Influence of PCDH9 (rs9540720) and narcissistic personality traits on the incidence of major depressive disorder in Chinese first-year university students: findings from a 2-year cohort study

Ruixue Xu; Zhaorui Liu; Hanyun Li; Linlin Luo; Yi Zheng; Fuqin Mu; Yujia Liu; Weixin Zhang; Ying Zhang; Jianli Wang; Yan Liu

doi:10.3389/fgene.2023.1267972

Influence of PCDH9 (rs9540720) and narcissistic personality traits on the incidence of major depressive disorder in Chinese first-year university students: findings from a 2-year cohort study

Front Genet. 2024 Feb 7:14:1267972. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2023.1267972. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Ruixue Xu^#^{1

2}, Zhaorui Liu^#³, Hanyun Li^#⁴, Linlin Luo^#⁵, Yi Zheng⁶, Fuqin Mu⁶, Yujia Liu⁷, Weixin Zhang⁸, Ying Zhang⁹, Jianli Wang^{6

10}, Yan Liu²

Affiliations

¹ School of Public Health, Binzhou Medical University, Yantai, China.
² School of Public Health, Jining Medical University, Jining, China.
³ NHC Key Laboratory of Mental Health (Peking University), National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders (Peking University Sixth Hospital), Peking University Sixth Hospital, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, Beijing, China.
⁴ Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
⁵ Department of Hematology, Tai'an City Central Hospital of Qingdao University, Tai'an, China.
⁶ School of Mental Health, Jining Medical University, Jining, China.
⁷ Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
⁸ School of Clinical Medicine, Jining Medical University, Jining, China.
⁹ School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
¹⁰ Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to explore the influence of the polymorphism of the protocadherin 9 (PCDH9) gene and the narcissistic personality trait (NPT) on the risk of major depressive disorder (MDD) in Chinese first-year university students. Methods: A 2-year cohort study was conducted among Chinese first-year university students who were enrolled in 2018 from two universities in Shandong Province, China. The snapshot technique was used to detect the genotypes of PCDH9 (rs9540720). The Chinese version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview was used for the MDD assessment. The NPTs were measured by 11 items based on DSM-IV. Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and the Beck Anxiety Inventory were used to assess depressive and anxiety symptoms, respectively. Logistic regression modeling was carried out to examine the relationship between rs9540720, NPTs, and the incidence of MDD. Results: A total of 5,327 students participated in the baseline and follow-up studies and provided their blood samples. PCDH9 (rs9540720) (OR_GG+GA = 2.33, 95% CI: 1.35-4.02) and NPTs (OR_5-9 = 2.26, 95% CI: 1.40-3.64) increased the risk of MDD onset. There was no multiplicative interaction between NPTs and Rs9540720 (OR = 1.51, 95% CI: 0.30-7.63). Furthermore, there was no additive interaction between them (RERI = 2.40, 95% CI: -0.82-5.62; AP = 0.47, 95% CI: -0.04-0.97; and S = 2.37, 95% CI: 0.54-10.33). Conclusion: PCDH9 (rs9540720) and more NPTs are the risk factors for the incidence of MDD in Chinese first-year university students.

Keywords: cohort study; first-year university students; major depressive disorder; narcissistic personality traits; protocadherin gene.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This study was funded by the Taishan Scholar’s Program of Shandong Province (grant number: tsqn201909145), the National Natural Science Foundation (grant number: 81901391), the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (grant number: ZR2019MH095), the High-level Scientific Research Project Cultivation Program of Jining Medical University (grant number: JYGC2022KJ008), the Key Research Planning Project of Jining City (grant numbers: 2023YXNS102 and 2023YXNS213), and the Shandong Social Science Planning Fund Program (grant number: 22CJYJ04). The National Human Genetic Resources Sharing Service Platform (grant number: 2005DKA21300) provided technical support and DNA storage services. All funders had no role in the design and conduction of this study.