RESEARCH ARTICLE
Neuropsychiatric Genetics
Evaluating the Role of a Galanin
Enhancer Genotype on a Range of Metabolic,
Depressive and Addictive Phenotypes
Tom G. Richardson,1 Camelia Minica,2 Jon Heron,1 Jeremy Tavare,3 Alasdair MacKenzie,4 Ian Day,1
Glyn Lewis,5 Matthew Hickman,1 Jacqueline M. Vink,2 Joel Gelernter,6 Henry R. Kranzler,6
Lindsay A Farrer,6 Marcus Munafò,7 and David Wynick8*
1
School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
2
Department of Biological Psychology/Netherlands Twin Register, VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
3
School of Biochemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
School of Medical Sciences, Institute of Medical Sciences, Foresterhill, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK
4
5
Division of Psychiatry, University College London, London, UK
6
Department of Psychiatry, Genetics, and Neurobiology, and VA CT Healthcare Center, Yale University School of Medicine, West Haven,
Connecticut
7
MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, and School of Experimental Psychology, University of
Bristol, Bristol, UK
8
Schools of Physiology and Pharmacology and Clinical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
Manuscript Received: 17 June 2014; Manuscript Accepted: 26 August 2014
There is a large body of pre-clinical and some clinical data to link the
neuropeptide galanin to a range of physiological and pathological
functions that include metabolism, depression, and addiction. An
enhancer region upstream of the human GAL transcriptional start
site has previously been characterised. In-vitro transfection studies
in rat hypothalamic neurons demonstrated that the CA allele was
40% less active than the GG allele in driving galanin expression. Our
hypothesis was to investigate the effect of this galanin enhancer
genotype on a range of variables that relate to the known functions of
the galaninergic system in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents
and Children (ALSPAC) cohort of young adults (N ¼ 169–6,078).
Initial findings showed a positive relationship of cannabis usage
(OR ¼ 2.070, P ¼ 0.007, N ¼ 406 (individuals who had used cannabis
at least once within the last 12 months, total sample size 2731) with
the GG haplotype, consistent with the previous published data
linking galanin with an increased release of dopamine. As our sample
size was relatively small we replicated the analysis in a larger cohort
of 2,224 African Americans and 1,840 European Americans, but no
discernible trend across genotypes was observed for the relationship
with cannabis usage. Further, we found no association of the galanin
enhancer genotype with any of the other pathophysiological parameters measured. These findings emphasise that preclinical data does
not always predict clinical outcomes in cohort studies, noting that
association studies are subject to multiple confounders.
Ó 2014 The Authors. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric
Genetics published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Key words: galanin; cannabis; alcohol; metabolism; depression; ALSPAC
How to Cite this Article:
Richardson TG, Minica C, Heron J, Tavare
J, MacKenzie A, Day I, Lewis G, Hickman
M, Vink JM, Gelernter J, Kranzler HR,
Farrer LA, Munafò M, Wynick D. 2014.
Evaluating the Role of a Galanin Enhancer
Genotype on a Range of Metabolic,
Depressive and Addictive Phenotypes.
Am J Med Genet Part B 165B:654–664.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in
any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Grant sponsor: ERC; Grant number: 284167; Grant sponsor: NIH;
Grant number: 1RO1DK0921127-01; Grant sponsor: NWO;
Grant numbers: 463-06-001, 451-04-034; Grant sponsor: Medical
Research Council and The Wellcome Trust.
Correspondence to:
David Wynick, C24A, Medical Sciences Building, University Walk,
Bristol BS8 1TD, UK.
E-mail:
[email protected]
Article first published online in Wiley Online Library
(wileyonlinelibrary.com): 16 September 2014
DOI 10.1002/ajmg.b.32270
Ó 2014 The Authors. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
654
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INTRODUCTION
The neuropeptide galanin (Tatemoto et al., 1983) has a discreet
pattern of expression in a number of areas in the central and
peripheral nervous system that include the hypothalamus, hippocampus, substantia nigra, ventral tegmental area, nucleus
accumbens (NAc), locus coeruleus, spinal cord, and the dorsal
root ganglia (Melander et al., 1985; Melander et al., 1986a; Melander et al., 1986b; Hokfelt et al., 1987; Villar et al., 1989;
Wiesenfeld et al., 1992). There is a wealth of pharmacological
and genetic pre-clinical data to link the neuropeptide and its three
G-protein coupled receptors (Gal1, Gal2, and Gal3) to a range of
physiological and pathological functions. These include metabolism, feeding and endocrinology, cognition, epilepsy, chronic
anxiety and depression, addiction, neuroprotection, neuronal
regeneration, and pain (see recent reviews (Lang et al., 2007;
Ogren et al., 2010; Picciotto et al., 2010)). Some, but by no means
all, of these rodent findings are paralleled by human studies
demonstrating associations between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the GAL gene and/or one of its three receptors,
and depression or anxiety disorders (Unschuld et al., 2008; Wray
et al., 2010; Juhasz et al., 2014) and addictive behaviours that
include smoking (Gold et al., 2012), alcohol (Belfer et al., 2006),
and heroin (Levran et al., 2008). To date, there are no studies that
link the galaninergic system to dietary fat intake or weight
regulation in humans, though a single study has shown a relationship with elevated triglyceride levels in familial combined
hyperlipidaemia (Plaisier et al., 2009).
Davidson et al. previously used comparative genomics to identify
and then characterise a highly conserved region 42 kb upstream of the
human GAL transcriptional start site that was termed GAL5.1 (Davidson et al., 2011). The GAL5.1 enhancer (i.e., a region of DNA which can
be bound with proteins to activate transcription of a gene) contains two
polymorphisms; rs2513280 (C/G) and rs2513281 (A/G), that occur in
two allelic combinations (GG or CA) where the dominant GG allele
occurred in 70–83% of the human population. In-vitro transfection
studies in rat hypothalamic neurons demonstrated that the CA allele
was 40% less active than the GG allele in driving galanin expression
(Davidson et al., 2011). Both SNPs were found to be in linkage
disequilibrium (LD) with another SNP (rs2156464) previously associated with major depressive disorder. More recently, the GG haplotype,
which predicts greater galanin expression, has been shown to be
associated with problem drinking in women (Nikolova et al., 2013).
