Proinflammatory status-stratified blood transcriptome profiling of civilian women with PTSD

Paradoxical effect of anti-inflammatory drugs on IL-6 mRNA expression in patients with PTSD during treatment

The pathophysiology of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with the activation of the innate immune system, including cytokines like interleukin 6 (IL-6). However, the role of IL-6 in the etiology and treatment of PTSD still remains elusive. We conducted a prospective controlled trial to investigate the development of IL-6 during psychosomatic treatment in individuals with PTSD in comparison with individuals without PTSD. We assessed IL-6 mRNA expression before and after 2 months of psychosomatic treatment in individuals with and without PTSD. Severities of PTSD and depressive symptoms were assessed in parallel. Linear mixed regression was applied for statistical analysis, including the factors diagnosis PTSD and pre-post treatment after subgrouping for intake of anti-inflammatory drugs. The development of IL-6 mRNA expression during treatment was affected by the use of anti-inflammatory drugs. In the subgroup without intake of anti-inflammatory drugs, no significant statistical treatment effect in individuals with and without PTSD emerged. In the subgroup of individuals taking anti-inflammatory drugs, a significant interaction effect of the factors pre-post treatment and diagnosis PTSD was observed. Whereas IL-6 mRNA expression in individuals without PTSD decreased according to amelioration of symptoms, IL-6 mRNA expression in individuals with PTSD increased significantly during treatment, in opposite direction to symptom severity. Anti-inflammatory drugs might affect IL-6 mRNA expression in individuals with PTSD in a paradoxical way. This study offers a further piece of evidence that IL-6 could be involved in the pathophysiology of PTSD and PTSD-specific immunologic molecular mechanisms.

Fear memory regulation by the cAMP signaling pathway as an index of reexperiencing symptoms in posttraumatic stress disorder

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder associated with traumatic memory, yet its etiology remains unclear. Reexperiencing symptoms are specific to PTSD compared to other anxiety-related disorders. Importantly, reexperiencing can be mimicked by retrieval-related events of fear memory in animal models of traumatic memory. Recent studies revealed candidate PTSD-associated genes that were related to the cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) signaling pathway. Here, we demonstrate the tight linkage between facilitated cAMP signaling and PTSD by analyzing loss- and gain-of-cAMP signaling effects on fear memory in mice and the transcriptomes of fear memory-activated mice and female PTSD patients with reexperiencing symptoms. Pharmacological and optogenetic upregulation or downregulation of cAMP signaling transduction enhanced or impaired, respectively, the retrieval and subsequent maintenance of fear memory in mice. In line with these observations, integrative mouse and human transcriptome analysis revealed the reduced mRNA expression of phosphodiesterase 4B (PDE4B), an enzyme that degrades cAMP, in the peripheral blood of PTSD patients showing more severe reexperiencing symptoms and the mouse hippocampus after fear memory retrieval. Importantly, more severe reexperiencing symptoms and lower PDE4B mRNA levels were correlated with decreased DNA methylation of a locus within PDE4B, suggesting the involvement of methylation in the mechanism of PTSD. These findings raise the possibility that the facilitation of cAMP signaling mediating the downregulation of PDE4B expression enhances traumatic memory, thereby playing a key role in the reexperiencing symptoms of PTSD patients as a functional index of these symptoms.

Identifying genetic loci that are associated with changes in gene expression in PTSD in a South African cohort

The molecular mechanisms underlying posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are yet to be fully elucidated, especially in underrepresented population groups. Expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) are DNA sequence variants that influence gene expression, in a local (cis-) or distal (trans-) manner, and subsequently impact cellular, tissue, and system physiology. This study aims to identify genetic loci associated with gene expression changes in a South African PTSD cohort. Genome-wide genotype and RNA-sequencing data were obtained from 32 trauma-exposed controls and 35 PTSD cases of mixed-ancestry, as part of the SHARED ROOTS project. The first approach utilised 108 937 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (MAF > 10%) and 11 312 genes with Matrix eQTL to map potential eQTLs, while controlling for covariates as appropriate. The second analysis was focused on 5638 SNPs related to a previously calculated PTSD polygenic risk score for this cohort. SNP-gene pairs were considered eQTLs if they surpassed Bonferroni correction and had a false discovery rate <0.05. We did not identify eQTLs that significantly influenced gene expression in a PTSD-dependent manner. However, several known cis-eQTLs, independent of PTSD diagnosis, were observed. rs8521 (C > T) was associated with TAGLN and SIDT2 expression, and rs11085906 (C > T) was associated with ZNF333 expression. This exploratory study provides insight into the molecular mechanisms associated with PTSD in a non-European, admixed sample population. This study was limited by the cross-sectional design and insufficient statistical power. Overall, this study should encourage further multi-omics approaches towards investigating PTSD in diverse populations.

Alterations in Immune-Related Defensin Alpha 4 (DEFA4) Gene Expression in Health and Disease

Defensin Alpha 4 (DEFA4) is the fourth member of the Alpha Defensins family known as a part of antimicrobial peptides in the innate immune system. DEFA4 has a strong preference to kill Gram-negative bacteria more than Gram-positive bacteria. In addition, DEFA4 exhibits antiviral activity against human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) in vitro. Moreover, DEFA4 can act as an inhibitor of corticosterone production (Corticostatin). On the other hand, alternations in DEFA4 gene expression have been reported in different disorders such as diseases related to inflammation and immunity dysfunction, brain-related disorders, and various cancers. The up-regulation of DEFA4 appears to be involved in the malignant transformation or aggressive form of cancer. Interestingly, the modified version of DEFA4 fragment (1-11) was potent and efficient against antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This review provides a general background abSaudi Arabia out DEFA4 and sheds light on changes in DEFA4 gene expression in different diseases. The paper also discusses other aspects related to DEFA4 as an antimicrobial and antiviral agent. The research was conducted based on available articles obtained from databases starting from 1988 to the present.

Central and Peripheral Immune Dysregulation in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Convergent Multi-Omics Evidence

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a chronic and multifactorial disorder with a prevalence ranging between 6–10% in the general population and ~35% in individuals with high lifetime trauma exposure. Growing evidence indicates that the immune system may contribute to the etiology of PTSD, suggesting the inflammatory dysregulation as a hallmark feature of PTSD. However, the potential interplay between the central and peripheral immune system, as well as the biological mechanisms underlying this dysregulation remain poorly understood. The activation of the HPA axis after trauma exposure and the subsequent activation of the inflammatory system mediated by glucocorticoids is the most common mechanism that orchestrates an exacerbated immunological response in PTSD. Recent high-throughput analyses in peripheral and brain tissue from both humans with and animal models of PTSD have found that changes in gene regulation via epigenetic alterations may participate in the impaired inflammatory signaling in PTSD. The goal of this review is to assess the role of the inflammatory system in PTSD across tissue and species, with a particular focus on the genomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics, and proteomics domains. We conducted an integrative multi-omics approach identifying TNF (Tumor Necrosis Factor) signaling, interleukins, chemokines, Toll-like receptors and glucocorticoids among the common dysregulated pathways in both central and peripheral immune systems in PTSD and propose potential novel drug targets for PTSD treatment.

Potential Immune Indicators for Predicting the Prognosis of COVID-19 and Trauma: Similarities and Disparities

Although cellular and molecular mediators of the immune system have the potential to be prognostic indicators of disease outcomes, temporal interference between diseases might affect the immune mediators, and make them difficult to predict disease complications. Today one of the most important challenges is predicting the prognosis of COVID-19 in the context of other inflammatory diseases such as traumatic injuries. Many diseases with inflammatory properties are usually polyphasic and the kinetics of inflammatory mediators in various inflammatory diseases might be different. To find the most appropriate evaluation time of immune mediators to accurately predict COVID-19 prognosis in the trauma environment, researchers must investigate and compare cellular and molecular alterations based on their kinetics after the start of COVID-19 symptoms and traumatic injuries. The current review aimed to investigate the similarities and differences of common inflammatory mediators (C-reactive protein, procalcitonin, ferritin, and serum amyloid A), cytokine/chemokine levels (IFNs, IL-1, IL-6, TNF-α, IL-10, and IL-4), and immune cell subtypes (neutrophil, monocyte, Th1, Th2, Th17, Treg and CTL) based on the kinetics between patients with COVID-19 and trauma. The mediators may help us to accurately predict the severity of COVID-19 complications and follow up subsequent clinical interventions. These findings could potentially help in a better understanding of COVID-19 and trauma pathogenesis.

