There is an increasing focus on the positive psychological traits (optimism and resilience) rather than the negative psychological traits such as depression and anxiety in attempts to improve mental health. Negative psychological traits are associated with a number of biomarkers such as cortisol, alpha-amylase, 5-HTTLPR in association with stress. Recent studies show psychological resilience is heritable and it acts as a buffer between depression and stress. Several research groups are working towards a better understanding of resilience and in identifying reliable biomarkers of resilience such as telomere length, oxytocin (OXT) and SNPs of oxytocin receptor, reelin and other depression associated genes. OXT a neuropeptide secreted in the hypothalamus is involved in a number of physiological and social behaviours and has a role in the development of social behaviours such as trust, positive communication, group favouritism, and reduced social stress. We hypothesized that the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) SNP rs53576 that results in Guanine (G) to Adenine (A) substitution may be associated with resilience as it has been shown to be associated with positive traits.
We collected DNA samples from buccal cells from a self-selecting community population and collected questionnaire data for depression and anxiety (Zung) and resilience scores (Connor Davidson). OXTR SNP rs53576 was analysed from 121 non-medicated subjects using traditional restriction enzyme digest, sequencing and qPCR-HRM methods. Results showed our cohort did not fit with HW equilibrium for OXTR SNP rs53576 (p = 0.00004) and did not show any association between OXTR rs53576 and to depression or resilience (p > 0.5). However further study with a larger cohort and including data from other OXTR SNPs may be worthwhile.