Childhood abuse is associated with methylation of multiple loci in adult DNA.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Childhood abuse is associated with increased adult disease risk, suggesting that processes acting over the long-term, such as epigenetic regulation of gene activity, may be involved. DNA methylation is a critical mechanism in epigenetic regulation. We aimed to establish whether childhood abuse was associated with adult DNA methylation profiles.

Methods

In 40 males from the 1958 British Birth Cohort we compared genome-wide promoter DNA methylation in blood taken at 45y for those with, versus those without, childhood abuse (n = 12 vs 28). We analysed the promoter methylation of over 20,000 genes and 489 microRNAs, using MeDIP (methylated DNA immunoprecipitation) in triplicate.

Results

We found 997 differentially methylated gene promoters (311 hypermethylated

SUBMITTER: Suderman M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4007631 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature