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Abstract
Epigenetic modifications are those reversible, mitotically heritable alterations in genomic expression that occur independent of changes in gene sequence. Epigenetic studies have the potential to improve our understanding of the etiology of mood and anxiety disorders and suicide by bridging the gap in knowledge between the exogenous environmental exposures and pathophysiology that produce common mood and anxiety disorders and suicide. We systematically reviewed the English-language peer-reviewed literature about epigenetic regulation in these disorders between 2001–2011, summarizing and synthesizing this literature with respect to directions for future work. Twenty-one articles met our inclusion criteria. Twelve studies were concerned with epigenetic changes among suicide completers; other studies considered epigenetic regulation in depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and panic disorder. Several studies focused on epigenetic regulation of amine, glucocorticoid, and serotonin metabolism in the production of common mood and anxiety disorders and suicide. The literature is nascent and has yet to reach consensus about the roles of particular epigenetic modifications in the etiology of these outcomes. Future studies require larger sample sizes and measurements of environmental exposures antecedent to epigenetic modification. Further work is also needed to clarify the link between epigenetic modifications in the brain and peripheral tissues and to establish ‘gold standard’ epigenetic assays.
Highlights
50% of adults in the United States have experienced a mood or anxiety disorder at some point in their lives
We systematically reviewed the literature about epigenetic factors in the etiology of mood and anxiety disorders and suicide
The majority (12) of the studies included in the literature considered epigenetic modification in the etiology of suicide [14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25]
Summary
50% of adults in the United States have experienced a mood or anxiety disorder at some point in their lives. Mood and anxiety disorders are among the most debilitating diseases worldwide—the World Health Organization’s latest Global Burden of Disease report ranked depression among the top three most prevalent causes of disability globally, accounting for the highest single proportion of years lived with disability around the world [1,2]. As well as self-inflicted injury, which is often precipitated by depression, were high on the WHO list [2]. Anxiety disorders and self-inflicted injury are profoundly expensive, imposing high direct. The search for causes of common mood and anxiety disorders and suicide has spanned at least a century of research in a wide range of disciplines. The recent growth in interest in epigenetic studies in human populations has been fueled, in part, by the potential of epigenetics to bridge this divide [8]
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