Here we have used the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and
Children (ALSPAC) cohort to study whether the galanin enhancer
haplotype is linked to a range of variables that relate to the known
pre-clinical functions of the galaninergic system. These include
body mass index, blood pressure, cognition, anxiety, and depression scores and usage of alcohol, cannabis, and smoking. Our initial
findings demonstrated a relationship of cannabis usage with the GG
haplotype, which predicts greater galanin expression (Davidson
et al., 2011). These findings however were not replicated in either
the Young Netherlands Twin Register (YNTR) or the Yale-UPenn
study, a large cohort of African (AAs) and European Americans
(EAs). Further, and despite the significant rodent pre-clinical data
sets, we found no association of the galanin enhancer haplotype
with the other pathophysiological parameters measured.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Cohort Descriptions
The ALSPAC study uses a population-based cohort to investigate
genetic and environmental factors that affect the health and
development of children. The study methods have been described
in detail elsewhere (Boyd et al., 2013) (http://www.bristol.ac.uk/
alspac). Briefly, 14,541 pregnant women residents in the former
region of Avon, UK, with an expected delivery date between 1st
April 1991 and 31st December 1992, were eligible to take part in
ALSPAC. There were 14,062 live born children, 13,988 of whom
were alive at 1 year. Ethical approval was obtained from the
ALSPAC Law and Ethics Committee and the Southmead, Frenchay,
UBHT and Weston Research Ethics Committees. Written informed
consent was obtained from parents for all measurements made.
YNTR is a population based study including more than 70,000
Dutch twins and their siblings, born after 1985 (van Beijsterveldt
et al., 2013). Briefly, the YNTR participants are registered at birth
and phenotyped longitudinally in surveys focused on behaviour
problems, health, and lifestyle. Up to the age of 14, the surveys are
completed by parents and teachers. From age 14 onward, the data
are collected by self-report, based on prior parental written consent.
The study protocol was approved by the Medical ethical committee
of the VU Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
(IRB00002991). For the present replication study, a sample of
362 individuals (mean age ¼ 17.96; range ¼ 14–27.5 years; 51.4%
males) was available. For these subjects both genotype data were
available as well as data on cannabis frequency. If more than one
time point was available, data collected in the most recent survey
were included in this analysis.
The Yale-UPenn study included 1,840 EA and 2,244 AA subjects
who had both genotype data and measures of cannabis use. All
subjects were recruited for studies of the genetics of drug (opioid or
cocaine) or alcohol dependence (Gelernter et al., 2013). The sample
consisted of small nuclear families (SNFs) originally collected for
linkage studies (primarily full sibs, half sibs, and parents, generally
no more than one parent per family) and unrelated individuals who
were recruited in the Eastern US (CT, PA, MA, and SC). Subjects
gave written informed consent as approved by the institutional
review board at each site, and certificates of confidentiality were
obtained from NIDA and NIAAA.
Data Collection
We initially identified four broad areas that galanin has been linked
to in previous epidemiological studies; metabolism, cognition,
depression, and addiction (see recent reviews (Lang et al., 2007;
Ogren et al., 2010; Picciotto et al., 2010)). We then selected traits
from the phenotypically-rich ALSPAC cohort which best represented these epidemiological areas of interest (see below and
supporting information).
Metabolism
Height was measured to the nearest 0.1 cm using a Leicester height
measure (Holtain Crosswell, Dyfed,UK) and weight was measured to
the nearest 0.1 kg using Tanita electronic scales. Waist circumference
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF MEDICAL GENETICS PART B
656
was measured to the nearest 1 mm at the mid-point between
the lower ribs and the pelvic bone with a flexible tape. Whole
body dual-emission X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) determined fat
and bone mass was assessed at the clinic using a Lunar Prodigy
scanner (GE Lunar, Madison, WI) with paediatric scanning software.
Blood Pressure was measured with a Dinamap 9301 vital monitor completed by trained staff using the appropriate cuff size. Two
readings of both systolic and diastolic blood pressure were taken
when the study participants were at rest and the mean of each were
used as a measurement in our analysis. Fasting blood samples were
taken from participants who attended the age14 clinic (median age:
15 years and 5 months, IQR: 15 years and 3 months–15 years and 7
months) after they had been asked to fast for at least six hours and
then immediately spun and frozen at 80˚C. Measurements were
then assayed three to nine months after the samples were taken.
Plasma lipid concentrations (including total cholesterol and triglycerides) were measured by modification of the standard lipid
research clinics protocol with enzymatic reagents for lipid determination (Myers et al., 2000).
Cognition
Measurements for participants reading level were taken at the age
7-clinic (median age: 7 years and 5 months, IQR: 7 years and
5 months–7 years and 6 months) using the Wechsler Objective
Reading Dimensions (WORD) test (Rust et al., 1993). The following
cognitive function measures were recorded at the age 8 clinic
(median age: 8 years and 7 months, IQR: 8 years and 6 months–
8 years and 8 months). IQ was measured using the Weschler
Intelligence Scale for Children (Weschler et al., 1992) (3rd UK
edition (WISC–III). A shortened version of the scale was applied by
trained psychologists who used alternate items for all subtests (with
the exception of the coding subtest) in the scale. Short-term memory
was also measured at the age 8 clinic using an adaption of the
Nonword Repetition Test (Gathercole et al., 1994). Participants
were asked to repeat 12 nonsense words comprised of three, four or
five syllables after hearing them on an audio cassette. The outcome
variable was recorded as the number of words repeated correctly.
