Childhood Abuse, Promoter Methylation of Leukocyte NR3C1 and the Potential Modifying Effect of Emotional Support

Abstract

Aim: To investigate childhood abuse victimization in relation to adult DNA methylation levels in a novel region of NR3C1, with emotional support as a possible modifier. Materials & methods: 295 participants from the Black Women’s Health Study. Multivariable linear regression models were used to compute differences in mean percent methylation levels. Results: Women reporting childhood abuse victimization exhibited higher mean NR3C1 methylation levels than nonabused women, with a clear dose–response relationship. Childhood emotional support appeared to attenuate associations only among women with the highest levels of physical and sexual abuse. Conclusion:NR3C1 mean methylation was higher among women who reported childhood abuse. Further research is warranted to clarify whether or the extent to which childhood emotional support buffers the association.

Keywords::

• abuse
• African–Americans
• child maltreatment
• CpG island shore
• DNA methylation
• epigenetic epidemiology
• glucocorticoid receptor
• health disparities
• NR3C1
• violence

Supplementary data

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The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of Harvard Catalyst, Harvard University and its affiliated academic healthcare centers or the NIH.

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions of all Black Women’s Health Study participants. The authors thank M Farvid for comments on a previous version of this manuscript, and A Schachter and MA Argentieri for their excellent research assistance.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

This work was conducted with support from Harvard Catalyst | The Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center (National Center for Research Resources and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, NIH Award UL1 TR001102) and financial contributions from Harvard University and its affiliated academic healthcare centers (AA Baccarelli). This work was also supported by The John Templeton Foundation Grant #48424 (AE Shields) and the Black Women’s Health Study (R01 CA 058420 and UM1CA 164974). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Ethical conduct of research

This study was approved by the Harvard School of Public Health Institutional Review Board and the Boston University Institutional Review Board. The authors state that they have obtained appropriate institutional review board approval or have followed the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki for all human or animal experimental investigations. In addition, for investigations involving human subjects, informed consent has been obtained from the participants involved.

Additional information

Funding

This work was conducted with support from Harvard Catalyst | The Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center (National Center for Research Resources and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, NIH Award UL1 TR001102) and financial contributions from Harvard University and its affiliated academic healthcare centers (AA Baccarelli). This work was also supported by The John Templeton Foundation Grant #48424 (AE Shields) and the Black Women’s Health Study (R01 CA 058420 and UM1CA 164974). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed. No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.