• Kieran J. O'Donnell
  • Li Chen
  • Julia L. MacIsaac
  • Lisa M. McEwen
  • Thao Nguyen
  • Katherine Beckmann
  • Yuecai Zhu
  • Lawrence Ming Chen
  • Jeanne Brooks-Gunn
  • David Goldman
  • Elena L. Grigorenko
  • James F. Leckman
  • Josie Diorio
  • Neerja Karnani
  • David L. Olds
  • Joanna D. Holbrook
  • Michael S. Kobor
  • Michael J. Meaney

This study reveals the influence of child maltreatment on DNA methylation across the genome and provides the first evidence that a psychosocial intervention program, the Nurse Family Partnership (NFP), which targets mothers at risk for abusive parenting, associates with variation in the DNA methylome in adult offspring. The 188 participants were born to women randomly assigned to control (n = 99) or nurse-visited intervention groups (n = 89) and provided blood samples and a diagnostic interview at age 27 years. Interindividual variation in the blood DNA methylome was described using principal components (PC) scores derived from principal component analysis and showed that the NFP program (PC10: p = 0.029) and a history of abuse/neglect (PC1: p = 0.029, PC2: p = 0.009) significantly associated with DNA methylome variation at 27 years of age independent of gender, ancestry, cellular heterogeneity, and a polygenic risk index for major psychiatric disorders. The magnitude of the association between child maltreatment and DNA methylation was reduced when accounting for lifestyle factors, including smoking. These findings reflect the sustained impact of both childhood adversity as well as intervention programs that target such adversity on the epigenome but highlight the need for prospective longitudinal studies of DNA methylome variation in the context of early intervention programs.

Original languageEnglish
Article number15
Number of pages9
JournalTranslational Psychiatry
Volume8
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 10 Jan 2018

    Research areas

  • Adolescent, Adult, Canada, Child Abuse/prevention & control, DNA Methylation, Female, Follow-Up Studies, House Calls, Humans, Maternal-Child Nursing, Mental Disorders/genetics, Multifactorial Inheritance, Nurse-Patient Relations, Perinatal Care, Pregnancy, Prospective Studies, Risk Factors, Young Adult, METHYLATION, GLUCOCORTICOID-RECEPTOR, ABUSE, EPIGENETIC REGULATION, HOME VISITATION, GENE, DEMETHYLATION, GENOME-WIDE ANALYSIS, PSYCHIATRIC-DISORDERS, ASSOCIATION

    Scopus subject areas

  • Psychiatry and Mental health
  • Biological Psychiatry
  • Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience

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