Speech and language were tested using items from the oral expression and language comprehension subsets of the Wechsler Objective
Language Dimensions (Rust, 1996) (WOLD). At the age 10 clinic
(median age: 10 years and 7 months, IQR: 10 years and 5 months–10
and years and 9 months) working memory was assessed using the
Counting Span working memory task (Case et al., 1982) which
involved counting and recalling numbers of dots on a screen. Two
scores were recorded as separate variables, the span score which
represents the number of correctly recalled sets of dots (maximum
score of 5 in increments of 0.5) and a global score based on the
number of screens correctly answered (maximum score of 42).
Depression
Four thousand seven hundred thirty eight individuals who attended
the age 17 clinic (median age: 17 years and 9 months, IQR: 17 years
and 7 months–17 years and 11 months) completed a computerised
self-reported questionnaire for the revised version of the Clinical
Interview Schedule (CIS-R). CIS-R has been designed to identify
the nature and severity of any neurotic symptoms or presence of
neurosis experienced over the previous seven days (Lewis
et al., 1992). A variable was then generated using the five depression
symptom scores to get a continuous depression score. We dichotomised this variable to obtain a binary trait, where scores greater
than 12 were classed as a clinically significant levels of distress.
Furthermore, the ICD-10 diagnosis was also derived from the CISR data which allowed us to generate a categorical variable for
analysis (Organization, 1993).
Participants were also invited to a PLIKS (psychosis like symptoms) semi-structured interview (Horwood et al., 2008) (PLIKSi) at
the age 11 clinic (median age: 11 years and 9 months, IQR: 11 years
and 7 months–11 years and 10 months). The interview consisted of
12 core questions concerning the occurrence of hallucinations,
delusions, and experiences of thought interference over the past six
months. For more detail, seven of the questions were derived with
slight modification from DISC-IV (Shaffer et al., 2000) and the
other five from section 17 of the Schedules for Clinical Assessment
in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN) version 2.0 (Organization, 1994). The
interviewer categorised each PLIKs as either “not present”, “suspected” or “definitely present”, which were coded as 0, 1 or 2
respectively and combined to make an overall score.
Addiction
At both the age 14 clinic (median age: 15 years and 5 months, IQR:
15 years and 3 months–15 years and 7 months) and the age 17 clinic
(median age: 17 years and 9 months, IQR: 17 years and 7 months–17
years and 11 months) data on self-reported alcohol intake, cannabis
use and frequency of tobacco smoking in the past month was
collected. A subset of participants (N ¼ 2,933) at the age 17 clinic
had two cotinine level measurements (ng/ml) taken which were
assessed using immunoassay from blood plasma and the mean was
used as a measurement in our analysis. As we were interested in
quantifying addiction we removed all non-smokers from subsequent analyses (N ¼ 1,428). A dichotomised phenotype was also
calculated for this data using a cut-off of 50 ng/ml in order to
distinguish daily smokers from non-daily smokers, based on data
from a Finnish sample that used similar methods for cotinine assay
(Vartiainen et al., 2002).
Also at the age 17 clinic, participants were asked to complete a
six item cannabis abuse screen test (CAST) (Legleye et al., 2012)
which entailed questions about cannabis use in the past year. This
outcome was dichotomised for our analysis to distinguish between heavy cannabis users (i.e., a CAST score of one or more)
and infrequent cannabis users. The problem gambling severity
index (PGSI, derived from the longer Canadian Problem Gambling Inventory (Miller et al., 2013)) was administered to participants who had reportedly engaged in any of 16 types of
gambling in the past year. A PGSI score of 1 or more was used
to indicate a participant who had shown signs of problem
gambling in that time.
Yale-UPenn: Subjects were administered the Semi-Structured
Assessment for Drug Dependence and Alcoholism (SSADDA)
(Pierucci-Lagha et al., 2005) to determine the frequency of cannabis
use and time spent drinking heavily (detailed phenotype description below) as well as other major psychiatric traits. Subjects with
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RICHARDSON ET AL.
bipolar affective disorder or schizophrenia were excluded, except as
relatives. All subjects signed written informed consent as approved
by IRBs at each clinical site; and certificates of confidentiality were
obtained from NIAAA and NIDA.
ALSPAC Genotyping
Davidson et al., [2011] previously analysed the GAL5.1 haplotype
region (rs2513280 (C/G) and rs2513281 (A/G)). However, these
two SNPs are in perfect LD in European populations (R2 ¼ 1.00 and
D’ ¼ 1.00 in CEU according to HapMap) which makes rs2513280 a
perfect proxy for the GAL5.1 haplotype. All genotyping was performed by KBiosciences (Herts, UK) using their own system of
fluorescence based competitive allele-specific PCR (KASPar).
Details of assay design are available from the KBiosciences website
(http://www.kbioscience.co.uk). 8,365 offspring were successfully
genotyped for the rs2513280 (GAL) variant. Study participants with
a reported non-white ethnic background (N ¼ 21) were excluded
from analyses. A further 48 offspring were removed as they were
either the second born child or born in a multiple pregnancy. This
left a sample size of 8,296 which was in the Hardy-Weinberg
Equilibrium (x2 ¼ 0.26, P ¼ 0.610).
