Common variants in FKBP5 gene and major depressive disorder (MDD) susceptibility: a comprehensive meta-analysis

Previous studies have investigated the association between common variants in FKBP5 and MDD; however, the results remain inconsistent. In order to conduct a comprehensive meta-analysis of the association between FKBP5 variants and MDD risk, seven studies involving 26582 subjects, including 12491 cases with MDD and 14091 controls, were enrolled totally. Four common SNPs (rs1360780, rs4713916, rs3800373 and rs755658) with complete data from two or more studies were analyzed. In the total sample, there was no evidence of a significant association between MDD and any of the four SNPs using a random-effects model. However, after removing one heterogeneous German study, as indicated by sensitivity analysis, both the rs1360780 T-allele (Z = 2.95, P = 0.003, OR = 1.06, 95% CI = 1.02-1.11) and the rs3800373 C-allele (Z = 3.05, P = 0.002, OR = 1.07, 95% CI 1.02-1.12) were significantly associated with MDD in a fixed-effect model. Our study thus provides support for an association between specific FKBP5 genetic variants and MDD risk. Rs4713916 was not significantly associated with MDD; However, this analysis had limited statistical power and larger sample sizes are required to further validate this result. Future research should also investigate possible gender- and ethnicity-specific differences in the association between FKBP5 and MDD.