Christensen Jennaya, Beveridge Jaimie K, Wang Melinda, Orr Serena L, Noel Melanie, Mychasiuk Richelle
Department of Neuroscience, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3004, Australia.
Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada.
Epigenomes. 2021 Apr 15;5(2):9. doi: 10.3390/epigenomes5020009.
Chronic pain is a highly prevalent and costly issue that often emerges during childhood or adolescence and persists into adulthood. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) increase risk for several adverse health conditions, including chronic pain. Recent evidence suggests that parental trauma (ACEs, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms) confers risk of poor health outcomes in their children. Intergenerational relationships between parental trauma and child chronic pain may be mediated by epigenetic mechanisms. A clinical sample of youth with chronic pain and their parents completed psychometrically sound questionnaires assessing ACEs, PTSD symptoms, and chronic pain, and provided a saliva sample. These were used to investigate the intergenerational relationships between four epigenetic biomarkers (COMT, DRD2, GR, and SERT), trauma, and chronic pain. The results indicated that the significant biomarkers were dependent upon the gender of the child, wherein parental ACEs significantly correlated with changes in DRD2 expression in female children and altered COMT expression in the parents of male children. Additionally, the nature of the ACE (maltreatment vs. household dysfunction) was associated with the specific epigenetic changes. There may be different pathways through which parental ACEs confer risk for poor outcomes for males and females, highlighting the importance of child gender in future investigations.
慢性疼痛是一个高度普遍且代价高昂的问题，通常在儿童期或青少年期出现，并持续至成年期。童年不良经历（ACEs）会增加包括慢性疼痛在内的多种不良健康状况的风险。最近的证据表明，父母的创伤（ACEs、创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）症状）会使子女出现不良健康结局的风险增加。父母创伤与儿童慢性疼痛之间的代际关系可能由表观遗传机制介导。一个由患有慢性疼痛的青少年及其父母组成的临床样本完成了评估ACEs、PTSD症状和慢性疼痛的心理测量学健全的问卷，并提供了唾液样本。这些样本被用于研究四种表观遗传生物标志物（COMT、DRD2、GR和SERT）、创伤和慢性疼痛之间的代际关系。结果表明，显著的生物标志物取决于孩子的性别，其中父母的ACEs与女童DRD2表达的变化显著相关，与男童父母的COMT表达改变相关。此外，ACE的性质（虐待与家庭功能障碍）与特定的表观遗传变化有关。父母的ACEs可能通过不同途径使男性和女性出现不良结局的风险增加，这凸显了儿童性别在未来研究中的重要性。