Statistical Analysis
ALSPAC: Pearson’s x2-test was used to examine if the genotype
distributions were consistent with Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium
(HWE). Genotypes were coded as 0, 1 or 2 based on the number of G
alleles, as Davidson et al., [2011] reported the GG haplotype to be
associated with higher activity of galanin. Linear regression was used
to investigate per-allele associations of rs2513280 with continuous
phenotypes. Multinomial logistic regression was applied to calculate
odds ratios (OR) for categorical traits using the addictive model of
inheritance. Phenotypes that were not normally distributed were log
transformed on the log 10 scale to approximate univariate normality
before conducting any analyses. Multiple testing was corrected for
using the Bonferroni correction (Bonferroni, 1936). Any possible
interaction between genotype and sex was assessed using the likelihood ratio test to compare two regression models, one which was
simply adjusted for sex and another which also included an interaction term for genotype sex. If this analysis provided evidence of
an interaction we analysed males and females separately to verify
whether any association appeared when stratifying by sex. This was
of particular interest for any relationship identified between
rs2513280 and alcohol as there has been a previously reported
gender-specific association with problem drinking at this locus
(Nikolova et al., 2013). Stata 12.0 software (StataCorp, College
Station, TX) was used for all statistical analyses.
YNTR: The analysis was performed in Plink (Purcell et al., 2007)
by using a logistic regression model. As the sample included sibships
of sizes 1–4, consisting of monozygotic and dizygotic twins and
additional siblings, a sandwich correction (Williams, 2000) was
used to take data clustering into account. Sex and age at the last
survey and three principal components were included as covariates.
Yale-UPenn: Two phenotypes were tested in the US cohort. The
first was a binary variable indicating whether, at the time of subject’s
lives during which they were using cannabis most heavily, they used
the drug 13 or more times per month. Association was tested with
rs2513280 using logistic regression models adjusted for age, sex, and
three principal components of ancestry. The SNP was tested
separately in EAs and AAs. Generalized estimating equations
were used to correct the standard error for the fact that the sample
contained related individuals.
RESULTS
Metabolism
Body mass index and waist circumference were analysed as continuous traits at six different time points (Tables I and II), and there
was no evidence that rs2513280 was associated with either of these
phenotypes. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure were analysed as
continuous traits across four time points but there was also little
evidence of an association or discernible trend across genotypes
(Table III). Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA)-assessed fat
and bone mass was analysed at four time points and although the
results for fat mass were negative there was an addictive trend across
genotypes at ages 9 and 13 for bone mass (P ¼ 0.014 and 0.023
respectively, Table IV). However, these results were not strong
enough to survive the correction for multiple comparisons at a 5%
level. Fasting triglycerides were analysed as a continuous traits but
the result were not associated with rs2513280 (P ¼ 0.207). We then
used the 90th percentile to classify cases and controls for hypertriglyceridemia (the same cut-off as used by Plaisier et al., 2009).
TABLE I. Association of rs2513280 (GAL) Genotypes with BMI (kg/m2) in the ALSPAC Cohort
Mean age (years)
7.6
9.9
10.7
11.8
13.9
15.5
N
6,075
5,819
5,622
5,421
4,746
4,176
C/C
16.178 (1.922)
17.722 (2.755)
18.153 (2.852)
18.777 (3.100)
19.880 (3.137)
21.182 (3.490)
C/G
16.199 (2.082)
17.655 (2.893)
18.212 (3.104)
19.109 (3.462)
20.388 (3.477)
21.363 (3.530)
G/G
16.239 (2.023)
17.687 (2.810)
18.201 (3.060)
19.026 (3.337)
20.327 (3.442)
21.413 (3.500)
Padd
0.416
0.729
0.977
0.861
0.801
0.468
Pdom
0.811
0.817
0.942
0.412
0.162
0.515
Genotype data are presented as mean (standard deviation).
Padd, P-value for addictive effect (C/C ¼ 0, C/G ¼ 1, G/G ¼ 2); Pdom, P-value for dominant effect (C/C ¼ 0, C/G¼ 1, G/G ¼ 1); Prec, P-value for recessive effect (C/C ¼ 0, C/G ¼ 0, G/G ¼ 1).
Prec
0.403
0.640
0.955
0.643
0.856
0.548
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TABLE II. Association of rs2513280 (GAL) Genotypes With Waist Circumference (cm) in the ALSPAC Cohort
Mean age (years)
7.6
9.9
10.7
11.8
13.9
15.5
N
6,078
5,867
5,659
5,423
4,741
3,454
C/C
56.357 (4.731)
62.830 (7.638)
65.269 (7.890)
67.487 (8.181)
70.872 (8.528)
75.574 (9.183)
C/G
56.293 (5.219)
62.787 (7.855)
65.476 (8.612)
68.401 (9.471)
72.114 (8.861)
76.533 (8.907)
G/G
56.467 (5.161)
62.894 (7.671)
65.523 (8.662)
68.204 (9.373)
72.050 (9.310)
76.645 (8.823)
Padd
0.266
0.600
0.799
0.836
0.707
0.383
Pdom
0.948
0.958
0.823
0.429
0.170
0.275
Prec
0.219
0.566
0.832
0.625
0.973
0.531
Genotype data are presented as mean (standard deviation).
Padd, P-value for addictive effect (C/C ¼ 0, C/G ¼ 1, G/G ¼ 2); Pdom, P-value for dominant effect (C/C ¼ 0, C/G¼ 1, G/G ¼ 1); Prec, P-value for recessive effect (C/C ¼ 0, C/G ¼ 0, G/G ¼ 1).
TABLE III. Association of rs2513280 (GAL) Genotypes With Blood Pressure (mmHg) in the ALSPAC Cohort
Mean age (years)
7.6
N
6,013
9.9
5,806
11.8
5,378
15.5
4,087
Type
Systolic
Diastolic
Systolic
Diastolic
Systolic
Diastolic
Systolic
Diastolic
C/C
98.578 (8.550)
55.799 (5.592)
102.821 (8.875)
57.959 (6.336)
104.706 (10.054)
58.399 (6.155)
122.208 (10.398)
67.609 (8.107)
C/G
98.644 (9.058)
56.409 (6.590)
102.710 (9.280)
57.431 (6.357)
105.494 (9.858)
58.899 (6.509)
122.660 (10.928)
67.512 (8.946)
G/G
98.932 (9.259)
56.301 (6.665)
102.710 (9.280)
57.359 (6.388)
105.496 (9.810)
58.659 (6.585)
123.098 (10.890)
67.412 (8.696)
Padd
0.275
0.986
0.897
0.393
0.660
0.452
0.187
0.709
Pdom
0.731
0.358
0.897
0.298
0.386
0.594
0.493
0.850
Prec
0.265
0.749
0.918
0.537
0.832
0.309
0.207
0.720
Genotype data are presented as mean (standard deviation).
