Genomics of Mood Disorders

A special issue of Genes (ISSN 2073-4425). This special issue belongs to the section "Human Genomics and Genetic Diseases".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 November 2022) | Viewed by 1817

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy
Interests: genetics; endophenotype; gene-environment interaction; poligenic risk score; genetic variants
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Neuroscience, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy
Interests: medical statistics; psychiatric epidemiology; epidemiological designs
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Mental disorders such as depression (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD) have high heritabilities, indicating a genetic component to their etiology. The application of new technologies as genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies to large population-based sample has resulted in hundreds of new genetic findings for these disorders. This is uncovering the role of common and rare genetic variants in the etiology of these disorders and the contribution of environmental events in triggering the development of mood disorders. From a clinical point of view mood disoders are characterized by mortality due to suicide, significant disability, different response to treatments and heterogeneity of outcome. Therefore, despite the genetic underpinning, it becomes important to explore, also through the use of endophenotypes, the different developmental trajectories of these disoders.

The Special Issue of Genes, “Genomics of Mood Disorders”, will bring together several reviews and original articles that will explore genetic background, environmental associated epigenetic changes, gene–environmental interactions in mood disoders, and give a broad overview of new advances in the field, including pathophysiological mechanisms, pharmacogenetics, diagnostic biomarkers, endophenotypic approach providing novel insights into the biology of these disorders.

Dr. Sarah Tosato
Dr. Chiara Bonetto
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Genes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Depression
  • Bipolar disorder
  • Suicide
  • Candidate gene
  • Endophenotype
  • GxE
  • GWAS
  • NGS

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

11 pages, 270 KiB  
Article
COMT but Not 5HTTLPR Gene Is Associated with Depression in First-Episode Psychosis: The Role of Stressful Life Events
by Sarah Tosato, Chiara Bonetto, Katia De Santi, Antonio Lasalvia, Massimo Gennarelli, Doriana Cristofalo, Mariaelena Bertani, Mirella Ruggeri and on behalf of the PICOS-Veneto Group
Genes 2023, 14(2), 350; https://doi.org/10.3390/genes14020350 - 29 Jan 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1488
Abstract
Serotonergic and dopaminergic systems are involved in the regulation of mood and reactivity to psychological stress. This study explores, in a sample of first episode psychosis (FEP) patients, whether more severe depressive symptoms were found in those who: (1) experienced a major stressful [...] Read more.
Serotonergic and dopaminergic systems are involved in the regulation of mood and reactivity to psychological stress. This study explores, in a sample of first episode psychosis (FEP) patients, whether more severe depressive symptoms were found in those who: (1) experienced a major stressful event in the 6 months preceding illness onset; and (2) were homozygous for the COMT Val158 allele or carrying the S allele of 5-HTTLPR. A total of 186 FEP patients recruited were assessed using the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD) for depressive symptoms. Stressful life events (SLEs) were collected by the List of Events Scale. The genotypes of 5-HTTLPR, rs25531, and COMT Val158 Met were performed. It has been found that higher levels of depression is associated with the presence of SLEs (p = 0.019) and with COMT Val158 allele homozygosity (p = 0.029), but not with carrying the S allele of 5-HTTLPR. The COMT gene moderates the association between depression and SLEs as Val158 allele homozygote patients experiencing SLEs had the highest level of depressive symptoms compared to the others (p = 0.002). The present study provides initial evidence for an effect of the COMT Val158 homozygosity and severe stressful life events on the severity of depressive symptoms in first episode psychosis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Genomics of Mood Disorders)
Back to TopTop