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Cited by 5Child Abuse and TraumaEpigenetics and DNA MethylationChild Welfare and Adoption

A history of childhood maltreatment is associated with altered DNA methylation levels of DNA methyltransferase 1 in maternal but not neonatal mononuclear immune cells

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Mavioglu, Rezan Nehir, Ramo-Fernandez, Laura, Gumpp, Anja M., Kolassa, Iris-Tatjana, Karabatsiakis, Alexander·2022·Frontiers in Psychiatry
DOI 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.945343PMC PMC9685310
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Abstract

Childhood maltreatment (CM) is associated with alterations in DNA methylation (DNAm) especially in stress response genes. Due to the higher risk of overall health complications of individuals with a parental history of CM, intergenerational transmission of CM-associated DNAm changes has been investigated but remains unclear. In this study, we investigated if different severities of CM have any influence on the DNAm of DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1), an important enzyme of the DNAm machinery, in immune and buccal cells of mother-newborn dyads. DNAm was assessed by mass spectrometry using immune cell DNA from mothers (N = 117) and their newborns (N = 113), and buccal cell DNA of mother-newborn dyads (N = 68 each). Mothers with a history of CM had lower mean methylation of DNMT1 in immune cells compared to the mothers without a CM history. CM status only influenced maternal DNMT1 gene expression when at least moderate CM was reported. Buccal cell DNAm was not associated with CM status. Maternal history of CM was not linked to any alterations in DNMT1 mean DNAm in any of the cell types studied in newborns. We conclude that the CM-associated alterations in DNMT1 DNAm might point to allostatic load and can be physiologically relevant, especially in individuals with more severe CM experiences, resulting in an activated DNA methylation machinery that might influence stress response genes. Our lack of significant findings in buccal cells shows the tissue-specific effects of CM on DNAm. In our sample with low to moderate maternal CM history, there was no intergenerational transmission of DNMT1 DNAm in newborns.

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  • The 22 publications come from 19 independent studies.

    “These publications come from 19 independent studies, as in some cases the same study has been used to investigate different genes [87,88,89,90,91].”

    From Biological Embedding of Early-Life Adversity and a Scoping Review of the Evidence for Intergenerational Epigenetic Transmission of Stress and Trauma in Humans (2023) · cites this paper as [87]

    The cited paper’s Materials and methods describes its own methylation analyses, while the supplied References passages list other publications. Neither those passages nor searches for “19 independent studies,” “22 publications,” and studies investigating different genes establish the claimed count; page numbers were not available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.74)

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References 60 · Cited by 5

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Authors
Mavioglu, R. N., Ramo-Fernandez, L., Gumpp, A. M., Kolassa, I.-T., & Karabatsiakis, A.
Affiliations
  • Universität Ulm (DE)
  • Universität Innsbruck (AT)
ORCID
Venue
Frontiers in Psychiatry
Publisher
Frontiers Media SA
Published
2022-11-10
Volume
13
Pages
945343-945343
ISSN
1664-0640 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3389/fpsyt.2022.945343
PMC
PMC9685310
OpenAlex
W4308875168
Cited by
5
References
60
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 2
FWCI
0.91
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Frontiers in Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • OPen Access Repositorium der Universität Ulm (OPARU) (Ulm University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Universität Ulm, Kommunikations- und Informationszentrum (kiz) (cc-by)
Funders
Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (01KR1304A)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Epigenetics and DNA Methylation
  • Social Sciences › Safety Research › Child Welfare and Adoption
Keywords
child abuse, DNA methylation, DNMT1, intergenerational transmission, maternal immune cells, neonates, buccal epithelial cells, allostatic load, stress response genes, epigenetics, mother-newborn dyads

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