Holocaust history is not reflected in telomere homeostasis in survivors and their offspring

Konečná, Klára; Lyčka, Martin; Nohelová, Lucie; Petráková, Monika; Fňašková, Monika; Koriťáková, Eva; Sováková, Pavla Polanská; Brabencová, Sylva; Preiss, Marek; Rektor, Ivan; Fajkus, Jiřı́; Fojtová, Miloslava

doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2019.06.018

Cited by 6 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Bearing in mind we are limited in statistical power by the small sample size of our cohort, and we would not be able to account for effect sizes smaller than beta = 0.29, we found no significant difference in mtDNA copy number or their agerelated dynamic in Holocaust survivors as compared to controls in any generation. This is consistent with findings of no significance difference in telomere length and their agerelated dynamics in Holocaust survivors from the same cohort (Konečná et al, 2019), as mtDNA copy number was previously shown to be negatively correlated with telomere length in chronic stress (Cai et al, 2015b;Edwards et al, 2016).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…Third, Holocaust survivors may consist of highly resilient individuals who were able to survive both prolonged physical and psychological trauma. It was previously shown that Holocaust survivors have higher lifeexpectancy as compared to those who did not go through the same experience, potentially due to selection during the Holocaust (Sagi-Schwartz et al, 2013), and a genetic basis to this resilience was proposed Konečná et al, 2019). Genetic factors contributing to this resilience may contribute to recovery of elevated mtDNA copy number and maintaining telomere length (Konečná et al, 2019), though it is unclear if the same factors confer protection against PTSD and other disorders.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All participants were recruited through voluntarily responding positively to a public appeal presented by Masaryk University and Czech national media (Konečná et al, 2019), with the cooperation of the Jewish community of Brno and Prague. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants, except for in the cases of participants below the age of 16, where written informed consent was obtained from the next of kin/legal guardian.…”

Section: Informed Consent and Ethical Approvalmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this study, we investigate whether mtDNA increases during a stressful life event may persist throughout one's lifetime and affect the mtDNA levels of one's descendants, and whether that is dependent on the development of a persistent stress-related pathology. We assess the relative levels of mtDNA obtained from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of Holocaust survivors in Czech Republic, most of them from the Jewish communities of Brno and Prague, and of two generations of their descendants, many of whom suffer from PTSD, with agematched individuals from the same generations who were not exposed to this extreme circumstance and its consequences (Konečná et al, 2019). The Holocaust survivors represent a group of people who have gone through extreme physical and psychological trauma early in life, and have lived to a relatively old age.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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No Evidence of Persistence or Inheritance of Mitochondrial DNA Copy Number in Holocaust Survivors and Their Descendants

et al. 2020

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Mitochondrial DNA copy number has been previously shown to be elevated with severe and chronic stress, as well as stress-related pathology like Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While experimental data point to likely recovery of mtDNA copy number changes after the stressful event, time needed for full recovery and whether it can be achieved are still unknown. Further, while it has been shown that stress-related mtDNA elevation affects multiple tissues, its specific consequences for oogenesis and maternal inheritance of mtDNA has never been explored. In this study, we used qPCR to quantify mtDNA copy number in 15 Holocaust survivors and 102 of their second-and third-generation descendants from the Czech Republic, many of whom suffer from PTSD, and compared them to controls in the respective generations. We found no significant difference in mtDNA copy number in the Holocaust survivors compared to controls, whether they have PTSD or not, and no significant elevation in descendants of female Holocaust survivors as compared to descendants of male survivors or controls. Our results showed no evidence of persistence or inheritance of mtDNA changes in Holocaust survivors, though that does not rule out effects in other tissues or mitigating mechanism for such changes.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Informed Consent and Ethical Approvalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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No Evidence of Persistence or Inheritance of Mitochondrial DNA Copy Number in Holocaust Survivors and Their Descendants

et al. 2020

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“…The findings from this part of the study demonstrated no significant difference in mtDNA copy number in Holocaust survivors compared to the comparison group (Cai et al., 2020). However, relative telomere length in Holocaust survivors and their offspring was comparable to those found in comparison participants (Konečná et al., 2019).…”

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 58%

Posttraumatic Stress and Posttraumatic Growth in Three Generations of Czech and Slovak Holocaust Survivors

Preiss

Šamánková

Štipl

et al. 2021

Journal of Traumatic Stress

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The psychological consequences of trauma related to the Holocaust have been primarily studied in samples derived from Israel, North America, and Western Europe. Few studies have examined postcommunist countries in Central and Eastern Europe. The present study focused on three generations living in the Czech Republic and Slovakia after World War II (WWII): Holocaust survivors (71-95 years of age), their children (30-73 years of age), and their grandchildren (15-48 years of age). We compared scores on measures of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS; the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist-Civilian Version) and posttraumatic growth (PTG; the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory) derived from three focal samples with scores from age-matched comparison participants. Higher PTSS scores emerged for Holocaust survivors in all generations, η 2 P=.087 but only participants in the first generation reported higher PTG scores relative to the comparison group, with small effect sizes for the overall group differences, η 2 P=.029 . These results are discussed in the historical and political context of postwar Czechoslovakia.

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Lifelong impact of extreme stress on the human brain: Holocaust survivors study

Fňašková

Říha

Preiss

et al. 2021

Neurobiology of Stress

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Background We aimed to assess the lifelong impact of extreme stress on people who survived the Holocaust. We hypothesised that the impact of extreme trauma is detectable even after more than 70 years of an often complicated and stressful post-war life. Methods Psychological testing was performed on 44 Holocaust survivors (HS; median age 81.5 years; 29 women; 26 HS were under the age of 12 years in 1945) and 31 control participants without a personal or family history of the Holocaust (control group (CG); median 80 years; 17 women). Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using the 3T Siemens Prisma scanner was performed on 29 HS (median 79 years; 18 women) and 21 CG participants (median 80 years; 11 women). The MRI-tested subgroup that had been younger than 12 years old in 1945 was composed of 20 HS (median 79 years; 17 women) and 21 CG (median 80 years; 11 women). Results HS experienced significantly higher frequency of depression symptoms, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and posttraumatic growth, and lower levels of well-being. The MRI shows a lifelong neurobiological effect of extreme stress. The areas with reduced grey matter correspond to the map of the impact of stress on the brain structure: insula, anterior cingulate, ventromedial cortex including the subgenual cingulate/orbitofrontal cortex, temporal pole, prefrontal cortex, and angular gyrus. HS showed good adjustment to post-war life conditions. Psychological growth may contribute to compensation for the psychological and neurobiological consequences of extreme stress. The reduction of GM was significantly expressed also in the subgroup of participants who survived the Holocaust during their childhood. Conclusion The lifelong psychological and neurobiological changes in people who survived extreme stress were identified more than 70 years after the Holocaust. Extreme stress in childhood and young adulthood has an irreversible lifelong impact on the brain.

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Holocaust history is not reflected in telomere homeostasis in survivors and their offspring

Cited by 6 publications

References 35 publications

No Evidence of Persistence or Inheritance of Mitochondrial DNA Copy Number in Holocaust Survivors and Their Descendants

No Evidence of Persistence or Inheritance of Mitochondrial DNA Copy Number in Holocaust Survivors and Their Descendants

Posttraumatic Stress and Posttraumatic Growth in Three Generations of Czech and Slovak Holocaust Survivors

Lifelong impact of extreme stress on the human brain: Holocaust survivors study

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