Translational studies support a role for serotonin 2B receptor (HTR2B) gene in aggression-related cannabis response

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Janitza L. Montalvo-Ortiz, Yale School of Medicine; Hang Zhou, Yale School of Medicine; Ivana D'Andrea, Sorbonne Universités; Luc Maroteaux, Sorbonne Universités; Adriana Lori, Emory University; Alicia Smith, Emory University; Kerry Ressler, Emory University; Yaira Z. Nunez, Yale School of Medicine; Lindsay A. Farrer, Boston University; Hongyu Zhao, Yale School of Medicine; Henry R. Kranzler, University of Pennsylvania; Joel Gelernter, Yale School of Medicine
• Language: English
• Date: 2018-12-01
• Publisher: Springer Nature [academic journals on nature.com]: Hybrid Journals
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2018, Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature.
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41380-018-0077-6
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Molecular Psychiatry
• ISSN: 1359-4184
• Volume: 23
• Issue: 12
• Start Page: 2277
• End Page: 2286
• Grant/Funding Information: Funding support for genotyping, which was performed at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Inherited Disease Research, was provided by the NIH GEI (U01HG004438), the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the NIH contract "High throughput genotyping for studying the genetic contributions to human disease" (HHSN268200782096C).; LM and ID'A have been supported by funds from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, the Université Pierre et Marie Curie, and by grants from the Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale "Equipe FRM DEQ2014039529", the French Ministry of Research (Agence Nationale pour la Recherche ANR-12-BSV1-0015 and ANR-17-CE16-0008 and the Investissements d'Avenir programme ANR-11-IDEX-0004-02).; LM's team is part of the École des Neurosciences de Paris Ile-de-France network and of the Bio-Psy Labex and as such this work was supported by French state funds managed by the ANR within the Investissements d'Avenir programme under reference ANR-11-IDEX-0004-02.; 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; the Biological Sciences Training Program through Grant Number 5T32 MH14276 and the NARSAD Young Investigator Grant to JLMO.
• Keywords: EXPOSURE; Neurosciences & Neurology; Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; DYSREGULATION; AMERICANS; MICE LACKING; DEPENDENCE; Psychiatry; Neurosciences; ARIPIPRAZOLE; BEHAVIOR; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Science & Technology; GENOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION; GENOTYPE
• Research Categories: Psychology, Behavioral; Biology, Neuroscience; Biology, Genetics

Abstract

Cannabis use is increasing in the United States, as are its adverse effects. We investigated the genetics of an adverse consequence of cannabis use: cannabis-related aggression (CRA) using a genome-wide association study (GWAS) design. Our GWAS sample included 3269 African Americans (AAs) and 2546 European Americans (EAs). An additional 89 AA subjects from the Grady Trauma Project (GTP) were also examined using a proxy-phenotype replication approach. We identified genome-wide significant risk loci contributing to CRA in AAs at the serotonin receptor 2B receptor gene (HTR2B), and the lead SNP, HTR2B*rs17440378, showed nominal association to aggression in the GTP cohort of cannabis-exposed subjects. A priori evidence linked HTR2B to impulsivity/aggression but not to cannabis response. Human functional data regarding the HTR2B variant further supported our finding. Treating an Htr2b −/− knockout mouse with THC resulted in increased aggressive behavior, whereas wild-type mice following THC administration showed decreased aggression in the resident-intruder paradigm, demonstrating that HTR2B variation moderates the effects of cannabis on aggression. These concordant findings in mice and humans implicate HTR2B as a major locus associated with cannabis-induced aggression.