MAOA, maltreatment, and gene-environment interaction predicting children's mental health:: new evidence and a meta-analysis
MAOA, maltreatment, and gene-environment interaction predicting children's mental health:: new evidence and a meta-analysis
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DOI：
10.1038/sj.mp.4001851
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发表时间：
2006-10-01
影响因子：
11
通讯作者：
Moffitt, T. E.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Kim-Cohen, J.;Caspi, A.;Moffitt, T. E.
先前对成年人的研究表明，单胺氧化酶A（MAOA）基因启动子区的功能多态性调节了儿童期虐待对发展反社会行为风险的影响。到目前为止，试图复制这一发现的努力好坏参半。目前的研究（i）提供了新的数据，调查了975名7岁男孩的样本中的这一发现，（ii）通过对已发表的研究结果进行荟萃分析来评估现有数据。我们复制了最初的发现，表明MAOA多态性缓和了暴露于身体虐待后的精神病理学的发展，我们将发现扩展到童年时期更接近虐待经历的时间，我们排除了通过占被动和唤起基因环境相关性的虚假发现的可能性。此外，荟萃分析表明，在所有研究中，虐待和心理健康问题之间的关联在基因型赋予低与高MAOA活性的男性组中显着更强。这些发现提供了迄今为止最有力的证据，表明MAOA基因影响对环境压力的脆弱性，并且这种生物学过程可以在生命早期启动。
Previous research on adults has shown that a functional polymorphism in the promoter region of the monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) gene moderates the impact of childhood maltreatment on risk for developing antisocial behavior. Thus far, attempts to replicate this finding have been mixed. The current study (i) presents new data investigating this finding in a sample of 975 seven-year-old boys, and (ii) evaluates the extant data by conducting a meta-analysis of published findings. We replicated the original finding by showing that the MAOA polymorphism moderates the development of psychopathology after exposure to physical abuse, we extended the finding to childhood closer in time to the maltreatment experience, and we ruled-out the possibility of a spurious finding by accounting for passive and evocative gene environment correlation. Moreover, meta-analysis demonstrated that across studies, the association between maltreatment and mental health problems is significantly stronger in the group of males with the genotype conferring low vs high MAOA activity. These findings provide the strongest evidence to date suggesting that the MAOA gene influences vulnerability to environmental stress, and that this biological process can be initiated early in life.