Lei Man-Kit, Beach Steven R H, Simons Ronald L, Philibert Robert A
Center for Family Research, University of Georgia, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, USA.
Soc Sci Med. 2015 Dec;146:120-8. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.10.035. Epub 2015 Oct 20.
Social scientists have long recognized the important role that neighborhood crime can play in stress-related disease, but very little is known about potential biosocial mechanisms that may link the experience of living in high-crime neighborhoods with depression.
The current study introduces an integrated model that combines neighborhood, genetic, and epigenetic factors.
Hypotheses were tested with a sample of 99 African American women from the Family and Community Health Study (FACHS).
Allele variants of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTT) interact with neighborhood crime to predict depressive symptoms in a manner consonant with the differential susceptibility perspective. Furthermore, this association is mediated by DNA methylation of the promoter region of the serotonin transporter gene.
The findings provide support for an integrated model in which changes in DNA methylation, resulting from neighborhood crime, can result in an increase or decrease in gene activity which, in turn, influences depressive symptoms.
社会科学家早就认识到邻里犯罪在与压力相关的疾病中可能发挥的重要作用，但对于可能将生活在高犯罪率社区的经历与抑郁症联系起来的潜在生物社会机制却知之甚少。
当前的研究引入了一个综合模型，该模型结合了邻里、基因和表观遗传因素。
使用来自家庭与社区健康研究（FACHS）的99名非裔美国女性样本对假设进行了检验。
血清素转运体基因（5-HTT）的等位基因变体与邻里犯罪相互作用，以一种符合差异易感性观点的方式预测抑郁症状。此外，这种关联由血清素转运体基因启动子区域的DNA甲基化介导。
这些发现为一个综合模型提供了支持，在该模型中，邻里犯罪导致的DNA甲基化变化可导致基因活性增加或减少，进而影响抑郁症状。
