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Fisher HL, Murphy TM, Arseneault L, Caspi A, Moffitt TE, Viana J, Hannon E, Pidsley R, Burrage J, Dempster EL, Wong CCY, Pariante CM, Mill J. Methylomic analysis of monozygotic twins discordant for childhood psychotic symptoms. Epigenetics 2016; 10:1014-23. [PMID: 26479702 PMCID: PMC4867769 DOI: 10.1080/15592294.2015.1099797] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Childhood psychotic symptoms are associated with increased rates of schizophrenia, other psychiatric disorders, and suicide attempts in adulthood; thus, elucidating early risk indicators is crucial to target prevention efforts. There is considerable discordance for psychotic symptoms between monozygotic twins, indicating that child-specific non-genetic factors must be involved. Epigenetic processes may constitute one of these factors and have not yet been investigated in relation to childhood psychotic symptoms. Therefore, this study explored whether differences in DNA methylation at age 10 were associated with monozygotic twin discordance for psychotic symptoms at age 12. The Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study cohort of 2,232 children (1,116 twin pairs) was assessed for age-12 psychotic symptoms and 24 monozygotic twin pairs discordant for symptoms were identified for methylomic comparison. Children provided buccal samples at ages 5 and 10. DNA was bisulfite modified and DNA methylation was quantified using the Infinium HumanMethylation450 array. Differentially methylated positions (DMPs) associated with psychotic symptoms were subsequently tested in post-mortem prefrontal cortex tissue from adult schizophrenia patients and age-matched controls. Site-specific DNA methylation differences were observed at age 10 between monozygotic twins discordant for age-12 psychotic symptoms. Similar DMPs were not found at age 5. The top-ranked psychosis-associated DMP (cg23933044), located in the promoter of the C5ORF42 gene, was also hypomethylated in post-mortem prefrontal cortex brain tissue from schizophrenia patients compared to unaffected controls. These data tentatively suggest that epigenetic variation in peripheral tissue is associated with childhood psychotic symptoms and may indicate susceptibility to schizophrenia and other mental health problems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Helen L Fisher
- a MRC Social , Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Center; Institute of Psychiatry , Psychology & Neuroscience; King's College London ; London , UK
| | - Therese M Murphy
- b University of Exeter Medical School; University of Exeter ; Exeter , Devon , UK
| | - Louise Arseneault
- a MRC Social , Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Center; Institute of Psychiatry , Psychology & Neuroscience; King's College London ; London , UK
| | - Avshalom Caspi
- a MRC Social , Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Center; Institute of Psychiatry , Psychology & Neuroscience; King's College London ; London , UK.,c Department of Psychology and Neuroscience ; Duke University ; Durham , NC , USA.,d Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences ; Duke University Medical School ; Durham , NC , USA
| | - Terrie E Moffitt
- a MRC Social , Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Center; Institute of Psychiatry , Psychology & Neuroscience; King's College London ; London , UK.,c Department of Psychology and Neuroscience ; Duke University ; Durham , NC , USA.,d Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences ; Duke University Medical School ; Durham , NC , USA
| | - Joana Viana
- b University of Exeter Medical School; University of Exeter ; Exeter , Devon , UK
| | - Eilis Hannon
- b University of Exeter Medical School; University of Exeter ; Exeter , Devon , UK
| | - Ruth Pidsley
- e Garvan Institute of Medical Research ; Darlinghurst , NSW , Australia
| | - Joe Burrage
- b University of Exeter Medical School; University of Exeter ; Exeter , Devon , UK
| | - Emma L Dempster
- b University of Exeter Medical School; University of Exeter ; Exeter , Devon , UK
| | - Chloe C Y Wong
- a MRC Social , Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Center; Institute of Psychiatry , Psychology & Neuroscience; King's College London ; London , UK
| | - Carmine M Pariante
- f Department of Psychological Medicine ; Institute of Psychiatry , Psychology & Neuroscience; King's College London ; London , UK
| | - Jonathan Mill
- a MRC Social , Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Center; Institute of Psychiatry , Psychology & Neuroscience; King's College London ; London , UK.,b University of Exeter Medical School; University of Exeter ; Exeter , Devon , UK
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Sánchez-Mora C, Richarte V, Garcia-Martínez I, Pagerols M, Corrales M, Bosch R, Vidal R, Viladevall L, Casas M, Cormand B, Ramos-Quiroga JA, Ribasés M. Dopamine receptor DRD4 gene and stressful life events in persistent attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet 2015; 168:480-491. [PMID: 26174753 DOI: 10.1002/ajmg.b.32340] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2015] [Accepted: 06/22/2015] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