Padd, P-value for addictive effect (C/C ¼ 0, C/G ¼ 1, G/G ¼ 2); Pdom, P-value for dominant effect (C/C ¼ 0, C/G¼ 1, G/G ¼ 1); Prec, P-value for recessive effect (C/C ¼ 0, C/G ¼ 0, G/G ¼ 1).
There was an increased odds per allele towards the G allele,
suggesting that higher galanin expression contributes to increased
risk of hypertriglyceridemia, although the sample was too small to
identify evidence of an association (OR: 1.15 (95% CI 0.90–1.47)
P ¼ 0.267, N ¼ 2863).
Cognition
We analysed data collected from the WORD, IQ, Nonword repetition, WOLD and the Counting Span Working Memory Task tests as
continuous variables (WORD median age: 7 years and 5 months;
TABLE IV. Association of rs2513280 (GAL) Genotypes With DXA-assessed Fat and Bone Mass (kg) in the ALSPAC Cohort
Fat/bone
Fat
Bone
Fat
Bone
Fat
Bone
Fat
Bone
Mean age (years)
9.9
N
5,608
11.8
5,355
13.9
4,688
15.5
4,012
C/C
8.374 (4.729)
1.209 (0.188)
11.075 (6.008)
1.543 (0.277)
12.699 (7.497)
2.036 (0.367)
14.402 (8.663)
2.462 (0.436)
C/G
8.488 (5.086)
1.209 (0.205)
11.794 (6.857)
1.546 (0.302)
13.866 (8.011)
2.090 (0.412)
15.099 (9.062)
2.491 (0.476)
G/G
8.537 (5.029)
1.224 (0.199)
11.617 (6.662)
1.558 (0.291)
13.738 (8.002)
2.112 (0.404)
15.413 (9.135)
2.515 (0.467)
Padd
0.610
0.014
0.815
0.181
0.831
0.023
0.188
0.087
Pdom
0.654
0.528
0.385
0.661
0.100
0.077
0.271
0.343
Genotype data are presented as mean (standard deviation).
Padd, P-value for addictive effect (C/C ¼ 0, C/G ¼ 1, G/G ¼ 2); Pdom, P-value for dominant effect (C/C ¼ 0, C/G¼ 1, G/G ¼ 1); Prec, P-value for recessive effect (C/C ¼ 0, C/G ¼ 0, G/G ¼ 1).
Prec
0.670
0.010
0.588
0.174
0.761
0.047
0.263
0.105
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RICHARDSON ET AL.
TABLE V. Association of rs2513280 (GAL) Genotypes With Measures of Cognition in the ALSPAC cohort
Test
WORD
IQ
Nonword
WOLD
Count–Span score
Count–Global score
Mean age (years)
7.5
8.7
8.7
8.7
10.6
10.6
N
5,986
5,517
5,532
5,561
5,271
5,271
C/C
28.060 (9.489)
104.946 (18.336)
7.422 (2.360)
7.419 (2.079)
1.221 (0.220)
18.520 (7.624)
C/G
28.409 (8.847)
104.109 (15.961)
7.236 (2.499)
7.391 (1.894)
1.179 (0.341)
18.315 (6.897)
G/G
28.472 (9.393)
105.042 (16.508)
7.270 (2.522)
7.550 (1.981)
1.194 (0.320)
18.355 (7.566)
Padd
0.657
0.124
0.813
0.032
0.434
0.274
Pdom
0.627
0.914
0.381
0.455
0.292
0.927
Prec
0.734
0.076
0.981
0.030
0.216
0.205
Genotype data are presented as mean (standard deviation).
WORD, Wechsler Objective Reading Dimensions (number of correct words read (maximum of 55 words)); IQ, IQ test; Nonword, Nonword Repetition test (0–12 correct answers, children were asked to repeat
12 “nonwords”); WOLD, Listening comprehension and oral expression (0-15 correct answers); Count, Counting span working memory task; Span score (maximum score of 5 in increments of 0.5) and Global
score (maximum score of 42).
Padd, P-value for addictive effect (C/C ¼ 0, C/G ¼ 1, G/G ¼ 2); Pdom, P-value for dominant effect (C/C ¼ 0, C/G¼ 1, G/G ¼ 1); Prec, P-value for recessive effect (C/C ¼ 0, C/G ¼ 0, G/G ¼ 1).
Counting Span Working Memory Task median age: 10 years and
7 months; all other measures taken at median age: 8 years and 7
months) (Table V). We found some evidence of association between rs2513280 and the offspring’s results for the WOLD test
(P ¼ 0.032), although it was not robust enough to survive the
correction for multiple comparisons.
Depression
Depression scores (median age: 7 years and 5 months, IQR: 7 years
and 5 months–7 years and 6 months) based on the CIS-R questionnaire data were analysed as continuous and categorical variables,
although neither suggested that rs2513280 was associated with
depression using this criteria (P ¼ 0.338 and P ¼ 0.824 respectively,
N ¼ 3,420). Furthermore, using the ICD-10 diagnosis criteria to
diagnose cases for depression provided no evidence of an association (OR ¼ 1.086, P ¼ 0.529, N ¼ 3,408). Similarly, psychosis like
symptoms (PLIKS) (median age: 11 years and 9 months, IQR:
11 years and 7 months–11 years and 10 months) was also not
associated with rs2513280 (P ¼ 0.373).
Addiction
Results for analyses between rs2513280 and all addiction related
phenotypes are presented in Table VI.
Cannabis. When quantifying addiction using frequency of
cannabis used (median age: 17 years and 9 months, IQR: 17 years
and 7 months–17 years and 11 months) we observed strong
evidence of an association when comparing very frequent users
(4þ times per week) with occasional users (2–3 times per week)
(OR ¼ 2.243, P ¼ 0.018, N ¼ 169). We also observed increased odds
when comparing heavy users (i.e. a CAST score of one or more) with
occasional users (a CAST score of 0 despite using cannabis at least
once in the last year) (OR ¼ 2.070, P ¼ 0.007, N ¼ 406). However,
as our sample size for these analyses were relatively small we sought
out replication to strengthen the evidence that the observed signal
was robust. The association of rs2513280 with the frequency of
cannabis usage was analysed in the Yale-UPenn cohort (mean
age ¼ 40.0; range ¼ 16–79 years) and the YNTR sample (mean
age ¼ 17.96; range ¼ 14–27.5 years). Obtaining a similar phenotype
definition to the one used in the ALSPAC cohort was challenging as
TABLE VI. Association of rs2513280 (GAL) Genotypes With Addiction Related Traits in the ALSPAC Cohort
Phenotype
CAST score
Frequency of cannabis use
1 Day ‘Binge drinking‘
Frequency of alcohol use
Frequency of alcohol use
Daily versus non-daily cigarette smokers
PGSI score
Mean age (years)
17.8
17.8
15.5
15.5
17.8
17.8
17.8
N
406
169
3538
2272
1530
878
2353
Case (%)
32.3
48.6
8.8
9.1
49.8
20.2
8.4
Control (%)
67.6
51.4
91.2
90.9
50.2
79.8
91.6
C/C (%)
2.2
2.3
2.2
2.2
2.2
2.2
2.2
C/G (%)
25.6
23.7
26.6
25.0
25.7
26.0
25.6
Genotype data are presented as percentage.
CAST, Cannabis abuse screening test—CAST Score of 1 or more ¼ 1, CAST Score of 0 ¼ 0 (having still used cannabis within the last 12 months).
Frequency of cannabis use, 4þ times per week ¼ 1, 2–3 times per week ¼ 0.
1 day ‘Binge drinking‘– participants were asked whether they spent a great deal of their day drinking alcohol over the last 2 years (yes ¼ 1, no ¼0).
Frequency of alcohol use—drinking 2–3 times per week ¼ 1, monthly 0.
PGSI, Problem gambling severity index—Problematic gambling exhibited in the past ¼ 1, non-problem or no gambling in the past year ¼ 0.
Padd, P-value for addictive effect (C/C ¼ 0, C/G ¼ 1, G/G ¼ 2).
G/G (%)
72.2
74.0
71.2
72.8
72.1
71.8
72.2
OR
2.070
2.243
1.338
1.286
1.226
1.001
1.175
Padd
0.007
0.018
0.022
0.124
0.046
0.997
0.299
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF MEDICAL GENETICS PART B
660
the observation periods were different. The frequency of cannabis
use was therefore analysed in the Yale-UPenn cohort by comparing
subjects who used cannabis 12 days or less of the month with those
who used cannabis 13 days or more per month. In the YNTR cohort,
light cannabis users (1–4 times in the last month) were compared
with heavy users (more than 20 times per month). For both, this was
as comparable as we could get to our initial phenotype definition in
the ALSPAC cohort. However, no discernible trend across genotypes was observed in either cohort (Yale-UPenn: AAs—OR ¼ 1.10,
P ¼ 0.368, N ¼ 2244, EAs—OR ¼ 1.07, P ¼ 0.620, N ¼ 1840;
YNTR: OR ¼ 0.284, P ¼ 0.138, N ¼ 74).
Alcohol. At the age 15 clinic (median age: 15 years and
5 months, IQR: 15 years and 3 months–15 years and 7 months),
teenagers were asked whether they spent a great deal of their day
drinking alcohol over the last two years (i.e., at least one day ‘binge
drinking’). Analysing this trait provided evidence to suggest
rs2513280 was associated with this addiction-related phenotype
(OR ¼ 1.338, P ¼ 0.022, N ¼ 3538). Frequency of alcohol intake
was also analysed at two time points by calculating the odds of those
who reportedly drank alcohol 2–3 times per week compared to
those who drank monthly or less. There was little evidence of an
association with rs2513280 at age 14 (OR ¼ 1.286, P ¼ 0.124,
N ¼ 2272). However, at the age 17 clinic (median age: 17 years
and 9 months, IQR: 17 years and 7 months–17 years and 11 months)
there was nominal evidence of association (OR ¼ 1.226, P ¼ 0.046,
N ¼ 1530) although it was not robust enough to survive the
correction for multiple comparisons. The relationships between
rs2513280 and phenotypes based on alcohol intake were further
examined to verify whether there was evidence of an interaction
between genotype and gender. However, results from these analyses
did little to support this in both the observed association with
drinking for a great deal of the day (P ¼ 0.288) and drinking alcohol
2–3 times per week compared to monthly or less (P ¼ 0.314).
Smoking. Our analysis for both measurements of cotinine
levels as continuous traits (median age: 17 years and 9 months,
IQR: 17 years and 7 months–17 years and 11 months) resulted in
little evidence of association with rs2513280 (Table VII). Furthermore, dichotomising this phenotype using a cut-off of 50 ng/
ml in order to calculate odds of daily smokers versus non-daily
suggested rs2513280 did not have a strong effect on addiction
using this trait (OR ¼ 1.072, P ¼ 0.620). There was no discernible
trend across genotypes for frequency of cigarette smoking on a
daily basis (P ¼ 0.359, N ¼ 373) and comparing the odds for those
who smoked on a daily basis compared to non-daily smokers
(OR ¼ 1.00, P ¼ 0.997, N ¼ 878) suggest rs2513280 was not con-
tributing to frequency of cigarette smoking. These results were
concordant with large genome-wide association studies which
found no evidence of association with cigarette smoking with
SNPs in the GAL gene region (Tobacco and Genetics, 2010; David
et al., 2012; Yoon et al., 2012).
Gambling. Comparing individuals who had shown signs of
problematic gambling in the last year (i.e. a PGSI score of 1 or more)
with those who did not, provided little evidence to suggest that
rs2513280 was associated with gambling addiction (OR ¼ 1.175,
P ¼ 0.299, N ¼ 2353).
DISCUSSION
We have undertaken extensive analyses to investigate the effects of a
galanin enhancer genotype (rs2513280) on a range of phenotypes
that are related to known functions of the galaninergic system (see
recent reviews (Lang et al., 2007; Ogren et al., 2010; Picciotto
et al., 2010)). Despite finding evidence of association with cannabis
use in the ALSPAC cohort, we were unable to replicate this effect in
the YNTR and Yale-UPenn cohorts. We found little evidence to
suggest that SNP rs2513280 has an impact on any of the other traits
analysed in our evaluations.
Galanin has been shown to increase alcohol consumption under
a number of pre-clinical experimental paradigms. Administration
of the neuropeptide into the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) or
third ventricle potently increases alcohol intake in normal adult rats
and those selected for high intake (Lewis et al., 2004; Rada
et al., 2004; Schneider et al., 2007). Conversely, the non-selective
galanin antagonist M40 decreases alcohol consumption and inhibits galanin-stimulated alcohol intake (Lewis et al., 2004; Rada
et al., 2004). These findings may initially appear to be at odds
with other studies showing that galanin decreases the responses to
other drugs of abuse such as morphine, cocaine, and amphetamines
(reviewed in (Picciotto et al., 2010)). It should be noted however
that alcohol has a significant caloric value and may therefore utilise
the same hypothalamic circuits that are known to mediate the
stimulatory effects of galanin on food intake (Leibowitz et al., 2003;
Schneider et al., 2007). Galanin injection into the PVN increases
dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens (Rada et al., 1998)
which would be consistent with the rewarding effects of alcohol
(reviewed in (Picciotto et al., 2010)). In support of these rodent
findings a number of studies have shown an association between
alcoholism and SNPs in the genes for galanin or Gal3 receptor, but
not Gal1 and Gal2 (Belfer et al., 2006; Belfer et al., 2007; Nikolova
et al., 2013) and most recently, the GG haplotype has been shown
TABLE VII. Association of rs2513280 (GAL) Genotypes With Cotinine Levels (ng/ml) Addiction Related Traits in the ALSPAC Cohort
Measurement
1
2
N
1,428
1,428
C/C
42.428 (74.903)
43.281 (79.543)
C/G
33.627 (80.544)
34.402 (83.448)
G/G
38.765 (85.076)
41.540 (89.560)
Padd
0.457
0.283
Pdom
0.763
0.831
Genotype data are presented as mean (standard deviation).
Padd, P-value for addictive effect (C/C ¼ 0, C/G ¼ 1, G/G ¼ 2); Pdom, P-value for dominant effect (C/C ¼ 0, C/G¼ 1, G/G ¼ 1); Prec, P-value for recessive effect (C/C ¼ 0, C/G ¼ 0, G/G ¼ 1).
Prec
0.361
0.210
661
RICHARDSON ET AL.
to be associated with problem drinking in women (Nikolova
et al., 2013). Of note, recent genome-wide association studies of
alcohol use failed to identify any genetic variants in the galaninergic
system that reached genome-wide significance (Kapoor et al., 2013;
Gelernter et al., 2014). To date, we have been unable to identify any
pre-clinical or clinical published studies that link galanin to cannabis usage.
The GG haplotype of the GAL5.1 enhancer region of the galanin
gene has been evolutionary conserved and represents the major
haplotype in human populations. Davidson et al. showed a 40%
higher level of galanin expression than the CA allele in transfected
cultured rat hypothalamic neurons (Davidson et al., 2011). The
failure to replicate the initial association in the ALSPAC cohort of
rs2513280 with the frequency of cannabis use in the Yale-UPenn
and YNTR cohorts may be due in part to the difficulties we faced in
phenotype harmonisation between the cohorts. Supplementary
Tables SI and SIII compare the ALSPAC cohort with both replication samples and reflect the challenge we encountered for replication due to the disparity between samples, particularly for age and
sample size. We attempted to dichotomise cannabis usage in the
YNTR cohort to resemble the phenotype definition in the ALSPAC
cohort as closely as possible; however this caused our replication
sample size to become relatively small. Of significance, whilst
initiation of cannabis use and its withdrawal are both heritable,
little is known about the underlying genetic aetiology. Recent metaanalyses and genome-wide association studies of cannabis use
with >10,000 individuals failed to identify any genetic variants
that reached genome-wide significance (Le et al., 2009; Verweij
et al., 2013a; Verweij et al., 2013b).
It is also important to focus on the lack of association of rs2513280
with the many other phenotypes that might have been expected to
demonstrate a link with galanin, based on the pre-clinical rodent
findings. We did not identify an association of rs2513280 with
smoking, which is consistent with previous studies that have only
shown an association with an intronic SNP in the Gal1 gene (Gold
et al., 2012). Similarly, the absence of a relationship with body mass
index, waist circumference, fat mass, and blood pressure are all
consistent with other negative association studies previously
reported for the galaninergic system (Schauble et al., 2005; Sutton
et al., 2006). A previous study (Plaisier et al., 2009) demonstrated an
association in Dutch, Finnish, and Mexican familial combined
hyperlipidaemia families with an allele residing 5.6 kb upstream
of the transcriptional start site of the GAL gene. The lack of an
association of rs2513280 with fasting triglyceride levels in the
ALSPAC cohort may be explained by the fact that the vast majority
of the cohorts have normal triglyceride levels and thus are most
unlikely to have a combined hyperlipidaemia. Further, it is possible
that the two galanin enhancer regions which are more than 35 kb
apart may differentially regulate galanin expression in differing
tissues or cell types. We also failed to identify an association of
rs2513280 with the various tests of cognition, and are unaware of any
previous reports testing linkage of polymorphisms in any of genes
involved in the galaninergic system with measures of cognition.
