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Associations between genes methylation, postnatal risk factors and psychiatric symptoms in a clinical sample of children and adolescents: Preliminar results from the remind longitudinal study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2021

F. Villa*
Affiliation:
Developmental Psychopathology, Scientific Institute Eugenio Medea, Associazione La Nostra Famiglia, Bosisio Parini, Italy
E. Rosi
Affiliation:
Developmental Psychopathology, Scientific Institute Eugenio Medea, Associazione La Nostra Famiglia, Bosisio Parini, Italy
S. Grazioli
Affiliation:
Developmental Psychopathology, Scientific Institute Eugenio Medea, Associazione La Nostra Famiglia, Bosisio Parini, Italy
M. Mauri
Affiliation:
Developmental Psychopathology, Scientific Institute Eugenio Medea, Associazione La Nostra Famiglia, Bosisio Parini, Italy
R. Giorda
Affiliation:
Molecular Biology Laboratory, Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Bosisio Parini, Italy
P. Brambilla
Affiliation:
Department Of Pathophysiology And Transplantation, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
C. Bonivento
Affiliation:
Associazione La Nostra Famiglia, Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Pasian di Prato, Italy
M. Garzitto
Affiliation:
Associazione La Nostra Famiglia, Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Pasian di Prato, Italy
M. Molteni
Affiliation:
Developmental Psychopathology, Scientific Institute Eugenio Medea, Associazione La Nostra Famiglia, Bosisio Parini, Italy
M. Nobile
Affiliation:
Child And Adolescent Psychiatry Unit, Scientific Institute IRCCS ‘E. Medea?, Bosisio Parini, Italy
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

Epigenetics hypothesizes a crucial link between postnatal risk factors, individual response to stress, DNA methylation and psychiatric symptomatology changes during life.

Objectives

We analyzed methylation within two gene exons: NR3C1 and SLC6A4, which are involved in responses to environmental stressors. We investigated the relationship between methylation, postnatal risk factors and psychopathology assessed by Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) in our help-seeking sample evaluated in infancy (W1), preadolescence (W2) and adult life (W3).

Methods

Postnatal risk factors data were collected at W1 in 205 clinical subjects (156 M, 49 F; age=9,13±1,95). The CBCL scores were collected at W1 and W2 (W2 age=14,52±2,12). Data regarding methylation were collected at W2. At W3 we are also collecting clinical scores. A Spearman correlation coefficient was calculated between methylation percentage and clinical data at W2. The externalizing and internalizing trajectories were evaluated through repeated measure ANOVA with postnatal risk factors (presence/absence) as between-groups factor.

Results

Significant associations were found between methylation and internalizing and total clinical scores (Table 1). The rm-ANOVA results showed a significant interaction between the CBCL internalizing score and presence/absence of postnatal risk, with higher internalizing problems in subjects that were exposed to postnatal risk factors. This effect was significant at W2 but not at W1 (Figure 1).

Conclusions

Psychopathological symptoms trajectories could depend on epigenetics and early environmental risk factors. Further analyses will address a Linear Discriminant Analysis to proceed to a machine learning oriented approach.

Disclosure

No significant relationships.

Type
Abstract
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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