Snijders Clara, de Nijs Laurence, Baker Dewleen G, Hauger Richard L, van den Hove Daniel, Kenis Gunter, Nievergelt Caroline M, Boks Marco P, Vermetten Eric, Gage Fred H, Rutten Bart P F
Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, School for Mental Health and Neuroscience (MHeNS), Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, European Graduate School of Neuroscience, (EURON), Maastricht, 6200 MD, The Netherlands.
Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA.
Curr Top Behav Neurosci. 2018;38:23-46. doi: 10.1007/7854_2017_32.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder that can develop following exposure to or witnessing of a (potentially) threatening event. A critical issue is to pinpoint the (neuro)biological mechanisms underlying the susceptibility to stress-related disorder such as PTSD, which develops in the minority of ~15% of individuals exposed to trauma. Over the last few years, a first wave of epigenetic studies has been performed in an attempt to identify the molecular underpinnings of the long-lasting behavioral and mental effects of trauma exposure. The potential roles of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) such as microRNAs (miRNAs) in moderating or mediating the impact of severe stress and trauma are increasingly gaining attention. To date, most studies focusing on the roles of miRNAs in PTSD have, however, been completed in animals, using cross-sectional study designs and focusing almost exclusively on subjects with susceptible phenotypes. Therefore, there is a strong need for new research comprising translational and cross-species approaches that use longitudinal designs for studying trajectories of change contrasting susceptible and resilient subjects. The present review offers a comprehensive overview of available studies of miRNAs in PTSD and discusses the current challenges, pitfalls, and future perspectives of this field.
