Beach Steven R H, Brody Gene H, Barton Allen W, Philibert Robert A
University of Georgia.
University of Iowa.
Dev Psychopathol. 2016 Nov;28(4pt2):1333-1346. doi: 10.1017/S0954579416000882. Epub 2016 Oct 3.
In the current manuscript, we provide an overview of a research program at the University of Georgia's Center for Family Research designed to expand upon rapid and ongoing developments in the fields of genetics and epigenetics. By placing those developments in the context of translational research on family and community determinants of health and well-being among rural African Americans, we hope to identify novel, modifiable environments and biological processes. In the first section of the article, we review our earlier work on genotypic variation effects on the association between family context and mental and physical health outcomes as well as differential responses to family-based intervention. We then transition to discuss our more recent research on the association of family and community environments with epigenetic processes. In this second section of the article, we begin by briefly reviewing terminology and basic considerations before describing evidence that early environments may influence epigenetic motifs that potentially serve as mediators of long-term effects of early family and community environments on longer term health outcomes. We also provide evidence that genotype may sometimes influence epigenetic outcomes. Finally, we describe our recent efforts to use genome-wide characterization of epigenetic patterns to better understand the biological impact of protective parenting on long-term shifts in inflammatory processes and its potential implications for young adult health. As will be clear, research on epigenetics as a mediator of the connections between family/community processes and a range of health outcomes is still in its infancy, but the potential to develop important insights regarding mechanisms linking modifiable environments to biological processes and long-term health outcomes already is coming into view.
在当前的手稿中，我们概述了佐治亚大学家庭研究中心的一个研究项目，该项目旨在拓展遗传学和表观遗传学领域快速且持续的发展。通过将这些发展置于关于农村非裔美国人健康和幸福的家庭及社区决定因素的转化研究背景下，我们希望识别出新的、可改变的环境和生物过程。在文章的第一部分，我们回顾了我们早期关于基因型变异对家庭环境与心理和身体健康结果之间关联的影响，以及对基于家庭的干预的不同反应的研究。然后我们转而讨论我们最近关于家庭和社区环境与表观遗传过程之间关联的研究。在文章的第二部分，我们首先简要回顾术语和基本考虑因素，然后描述早期环境可能影响表观遗传模式的证据，这些模式可能作为早期家庭和社区环境对长期健康结果的长期影响的中介。我们还提供了基因型有时可能影响表观遗传结果的证据。最后，我们描述了我们最近利用表观遗传模式的全基因组特征来更好地理解保护性养育对炎症过程长期变化的生物学影响及其对年轻成年人健康的潜在影响的努力。正如将会清楚看到的，将表观遗传学作为家庭/社区过程与一系列健康结果之间联系的中介的研究仍处于起步阶段，但关于将可改变的环境与生物过程以及长期健康结果联系起来的机制得出重要见解的潜力已经初现端倪。
