A role of galanin in depression is also supported by a recent candidate gene study, showing that variants in genes for galanin and its three receptors confer increased risk of depression and anxiety in people who experienced childhood adversity or recent negative life events.
Here we report that variants in genes for galanin (GAL) and its receptors (GALR1, GALR2, GALR3), despite their disparate genomic loci, conferred increased risk of depression and anxiety in people who experienced childhood adversity or recent negative life events in a European white population cohort totaling 2,361 from Manchester, United Kingdom and Budapest, Hungary.
The reported associations in independent samples of AD and MDD support an estrogen-dependent function of GAL in pathophysiology of anxiety and depression, affecting response to antidepressant treatment.
The neuropeptide galanin is widely expressed in the periphery and the central nervous system and mediates diverse physiological processes and behaviors including alcohol abuse, depression and anxiety.