Epigenetics and Antidepressants: Another Possible Mechanism of Action

Might these epigenetic changes, assessable in peripheral blood cells, become a test for antidepressant response?

Environmental factors that influence psychiatric disorders may be mediated by epigenetic changes to gene expression, which most commonly involve methylation and posttranslational modification of histones and may be a mechanism of action for pharmacotherapy. In a series of animal and human experiments, researchers examined the relationship between FK506-binding protein 51 (FKBP51) and DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1). DNMT inhibitors have induced antidepressant-like effects in mice.

In paroxetine-treated mouse cells (embryonic fibroblasts and astrocytes), FKBP51 mediated paroxetine's effects on DNMT1 activity, decreasing brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF) promoter methylation and increasing BDNF gene expression. Paroxetine (whether given …

Reviewing Author

Jonathan Silver, MD

Disclosures

RoyaltiesTextbook of Traumatic Brain Injury, 2nd and 3rd editions

Editorial BoardsUpToDate; Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesNorth American Brain Injury Association (Board Member); National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (Chair of Data Monitoring Safety Board for study of donepezil on cognition after traumatic brain injury)

Jonathan Silver, MD

Disclosures

RoyaltiesTextbook of Traumatic Brain Injury, 2nd and 3rd editions

Editorial BoardsUpToDate; Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience

Epigenetics and Antidepressants: Another Possible Mechanism of Action

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Reviewing Author