Major depressive disorder (MDD), is a prevalent mood disorder that associates with differential prefrontal brain expression patterns1. Treatment of MDD includes a variety of biopsychosocial approaches, but in medical practice, antidepressant drugs are the most common treatment for depressive episodes, and not surprisingly, they are among the most prescribed medications in North America2,3. While they are clearly effective, particularly for moderate to severe depressive episodes, there is important variability in how individuals respond to antidepressant treatment. Failure to respond has important individual, economic and social consequences for patients and their families4. Several lines of evidence demonstrate that genes are regulated through the activity of microRNAs (miRNAs), which act as fine–tuners and on–off switches in gene expression patterns5–7. Here we report on complementary studies using postmortem human brain samples, cellular assays and samples from clinical trials of depressed patients, and show that miR-1202, a miRNA specific to primates and enriched in the human brain, is differentially expressed in depressed individuals. Additionally, miR-1202 regulates the expression of the Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor 4 (GRM4) gene and predicts antidepressant response at baseline. These results suggest that miR-1202 is associated with the pathophysiology of depression and is a potential target for novel antidepressant treatments.

Astrocytes are glial cells specific the central nervous system involved in numerous brain functions including regulation of synaptic transmission and of immune reactions. There is mounting evidence suggesting astrocytic dysfunction in psychopathologies such as major depression, however, little is known about the underlying etiological mechanisms. Here we report a two-stage study investigating genome-wide DNA methylation associated with astrocytic markers in depressive psychopathology. We first characterized prefrontal cortex samples from 121 individuals (76 who died during a depressive episode and 45 healthy controls) for the astrocytic markers GFAP, ALDH1L1, SOX9, GLUL, SCL1A3, GJA1, and GJB6. A subset of 22 cases with consistently downregulated astrocytic markers was then compared to 17 matched controls using MBD2-sequencing followed by validation with high resolution melting and bisulfite Sanger sequencing. With these data, we generated a genome-wide methylation map unique to altered astrocyte-associated depressive psychopathology. The map revealed differentially methylated regions (DMRs) between cases and controls, the majority of which displayed reduced methylation levels in cases. Among intragenic DMRs, GRIK2 and BEGAIN were the most significant, and also significantly correlated with genes expression. Cell sorted fractions were investigated and demonstrated an important non-neuronal contribution of methylation status in BEGAIN.Functional cell assays revealed promoter and enhancer-like properties in this region, which were markedly decreased by methylation. Furthermore, a large number of our DMRs overlapped known ENCODE identified regulatory elements. Taken together, our data indicate significant differences in the methylation patterns specific to astrocytic dysfunction associated with depressive psychopathology, providing a potential framework for better understanding this disease phenotype.

The results suggest that child abuse, in part through epigenetic reprogramming of oligodendrocytes, may lastingly disrupt cortical myelination, a fundamental feature of cerebral connectivity.

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BackgroundTrkB-T1 is a BDNF receptor lacking a tyrosine kinase domain that is highly expressed in astrocytes and regulates BDNF-evoked calcium transients. Previous studies indicate that downregulation of TrkB-T1 in frontal cortex may be involved in neurobiological processes underlying suicide.MethodsIn a microarray screening study (N = 8), we interrogated all known microRNA in the frontal cortex of suicide completers with low expression of TrkB-T1 and normal controls. These findings were validated and followed up in a larger sample of cases and controls (N = 55). Functional analyses included microRNA silencing, microRNA overexpression and luciferase assays to investigate specificity and to validate interactions between differentially expressed microRNA and TrkB-T1.ResultsMicroRNAs Hsa-miR-185* and Hsa-miR-491-3p were upregulated in suicide completers with low expression of TrkB.T1 (Pnominal: 9.10−5 and 1.8.10−4 respectively; FDR-corrected p = 0.031). Bioinformatic analyses revealed five putative binding sites for the DiGeorge syndrome linked microRNA Hsa-miR-185*in the 3′UTR of TrkB-T1, but none for Hsa-miR-491-3P. The increase of Hsa-miR-185* in frontal cortex of suicide completers was validated then confirmed in a larger, randomly selected group of suicide completers, where an inverse correlation between Hsa-miR-185* and TrkB-T1 expression was observed (R = −0.439; p = 0.001). Silencing and overexpression studies performed in human cell lines confirmed the inverse relationship between hsa-mir-185* and trkB-T1 expression. Luciferase assays demonstrated that Hsa-miR-185* binds to sequences in the 3′UTR of TrkB-T1.ConclusionThese results suggest that an increase of Hsa-miR-185* expression levels regulates, at least in part, the TrkB-T1 decrease observed in the frontal cortex of suicide completers and further implicate the 22q11 region in psychopathology.

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Altogether, our findings uncover new facets of Kappa physiology, whereby this receptor may be epigenetically regulated by stressful experiences, in particular as a function of early social life.