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Polygenic risk for traumatic loss-related PTSD in US military veterans: Protective effect of secure attachment style.

Asch RH, Esterlis I, Wendt FR, Kachadourian L, Southwick SM, Gelernter J, Polimanti R, Pietrzak RH. Polygenic risk for traumatic loss-related PTSD in US military veterans: Protective effect of secure attachment style. The world journal of biological psychiatry : the official journal of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry. 2021 Dec 1; 22(10):792-799.

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Abstract:

OBJECTIVES: To examine whether attachment style moderates the relationship between polygenic risk scores (PRS) for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) re-experiencing (PTSD) symptoms and the severity of and positive screen for traumatic loss-related PTSD. METHODS: Data were analysed from 631?US veterans who endorsed ''unexpected death of a loved one'' as their ''worst'' traumatic event. Multivariable models evaluated the association between PRS for PTSD attachment style, and their interaction in predicting severity and positive screen for PTSD. A gene enrichment analysis was conducted to identify possible molecular mechanisms underlying the association between PTSD PRS and PTSD. RESULTS: PTSD PRS (? = 0.17; odds ratio [OR]? = 1.85), attachment style ( = -0.33; OR = 0.14), and PTSD PRS?×?attachment style interaction ( = -0.12; OR = 0.53) were significant predictors of the severity and positive screen for PTSD. The most significant gene set detected was the gene ontology (GO) cellular component podosome set (GO:0002102, ? < 3.95?×?10). CONCLUSIONS: Having a secure attachment style may help mitigate polygenic risk for developing traumatic loss-related PTSD in US veterans. Podosomes, which are implicated in inflammatory and neuroplasticity processes, may contribute to the genetic liability to developing loss-related PTSD. Psychological treatments targeting attachment security may help mitigate increased polygenic risk for loss-related PTSD in this population.




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