TY - JOUR T1 - The risk for major depression conferred by childhood maltreatment is multiplied by <em>BDNF</em> and <em>SERT</em> genetic vulnerability: a replication study JF - Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience JO - J Psychiatry Neurosci SP - 187 LP - 196 DO - 10.1503/jpn.140097 VL - 40 IS - 3 AU - Blanca Gutiérrez AU - Juan Ángel Bellón AU - Margarita Rivera AU - Esther Molina AU - Michael King AU - Louise Marston AU - Francisco Torres-González AU - Berta Moreno-Küstner AU - Patricia Moreno-Peral AU - Emma Motrico AU - Carmen Montón-Franco AU - María Josefa GildeGómez-Barragán AU - Marta Sánchez-Celaya AU - Miguel Ángel Díaz-Barreiros AU - Catalina Vicens AU - Juan de Dios Luna AU - Irwin Nazareth AU - Jorge Cervilla Y1 - 2015/05/01 UR - http://jpn.ca/content/40/3/187.abstract N2 - Background: There is limited evidence for a moderating role of both serotonin transporter (SERT) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) genes on the risk for major depression (MD) developing after childhood maltreatment. However, research on this topic remains inconclusive, and there is a lack of data from longitudinal studies with large and representative population samples. Our study aimed to clarify whether, in the presence of previous childhood maltreatment, individuals carrying low functional alleles for both SERT 5-HTTLPR and BDNF Val66Met polymorphisms had a higher risk for MD.Methods: We explored 2- and 3-way gene (SERT and BDNF) × environment (childhood maltreatment) interactions in a large sample of Spanish adults who were followed up over a 3-year period and assessed in person for both DSM-IV MD and exposure to childhood maltreatment.Results: Our study included 2679 participants. Those with both the 5-HTTLPR s allele and the BDNF Met allele showed the highest risk of MD if they had previously experienced emotional (z = 2.08, p = 0.037), sexual (z = 2.19, p = 0.029) or any kind of childhood abuse (z = 2.37, p = 0.018). These 3-way interactions remained significant regardless of whether the 5-HTTLPR triallelic or the 5-HTTLPR biallelic polymorphisms were included in the analyses.Limitations: Retrospective assessment of childhood maltreatment may have resulted in a moderate degree of recall bias.Conclusion: Our results confirm that the risk of depression conferred by childhood maltreatment is modified by variation at both SERT and BDNF genes. ER -