Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
Centre for Innovation in Mental Health, University of Southampton; State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2020 May;112:392-409. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.02.019. Epub 2020 Feb 17.
DNA methylation (DNAm) - an epigenetic process that regulates gene expression - may represent a mechanism for the biological embedding of early traumatic experiences, including childhood maltreatment. Here, we conducted the first systematic review of human studies linking childhood maltreatment to DNAm. In total, 72 studies were included in the review (2008-2018). The majority of extant studies (i) were based on retrospective data in adults, (ii) employed a candidate gene approach (iii) focused on global maltreatment, (iv) were based on easily accessible peripheral tissues, typically blood; and (v) were cross-sectional. Two-thirds of studies (n = 48) also examined maltreatment-related outcomes, such as stress reactivity and psychiatric symptoms. While findings generally support an association between childhood maltreatment and altered patterns of DNAm, factors such as the lack of longitudinal data, low comparability across studies as well as potential genetic and 'pre-exposure' environmental confounding currently limit the conclusions that can be drawn. Key challenges are discussed and concrete recommendations for future research are provided to move the field forward.
DNA 甲基化（DNAm）是一种调节基因表达的表观遗传过程，它可能代表了将早期创伤经历（包括儿童期虐待）生物学嵌入的机制。在这里，我们进行了首次系统综述，以将儿童期虐待与 DNAm 联系起来。共有 72 项研究被纳入综述（2008-2018 年）。现有研究大多基于成年人的回顾性数据，采用候选基因方法，关注全球虐待，基于容易获得的外周组织，通常是血液，且为横断面研究。三分之二的研究（n=48）还检查了与虐待相关的结果，如应激反应和精神症状。虽然研究结果普遍支持儿童期虐待与 DNAm 模式改变之间的关联，但目前限制了结论的因素包括缺乏纵向数据、研究之间的可比性低以及潜在的遗传和“暴露前”环境混杂。讨论了关键挑战，并为推动该领域的发展提供了未来研究的具体建议。
