SKA2 methylation is associated with decreased prefrontal cortical thickness and greater PTSD severity among trauma-exposed veterans.

ABSTRACT: Methylation of the SKA2 (spindle and kinetochore-associated complex subunit 2) gene has recently been identified as a promising biomarker of suicide risk. Based on this finding, we examined associations between SKA2 methylation, cortical thickness and psychiatric phenotypes linked to suicide in trauma-exposed veterans. About 200 trauma-exposed white non-Hispanic veterans of the recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan (91% male) underwent clinical assessment and had blood drawn for genotyping and methylation analysis. Of all, 145 participants also had neuroimaging data available. Based on previous research, we examined DNA methylation at the cytosine-guanine locus cg13989295 as well as DNA methylation adjusted for genotype at the methylation-associated single nucleotide polymorphism (rs720

SUBMITTER: Sadeh N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4760869 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature