Hair cortisol in twins:heritability and genetic overlap with psychological variables and stress-system genes

Abstract Hair cortisol concentration (HCC) is a promising measure of long-term hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity. Previous research has suggested an association between HCC and psychological variables, and initial studies of inter-individual variance in HCC have implicated genetic factors. However, whether HCC and psychological variables share genetic risk factors remains unclear. The aims of the present twin study were to: (i) assess the heritability of HCC; (ii) estimate the phenotypic and genetic correlation between HPA axis activity and the psychological variables perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and neuroticism; using formal genetic twin models and molecular genetic methods, i.e. polygenic risk scores (PRS). HCC was measured in 671 adolescents and young adults. These included 115 monozygotic and 183 dizygotic twin-pairs. For 432 subjects PRS scores for plasma cortisol, major depression, and neuroticism were calculated using data from large genome wide association studies. The twin model revealed a heritability for HCC of 72%. No significant phenotypic or genetic correlation was found between HCC and the three psychological variables of interest. PRS did not explain variance in HCC. The present data suggest that HCC is highly heritable. However, the data do not support a strong biological link between HCC and any of the investigated psychological variables.Consortia CORtisolNETwork (CORNET) Consortium Jennifer L. Bolton21 Caroline Hayward23 Nese Direk24,25 Anna Anderson21 Jennifer Huffman23 James F. Wilson26 Harry Campbell26 Igor Rudan26 Alan Wright23 Nicholas Hastie23 Sarah H. Wild26 Fleur P. Velders24 Albert Hofman24 Andre G. Uitterlinden24,27 Jari Lahti28 Katri Räikkönen28 Eero Kajantie29 Elisabeth Widen30 Aarno Palotie30,31 Johan G. Eriksson29,32,33,34,35 Marika Kaakinen36 Marjo-Riitta Järvelin36,37,38,39 Nicholas J. Timpson40 George Davey Smith40 Susan M. Ring41 David M. Evans40 Beate St Pourcain41 Toshiko Tanaka42 Yuri Milaneschi42,43 Stefania Bandinelli44 Luigi Ferrucci42 Pim van der Harst45,46,47 Judith GM Rosmalen48 Stephen JL Bakker49 Niek Verweij45 Robin PF Dullaart49 Anubha Mahajan50 Cecilia M. Lindgren50 Andrew Morris50 Lars Lind51 Erik Ingelsson51 Laura N. Anderson52 Craig E. Pennell53 Stephen J. Lye52 Stephen G. Matthews54 Joel Eriksson55 Dan Mellstrom55 Claes Ohlsson55 Jackie F. Price26 Mark WJ Strachan21 Rebecca M. Reynolds21 Henning Tiemeier24,56,57 Major Depressive Disorder Working Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC) Stephan Ripke58,59,60 Manuel Mattheisen61,62,63 Abdel Abdellaoui64 Mark J. Adams65 Esben Agerbo66,8,67 Tracy M. Air68 Till FM Andlauer69,70 Silviu-Alin Bacanu71 Marie Bækvad-Hansen67,72 Aartjan TF Beekman43 David A. Bennett73 Klaus Berger74 Tim B. Bigdeli71,11 Jonas Bybjerg-Grauholm67,72 Enda M. Byrne5 Na Cai75 Enrique Castelao76 Toni-Kim Clarke65 Jonathan RI Coleman77 Converge Consortium78 Nick Craddock79 Udo Dannlowski80,81 Gareth Davies82 Gail Davies83 Eco. J. C. de Geus64,84 Philip De Jager85 Ian J. Deary83 Franziska Degenhardt12,13 Erin C. Dunn86,87,88 Erik A. Ehli82 Thalia C. Eley77 Valentina Escott-Price89 Tõnu Esko58,90,91,92 Hilary K. Finucane93,94 Michael Gill95 Scott D. Gordon96 Jakob Grove61,62,67,97 Lynsey S. Hall65,98 Thomas F. Hansen99,100 Christine Søholm Hansen67,72 Thomas F. Hansen101 Andrew C. Heath102 Anjali K. Henders5 Stefan Herms12,13,15 Per Hoffmann12,13,15 Georg Homuth103 Carsten Horn104 Jouke- Jan Hottenga64 David Hougaard67,72 Hailiang Huang59,86,105 Marcus Ising106 Rick Jansen43 Eric Jorgenson107 Stefan Kloiber108,109 James A Knowles110 Warren W. Kretzschmar50 Jesper Krogh111 Zoltán Kutalik112,113 Maren Lang3 Glyn Lewis114 Yihan Li50 Donald J. MacIntyre115,116 Pamela AF Madden102 Jonathan Marchine117 Hamdi Mbarek118,64 Peter McGuffin77 Divya Mehta119 Andres Metspalu92,120 Christel M. Middeldorp64 Evelin Mihailov92,121 Lili Milani92 Grant W. Montgomery122 Sara Mostafavi123,124 Niamh Mullins77 Matthias Nauck125,126 Bernard Ng124 Merete Nordentoft67,127 Dale R. Nyholt128 Michael C. O’Donovan129 Paul F. O’Reilly77 Hogni Oskarsson130 Michael J. Owen129 Sara A. Paciga131 Carsten Bøcker Pedersen66,67,8 Marianne Giørtz Pedersen66,67,8 Nancy L. Pedersen132 Michele L. Pergadia133 Roseann E. Peterson11,71 Erik Pettersson134 Wouter J. Peyrot43 David J. Porteous135 Danielle Posthuma136,137 James B. Potash138 Jorge A. Quiroz139 John P. Rice102 Brien P. Riley71 Margarita Rivera77,140 Douglas M. Ruderfer141 Saira Saeed Mirza24 Robert Schoevers142 Ling Shen107 Jianxin Shi143 Engilbert Sigurdsson144 Grant CB Sinnamon145 Johannes H. Smit43 Daniel J. Smith146 Jordan W. Smoller86 Hreinn Stephansson147 Stacy Steinberg147 Jana Strohmaier3 Katherine E. Tansey148 Alexander Teumer149 Wesley Thompson100,135,150,151,152 Pippa A. Thomson135 Thorgeir E. Thorgeirsson147 Jens Treutlein3 Maciej Trzaskowski153 Daniel Umbricht154 Sandra van der Auwera155 Gerard van Grootheest43 Albert M. van Hemert156 Alexander Viktorin132 Henry Völzke149 Yunpeng Wang67,100,151 Bradley T. Webb157 Myrna M. Weissman158,159 Jürgen Wellmann74 Gonneke Willemsen64 Hualin S. Xi160 Bernhard T. Baune68 Douglas H. R. Blackwood65 Dorret I. Boomsma64 Anders D. Børglum61,62,67 Henriette N. Buttenschøn62,67,161 Sven Cichon12,162,163,164 Enrico Domenici165 Jonathan Flint50,166 Hans J. Grabe155 Steven P. Hamilton167 Kenneth S. Kendler71 Qingqin S. Li168 Susanne Lucae106 Patrik K. Magnusson132 Andrew M. McIntosh65,83 Ole Mors67,169 Preben Bo Mortensen62,8,67 Bertram Müller-Myhsok69,70,170 Brenda WJH Penninx43 Roy H. Perlis87,171 Martin Preisig76 Catherine Schaefer107 Jordan W. Smoller87,88 Kari Stephansson147 Henning Tiemeier24,56,57 Rudolf Uher172 Thomas Werge100,150,173 Ashley R. Winslow174,175 Gerome Breen77,176 Douglas F. Levinson177 Cathryn M. Lewis77,178 Naomi R. Wray5,153 Patrick F. 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