Longitudinal interactions of estrogen receptor alpha gene rs9340799 with social-environmental factors on depression in adolescents after Wenchuan earthquake

Inconsistent relationships were reported between rs9340799 on estrogen receptor alpha gene (ESR1) and depression in previous studies. The present study was to explore the longitudinal changes of prevalence and severity of depression in 439 Chinese Han adolescents with different genotypes of ESR1 rs9340799 at 6, 12 and 18 months after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. Social-environmental factors were collected by questionnaires from 465 high school students. Variants of rs9340799 were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analyses and verified by DNA sequencing. Depression symptoms were assessed by Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The results showed the female AA homozygotes had higher prevalence of depression at 12 months and higher BDI scores at 18 months than the female G allele carriers. Significantly decreased prevalence of depression was observed only in the female AA homozygotes at 18 months when compared with that at 6 or 12 months. Consecutive decreases in BDI scores were observed only in the female AA homozygotes. The AA genotype was one of the risk factors at 12 months and predictors of BDI scores at 18 months. These results firstly suggest different interactions may occur in a gender and time dependent manner among rs9340799 and other potential factors of depression or predictors of its severity, and influence the development and natural rehabilitation of depression.