Comments on: Exploring New Scientific Research With My Genotype In Hand

By: Jerri

Jerri — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 15:43:06 +0000

For example, a test will have the individual choose
a, b, or c, or true or false. Chemical changes in the
brain can often bring on depression, but the most common reason for anxiety is caused by ones environment.
” You’re not the first person to ask the question.

By: Keith Grimaldi

Keith Grimaldi — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 12:44:29 +0000

And here is another that I just found today, hot off the presses:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20729761

There is mounting evidence that it may be useful to learn the genotype status of children. The “L” seems to be protected from stressful events, as far as developing certain symptoms are concerned, while “S” need to be protected from them.

It’s not clear though that here we have a “good” and a “bad” version. Phew I’m not SS in not necessarily the right thing to say. The L allele is associated for some reason with longer term problems like heart disease, and maybe also the depression of an L person is deeper than an S (don’t have refs to hand, can dig them out).

Is the S advantage that is reacts quickly to stressful events with certain symptoms, and can reverse the progression to serious problems more easily? Does the L person apparently cope better with stress or is he/she holding it in and building up deeper problems for later?

The whole area is very interesting – the field has similar problems with complex common diseases in the sense that defining phenotypes is not so easy – “heart disease” or “type 2 diabetes” are not single phenotypes, nor is depression. So we look for intermediate phenotypes like cholesterol, inflammation, etc, markers, in the hope that modifying them will prevent the disease. Psychiatry looks at anxiety, sleep disturbance, etc, and the results are more consistent than when looking at depression. Of course being psychiatry a new name was needed . endophenotype (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endophenotype)

By: Dennis Wright

Dennis Wright — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 21:54:20 +0000

Hi Blaine,
Both my wife and I are C/C at rs4251417 and generally we show no signs of depression although we both show a high aversion to financial risk!
Interesting article, thank you.

By: Keith Grimaldi

Keith Grimaldi — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 19:00:34 +0000

Hi Blaine – I know what you mean about the 2 hour detour, I went through the same this morning via this David Dobbs post which I tweeted:

Via Hauser link I found http://bit.ly/bFCIEb – a vvv gd essay (DD) on Genes x Env and behavior @David_Dobbs: Hauser http://bit.ly/cQyAY6

It took me to the Dandelions/Orchids essay (and eventually the book when it is published!)

Anyway, re 5HTTLPR, there are quite a few GxE studies and they seem to be reproducible especially when looking at the link to a more specific phenotype than “depression” – Here are a couple:

Sleep Quality Varies as a Function of 5-HTTLPR Genotype and Stress – http://www.psychosomaticmedicine.org/cgi/content/full/69/7/621

Prevention effects moderate the association of 5-HTTLPR and youth risk behavior initiation: gene x environment hypotheses tested via a randomized prevention design. – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19489894

Keith