Prediction of Possible Biomarkers and Novel Pathways Conferring Risk to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Abstract

Post-traumatic stress disorder is one of the common mental ailments that is triggered by exposure to traumatic events. Till date, the molecular factors conferring risk to the development of PTSD is not well understood. In this study, we have conducted a meta-analysis followed by hierarchical clustering and functional enrichment, to uncover the potential molecular networks and critical genes which play an important role in PTSD. Two datasets of expression profiles from Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells from 62 control samples and 63 PTSD samples were included in our study. In PTSD samples of GSE860 dataset, we identified 26 genes informative when compared with Post-deploy PTSD condition and 58 genes informative when compared with Pre-deploy and Post-deploy PTSD of GSE63878 dataset. We conducted the meta-analysis using Fisher, roP, Stouffer, AW, SR, PR and RP methods in MetaDE package. Results from the rOP method of MetaDE package showed that among these genes, the following showed significant changes including, OR2B6, SOX21, MOBP, IL15, PTPRK, PPBPP2 and SEC14L5. Gene ontology analysis revealed enrichment of these significant PTSD-related genes for cell proliferation, DNA damage and repair (p-value ≤ 0.05). Furthermore, interaction network analysis was performed on these 7 significant genes. This analysis revealed highly connected functional interaction networks with two candidate genes, IL15 and SEC14L5 highly enriched in networks. Overall, from these results, we concluded that these genes can be recommended as some of the potential targets for PTSD.

A comparison of physical comorbidities in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder developed after a terrorist attack or other traumatic event

“…Various neuroanatomical structures are involved in the pathogenesis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but only a subgroup of individuals who experience trauma develop the disorder. Genetic studies show that memory disorders associated with trauma are genetically inheritable through protein transmission (Chitrala, Nagarkatti, & Nagarkatti, ; Fitzgerald, DiGangi, & Phan, ). Familiarity and early traumatic experiences are considered to be vulnerability factors (Chitrala et al, ; Fitzgerald et al, ; Szeszko, Lehrner, & Yehuda, ).…”

“…that memory disorders associated with trauma are genetically inheritable through protein transmission (Chitrala, Nagarkatti, & Nagarkatti, 2016;Fitzgerald, DiGangi, & Phan, 2018). Familiarity and early traumatic experiences are considered to be vulnerability factors (Chitrala et al, 2016;Fitzgerald et al, 2018;Szeszko, Lehrner, & Yehuda, 2018). Other variables, including race, and ethnocultural and social background, influence the onset and symptom patterns of the disorder (Roberts, Gilman, Breslau, Breslau, & Koenen, 2011).…”

Epigenome‐Wide Study of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Severity in a Treatment‐Seeking Adolescent Sample

“…The analyses also identified a DMR at an FDR threshold of less than 10% in the MOBP gene (i.e., myelin‐associated oligodendrocyte basic protein). The MOBP gene was one of several identified as significantly associated with PTSD status in a meta‐analysis of two gene expression datasets (Chitrala et al., 2016), suggesting some consistency across DNAm and gene expression studies.…”

The nosographic structure of posttraumatic stress symptoms across trauma types: An exploratory network analysis approach

“…First, it should be noted that although we explored the differences in the networks according to the trauma type, several confounding factors have been associated with the development of specific clinical presentations. For example, gender (Betts et al., 2013), age (Olff et al., 2007), genetic factors (Chitrala et al., 2016), social support, and previous trauma history (Alipour & Ahmadi, 2020) have been shown to impact the clinical presentation of PTSD. Women are twice as likely to develop PTSD compared with men (Betts et al., 2013), and certain genetic factors have been shown to increase the risk of developing PTSD by 30% (Ryan et al., 2016).…”