Hair cortisol in twins: heritability and genetic overlap with psychological variables and stress-system genes

Rietschel, L. et al. (2017) Hair cortisol in twins: heritability and genetic overlap with psychological variables and stress-system genes. Scientific Reports, 7, 15351. (doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-11852-3) (PMID:29127340) (PMCID:PMC5703444)

Abstract

Hair cortisol concentration (HCC) is a promising measure of long-term hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity. Previous research has suggested an association between HCC and psychological variables, and initial studies of inter-individual variance in HCC have implicated genetic factors. However, whether HCC and psychological variables share genetic risk factors remains unclear. The aims of the present twin study were to: (i) assess the heritability of HCC; (ii) estimate the phenotypic and genetic correlation between HPA axis activity and the psychological variables perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and neuroticism; using formal genetic twin models and molecular genetic methods, i.e. polygenic risk scores (PRS). HCC was measured in 671 adolescents and young adults. These included 115 monozygotic and 183 dizygotic twin-pairs. For 432 subjects PRS scores for plasma cortisol, major depression, and neuroticism were calculated using data from large genome wide association studies. The twin model revealed a heritability for HCC of 72%. No significant phenotypic or genetic correlation was found between HCC and the three psychological variables of interest. PRS did not explain variance in HCC. The present data suggest that HCC is highly heritable. However, the data do not support a strong biological link between HCC and any of the investigated psychological variables.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: University of Glasgow author is a member of the Major Depressive Disorder Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Smith, Professor Daniel
• Authors: Rietschel, L., Streit, F., Zhu, G., McAloney, K., Frank, J., Couvy-Duchesne, B., Witt, S. H., Binz, T. M., McGrath, J., Hickie, I. B., Hansell, N. K., Wright, M. J., Gillespie, N. A., Forstner, A. J., Schulze, T. G., Wüst, S., Nöthen, M. M., Baumgartner, M. R., Walker, B. R., Crawford, A. A., Colodro-Conde, L., Medland, S. E., Martin, N. G., Rietschel, M., and Smith, D. J.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Health & Wellbeing > Mental Health and Wellbeing
• Journal Name: Scientific Reports
• Publisher: Nature Research
• ISSN: 2045-2322
• ISSN (Online): 2045-2322
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2017 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Scientific Reports 7: 15351
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License