We performed a case-control association study in persistent ADHD considering eight candidate genes (DRD4, DAT1/SLC6A3, COMT, ADRA2A, CES1, CYP2D6, LPHN3, and OPRM1) and found additional evidence for the involvement of the Dup 120bp and VNTR 48bp functional variants within the dopamine receptor DRD4 gene in the etiology of adult ADHD. We subsequently investigated the interaction of stressful life events with these two DRD4 polymorphisms, and the impact of such events on the severity of ADHD symptomatology. The gene-by-environment analysis revealed an independent effect of stressful experiences on the severity of persistent ADHD, and a gene-by-environment interaction on the inattentive dimension of the disorder, where non carriers of the Dup 120bp (L) - VNTR 48bp (7R) haplotype were more sensitive to environmental adversity than carriers. These results are in agreement with previous works reporting a relationship between DRD4 and the effect of adverse experiences, which may explain the discordant findings in previous genetic studies and strengthen the importance of gene-by-environment interactions on the severity of ADHD. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cristina Sánchez-Mora
- Psychiatric Genetics Unit, Institute Vall d'Hebron Research (VHIR), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.,Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona, Spain.,Biomedical Network Research Centre on Mental Health (CIBERSAM), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Vanesa Richarte
- Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Iris Garcia-Martínez
- Psychiatric Genetics Unit, Institute Vall d'Hebron Research (VHIR), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.,Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Mireia Pagerols
- Psychiatric Genetics Unit, Institute Vall d'Hebron Research (VHIR), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.,Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Montse Corrales
- Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Rosa Bosch
- Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Raquel Vidal
- Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona, Spain.,Department of Psychiatry and Legal Medicine, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | | | - Miguel Casas
- Psychiatric Genetics Unit, Institute Vall d'Hebron Research (VHIR), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.,Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona, Spain.,Biomedical Network Research Centre on Mental Health (CIBERSAM), Barcelona, Spain.,Department of Psychiatry and Legal Medicine, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Bru Cormand
- Departament de Genètica, Universitat de Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.,Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Raras (CIBERER), Barcelona, Spain.,Institut de Biomedicina de la Universitat de Barcelona (IBUB), Catalonia, Spain
| | - Josep Antoni Ramos-Quiroga
- Psychiatric Genetics Unit, Institute Vall d'Hebron Research (VHIR), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.,Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona, Spain.,Biomedical Network Research Centre on Mental Health (CIBERSAM), Barcelona, Spain.,Department of Psychiatry and Legal Medicine, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Marta Ribasés
- Psychiatric Genetics Unit, Institute Vall d'Hebron Research (VHIR), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.,Department of Psychiatry, Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona, Spain.,Biomedical Network Research Centre on Mental Health (CIBERSAM), Barcelona, Spain
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Forero DA, Vélez-van-Meerbeke A, Deshpande SN, Nicolini H, Perry G. Neuropsychiatric genetics in developing countries: Current challenges. World J Psychiatry 2014; 4:69-71. [PMID: 25540721 PMCID: PMC4274588 DOI: 10.5498/wjp.v4.i4.69] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2014] [Revised: 11/27/2014] [Accepted: 12/10/2014] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Neuropsychiatric disorders (NPDs) constitute a heavy burden on public health systems around the world and studies have demonstrated that the negative impact of NPDs is larger in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs). In recent decades, several studies have come to the understanding that genetic factors play a major role in the risk for a large number of NPDs. However, few neuropsychiatric genetics studies have been published from LMICs. In this Editorial, we discuss important issues impinging on advances in neuropsychiatric genetics research in LMICs. It is essential that scientists educate policymakers and officials of funding agencies on the importance of providing adequate funding for research in these areas. Development of local well-supported research programs focused on NPD genetics should be an important asset to develop; it would facilitate the establishment of sustainable research efforts that could lead to appropriate diagnosis and specific, affordable and feasible interventions in LMICs. It is important to point out that research into the biological basis of human NPDs is not only an academic effort reserved for a few elite institutions in economically developed countries, but it is vitally important for the mental health of people around the world.
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