine; D014633:Valine