Genomics of Anxiety Disorders - 08/05/25

Doi : 10.1016/j.psc.2025.01.012

Heike Weber, PhD ^a, John M. Hettema, MD, PhD ^b, Jürgen Deckert, MD ^c, Angelika Erhardt-Lehmann, MD ^d,^e,^⁎
^a Functional Genomics, Department of Psychiatry, Center of Mental Health, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Würzburg, Margerete-Höppel-Platz 1, 97080 Würzburg, Germany
^b Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Texas A&M University Health Sciences Center, 2900 East 29th Street, Suite 300, Bryan, TX 77802, USA
^c Center of Mental Health, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Würzburg, Margerete-Höppel-Platz 1, 97080 Würzburg, Germany
^d Department of Psychiatry, Center of Mental Health, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Würzburg, Margerete-Höppel-Platz 1, 97080 Würzburg, Germany
^e Department of Translational Research in Psychiatry, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Margerete-Höppel-Platz 1, 97080 Würzburg, Germany

^∗Corresponding author. Center of Mental Health, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Würzburg, Margarete-Höppel-Platz 1, 97080 Würzburg, Germany.Center of Mental HealthPsychosomaticsand PsychotherapyUniversity Hospital WürzburgMargarete-Höppel-Platz 1Würzburg97080Germany

Résumé

Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent psychiatric conditions in the general population. Despite the early observation of family aggregation of anxiety disorders with a heritability of 30% to 50%, their exact genetic structure is not yet determined. Evidence suggests a composition of common and rare genetic factors contributing to the etiology of anxiety disorders. Recent hypothesis-free genome-wide association studies in mega cohorts mostly with a broad anxiety phenotype rendered an increasing number of novel genetic loci. Epigenetic research is still in its infancy with first evidence showing dynamic changes in response to environmental influences and during the therapy course.

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Keywords : Genetic association studies, Genome-wide association studies, Epigenetic association studies, DNA-Methylation, Anxiety disorders, Panic disorder, Generalized anxiety disorder, Social anxiety disorder