Imaging genetics: implications for research on variable antidepressant drug response

Abstract

Genetic variation of SLC6A4, HTR1A, MAOA, COMT and BDNF has been associated with depression, variable antidepressant drug responses as well as impacts on brain regions of emotion processing that are modulated by antidepressants. Pharmacogenetic studies are using psychometric outcome measures of drug response and are hampered by small effect sizes that might be overcome by the use of intermediate endophenotypes of drug response, which are suggested by imaging studies. Such an approach will not only tighten the relationship between genes and drug response, but also yield new insights into the neurobiology of depression and individual drug responses. This article provides a comprehensive overview of pharmacogenetic, imaging genetics and drug response studies, utilizing imaging techniques within the context of antidepressive drug therapy.

Keywords::

• amygdala
• anterior cingulate cortex
• antidepressants
• hippocampus
• imaging genetics
• major depressive disorder
• MRI
• orbitofrontal cortex
• pharmacogenetics

Acknowledgements

This article is part of the educational efforts of the Special Research Project SFB-35 (Project No. F3514-B11 and F3506-B11), funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF).

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.