Environmental risk, Oxytocin Receptor Gene (OXTR) methylation and youth callous-unemotional traits: a 13-year longitudinal study.

ABSTRACT: Youth with high callous-unemotional traits (CU) are at risk for early-onset and persistent conduct problems. Research suggests that there may be different developmental pathways to CU (genetic/constitutional vs environmental), and that the absence or presence of co-occurring internalizing problems is a key marker. However, it is unclear whether such a distinction is valid. Intermediate phenotypes such as DNA methylation, an epigenetic modification regulating gene expression, may help to clarify etiological pathways. This is the first study to examine prospective inter-relationships between environmental risk (prenatal/postnatal) and DNA methylation (birth, age 7 and 9) in the prediction of CU (age 13), for youth low vs high in internalizing problems. We focused on DNA methylation in the vi

SUBMITTER: Cecil CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4231290 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature