Possible genetic association between vasopressin receptor 1B and child aggression

Background: Studies on animal models have implicated arginine vasopressin signalling pathway in aggressive behaviour. The role of arginine vasopressin in childhood onset aggression is unclear. Methods: We investigated 11 single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the genes coding for arginine vasopressin and its receptors in our sample of 177 aggressive child cases paired with adult controls matched for sex and ethnicity. Results: We found the non-synonymous polymorphism AVPR1B_rs35369693 to be associated with child aggression in our sample (P=0.007). We also found two-marker haplotype window containing AVPR1B_rs35369693 and AVPR1B_rs28676508 to be associated (P=0.003). The haplotype findings survived multiple-testing adjusted significance threshold a 0.0063. Conclusions: This is the first report of a genetic association between vasopressin receptor 1B and child aggression. Replication in independent samples are required to confirm these findings. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.