Funahashi Yu, Dwivedi Yogesh
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology, Heersink School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Molecules and Function, Ehime University Graduate School of Medicine, Toon, Ehime, Japan.
Epigenomics. 2025 Mar;17(4):247-262. doi: 10.1080/17501911.2025.2453415. Epub 2025 Jan 17.
Suicide continues to be a significant public health issue globally, claiming over 700,000 lives annually. It is, therefore, important to assess the suicide risk properly and provide intervention in a timely fashion. While the heritability of suicidal behavior is around 50%, it does not explain the factors involved in causality. Recent evidence suggests that gene x environment interaction plays a vital role in suicidal behavior. In this paper, we critically evaluate the association between adolescent suicidal behavior and epigenetic modifications, including DNA methylation, histone modification, and non-coding RNAs, as well as epigenetic-based treatment options. It was noted that the prevalence of suicidal behavior in adolescents varied by age and sex and the presence of psychiatric disorders. Childhood adversity was closely associated with suicidal behavior. Studies show that alterations in epigenetic modifications may increase the risk of suicidal behavior independent of mental illnesses. Because epigenetic factors are reversible, environmental enrichment or the use of pharmacological agents that can target specific epigenetic modulation may be able to reduce suicidal behavior in this population.
自杀仍是全球一个重大的公共卫生问题,每年导致超过70万人死亡。因此,正确评估自杀风险并及时进行干预很重要。虽然自杀行为的遗传率约为50%,但这并不能解释因果关系中涉及的因素。最近的证据表明,基因与环境的相互作用在自杀行为中起着至关重要的作用。在本文中,我们批判性地评估青少年自杀行为与表观遗传修饰(包括DNA甲基化、组蛋白修饰和非编码RNA)之间的关联,以及基于表观遗传的治疗选择。值得注意的是,青少年自杀行为的患病率因年龄、性别和精神疾病的存在而异。童年逆境与自杀行为密切相关。研究表明,表观遗传修饰的改变可能会增加自杀行为的风险,而与精神疾病无关。由于表观遗传因素是可逆的,环境富集或使用能够靶向特定表观遗传调节的药物制剂可能能够降低该人群的自杀行为。