Persistent level of mental distress in PTSD patients is not reflected in cytokine levels 1 year after the treatment

OBJECTIVE

Cross-sectional data show that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patients often have increased levels of circulating inflammatory markers. There is, however, still a paucity of longitudinal studies with long follow-up times on levels of cytokines in such patients. The current study assesses patients with and without PTSD diagnosis 1 year after discharge from inpatient treatment.

METHODS

Patients in treatment for serious non-psychotic mental disorders were recruited at the beginning of their treatment stay at a psychiatric centre in Norway. Ninety patients submitted serum samples and filled out the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-90 Revised Global Severity Index (HSCL-90R GSI) questionnaire during their mainstay and at a follow-up stay 1 year after discharge. Of these patients, 33 were diagnosed with PTSD, 48 with anxiety, depression, or eating disorder, while 9 patients had missing data. The patients were diagnosed using the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI).

RESULTS

At the follow-up stay (T3), PTSD patients had higher levels of GSI scores than non-PTSD patients (p = 0.048). These levels were unchanged from the year before (T2) in both groups. The levels of circulating cytokines/chemokine did not differ between the PTSD and non-PTSD patients at T3. At T2, however, the PTSD and non-PTSD groups exhibited different levels of interleukin 1β (IL-1β) (p = 0.053), IL-1RA (p = 0.042), and TNF-α (p = 0.037), with the PTSD patients having the higher levels.

CONCLUSION

Despite exhibiting different mental distress scores, the PTSD and non-PTSD patients did not differ regarding levels of circulating inflammatory markers at 1-year follow-up.

Immune system regulation and role of the human leukocyte antigen in posttraumatic stress disorder

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a debilitating condition that adversely affect mental and physical health. Recent studies have increasingly explored the role of the immune system in risk for PTSD and its related symptoms. Dysregulation of the immune system may lead to central nervous system tissue damage and impair learning and memory processes. Individuals with PTSD often have comorbid inflammatory or auto-immune disorders. Evidence shows associations between PTSD and multiple genes that are involved in immune-related or inflammatory pathways. In this review, we will summarize the evidence of immune dysregulation in PTSD, outlining the contributions of distinct cell types, genes, and biological pathways. We use the Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) locus to illustrate the contribution of genetic variation to function in different tissues that contribute to PTSD etiology, severity, and comorbidities.

Interleukin-6 secretion upon acute psychosocial stress as a potential predictor of psychotherapy outcome in posttraumatic stress disorder

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a severe mental disorder that can develop after a traumatic event. PTSD has been reported to be associated with activation of the innate immune system, as measured by increased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines. While it is well known that PTSD patients display increased levels of interleukin 6 (IL-6) when compared with healthy controls, the relationship between cytokine secretion and treatment outcome has been hardly investigated yet. The aim of this study was to assess the potential association of inflammatory activation and therapy outcome in PTSD. Before therapeutic intervention, we applied the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) as a method to elicit psychosocial stress and an acute inflammatory response. IL-6 levels were measured in blood plasma of PTSD patients at different time points before and after the TSST. Severity of depressive, trauma-related, and somatic symptoms was assessed before and 8 weeks after trauma-focused treatment in a multimodal day clinic setting. We showed that high reactivity of IL-6 to psychosocial stress at the beginning of the therapy was associated with a negative therapy outcome in PTSD, especially regarding depressive symptoms. This study suggests plasma IL-6 reactivity as a potential molecular marker to predict treatment outcome in PTSD.

Chromosomal Repositioning and Gene Regulation of Cells on a Micropillar Array

While various cell responses on material surfaces have been examined, relatively few reports are focused on significant self-deformation of cell nuclei and corresponding chromosomal repositioning. Herein, we prepared a micropillar array of poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) and observed significant nuclear deformation of HeLa cells on the polymeric micropillars. In particular, we detected the territory positioning of chromosomes 18 and 19 and gene expression profiles of HeLa cells on the micropillar array using fluorescence in situ hybridization and a DNA microarray. Chromosome 18 was found to be translocated closer to the nuclear periphery than chromosome 19 on the micropillar array. With the repositioning of chromosomal territories, HeLa cells changed their gene expressions on the micropillar array with 180 genes upregulated and 255 genes downregulated for all of the 23 pairs of chromosomes under the experimental conditions and the employed Bioinformatics criteria. Hence, this work deepens the understanding on cell-material interactions by revealing that material surface topography can probably influence chromosomal repositioning in the nuclei and gene expressions of cells.