Epigenetic studies of suicidal behavior

Abstract

Recent studies have shown an association between gene alterations by epigenetic mechanisms and suicidal behavior. These epigenetic mechanisms are mitotically, and in some cases meiotically, heritable changes in the genome through non-DNA sequence coding processes that alter gene expression as a result of variable changes in environmental stimuli. Genome-wide association studies have been inconsistent in elucidating the association between genes and suicidal behavior, thereby making the heritability of suicidal behavior is unclear. However, recent epigenetic studies have provided evidence that epigenetic mechanisms could deliver the missing link between the heritability of suicidal behavior and the interaction between environment and the genome. The present review provides an in-depth discussion of epigenetic mechanisms that may regulate gene expression in suicidal behavior. The findings of current epigenetic studies on suicidal behavior will also be discussed considering future epigenome-wide association studies on elucidating the contributions of environment and genome on suicidal behavior.

In my end is my beginning: developmental trajectories of adverse childhood experiences to late-life suicide

“…Suicide is a complex behavior involving not only genetics and environment but also gene-environment interactions (Bani-Fatemi et al, 2014). Future research on the epigenetic effects in older adults who experienced ACE and risk for suicide is certainly warranted, especially in relation to late-life stressors that often accompany aging processes.…”

“…Neurological: ACEs lead to changes in the developmental trajectory of the brain such that the individual is much more psychologically and physiologically sensitive to subsequent stressors. b. Gene-environment: suicide is a complex behavior involving gene-environment interactions (Bani-Fatemi, Howe, & De Luca, 2014). ACE may interact with genetic predisposition to increase risk of mood dysregulation, psychiatric disorders and suicidal ideation and behavior.…”

The role of serotonin in adolescent suicide: theoretical, methodological, and clinical concerns

“…Discrepancies may also be due to different ethnicities, sampling methods, or genetic variations on multiple loci (30). Recent research underscore the influence of gene-environment interactions and of epistatic effects (interaction between different genes) when trying to analyze the role of genetics in suicide (30,35).…”

Understanding epigenetic architecture of suicide neurobiology: A critical perspective

“…In this context, few recent findings have shown promising results in interpreting the missing link between the heritability of suicidal behavior and the interaction between environment and genome (Mandelli and Serretti, 2016; Roy, 2012) from a completely new perspective of epigenetic modulation (Bani-Fatemi et al, 2015; Lockwood et al, 2015). This type of mechanistic regulation and switching does not involve any permanent change in DNA sequence and seems to be transient in effect (Labonte and Turecki, 2010) as well as consistent with the episodic modulation observed in suicidality and suicidal ideation.…”