Estrogen receptor alpha (ESR-1) associations with psychological traits in women with PMDD and controls

Alexandra Miller, Hoa Vo, Liang Huo, Catherine Roca, Peter J. Schmidt, David R. Rubinow

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

35 Scopus citations

Abstract

Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) is a mood disorder affecting about 5% of women and is associated with substantial morbidity. Albeit inconsistently, PMDD is described as being characterized by heritable personality traits. Although PMDD is a heritable disorder, it is unclear whether any of the heritable susceptibility to PMDD resides in heritable personality traits. In groups of carefully characterized women with PMDD (n=68) and controls (n=56), we attempted to determine whether diagnosis-related traits could be confirmed, as well as to determine whether such traits were associated with SNPs in estrogen receptor alpha (ESR-1) that we previously demonstrated were associated with PMDD. We observed 7/25 traits to be significantly different in patients and controls and further showed that 11/12 significant associations observed between these 7 traits and 16 ESR-1 SNPs involved the intron 4 SNPs previously shown to be the locus of the association with PMDD. While several interactions between genotype and diagnosis were observed, the effect of genotype in most instances was in the same direction in patients and controls. These data demonstrate affective state-independent personality traits that distinguish patients with PMDD from controls and further support the relevance of ESR-1 polymorphic variants in the regulation of non-reproductive behaviors.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)788-794
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Psychiatric Research
Volume44
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2010
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • 16PF
  • Estradiol
  • Estrogen receptor
  • Mood
  • NEO
  • Premenstrual dysphoric disorder
  • TPQ

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Psychiatry and Mental health
  • Biological Psychiatry

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