An epigenetic mechanism links socioeconomic status to changes in depression-related brain function in high-risk adolescents.

ABSTRACT: Identifying biological mechanisms through which the experience of adversity emerges as individual risk for mental illness is an important step toward developing strategies for personalized treatment and, ultimately, prevention. Preclinical studies have identified epigenetic modification of gene expression as one such mechanism. Recent clinical studies have suggested that epigenetic modification, particularly methylation of gene regulatory regions, also acts to shape human brain function associated with risk for mental illness. However, it is not yet clear whether differential gene methylation as a function of adversity contributes to the emergence of individual risk for mental illness. Using prospective longitudinal epigenetic, neuroimaging and behavioral data from 132 adolescents, we demo

SUBMITTER: Swartz JR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5122474 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature