title: The interactive effect of MAOA-LPR genotype and childhood physical neglect on aggressive behaviors in Italian male prisoners.
abstract: Aggressive disorders are moderately heritable; therefore, identification of genetic influences is important. The X-linked MAOA gene, encoding the MAOA enzyme, has a functional 30 bp repeat polymorphism in the promoter region (MAOA-LPR) that has been shown to influence aggression. Childhood trauma is a known risk factor for numerous psychopathologies in adulthood including aggressive behaviors. We investigated the interactive effect of MAOA-LPR genotype and a history of childhood trauma in predicting aggressive behaviors in a prisoner population. A total of 692 male prisoners were genotyped for MAOA-LPR with genotypes grouped into high and low transcriptional activity. Participant evaluations included measures of aggression (Brown-Goodwin Lifetime History of Aggression, BGHA), hostility (Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory), impulsivity (Barratt Impulsiveness Scale), violence directed toward self and others, and childhood trauma [Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ)]. MAOA-LPR interacted with CTQ physical neglect (PN), the most common (47%) form of childhood trauma in this sample, to predict BGHA aggression (P = 0.002). Within the group not exposed to PN, carriers of the MAOA-LPR high-activity variant were more aggressive: (tR = 2.47, P < 0.014). We observed a crossover effect in that the increase in aggression scores with PN was greater in low-activity individuals (tR = 5.55, P < 0.0001) than in high-activity individuals (tR = 4.18, P < 0.0001). These findings suggest that childhood trauma and the functional MAOA-LPR polymorphism may interact to specifically increase risk for over aggressive behavior but not impulsivity or hostility. The MAOA-LPR low-activity variant may be protective against the development of aggressive behavior under low stress conditions, at least in this prisoner population.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neurogenetics, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, NIH, Rockville, MD, USA.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gorodetsky
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bevilacqua
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Carli
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sarchiapone
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Roy
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Goldman
authors.forename: M-A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Enoch
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse; D056915:DNA Copy Number Variations; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007175:Impulsive Behavior; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008995:Monoamine Oxidase / Q000235:genetics*; D011329:Prisoners; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic
chemical_list: D008995:Monoamine Oxidase; C579458:monoamine oxidase A, human
keywords: Aggressive behavior; BGHA; CTQ; MAOA-LPR genotype; MAOA-LPR high-activity variant; MAOA-LPR low-activity variant; childhood trauma; interactive effect; physical neglect; prisoners