Department of Psychiatry & Clinical Depression Research Centre, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Republic of Korea.
Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2013 Jul 1;44:23-8. doi: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2013.01.006. Epub 2013 Jan 17.
Childhood adversities have been associated with onset and worse clinical presentations of depression. Epigenetic changes may reflect childhood adversities, while their effects on clinical characteristics of depression are unknown. This study aimed to investigate whether epigenetic changes were associated with childhood adversities, pretreatment characteristics, and treatment outcomes in depressive patients. In 108 patients with major depressive disorders, the methylation status in the promoter of gene encoding serotonin transporter (SLC6A4) was measured. Childhood adversities, socio-demographic and clinical characteristics including assessment scales for depression (Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, HAMD), anxiety (Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, HAMA), functioning (Social and Occupational Functioning Assessment Scale, SOFAS), disability (World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule-12, WHODAS-12), and quality of life (World Health Organization Quality of Life-Abbreviated form, WHOQOL-BREF) were evaluated at baseline. After a 12-week treatment with antidepressants, the assessment scales were reevaluated. To avoid type I error by multiple comparisons, Bonferroni corrections were applied. Higher SLC6A4 promoter methylation status was significantly associated with childhood adversities, worse clinical presentation (family history of depression, higher perceived stress, and more severe psychopathology assessed by SOFAS, WHODAS-12, and WHOQOL-BREF), but was not associated with treatment outcomes after considering multiple comparisons. SLC6A4 methylation status could be a proxy marker for childhood adversities and a clinical biomarker for certain presentations of depression.
儿童时期逆境与抑郁的发病和临床症状加重有关。表观遗传变化可能反映了儿童时期的逆境，但其对抑郁临床特征的影响尚不清楚。本研究旨在探讨表观遗传变化是否与抑郁患者的儿童时期逆境、治疗前特征和治疗结果有关。在 108 名重度抑郁症患者中，测量了编码血清素转运体（SLC6A4）基因启动子的甲基化状态。儿童时期逆境、社会人口学和临床特征，包括抑郁评估量表（汉密尔顿抑郁评定量表，HAMD）、焦虑（汉密尔顿焦虑评定量表，HAMA）、功能（社会和职业功能评估量表，SOFAS）、残疾（世界卫生组织残疾评估表-12，WHODAS-12）和生活质量（世界卫生组织生活质量简表，WHOQOL-BREF），在基线时进行评估。在接受抗抑郁药治疗 12 周后，重新评估了评估量表。为了避免多重比较的Ⅰ型错误，应用了 Bonferroni 校正。SLC6A4 启动子甲基化状态越高，与儿童时期逆境、更差的临床症状（抑郁家族史、更高的感知压力和更严重的精神病理学，通过 SOFAS、WHODAS-12 和 WHOQOL-BREF 评估）显著相关，但在考虑多重比较后，与治疗结果无关。SLC6A4 甲基化状态可能是儿童时期逆境的替代标志物和某些抑郁表现的临床生物标志物。
