Kohrt Brandon A, Worthman Carol M, Adhikari Ramesh P, Luitel Nagendra P, Arevalo Jesusa M G, Ma Jeffrey, McCreath Heather, Seeman Teresa E, Crimmins Eileen M, Cole Steven W
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC 27708; Duke Global Health Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC 27710; Transcultural Psychosocial Organization Nepal, Kathmandu 44616, Nepal;
Department of Anthropology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322;
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2016 Jul 19;113(29):8156-61. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1601301113. Epub 2016 Jul 11.
Adverse social conditions in early life have been linked to increased expression of proinflammatory genes and reduced expression of antiviral genes in circulating immune cells-the conserved transcriptional response to adversity (CTRA). However, it remains unclear whether such effects are specific to the Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) cultural environments in which previous research has been conducted. To assess the roles of early adversity and individual psychological resilience in immune system gene regulation within a non-WEIRD population, we evaluated CTRA gene-expression profiles in 254 former child soldiers and matched noncombatant civilians 5 y after the People's War in Nepal. CTRA gene expression was up-regulated in former child soldiers. These effects were linked to the degree of experienced trauma and associated distress-that is, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) severity-more than to child soldier status per se. Self-perceived psychological resilience was associated with marked buffering of CTRA activation such that PTSD-affected former child soldiers with high levels of personal resilience showed molecular profiles comparable to those of PTSD-free civilians. These results suggest that CTRA responses to early life adversity are not restricted to WEIRD cultural contexts and they underscore the key role of resilience in determining the molecular impact of adverse environments.
早年不利的社会环境与循环免疫细胞中促炎基因表达增加以及抗病毒基因表达减少有关，这是对逆境的保守转录反应（CTRA）。然而，目前尚不清楚这些影响是否特定于先前研究所在的西方、受过教育、工业化、富裕和民主（WEIRD）文化环境。为了评估早期逆境和个体心理复原力在非WEIRD人群免疫系统基因调控中的作用，我们在尼泊尔人民战争结束5年后，对254名前儿童兵和相匹配的非战斗平民的CTRA基因表达谱进行了评估。前儿童兵的CTRA基因表达上调。这些影响与经历的创伤程度和相关痛苦（即创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）的严重程度）的关联，超过了与儿童兵身份本身的关联。自我感知的心理复原力与CTRA激活的显著缓冲相关，以至于具有高个人复原力的受PTSD影响的前儿童兵表现出与无PTSD平民相当的分子特征。这些结果表明，CTRA对早年逆境的反应并不局限于WEIRD文化背景，并且它们强调了复原力在确定不利环境的分子影响方面的关键作用。
