Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter to the Editor
  • Published:

Therapygenetics: the 5HTTLPR as a biomarker for response to psychological therapy?

Molecular Psychiatry volume 18, pages 744–745 (2013)Cite this article

Subjects

Psychiatric illnesses are under polygenic influence and are associated with interactions between genetic variants and environmental exposures.1 Gene–environment interactions might not only predict onset of disease, but genetic biomarkers might also help the clinician to select the optimal treatment for patients.2 However, there is a lack of studies on therapygenetics for psychological treatment of psychiatric diseases.

The serotonin transporter gene promoter region (5HTTLPR) in depression and anxiety is particularly of interest, because it is associated with response to stress,3 and may represent susceptibility to environmental influences.4, 5 Recently, in this journal, Eley et al.6 reported preliminary results showing that children with an anxiety disorder carrying the short–short (SS) genotype were significantly more likely to respond to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) than those carrying a long allele (SL/LL). The authors state that independent replication is necessary. Moreover, a control group not receiving CBT was lacking and the association did only emerge at follow-up. In an independent sample, using a randomized clinical trial design, we examined whether the short–short allele in recurrently depressed patients was associated with better response to CBT in preventing recurrence compared with a control group.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1

References

  1. Uher R . Mol Psychiatry 2009; 14: 1072–1082.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Kupfer DJ, Frank E, Phillips ML . Lancet 2012; 17: 1045–1055.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Caspi A, Hariri AR, Holmes A, Uher R, Moffitt TE . Am J Psychiatry 2010; 167: 509–527.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Belsky J, Jonassaint C, Pluess M, Stanton M, Brummett B, Williams R . Mol Psychiatry 2009; 14: 746–754.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Belsky J, Pluess M . Psychol Bull 2009; 135: 885–908.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Eley TC, Hudson JL, Creswell C, Tropeano M, Lester KJ, Cooper P et al. Mol Psychiatry 2012; 17: 236–237.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Bockting CL, Schene AH, Spinhoven P, Koeter MW, Wouters LF, Huyser J . J Consult Clin Psychol 2005; 73: 647–657.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Bockting CL, Spinhoven P, Wouters LF, Koeter MW, Schene AH . J Clin Psychiatry 2009; 70: 1621–1628.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    C L H Bockting

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    R J Mocking, A Lok, M W J Koeter & A H Schene

Authors
  1. C L H Bockting
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. R J Mocking
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. A Lok
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. M W J Koeter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. A H Schene
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to C L H Bockting.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Supplementary Information accompanies the paper on the Molecular Psychiatry website

Supplementary information

PowerPoint slides

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bockting, C., Mocking, R., Lok, A. et al. Therapygenetics: the 5HTTLPR as a biomarker for response to psychological therapy?. Mol Psychiatry 18, 744–745 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2012.92

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2012.92

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links