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Two research groups recently examined how childhood adversity may predispose to psychiatric disorders.
Labonte and colleagues examined glucocorticoid receptor gene (GR) expression and methylation of the gene promoter region in the hippocampus and anterior cingulate gyrus in 21 subjects who died by suicide and who had experienced severe early-life adversity (ELA; primarily abuse), 21 without ELA who died by suicide, and 14 without ELA who died accidentally. Compared with the two other groups, the suicide+ELA group had lower GR expression in the hippocampus only, with correspondingly increased promoter methylation with decreased gene expression.
Miller and Cole prospectively assessed depression and two inflammatory markers (C-reactive protein […