We appreciate Dr. Kalueff et al’s thoughtful commentary of our paper. They are absolutely
correct to note that there are contradictory data on the role of brain-derived neurotrophic
factor (BDNF) in depression. As we discussed in our report, prior investigations examining
the BDNF val66met polymorphism have reported opposite findings in association with
depression and other traits, with the “val” allele associated with vulnerability in
some studies (
Lang et al 2005
), and the “met” allele designated as the “risk” allele in others (
Jiang et al 2005
). Inconsistencies in prior investigations might be attributable to sampling and measurement
issues or genetic heterogeneity, which can result from many sources, including differences
in the ethnic composition of samples across studies. It might also relate to failure
to take into account relevant gene × gene and gene × environment interactions.To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Biological PsychiatryAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Rearing condition and rh5-HTTLPR interact to influence limbic-hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis response to stress in infant macaques.Biol Psychiatry. 2004; 55: 733-738
- The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED): Scale Construction and Psychometric Properties.Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. 1997; 36: 545-553
- SAFE Homes: Is it worth the cost?.Child Abuse Negl. 2005; 29: 627-643
- Depressive symptomatology in childhood and adolescence.Dev Psychopathol. 2001; 13: 143-164
- The Teacher-Child Rating Scale: A brief objective measure of elementary children’s school problem behaviors and competencies.School Psychology Review. 1986; 15: 393-409
- BDNF variation and mood disorders: a novel functional promoter polymorphism and Val66Met are associated with anxiety but have opposing effects.Neuropsychopharmacology. 2005; 30: 1353-1361
- Are child-, adolescent-, and adult-onset depression one and the same disorder?.Biol Psychiatry. 2001; 49: 1012-1033
- Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor-5-HTTLPR Gene Interactions and Environmental Modifiers of Depression in Children.Biol Psychiatry. 2006; 59: 673-680
- Association of a functional BDNF polymorphism and anxiety-related personality traits.Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2005; 180: 95-109
- Brain-derived neurotrophic factor-deficient mice develop agressiveness and hyperphagia in conjunction with brain serotonergic abnormalities.Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1999; 96: 15239-15244
- Inference of population structure using multilocus genotype data.Genetics. 2000; 155: 945-959
- Loss of brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene allele exacerbates brain monoamine deficiencies and increases stress abnormalities of serotonin transporter knockout mice.J Neurosci Res. 2005; 79: 756-771
- Children’s Attributional Style Questionnaire - Revised: Psychometric examination.Psychological Assessment. 1998; 10: 166-170
- Epigenetic programming by maternal behavior.Nat Neurosci. 2004; 7: 847-854
- Practical population group assignment with selected informative markers: characteristics and properties of Bayesian clustering via STRUCTURE.Genet Epidemiol. 2005; 28: 302-312
Article info
Publication history
Published online: September 05, 2006
Identification
Copyright
© 2007 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
ScienceDirect
Access this article on ScienceDirectLinked Article
- Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor, Serotonin Transporter, and Depression: Comment on Kaufman et alBiological PsychiatryVol. 61Issue 9
- PreviewBrain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and serotonin transporter (SERT) have recently been implicated in depression (Caspi et al. 2003; Kaufman et al. 2004) and depression-like behavior in animals (Berton et al. 2006). A recent study has examined BDNF/SERT genes interactions in depressed children, reporting that a combination of met-BDNF allele with two short SERT alleles was associated with higher depression in maltreated children (Kaufman et al. 2006). The effect was magnified in children with reduced social support, suggesting its protective role in depression (Kaufman et al.
- Full-Text
- Preview
