Division of Epidemiology, Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3004, Australia.
Genes (Basel). 2023 Aug 17;14(8):1639. doi: 10.3390/genes14081639.
Severe or chronic stress and trauma can have a detrimental impact on health. Evidence suggests that early-life adversity can become biologically embedded and has the potential to influence health outcomes decades later. Epigenetics is one mechanism that has been implicated in these long-lasting effects. Observational studies in humans indicate that the effects of stress could even persist across generations, although whether or not epigenetic mechanisms are involved remains under debate. Here, we provide an overview of studies in animals and humans that demonstrate the effects of early-life stress on DNA methylation, one of the most widely studied epigenetic mechanisms, and summarize findings from animal models demonstrating the involvement of epigenetics in the transmission of stress across generations. We then describe the results of a scoping review to determine the extent to which the terms intergenerational or transgenerational have been used in human studies investigating the transmission of trauma and stress via epigenetic mechanisms. We end with a discussion of key areas for future research to advance understanding of the role of epigenetics in the legacy effects of stress and trauma.
严重或慢性压力和创伤会对健康产生不利影响。有证据表明，早期生活逆境可能会在生物学上根深蒂固，并有可能在几十年后影响健康结果。表观遗传学是一种与这些持久影响有关的机制。人类的观察性研究表明，压力的影响甚至可能在几代人之间持续存在，尽管是否涉及表观遗传机制仍存在争议。在这里，我们提供了动物和人类研究的概述，这些研究表明早期生活压力对 DNA 甲基化的影响，DNA 甲基化是研究最广泛的表观遗传机制之一，并总结了动物模型的研究结果，这些结果表明表观遗传学参与了压力在代际间的传递。然后，我们描述了一项范围界定审查的结果，以确定在通过表观遗传机制研究创伤和压力传递的人类研究中使用“代际”或“跨代”这两个术语的程度。最后，我们讨论了未来研究的重点领域，以推进对压力和创伤的遗留影响中表观遗传学作用的理解。
