Experiences of Trauma and DNA Methylation Profiles among African American Mothers and Children

Abstract

Potentially traumatic experiences have been associated with chronic diseases. Epigenetic mechanisms, including DNA methylation (DNAm), have been proposed as an explanation for this association. We examined the association of experiences of trauma with epigenome-wide DNAm among African American mothers (n = 236) and their children aged 3–5 years (n = 232; N = 500), using the Life Events Checklist-5 (LEC) and Traumatic Events Screening Inventory—Parent Report Revised (TESI-PRR). We identified no DNAm sites significantly associated with potentially traumatic experience scores in mothers. One CpG site on the ENOX1 gene was methylome-wide-significant in children (FDR-corrected q-value = 0.05) from the TESI-PRR. This protein-coding gene is associated with mental illness, including unipolar depression, bipolar, and schizophrenia. Future research should further examine the associations between childhood trauma, DNAm, and health outcomes among this understudied and high-risk group. Findings from such longitudinal research may inform clinical and translational approaches to prevent adverse health outcomes associated with epigenetic changes.

Placental transcriptomic signatures of prenatal and preconceptional maternal stress

“…Compared with prenatal stress, the mechanisms of intergenerational transmission of the effects of preconceptional stress are less understood. Very few studies have investigated whether the effects of preconceptional traumatic experiences may be transmitted to later generations via changes in gene expression or DNA methylation [ 32 , 33 ]. One of the first studies examining the transmission of preconceptional trauma found lower blood FKBP prolyl isomerase 5 ( FKBP5 ) methylation in the children of Holocaust survivors compared to demographically comparable controls [ 34 ].…”

“…Genome-wide approaches are even rarer. One study examined child genome-wide DNA methylation patterns in saliva associated with a maternal trauma measure designed to screen for potentially traumatic events over the respondent’s lifetime (Life Events Checklist) [ 33 ]. Another study examined placental genome-wide DNA methylation differences associated with socioeconomic adversity, framed as a chronic source of stress throughout the mother’s life [ 26 ].…”