Neuropeptide Y (NPY) gene: impact on emotional processing and treatment response in anxious depression

Abstract

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) has been found to play a role in the pathomechanism of both anxiety and depression. Thus, NPY is a promising candidate in the investigation of the clinical phenotype of “anxious depression”.

Five NPY gene variants were investigated for an influence on antidepressant treatment response in a sample of 256 patients with depression. Additionally, NPY gene impact on amygdala activation during facial emotion processing was analyzed in a subsample of 35 depressed patients.

Particularly in anxious depression, the less active NPY rs16147 −399C allele conferred slow response after 2 weeks and failure to achieve remission after four weeks of treatment. The rs16147 C allele was further associated with stronger bilateral amygdala activation in response to threatening faces in an allele-dose fashion.

The present results point towards a possible influence of functional NPY gene variation on antidepressant treatment response in anxious depression, potentially conveyed by altered emotional processing.