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Men with history of childhood abuse may show imprint in DNA years later
Men with a history of childhood abuse showed differences in sperm DNA methylation, according to an analysis published in Translational Psychiatry.
“Relevant to abuse in childhood, the pre-pubertal period has been identified as a potential window of sensitivity of the sperm epigenome to environmental influences,” Andrea L. Roberts, PhD, of Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, and colleagues wrote. “Thus, it is possible that psychosocial stressors, including childhood abuse, affect the human sperm epigenome, including DNA [methylation].”
To determine the connection between childhood abuse and genome-wide DNA methylation in human sperm, researchers tested DNA methylation in 46 sperm samples from 34 men enrolled in a longitudinal nonclinical study. They categorized combined childhood physical, emotional and sexual abuse as none, medium or high.
Roberts and colleagues calculated the principal components of methylation values for all probes and the connection of childhood abuse with these components. In addition, they also examined differentially methylated regions for any link to childhood abuse and used machine learning methods to detect individual DNA methylation sites predictive of childhood abuse.
The study reported that childhood abuse was linked to a component that captured 6.2% of total difference in DNA methylation (P < .05).
The investigators found a distinctive methylation difference between victims and nonvictims of childhood abuse in 12 regions of the men's genomes, with eight DNA regions more than 10% different and one region showed a difference of 29%, according to a press release. The 12 identified DNA regions contained 64 probes and included sites on genes relating to neuronal function, fat cell regulation and immune function, according to the results.
After performing exploratory analyses assessing adulthood health behaviors, mental health, and trauma exposure as potential mediators of the link between abuse and DNA methylation, the researchers found that mental health and trauma exposure partly mediated this connection. The machine learning approach identified three probes that predicted high vs. no childhood abuse in 71% of participants, according to the study.
"Methylation is starting to be viewed as a potentially useful tool in criminal investigations — for example, by providing investigators with an approximate age of a person who left behind a sample of their DNA," senior author Michael Kobor, PhD, from the University of British Columbia, said in the press release. “So, it's conceivable that the correlations we found between methylation and child abuse might provide a percentage probability that abuse had occurred.” – by Savannah Demko
Disclosure: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.