Mechanosensation-an organism’s ability to detect dynamic mechanical stimuli is controlled by ion channels named as PIEZOs. PIEZO2 is enriched in somatosensory neurons and essential for touch, proprioception, and interoception (Szczot et al., 2021).
Childhood maltreatment (CM) can present as physical or sexual abuse, or neglect. Impacted by genetic and epigenetic variation, the biological heterogeneity in feeling and response to mechanical stimuli involved in CM may be intricately related to levels of resilience to adverse exposure and subsequent health outcomes (Cay et al., 2022). CM may also alter biological and behavioral pathways involved in processing and responding to normal social touch. Prior research revealed that adults with high levels of CM preferred a longer social distance and perceived fast touch as less comforting, with exaggerated responses seen in the right somatosensory cortex (Maier et al., 2020). It may further lead to interpersonal dysfunction, enhancing psychosocial stress experienced in later life, and possibly leading to the development of mental-health problems.
Depression has been associated with CM exposure (Chen et al., 2025). Genetic variants of PIEZO2 showed suggestive signals on their interactive effects with CM in impacting depression in adulthood (Sun et al., 2025). Genetic variants of PIEZO2 were also suggestively associated with depression remission among adults after 12-week antidepressant treatment (GENDEP et al., 2013). Both findings imply that PIEZO2 may interact with environmental exposure in impacting depression. However, this interaction has neither been examined in children with recent CM exposure, nor been examined on the risk of early-life depression.
Our research question is: what genetic variants of PIEZO2 significantly interact with CM on the development of early-life depression? The current study aims to examine the interaction in the Child Health Study. UK Biobank will be used to replicate potential findings.