In contrast to the above, the lack of an association of rs2513280
with depression was initially surprising since Davidson et al., [2011]
had shown it to be in LD with another closely located SNP
(rs2156464, R2 ¼ 0.687) in the galanin promoter which has been
associated with major depressive disorder in adults (Wray et al.,
2010). The lack of an association with depression in the ALSPAC
cohort may be explained in part by the small sample size and the
mean age of the subjects (17.8 years) when the depression scores
were measured. At that time point only 8.4% of the cohort had an
ICD-10 diagnosis for depression (whether mild, moderate or
severe), and thus it is not surprising that we failed to identify an
association with rs2513280. Further, it is possible that environmentally-induced epigenetic modification of GAL5.1 might be
partly responsible for reducing the significance of some of these
association studies. For example, hypomethylation of enhancer
regions that regulate neuropeptide expression in the hypothalamus
have been shown to be strongly influenced by early life stress
(Murgatroyd et al., 2009).
Other SNPs within the GAL gene region to have been previously
implicated in disease susceptibility include rs2187331 (R2 ¼ 0.687
with rs2513280), which has been linked with increased triglyceride
levels (16), and rs948854 (R2 ¼ 0.462 with rs2513280) which has
shown evidence of association with opioid dependence (Beer et al.,
2013). As we did not find evidence to suggest that rs2513280 was
implicated in triglyceride synthesis and as it was not in high linkage
disequilibrium with rs948854. Other previously reported SNPs
within the GAL gene region did not appear to be in linkage
disequilibrium with rs2513280 (rs694066 (R2 ¼ 0.007) and
rs7101947 (R2 ¼ 0.135)) (Ruano et al., 2006).
According to HapMap there seems to be some variation between
the minor allele frequencies of rs2513280 across different ethnic
groups. As the ALSPAC cohort consists predominantly of individuals with a maternally reported European ethnic origin we were not
able to robustly evaluate how this variation may affect the results of
our study. However, it is important for future studies that investigate the effects of rs2513280 using a more ethnically diverse sample
to adjust for this possible population stratification accordingly.
In summary, we have used a large longitudinal cohort of over
10,000 young adults and failed to demonstrate an association between a SNP in a galanin enhancer region, which predicts an increase
in galanin expression, with any of the pathophysiological parameters
measured. Our results also illustrate the importance of seeking
independent replication of initial promising findings, even when
these are informed by relevant neurobiology and preclinical data
(Munafo and Gage, 2013). It is increasingly clear that the contribution of individual common genetic variants to complex behavioural
traits will be very small, so that very large samples will be required to
reliably detect these (Munafo and Flint, 2011). Whilst genome-wide
methods are hampered by the need to harmonise phenotypes across
contributing studies, and the requirement to achieve genome-wide
significance, these have typically generated more reproducible findings than candidate gene methods (Flint and Munafo, 2013).
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ALSPAC: We are extremely grateful to all the families who took part
in this study, the midwives for their help in recruiting them, and the
whole ALSPAC team, which includes interviewers, computer and
laboratory technicians, clerical workers, research scientists, volunteers, manager, receptionists, and nurses. The support by the
Medical Research Council and The Wellcome Trust to the ALSPAC
662
study and to named individuals is gratefully acknowledged. MRM is
a member of the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, a
UKCRC Public Health Research: Centre of Excellence. Funding
from British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Economic
and Social Research Council, Medical Research Council, and the
National Institute for Health Research, under the auspices of the UK
Clinical Research Collaboration, is gratefully acknowledged. YNTR:
JMV and CCM are supported by ERC grant Beyond the genetics of
Addiction (PI: Vink), 284167. Data collection was supported by
NIH: 1RO1DK0921127-01 (PI: de Geus/Hudziak, Co-PI: Bartels),
2010-2015 Determinants of Adolescent Exercise Behavior; towards
Evidence-Based Intervention. NWO: 463-06-001 (Vrije Competitie) (PI: Bartels), 2006-2010 Genetic and Family Influences on
Adolescent Psychopathology and Wellness; NWO: 451-04-034
(Veni) (PI: Bartels), 2004-2007 A Twin-Sibling Study of Adolescent
Wellness. We thank C. Huppertz and M. Bartels for respectively
data collection and supervision of data collection of the adolescent
data for the NTR. Yale-UPenn: We appreciate the work in recruitment and assessment provided at McLean Hospital by Roger Weiss
at the Medical University of South Carolina by Kathleen Brady and
Raymond Anton and at the University of Pennsylvania by David
Oslin. Genotyping services for a part of our GWAS study were
provided by the Center for Inherited Disease Research (CIDR) and
Yale University (Center for Genome Analysis). CIDR is fully funded
through a federal contract from the National Institutes of Health to
The Johns Hopkins University (contract number N01-HG-65403).
We are grateful to Ann Marie Lacobelle, Michelle Cucinelli, Christa
Robinson and Greg Dalton-Kay for their excellent technical assistance, to the SSADDA interviewers, led by Yari Nuñez and Michelle
Slivinsky, who devoted substantial time and effort to phenotype the
study sample and to John Farrell for database management assistance. This study was supported by National Institutes of Health
Grants RC2 DA028909, R01 DA12690, R01 DA12849, R01
DA18432, R01 AA11330, R01 AA017535 and the VA Connecticut
and Philadelphia VA MIRECCs.
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